Our heroes cross the border into the wild lawless north. It will not be easy, as Canada is filled with lowlifes who’d just as soon poison your sushi as look at you. Albeit politely.
Famous gamblers. The guy who founded Cirque Du Soleil is on the list.
Drug-addled cretins. This guy was Toronto’s mayor.
Dangerous demagogues. This guy is Ontario’s premier. Also the brother of the drug-addled cretin.
Exciting young players, fringe wild card contenders, Manaea Manoah blah blah blah, sure, OK, just watch you don’t get shanked outside Tim Hortons for your soggy leftover poutine.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
The Chron has the matchups as Fri: Manaea vs Manoah, Sat: Blackburn vs Berios, and Sun: Irvin vs Ray. But the probables page has the Blue Jays with TBD for Sat and Sun. That page also reminds me that the A’s have Monday off, much to my holiday day time dismay.
Chapman is extremely back.
Manaea too??
throwing hard is nice
The article didn’t mention that Guy Laliberte is a candidate for the distinction of alperson who has lost the most money at poker of all time.
I remember seeing him on High Stakes Poker. It seemed like he was there to fund the rest of the players.
Hey, you try playing cards while Chinese acrobats and annoying mimes cavort around you.
Marcus wondering where Manaea got those 96 mph heaters.
This guy really got his last name tattooed on his forearm in 200 point font. That’ll come in handy when he’s on the Yankees and I can’t remember his name.
Fiers has that too.
Oh man Tony Kemp had about 1.5 seconds of terror while not seeing that flyball.
I like this Sean. Hope we can keep him for another 4 innings and 2 months.
Merde
TeOhcrap
OK I kind of like the blazer.
blue jays take the lead 2-2
It’s OK to get a point on the road in international competition.
No no no
Fuck this guy. What the fuck?!
Month long suspension for that IMO. God damn it.
Is he seriously not being thrown out of this game?
Somebody fill me in please. Seeing 2 HBP and an injury delay on GameDay?
Manoah, who has a rep for hitting batters, went up and in on Harrison for a check foul, then up and in again hitting him on the hand. Harrison said something, and the next pitch hit Marte square in the head.
Marte was fine enough to go first to home on Olson’s ensuing double, so there’s that.
Also buzzed Gomes earlier. At least four pitches way inside and head-high to righties so far.
OK, I’ll check in later. Go Paddleheads. Pride Night plus fireworks here.
Paddleheads, meet PaddleFeet
$4 microbrew pints if the home team Beer Batter gets a hit. I did walk from the hotel…
Best way to make them pay.
If this kid can’t control his fastball he has no business on a big league mound. Shame on Toronto’s staff for not pulling him on the spot. Claim injury, take time to warm someone up, fine.
Did they even give a warning? I mean everyone is right he needs to be out but it looks like he got a free pass.
Apparently not, since he just buzzed Chapman with no consequence.
Just saw someone tweet that both benches have been warned. This of course is also bull seeing as how both teams haven’t been buzzing hitters.
@Soaker if you haven’t seen by now, Harrison hit, then Marte hit in the head. Went down but stayed in because he’s superhuman.
Also they need to pull Marte, I’m sure he was able to answer what year it was, what city he’s in, etc., but 95 mph to the temple is dangerous as fuck.
Ok, good. Don’t fuck it up Bolt.
It seems like they (pretty much every team) always do this: guy gets hit in the head, they leave him in to run the bases, sometimes 1 more inning in the field, and then they take him out.
If it’s in the head and hard enough for him to need a minute before even getting up and going to first, just take him out immediately, no matter who it is.
The NFL is the last place anyone should look for safety examples, but they’ve (more or less) started pulling guys out automatically after any head shot. MLB could say any pitch >90 mph that hits the helmet equals out for the game.
I would also endorse a rule that says any pitcher who hits two batters above shoulder level gets automatically ejected. Make intent irrelevant.
Yes, NFL and NHL are both better for having strict protocols, though teams still cheat sometimes.
I had just been thinking along the same lines as your second paragraph as well (as I’m sure many others have). I would be ok with auto-ejection for even a single pitch to the head. As you say, it eliminates the problem of making the umps judge intent. And on the hitting side, it’s not like anyone is going to try to get an advantage by sticking that fkin’ thing (their head) out there.
Kendall might’ve.
running is the WORST thing you could do.
Marte damn near Jeremy Giambi’d the play at the plate. Maybe Jeremy had a concussion.
I feel like Jeremy went through much of life with a concussion.
my uncle was friend’s with their dad
it tracks
is harrison going to fight the dirt now?
Tony Kemp, power threat.
Kemp!!
my kid just told me that bob melvin was the last “bob” in the MLB, don;t know if its true, the elder is very nerdy and may know.
Did he outlast Bob Hamelin?
