A’s reach the midpoint of the season with a home midweek three-gamer against the Rangers. It begins on the anniversary of Dave Stewart’s no-hitter, 6/29/1990 in Toronto, backed by a Dave Henderson longball and Rickey’s customary bludgeoning of the Jays. This is a great recap. Stew was amazing in his prime from 1987 to 1990, 20+ wins each year, 41 complete games, owned that punk Clemens, never got a Cy Young.
Texas arrives with the worst road record in the AL, 10-27. Which looks pretty bad until you scroll down to the NL West. Holy fuck, Rockies and D-Backs. This all suggests to me that teams from arid home climates suffer worst on the road and should probably be in deep cryogenic hydration pods on every plane flight. I am not a crackpot.
Kaprielian v Foltynewicz, 6:40p
Bassitt v Allard, 6:40p
Manaea v Dunning, 12:37p
Fernando Valenzuela also pitched well on 6/29/90.
i mean, not sure how he expected to maintain that .333 with only 1 hit in 4 at bats. but he did score so that’s pretty good.
Three K’s in the first for Kaprielian
Looks like they grabbed most of the “full capacity” ticket-buying patrons and stuffed them in the Diamond Level seats so at least those look full. The appearance of the rest of the place makes me think Oakland has responded to its owner’s “NOTICE ME! NOTICE ME!” junkets to Vegas with the traditional middle finger salute.
I dunno, I’m not sure you could point to any time since Haas where fan resentment mattered to ticket sales. Tuesday night in June, vs Texas, just after COVID, I doubt the attendance would be any different tonight if Fisher had just put down a nonrefundable $500 million.
4,739 is the 25th-largest home crowd of the season. Welcome back!
We do sparse with the best of them. Not sure that’s ever varied by how much fans like or hate ownership.
How well they rebound in 2022 will be interesting though, off of zero continuing season ticket holders.
Many teams did a “Re-Opening Day” promotion. The A’s, nothing, I guess not even a Free Parking Tuesday which apparently has disappeared from the schedule.
They had another opportunity this weekend with the Red Sox in town. I would have done Rangers-game pricing for all of those Red Sox games, a real Welcome Back feel especially with the fireworks night. I don’t see any outreach like that at all though, just the old “you should consider it a privilege to have Major League Baseball in Oakland” mentality.
If it seems like I’m implying I don’t feel in any hurry to return to attending games and handing Fisher/Kaval money, that might be a correct inference. You’re right, it doesn’t necessarily mean many A’s fans agree with that POV.
i don’t think i knew until today
They laid off the entire marketing staff and I guess they’ve just given up on the concept until this offseason. It’s like the Finley-era death spiral. “Hammer! There are 20 people in line for tickets. Get out there and open up a second window.”
Hmm
What an embarrassment
Summary: they’ve known about this for over a month, BART was even urging them to get the word out, they decided to do nothing until the last minute, and then suddenly cut off ticket sales.
That’s really bad. Hide the BART problem while selling as many tix as possible for the one and only game they’ve actively promoted all year. Then Kaval makes a pissy little show of cutting off sales (after hitting their target, no doubt) and leave BART-reliant fans up shit creek.
I think the lack of season ticket holders is a factor in tonight’s attendance. We’ve never known how many full-season packages were being sold in the past, but there were more than a few cold Tuesday nights against bad teams that looked like tonight where the official gate was 10,000.
German Marquez also pitching well on 6/29.
reply fail
Chapman to Aces: shut up!
Dang, that was exactly what Kaprielian had feared all AB long, and he knew it immediately.
Also “Kaprielian” needs a shortener. Kap is taken. Kapri is weird. JK feels wrong.
Pre? Prel? Lian?
Krap?
“Dr. Death”. No, wait, that was Kevorkian.
Getting behind 3-0 to Gallo and then forcing a fastball in there at 3-1 seemed like a really dumb idea, especially with two outs. And Brock Holt is hitting next.
not watching so i don’t know where the pitch was, but there is no need to throw a strike to gallo there. 2 outs nobody on with [check notes] brock holt next.
He threw a curve 2-0, then got a friendly call on the black to go 3-1, clear intent to pitch around Gallo, until…
At least three really ugly Ranger plays on that one ball.
Bless Ray’s heart. “I think Holt thought it wasn’t hit as high that’s why he didn’t jump more.”
No Ray..White Men Can’t Jump.
