Tonight at 5:40: Montas vs. RHP Jon Gray
Saturday at 6:10: Irvin vs. LHP Kyle Freeland
Sunday at 12:10: Kaprielian vs. RHP German Marquez
Weather: Warm all weekend (forecast highs around 85-90 each day), chances of showers and thunderstorms Saturday evening and Sunday.
Downtown Denver was a most enjoyable weekend trip in 2018, even though the A’s scored only four runs in getting swept in the three-game series, the only time between June 16 and August 21 they lost even consecutive games in a 42-14 run, and Mr. and Mrs. Pinder got in a car crash sending Chad to the IL. Over the winter I had thoughts of making this weekend’s trip but decided to hold off until everything is back to 100% capacity. Note to Ken and Vince: Denver Airport may be “halfway to Nebraska” or whatever you guys said the other night, but there’s an express light rail line to Union Station and everything is walking distance from there.
Trevor Story, off to a mediocre-for-him start at .255/.322/.424 with 5 HR, is on the IL with some tightness in his throwing elbow and will miss the series. 2B/3B Ryan McMahon has 13 homers and journeyman 1B C.J. Cron (fifth team in five years) has a .383 OBP but there’s not much else exciting happening with the offense, and the Rockies’ pitching is about what it always is, thus the lowly 23-34 record.
What I discovered Blew. My. Mind. -- Pat Boone
I have really liked Coors Field on my visits there, not just the ballpark but the way it fits so well into the “LoDo” area of Denver, and especially combined with the free light rail through downtown. I’m kind of surprised it’s not touted more highly by MLB as they spin their ballpark place-making success stories. In any case, if I squint through green-and-gold-colored glasses I could see Howard Terminal helping serve to connect JLS and downtown Oakland in a similar way.
Kemp Canha and Brown to cover all that outfield grass, could be a challenge.
Jed must have been pretty sure he wasn’t tagged or he would have had the dugout pass on that challenge.
That sun is so brutal, they really shouldn’t start games at 6:40 there in June.
Yeah that was awful, and now 20 minutes later it’s fine.
11 homers, 20 RBIs, 46 runs for Canha.
21
Two RBIs tonight, that’s a week’s worth.
Getting a lot of Coors Field stuff, nice change from prior trips.
now getting the flip side
2018: 81 outs, 4 runs
2021: 7 outs, 5 runs
OK Frankie don’t screw around, you want to be a premier pitcher, this is where you step on their necks.
See, where I said “their necks” you seem to have heard “these banana peels.”
I’m a little baffled why more women haven’t done this.
One of the previous ones was Susan Fornoff in Oakland and San Francisco in the early 1990s. She’s remembered as the recipient of Dave Kingman’s rat.
“I’m a little baffled why more women haven’t done this.”
“She’s remembered as the recipient of Dave Kingman’s rat.”
I think you answered your own question.
Perhaps, but the rat episode happened when she was a beat writer. Kong didn’t think women belonged in the clubhouse, period. She was no longer a beat writer when she was doing the official scoring.
A pervasive hostile climate is a powerful disincentive. The only way to reach that highest level, MLB scorer, is to have endured decades of abuse first.
Great job by bob that half inning. Do not let frankie go past 5
Hi Ed! Sorry, I won’t have any jury stories for you.
boo.
I too narrowly missed having to sit through jury selection next week and also a trial. I have never said the unnatural thing I said yesterday to get out of it
“If you don’t plea today, you will not be a felon until June 24 when the jury comes back with a verdict and you will be remanded into custody. You can plea today and be a felon and the judge has promised to reduce it to a misdemeanor in one calendar year and you can go home tonight and every other night for the foreseeable future, albeit 90 of them on an ankle monitor. Or you can not be a felon for the next three weeks and spend the endo of june, through early august in jail awaiting sentencing.”
It almost didn’t work
I think even Tony La Russa is OK with piling on as many runs as you can in this park.
Hate this park.