No. Or Wickman.
he’ll call it fake news and storm off
This kid’s got a bright future.
Tied for last with bob welch.
White Sox guy in the old days would have gone by Luis Bob.
There’s a great Jon Bois video on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvh6NLqKRfs
If we’re going to plunk someone later, I nominate Diekman.
His control is bad enough that he will have plausible deniability, and if that doesn’t work and he gets suspended it still might work in our favor.
Harrison is now hated in Canada, and loving it.
I am impressed that sean has this new glove stitched up and ready so soon
Some guys, mostly infielders, start breaking in what will become their new game glove up to a year in advance.
nate pearson is in mop up duty?
Looks like he is their version of Luzardo/Puk.
the vancouver short season championships are going to have an epic reunion with him and Barreto
Lowrie might be slower than Frank Thomas (even 2021 Frank Thomas.)
We should be pinch running for him more (in games that are closer than this).
Maybe Jed needs some Nugenix.
didn’t ramon use franks supplements? Maybe jed can use whatever is left in his locker
Speaking of players who should be ejected, how come Springer gets to turn around and yell in the ump’s face about a strike call?
would it be too dickish if the umpire said “did i stutter?”
Urge to hug…rising…
Hug, squeeze, strangle…something on that continuum.
(checks in) Oh my goodness.
when is rosenthal coming back?
I’m just glad Soaker doesn’t have to see this.
Now I wish I hadn’t seen it either.
that’s ok. don’t give in to guriel either
Unfuckingbelievable.
Sickening.
I mean, honestly, if you cant get 3 outs before 6 runs score, there is no point, yeah?
Now those fuckers are hitting our base coaches too.
lowrie is not getting breaks at the plate
Romo has to have the 9th. he is not a zombie runner type
nvrmnd
Hooray! Thank you, just universe
After Canha’s HR they showed everyone celebrating, except Petit still looking like he wanted to murder someone.
Yes, if the A’s hold this lead it will not be Yusmeiro’s favorite W of the year.
favourite
Must have known what was coming.
Poor Korach had no idea on that call.
Toronto, Canhada
imma steal that
O Canhada also works.
Nice to have Kemp as the runner at 2nd for the 10th.
lol
OK, so not allowed to go pick up dinner…got it.
Of course.
Pulling Manaea at 80whatever pitches to get Lou some work kinda backfired a bit.
Fuck
no game will encapsulate the 2021 A’s better than this
I have been staring at this comment for a full hour in dumb struck agreement.
It had everything but parallel paths.
Yikes. Those last couple innings look absurd.
This season was kneecapped from the beginning by unbelievable, insurmountable miserliness. It’s quite fitting that Marcus, the prime symbol of that cheapness, ended our season tonight.
So even with the deadline improvements, my hypothesis that they are a .500 team that happened to have a 13-game winning streak against a bunch of bad teams, plus the 2 in there against Houston, is holding firm through Game 135.
On one hand, you can’t do much to manage around this kind of running meltdown. It’s a roster problem. On the other hand, maybe don’t pull your veteran starter early on a night he’s been mostly dominating on six days rest.
Kemp gets hit in the top of the first. Bottom half, two outs none on, absolutely perfect time to plunk or buzz Guerrero. With Blackburn showing no interest in sending such a message, I guess it’s just not going to happen.
sigh
Five games in a row allowing 3+ homers. THROW INSIDE GODDAMNIT
I’m glad to be keeping my distance. Frightening to think I gave Detroit/Toronto serious consideration a couple months ago.
I’m having lunch at a BBQ place on the outskirts of Spokane, having blown through the terrifying Coeur d’Alene as fast as possible.
Also I just found out that my evacuation order was lifted at noon so it’s pure vacation now.
Looks like your air quality is slowly improving but remains >200, so enjoy the fresh Washington air.
No KD, Bolt and Pinder both starting, AAAA trash starting against one of the best lineups in the league…they’re making it really easy to not bother paying attention.
What have ya’ll been doing for Q2 in the recall? I’m stumped but don’t see the point in leaving it blank.
I didn’t vote on Q2, as the Dem party recommends. I could see a case for voting for Paffrath or even Faulconer in an attempt to thwart Elder. As a former LA resident I have a soft spot for Angelyne, whose billboards have been ubiquitous for decades.
It’s all such a trainwreck, the recall rules are awful. Should require like five times more signatures than it does.
Paffarth only seemed ok because he is not crazy, but he is a little crazy.
I seriously considered Angelyne
I left it blank. I really wanted to vote for someone, but since they didn’t run a bustemonte this time I didn’t
The little I read about him was like “I’m a Democrat, but I want lower taxes and less regulation.”
the most frustrating fucking failure spelled with a capital D.
like, when you win with >50% but also you can win with <50% why not go for both?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSxqTxQFFON/
I get the strategy. You don’t want any left of center voters who don’t like Newsom to think they can vote for recall and replace him with someone more to their liking. Some of that probably happened to Gray Davis. Newsom wants to run straight up against Elder, based on the ads.