Goddamn Moreland sucks.
Can we put New Guy in for Moreland now?
Are we sure new guy can’t play in the OF?
This A’s team has to be able to hit enough to win behind mediocre starts. Kaper was decent. Get some more fucking runs.
He was lucky to only allow 1 run in the 5th.
But yeah, right now the rotation seems fine, while the offense without Canha is pretty meh.
olson and laureano are in the doldrums. and I don’t buy chapman’s resurgence
it’s frustrating that ownership won’t spend a few million to win games
Agreed. In today’s game you can’t score 2 against even the Rangers and expect to win.
A sunset shot with I think the Fruitvale Bridge in the background? Noice
Getting shut down by this crappy Rangers pitcher two starts in a row is really frustrating.
Having a good Wendelken would be a very good thing.
Sigh…again the difference between going with Acevedo vs Trivino is apparently one run.
sigh
heim seems to burn the a’s
that would have been helpful
And now Lowrie homers. Someone FKing shove a leverage index chart in front of BoMel’s face.
Honestly feels like he’s rubbing the roster shortcomings in Forst’s face.
Hey diekman up now in the red sox series
Yeah I approve of this even though a 1 run deficit feels like 10 right now.
Population of hell: +1
That’s a known known.
There are plenty of reasons why he was a horrible person, so I have to stand up and defend that particular quote. As a scientist, I find that dividing things into “known knowns”, “known unknowns”, and “unknown unknowns” make tons of sense.
i mean, it’s obvious as a concept. but that he used it to circumvent saying that they didn’t have enough evidence to start a war and make it sound lofty while being vacuous is what needs defending.
in the sense that it’s indefensible.
My unknown unknowns won’t result in any deaths. And they probably won’t even scuttle the $500M project that ptbnl is highly invested in!
The price tag is a known unknown
Albert Callaspo=Known Known
Grant Green=known unknow (as of 2013)
A much better Rumsfeld quote, which I repurpose frequently, is “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had.” So versatile. You go camping with the tent you have…you tailgate with the grill you have…you grocery shop with the reusable bags you have…you blaze up with the pipe you have…
You try to keep the deficit at 1 with the bad relievers you have, not the bad relievers you wish you had.
You go to hell with the alibis you have.
The Cubs scored 7 in the top of the first and lost 15-7.
can’t predict ball susyn
You go to the prospects game with the players you have, not Wander Franco.
Omg just move him to 3rd base or RF already.
Ohtani knocked out in the first after recording 2 outs with 2 hits, 4 walks, and a HBP.
Can they switch him into the DH position for the rest of the game?
Nope, Scioscia had him in the leadoff spot as a P.
Somehow this game is still going on. Was there a rain delay?
Two rain delays I think.
Seven run bottom of the first, seven run top of the ninth. One just cannot predict baseball.
Chapman tried to blow the A’s games, its maddening that it happens for the angels.
SCHWINDEL!
Ken: fly ball to left field should be deep enough, white goes back makes the catch and chapman scores
Vince: good to see, the A’s are know for the longball, and sunday in SF they really played small ball and it’s continuing here
Ken: he is frank Schwindel making his a’s debut [crack]
this is exactly what I thought a “Frank Schwindel” looked like
Reminds me a Nate Freiman. I’d like to know more about his choice of #45.
Is that Fischer in the diamond level?
You know he just texted forst after the HR “stop talking about cruz”
Nice of him to include Oakland on his tour.
I like guys who crush the baseball like that.
Thankfully Schwindel came up cause the rest of the offense is just pathetic right now.
10-21 for white
So FKing sick of him. He definitely has Fletcher potential.
Houston swept at home by the Orioles.
I don’t ever want to search negative things I said about Tony Kemp.
I’m just spitballin here, but how about we obtain eight new relievers at the deadline?
Exhale
Half a game out on July 1 is pretty reasonable, especially considering Luzardo imploding. Gotta upgrade the lineup and the bullpen at least a little to have a shot though.
Agreed. Feels like at least 2 more good, consistent bullpen arms, Canha coming back at full strength, and 1-2 more decent bats. And that sounds like a tall order.
The dreamcast is Canha is ok, Piscotty was actually hurt all year and just needed this time, Luzardo figures it out, and Rosenthal miraculously shows up with a health shoulder and wearing a cape. A boy can dream, right?