I don’t know that 3 runs is comfortable enough lead for 6 outs from diechman and trivino at coors
Yea the excitement of a doubke switch!
its all dumb, of course, but bob has done well today
Canha tried to stick that effing thing out there, but he couldn’t reach the ball because it was in the strike zone.
KK just dropped a “SKYEBOLT”
Angels just won. Seattle had bases loaded no out with hanniger up in the top of the 6th. scioscia went to iglasias.
They did not score in the next two inning.
Taylor trammmel seems fixed
Thats 3. Get him out
oh good, trivino up
call me when dichman has thrown more strikes than balls
Never calls Ed.
DieBBman staggers to the victory, but not before a few naughty words hurled in his direction here.
Just saw the first inning lowrie play.
Oh my what a bad call by NY
Hot Rod Charlie tomorrow in the Belmont. That’s all.
How much did you win?
1 whole dollar! Bet HRC to win place and show.
Should know better than to bet HRC to win.
It seemed like a lock!
… her up?
Pete Rose wrecked what looked like an excellent career, but Ray was still an everyday player until that incident. He was just a backup after that. Take those two injuries away, you might have one of the best catchers of the 1970s, and maybe he doesn’t turn to broadcasting so quickly if at all.
5-9 is not exciting me a whole lot.
It’s so dismal that I looked up Cole Irvin’s college and minors stats to see if maybe he has hidden hitting talent. No such luck.
Neither as a lineup nor a final score.
The top of the lineup is off to a good start though.
After the Olson HBP I’d suggest Charlie Blackmon stay on his toes the rest of the series. We just wanna hit your ass toniiiiiight…
There was a nice 2 out, 0 on opportunity there but Irvin passed.
Pinder Coorsed the FK out of that ball.
Chapman and Piscotty should be hitting grounders to the (other) infielders in pregame. They excel at it.
I was going to make a joke about Garcia hitting. But he may be better than Chapman at the moment.
as chapman batted and ran, a run scored. that was good!
If I have to start paying attention to how many pitches he gets through it is gonna hurt
Not Bud Black’s fault but when the team is 12 games under .500 in early June and you see a TOOTBLAN like the Rockies had in that inning you wonder about the manager’s job security.
I was also wondering whose bright idea it was to bunt down 2-0 in the bottom of the first in Coors.
I’m not listening to TV audio, as usual, but…at least a couple of the graphics have had a Welcome Back Kotter theme? What is that?
that was confusing
Today they’re dropping a bunch of Greatest American Hero references in the graphics, inexplicably.
Ah, that’s what it is. I saw “making all my wishes come true” and was thinking Mariah Carey.
Ramon woulda
Entirely believable that this is a shut out with Ramon in the lineup
Rockies radio announcer had Piscotty up that entire plate appearance and never caught it; he was even “left-handed hitting Stephen Piscotty” at one point.
I never listen to the rockies. They are far and away the worst. radio and tv.
Nice to see Bob not make the kneejerk call for Petit vs. Cron. If you’re bringing in Luzardo in this situation the thought needs to be 3 innings to finish the game, no Petit, Diekman or Trivino.
I’ll allow the Moreland PH. Bob was paying more attention to his NL scorecard than I was.
that confused me. mostly because I thought lowrie was the pitcher and i missed the ibb to olson
Canha vs. Rockies = David Fletcher vs. A’s.
Why does it feel like everyone is made of glass?
A little confused about what was going on with Lou there…but yay! I guess.
Uh, OK, but Mile High isn’t that high, and on the third day in town it shouldn’t be an issue.
After 60 games, one game worse than the final 2020 record.
I’ve come close to unfollowing SuSlu a bunch of times because yuck Giants but I’m really glad I got to read this thread.
I like the 70+ year old man saying he has attended his last game.
Collin Morikama and Max Homa, the two Cal guys, both near top of leaderboard in final round from Ohio. Tune in for a few minutes if you’ve been wondering what the incessant buzz of the Brood X cicadas sounds like.