And if you’re a non-Newsom democratic strategist thinking about 2022, you’d rather run against Elder than a “reasonable” incumbent like Faulconer. That’s not great for the state in the interim though.
well you just see a possible yes and i always see a no but.
seriously tho, my issue is they should be messaging that. not sending the phone banks out with bad info and lots of people left frustrated and not knowing what to do on B (sorry batgirl, i don’t know either). especially when looking to motivate voters which is really what this campaign comes down to*.
*add this clause to any most important election since the last one / till the next one.
admittedly i only receive messaging via social media pointing out the mistakes. the only direct campaigning i’ve seen is 99% vote yes, on roadside signs near farms and mcmansions in southern california and west jefferson state. the jefferson ones actually said vote elder.
Right. Voters should vote on question 2 (I did). But this is a real risk in campaign messaging.
I wish people could avoid the circular-firing-squad impulse and just accept this.
I’m relatively pleased by the lack of stupid contrarianism/opportunism from non-conservatives on the recall. Most importantly, there’s no pie-in-the sky “left” candidate gaining traction who could ratfuck the thing for Republicans. Turnout could be a problem, but Democratic unity isn’t.
I’m really hoping mail voting makes the turnout more like a bi-annual election.
meanwhile, in riskless messaging land…
Telling people to just vote no and mail the thing turned out to be the right strategy. It lowered the friction for people to send in their ballots by telling them they didn’t have to think too hard about this thing. Taking away decision paralysis that could have made people procrastinate was a good call. It also sucked legitimacy from all the weirdos on the ballot. “Don’t even flip the thing over and look at those nuts. It only encourages them.”
All in all, VBM makes it damn near impossible now for a party as unpopular as the CAGOP to use a mechanism like the stupid recall provision to win by catching the majority party napping. I’m not even sure Prime Arnie could pull it off now. Making it easy to vote is a game changer.
Still, the recall system must be changed. The threshold to trigger a recall is far too low, and the part A and provisional part B system is just stupid and confusing. Saw numerous national pundits last night making stupid statements about how Larry Elder’s vote total now elevates him to important statewide voice.
Oh, for sure. Given the margin, seems like it would be pretty straightforward to get the votes for an amendment it to raise the threshold and just make it a straight yes/no with the Lt. Gov. taking over until the next election if it’s yes.
about 4.5 million people voted no and left q2 blank.
that elder couldn’t get over 40% of yes is telling.
Right, this would shut down the nonsense recall strategy once and for all.
Also a lot of “California voters were angry with Newsom about masks/wildfires/homelessness/French Laundry/whatever” punditry. It looks like he will win by about the same margin that he did in 2018, and that Biden did here in 2020. The null hypothesis wins again.
But as takes go, it’s still hard to beat this:
Hahahaha holy shit.
Just like literally now means figuratively, definitely now means questionably.
To wit:
Every previously effective reliever has just rolled over and died the last two weeks. None of it is that surprising in isolation. It all happening at once is ridiculous.
Sure. But all those dubious relievers succeeding at the same time was also unlikely.
that’s the thing. Losing through july and august because we couldn’t get multiple hits in an inning but starters and bullpen was good, is the same thing as scoring 6 runs a game in september and only winning 1
Our hitters and our relief pitchers are on perpendicular paths.
This hurts but made me laugh.
Not sure if Trivino retaliating or just terrible.
I stopped watching so didn’t see these. I’d like to think we put our hardest thrower in to aim at the waistline.
Hard to be the team with the worse pen out of these two. We’re pulling it off, barely.
I am so glad I was out with the kids. I 100% would have thrown something at the TV.
There just isn’t anything to say. Barring some miracle we should enjoy these last 20 or so games for what they are and prepare for a great 2nd half in 2023 to signal the next window opening.
I am looking forward to going to the Coliseum on Tuesday to cheer Khris. I assume a decent number of fans feel the same, so of course this fucking clueless franchise will probably screw that up too.
I’m assuming send KD back to Vegas and call up Homer to sit in the bullpen.
The masturbatory coverage of a Yankees-Red Sox wild card game is going to be tough to take.
At least one of them has to lose.
I really need to kick this sports crap out of my life.
Ugh, same. There was a time when throwing myself into political activism scratched that itch for me; now I’d sooner stick an appendage in a pencil sharpener.
I’ve been starting to read more books. It’s great.
So what exactly do you hope for in today’s game? Build a big lead and blow it, or blow it early and come from behind to lose?
Better chance of someone grooving one to Khris if the Jays have a big lead.