Garcia cost Manaea 3 strikes in the first inning. 2 on account of bad framing, 1 because he didn’t hold the ball long enough on the steal attempt that was going to be successful no matter what.
The last one hurts because Gallo singled with 2 strikes.
Also possible we’re dealing with a really shitty umpire.
So even when Seth Brown gets HBP, he hurts the team.
Aramis for Men is fucking useless.
Dear Seth:
The following is a video of my then 11 year old being hit by a pitch on a 2-1 count, when the umpire asked him he said “I don’t think so”
He walked on the next pitch
Fantastic
talk about footage.
I just noticed now that you can hear the ball hit him
Dreary, dreary stuff here.
Not really seeing it with Acevedo.
A real Lowe point in the season today.
He had to be cruel to be kind.
in the right measure
Great situation to bring in Smith so he can further confirm that he sucks now.
white flag? really?
Nick Allen is going to Tokyo. First game is the day of the trade deadline.
The twin stories of a top sprinter banned for marijauna and a top hurdler banned for paperwork related to an abortion have me feeling less than thrilled with the anti-doping cops today.
While I’m at it, WTF is this BS?
These women aren’t allowed to run in the 400 meters because of “high natural testosterone levels” (found only because they had to undergo “medical assessments” because they ran fast). Apparently they can run in the 200 meters because testosterone doesn’t matter there…or something. And somehow all the athletes who have been affected by this rule are African (and all women, obviously). What a bunch of (seemingly racist and sexist) crap.
This one troubles me a lot more. AFAIK there’s no dispute that she’s doing everything she can, but she just isn’t female enough for the organizing body. That sucks.
Silver medal for one of these women in the 200. Good for her and I hope Sebastian Coe hated every second of it.
I mean, on the MJ thing you can hate the rule, but it isn’t like the rule is some sort of surprise. I hadn’t heard the second one, but this is… difficult to take at face value:
Agreed on both. Especially the MJ. I think it is an incredibly stupid rule but it isnt some obscure technicality. I do like that she seems (from the little I have read) to have been handling it as well as you can-that actually makes me want to see an exception made that much more.
Coach Casual Friday may have pulled his top striker off a touch too soon.
this game may turn out to be the argument pro why penalty shootouts make sense.
sometimes there’s just no soccer left on the field. we’ll see…
I think Spain probably wins it before then. I think they probably would have lost it without the red card.
i was wrong. there’s still sommer soccer left.
Alvaro scores that.
Spain managed to send quite a few good chances directly at the goalie’s tummy during regular play and OT, so I’d say that bodes well for the Swiss.
spain doesn’t like penalties.
there’s nobody to pass it to.
usually, you score 3 in the shootout, you lose.
Swiss took five perfect ones last game. Today, three extremely terrible ones. You just can’t predict shootouts (, Suzyn).
hackysack goal.
What’s less surprising, Trevor Bauer being the MLB player under criminal investigation for assault that he claims was consensual rough sex, or Willie Brown being the politician still sticking up for Bill Cosby?
Definitely Willie.
As awful as I thought Bauer probably was as a person, I had no idea he was that kind of awful.
Seriously. Even the “exculpatory” text exchange reads pretty bad, and he went a number of levels beyond that, it seems.
It is so easy to just stay silent, unless willie has some “spanish fly” history
I get it from Willie’s perspective. He’s not running for anything so has nothing to lose in the broader public eye. But Willie future criminal defense will surely feature “they’re out to bring down another successful black man.” Aligning himself with Cosby backers makes sense that way.
I do not Remember This Guy.
http://freekraut.net/?p=17698#comment-510232
Loll
I laughed too
You can lead a GM to water…
checking in on games in the mlb.tv, i am remined we will see terrible chapeaus for this weekend
or as ken and vince say all the time, fresh lids have dropped
they’re not chapeaus.
they’re freedom hats!
What is your size? do you wear black?
not sure i wear hats anymore tbh.
They should go all out and make everyone wear tricorns all weekend.
i’d wear mine sideways.
Not for batting, the earflaps would cover your eyes
freedom sucks!
Argh those red hats are horrible. “Clean home whites” utterly defiled. They’d look better in those dumb hats with a taco on them.
As an owner of 3 Fresno Tacos hats I feel targeted. I will say that 1) it is MiLB so shtick is OK and 2) none of them are American Flag tacos.
cleats to the face ouch.
The white haired guy in the front row looks like Uncle Lew. Ruining the start of the game.