I like Jon Rahm as a golfer, but evidently he hasn’t had the vaccine and seeing him lose a likely huge paycheck because of it brings joy to my heart.
100%. I wish everyone who deliberately chooses to not care about other people’s health suffered some kind of monetary consequence.
I’d like to see bans in place for high-risk (to others) activities like flying.
The high risk there is borne by the unvaccinated though.
Definitely much higher for the unvaccinated, but still comparatively high for the vaccinated.
Morikama headed to a playoff with Cantlay right now, in the rain.
Bummer, Morikama got a flukey bad break when his perfect tee shot came up with mud on the ball. Maga Jack Nicklaus seemed to be rooting hard for the other guy, I wonder why.
I am not wondering what Brood X sounds like
Heh heh, I bet. I visited my grandparents in the Philly area one summer in the 80’s and remember quite clearly trying to listen to Phillies games on the radio over the relentless, deafening buzz, pretty much nonstop for the entire two weeks I was there.
One of your fellow Cincinnatians has taken cicada protection to a new level.
https://www.citybeat.com/arts-culture/culture/blog/21151228/as-billions-of-cicadas-get-ready-to-emerge-a-cincinnati-company-releases-a-wearable-bugscreen-pod
First Rockies lead of the series.
A’s hitters maybe gorged on those Denver omelettes this morning. Then play on a 90-degree day, things are looking a little sluggish so far.
I’ll eat a Denver omelette but I’m usually more basic than that. Bacon and Jack would be my go-to.
Whenever I visit Denver my buddy nags incessantly about about hydration. That thin high desert air sucks the moisture right out of you. The A’s batsmen may not have heeded this admonition.
I deal with it every day during the summer, and I like to pound some coffee in the morning. Need to add lots of water to that, and if I can’t go more than 45 minutes before ducking behind trees or bushes it’s a good thing.
There’s a reason the Black Rock City paper is call “Piss Clear”.
what is the bridge plan today? Smith for 6-7, ???. diekman?
Apparently it’s Romo, accompanying the Kelly greens with the white flag.
I like romo’s enthusiasm for getting out of jams created by a front office that signs players like sergio romo
Very well stated, counselor.
Ken and Vince were going on at length about the uniform tops and referring to that piece in The Athletic that praised the Kelly Greens. I’ve always been lukewarm on those, prefer the Forest Green. Whatever happened to the Gold alternate tops though? I know they didn’t work with the grey road pants but I loved those as a home alternate. But I can’t recall them using the Gold tops in the last few years; it seemed like the Kelly Green replaced them.
I believe that’s right, either Kelly or Gold alts in any given year, never both. Which seems unlike MLB’s usual rapacious sell anything approach.
Ken gave Murphy’s ball the full home run call. Please get these guys back in the road booths.
But I love Ken’s reminiscing about the weed-smoking days in the van and the trip to Red Rocks. (He didn’t mention weed but, duh.)
Maybe. Korach seems kinda square to me.
Looks like they are allowed back on the field at home at least.
Gonna flip andrus and champman soon, yeah?
Seeing Chapman below the Andrus line is just sad.
On the bright side…an off-season Chapman trade looks less likely now than it did a few months ago.
I still believe true Chapman is much closer to the hitter he was in 2019 than the one he is in 2021 thus far. Talent doesn’t evaporate that quickly. Bad habits he developed while playing hurt last year, now getting into his head. He’ll return to being a good hitter, hopefully still while wearing green.
He’s Brooks Robinson. .267/.322/.401 but Hall of Fame.
Elvis up to .215 now. It looks that way to me.
From 1st & 3rd with 1 out to inning’s end unscathed in 6 pitches.
how can they be strikes if the ball was unstruck?
Diekman almost got Charlie Brown’d on that liner up the box.
Scouting the A’s upcoming opponents, I see the Royals managed to bunt into a triple play today. That’s quite an achievement.