“His head hit the wall too. That’s why they’re being cautious.” – our announcers, after the team doesn’t take Pinder out of the game.
Glen on every jay “he’s had a good series”
also glen Tee-oscar hernandez
vince “catching the jays at a confident time”
Every time the A’s face an actual contending team, I’m just reminded of how outclassed they are. Blackburn and Irvin against one of the best lineups in the league? The Jays must think we’re a joke.
And yes, I’m really just hate-watching at this point. The Semien gave me more spiteful satisfaction than disappointment.
Yeah they are contributing to a small anxiety attack over here so I’m gonna go buy some groceries or something.
I’m spending the day smoking a pork shoulder and stressing over USA vs. Canada. I’m happy for Marcus, or sorry that happened. I’m not watching either way.
the rest of the game should be focused on driving up the price the giants pay for him
I wonder if Khris is going to tip matt chapman any of the $2M he gets next year
Has anyone else noticed the sleeve Yan Gomes wears on his left arm?
It has an American flag, and the “free” in big letters but I’ve never been able to read the rest. Wondering if it is some “freedom isn’t free” thing.
I noticed this a few days ago and took it for a Cuban flag and assumed a “liberation” message. Gomes is Brazilian but had Cuban expat youth coaches, and of course played in Miami. He espoused evangelical beliefs back with Cleveland. He’s married to the daughter of Atlee Hammaker, who was/is a hardcore Christian conservative.
They finally showed a clear enough shot of this for me to read it when he was on first base last night.
It just says “Land of the FREE.” In between the text and the American flag are two smaller things which I still couldn’t see clearly, but one looks like it might be a Brazilian flag and the other could be (as you suggest) a Cuban flag.
Meanwhile in Bolsonaroland…
guys, vince like one of our tweets
I take back nothing.
Ed is getting FK verified!!
Jake Lamb is stalking us.
Third place
That’s the spirit, Bob.
*eyes emoji*
The Cubs and the Pirates have hit a combined three grand slams in their game today, the most recent one by Frank Schwindel.
Somebody deleted something which would be how a bunch of Sept. 3 comments ended up at the bottom.
Anyway, just looking up today’s result now and I am glad I did not annoy myself during the lovely drive through the North Cascades by listening to three hours of very predictable dreariness.
Comment restored, assuming someone clicked on “trash” accidentally.
Yeah, I think that was me with the fumble fingers then not knowing how to fix it. Apologies and thanks for restoring.
I just cannot get behind a “U-S-A” chant
I have no real idea, but would guess, that most teams have a “Go Our Nation” chant which makes their local dissenter-types cringe.
at least it’s not
chi chi chi
le le le
My heart could use a damn goal.
Doctor prescribes one Aaronson!
Need a refill.
Maybe make some substitutions, coach? Coach? You there?
Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.
Super disappointing and could have been even worse. Got the benefit of a questionable call or two. Canada looked more polished with the ball in the offensive end than we did.
Two points from two games against not great opposition, and we’re going into game three having lost two stars to injury and one to being a dumb ass of an unknown variety. Not great!
a guy on the covid IL stops by is a good thing now susan?
God dammit. RIP Michael K. Williams.
I know–ugh. I’m currently in season 3 of re-watching the Wire. He was so damn good.
He was great in every role I saw. Loved him in The Night Of, Lovecraft Country, Boardwalk Empire (which he completely saved), and of course Omar might be one of the top five best TV drama characters ever. Such a loss.
The A’s had to return home from Toronto via Columbus, Ohio because they couldn’t pass through customs in Oakland. Mickey Morabito was not pleased:
Something is missing from this story. Why isn’t he complaining about the reduced services in Toronto which precipitated the problem? Why wasn’t it known further in advance than that morning? Oakland doesn’t get many international incoming flights so their staff capacity is always limited. Seems like the kind of thing a vaunted advance man is supposed to be able to handle.
Usually Americans do clear US Customs at the Toronto airport. Probably has to do with the reduced flights since we’re not allowing Canadians into the US. I went up to Blaine yesterday and I-5 was deserted, on Labor Day.
The obvious better solution than Columbus would be to fly into SFO and get a bus to Oakland.
is it why did frankie montas not get a visa?
Parking lot empty AF. Not always best indicator but could be a mighty sparse crowd tonight. It’s absolutely beautiful out too.
I could easily swing by on the way home. Currently getting a bit hosed at a microbrewery in Grants Pass OR. The weekend ended the in-person season for me though.
Tonight is most likely the last one for me. Not completely writing off a game in the M’s series in two weeks though
I promised the elder boy the wednesday mariners game. don’t know if i have the follow through it being a school night and all
No one needs probabilities of different outcomes (to four significant digits!) based on some BS AI model changing on a pitch-by-pitch basis on the TV screen.
I’d like to readjust the WP from the last series please, doc.