Ok, let’s win petit his 8th
On the replay, I hope Bob has asked his players, “Look, don’t beg me for an overturned call, if you’re pretty sure you’re right then signal me.” Same thing as I mentioned with Jed at the top of the thread. If there’s no clear video evidence, which there didn’t seem to be on the pickoff, then we lose our challenge and tough. But be truthful about it.
Seems like a big fail needing to let Andrus hit there.
Chapman coming through at the end to ensure that every starter left at least 1 runner on base.
two out of three is a little disappointing given the chances in this game. Of course, the Rockies probably feel like they wasted too many opportunities this game also.
I am prepared to be annoyed at the split of the next 6.
I thought until the end they could overcome that last game of the road trip Sunday lethargy but no. John and Bob deliver but Omelette sinks them.
35 year old Daniel Bard throwing two scoreless and pumping 101 at the end really scrambled my eggs.
LOL Sogard
Curse Charlie Blackmon for getting that song stuck in my head all weekend. At least Canha’s aggressively awful choice isn’t an earworm.
Sadly this is untrue. I’ve caught myself whistling or humming “Like A Virgin” on my walks quite a few times the last couple months.
Although if it works for Canha, I’ll suggest Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” for Chapman.
I very much doubt Chapman has the capacity for whimsy that would require.
I might watch one or two USA soccer games a year. Very glad I picked this one.
Super entertaining. This officiating is crap though.
Mexico fans not exactly going down with class here.
INCREDIBLE game. Wow.
If the screenplay said “Emergency substitute goalie stops PK for shocking win” you’d fire the writer as a hopeless sappy hack.
FOR PLAGIARISM!
(don’t watch the last 45 seconds.)
mexico went full cult classic compilations with their lettering.
if they need a fundraiser, they should make memo’s 13 in blue.
Mexico deserved to lose because of those awful kits. Why you would break out black-with-purple-sleeve-splotches when you have their iconic green available is inexplicable.
ugly enough already, but it’s also their home kit.
stumbled on argentina colombia by accident right now and i admit i don’t care what tournament they win with these kits i’m not buying it. it’s like they used that IG influencer vacation lady’s repeating cloud.
live commentary: where the hell did paredes pull that out of??
2-0 argentina, not a spoiler. it’s only 8 minutes in.
in today’s substitute goalie news, he couldn’t save the stupidly produced penalty nor the 95th minute header.
Need to rattle a few cages: Soccer has huge problems with the basic rules in several areas. Reform is desperately needed. The rules of hockey are superior in nearly every respect. It’s been driving me crazy for decades!
–VAR leading to all these extra PKs is awful. The handball last night would never have been a PK before, and rightfully so. Sometimes the ball accidentally glances off an arm. Not really appropriate to give the other team .8 goals or whatever. I was also fine with no call on the Pulisic one! It was clearly a foul, ok, but also the ball got away from him and they just sort of ran into each other. Looking in slow motion for technical violations is terrible, and similar to the guy-has-finger-off-the-bag-for-.02-seconds situation.
–This highlights one of the other main problems, which is: the penalty for fouls outside the box is too low, and the penalty for fouls inside the box is way way too high. Luckily, hockey has the solution. Players should get time penalties for fouls outside the box. The card system is stupid and doesn’t work. Time penalties can be more significant inside the box, but still with indirect kick, and they could reserve penalty shots for truly egregious stuff (intentional handball, tripping guy from behind on breakaway), or, alternatively, change the PK to something a bit harder.
–PKs are an appalling way to break ties, possibly the very worst rule in all of sports. There can be no serious debate on this point. Probably Chris Berman loves it. Taking guys off the field every 5 minutes (or something) of OT would be exciting.
Yeah, VAR as a means of awarding penalties the referee didn’t see as penalties live has mostly made the sport worse.
omg. i can’t believe i’ve never thought of all this before.
I have heard others tout the elegance of the replay system used in rugby, done quickly with minimal impact on the game flow. But never having watched rugby I don’t know how accurate or cross-applicable that is. One thing which is universal across replays, though, is how stupid it is to involve the on-field officials in any way. It’s dumb when the football ref stares into his hooded booth, or when the umps put on the headsets, or the hoops refs swivel the TV monitor over to their side of the court. Useless waste of time. Hire and train quality video refs and let them do the job, period.
Audience vote!
Yes, and their initial call on the field should not be known to the third party who conducts the review.
Oh yeah, I like that idea.
Something about Rugby’s culture makes this not true. There is no defensiveness in any of the reviews I’ve seen. Once, for example, they started the review to see if there was any penalty at all, and the referee said something about how surely it was nothing more serious than that. Then he saw the angle showing an intentional eye-gouge. Then they did the red card analysis and awarded one.
Sunlight, disinfectant, etc. definitely doesn’t hurt either.
One of the really nice things in rugby is the replay official can signal review instead of try or no try. Easy to remove bias from the call on the field, when there wasn’t a call at all. Much harder to do when the umpire is in the video making a signal.
Actually, now they make calls on the field and apply some deference. Really only matters on things like whether a try was grounded in a pile of bodies, though, as anything the camera sees clearly is going to be called based upon the video.
It’s the best system in sport. Not only are they pretty quick, but they use the in-stadium jumbotron to show the Ref (and, the fans/TV audience) AND THE AUDIO GOES OUT ON TV.
So you can see/hear why play was stopped, what they’re seeing, and why they’re changing/not changing the call.
I’d still take Hawkeye in tennis, but yeah, rugby is waayy up there.
Sure. Helps to have fixed lines with no people around, of course…
* field hockey
same but the players too can ask for a review during play. each team gets 1 at the beginning of the game and it is only used up if they ask for a referral and the call goes the other way.
They’re starting to do this in Rugby too, though only the Captain of each team can do it where the rule is in place.
Only three games scheduled today. Weird.
Jefferson Davis Day weekend…..
Well that didn’t work out so well. Kelenic was 3-for-21 with 1 HR vs. the A’s.
But has anyone told the rotary club?
Good news, everyone! A’s have opened the vastly preferable north parking lot. I will park there tonight. And tailgating will be officially allowed starting June 29. Unofficially they seem to not enforce against people gathering with chairs and tables now, so long as they aren’t grilling.
Sad day, and something the A’s can learn from
Khris -.2
Heim -.4
Elvis -.6
Aramis -.4
now do the money
Too lazy to look that up. IIRC, Elvis is under contract for an extra year, but Texas was covering the difference in money (or maybe a little more than that), so it was close to a wash.
I was trying to make a “the A’s are cheap” joke. but yeah, that is how I remember it too
Where are we on White, Profar, Emilio, A. Allen, and Reed?
By the numbers, we lost there twice: Pagan had positive value for the Rays, while Profar was a 0 for us in 2019, and then Profar had positive value for the Padres last year while Allen has been mostly useless.
But I would argue that the latter trade was worth it, as I no longer have to watch Profar “hit” or “field.”
That stinks. It was only 25 months ago that he looked well on his way to a fourth straight 40 homer season. Luckily for him only 26 months ago that he signed the extension that should set him up for life.
The A’s could use another RH hitter.
DFA elvis
Next year
The Khris news made me look up the similarly one-dimensional Ryon Healy, currently OPSing .702 in the KBO.
Unfortunately the most likely lesson the A’s learn is “never spend big money.”
“Kids, you tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is: Never try.”
In other news, A.J. Puk’s ERA at Vegas has more digits than I would like.
Not getting anything from 3 straight top 10 picks is not great to say the least, sigh.
Though I supposed there’s still hope that Beck could return a middling reliever and Puk, maybe a little more than that.
Maybe Arizona would give us unlimited pool privileges for the rights to Murray.
I think Billy planned all of this to show why we should never do a full teardown and tank. His shit doesnt work in rebuilds.
Great answer, Gerrit.
What is it with the Pirates and first base?
Nice round of applause for Bob Melvin on his Oakland A’s wins record from the [looks around] maybe 800 people in the stands.
So, one for each win.