Game Thread Back to Basics ← FREE KRAUT!

Game Thread Back to Basics 96

A’s score a BB-caused run. Yay walks! Go A’s!

96 thoughts on “Game Thread Back to Basics

  1. mikeA May 20,2009 4:25 pm

    93, 95, 94, 94. Heat! Anderson is awesome!

    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:27 pm || Up

      K’s the side?

      • mikeA May 20,2009 4:27 pm || Up

        Thanks for staying home! Looks like you only poison the well! What an inning! Anderson is awesome!

        • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:29 pm || Up

          I had to take care of my MMA guy, which involved sprinting to the FedEx office before it closed at 7pm. I could still go…I have a ticket, but I think I should avoid the roads after having plowed right into those foreigners in the cross walk…

          • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:31 pm || Up

            My brother’s been commissioned to secure more free kraut singles. We’ll see. I’m sure he thinks the idea silly.

          • mikeA May 20,2009 4:32 pm || Up

            I don’t know what MMA is. Sounds like a wrestling or martial arts league.

            • nevermoor May 20,2009 4:44 pm || Up

              Mixed Martial Arts (in other words, sweaty guys lying on top of each other in a danger-hug)

              "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
          • mikeA May 20,2009 4:35 pm || Up

            Question: when you’re out on the street in the Tampa area, do people blare awful music and incessantly bang cowbells?

            • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:40 pm || Up

              No, but you’d think so, huh? Most of that loudness is contrived. For YEARS, they gave out cowbells like once or twice a week. So I think we could even consider that somewhat contrived. They play LOUD ass music all the time.

              MMA is Mixed Martial Arts. My guy’s a manager for almost exclusively UFC fighters. It’s what boxing is losing to these days. UFC 98 is in Las Vegas this weekend. I design and make the banners and the shorts decals for the fighters. Sponsorship provides about 200% give or take of what their “salary” is. It’s kind of capitalism at its most disgusting. Good thing I’m part of the machine.

              • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:41 pm || Up

                I’m sorry, about 300%, mis-type.

                • mikeA May 20,2009 4:45 pm || Up

                  When I start to become disillusioned about this country, I always think “at least the signs are delivered on schedule.”

                • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:47 pm || Up

                  as well you should.

                  though I’m essentially a socialist. How the hell I became a small business owner is creepy in its Talking Heads quality.

            • monkeyball May 20,2009 4:45 pm || Up

              Little-known fact: Idiocracy was actually a documentary, shot entirely in Florida.

              you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
              • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:56 pm || Up

                if you only knew.

                Have you ever been here?

              • xbhaskarx May 20,2009 10:49 pm || Up

                That’s not true, parts of it were shot in the UK:

                ‘I’ve had SEVEN kids since I was 15,’ says mother, 24, raking in £24,000 a year in benefits

                As neither of the couple works, they enjoy child tax credits and child benefits of £24,000 a year to support their ever-increasing brood.

                Mrs Christian said: ‘We always wanted lots of babies and we only take what we are entitled to.

                The couple pay £15 a month towards the rent of a three-storey, four-bedroom house in Norwich.


                (and she’s pregnant with #8)

                • monkeyball May 21,2009 6:22 am || Up

                  … and that’s why LB’s basically a socialist.

                  you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  2. andeux May 20,2009 4:30 pm

    Every time the A’s face Kazmir I think of this.

    TINSTAAFK
    • FreeSeatUpgrade May 20,2009 4:40 pm || Up
      Nuh nuh nuh, nuh nuh nuh, nuh nuh nuh, nuh nuh nuh

      Doo doo doo dee doo doo dee doo

      "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
  3. mikeA May 20,2009 4:30 pm

    I would not describe Crosby’s hit as a quality kraut single.

    • nevermoor May 20,2009 4:45 pm || Up

      How about gameday’s “soft line drive”?

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • mikeA May 20,2009 4:48 pm || Up

        dying quail shot out of pre-gunpowder cannon.

        • monkeyball May 20,2009 4:52 pm || Up

          Isn’t that like a pre-steam-power locomotive?

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • mikeA May 20,2009 4:54 pm || Up

            It’s like a double helping of kraut scoring Holliday!

  4. mikeA May 20,2009 4:43 pm

    That catch Rajai just made had to be seen to be believed (in a bad way).

  5. mikeA May 20,2009 4:45 pm

    Anderson is filthy! He is dealing!

    • nevermoor May 20,2009 4:54 pm || Up

      Kazmir is not. Shouldn’t someone remind him he’s a lefty and these are the A’s?

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • mikeA May 20,2009 4:56 pm || Up

        Someone should tell the Rays brass that if they have a pitcher who only throws fastballs and he’s lost 4 mph this year, they need to DL him or send him to the bullpen or something besides letting him keep his rotation spot.

        • xbhaskarx May 20,2009 5:14 pm || Up

          He’s lost 4 mph on his fastball this year? Huh, I did not know that.
          But it was already getting painful to watch him pitch last year.

          • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 5:17 pm || Up

            I was about to say that he didn’t rely on his FB, but the exact same thing happened to Z when he lost a couple ticks off his fastball, huh?

            • mikeA May 20,2009 5:22 pm || Up

              yup, and he got a lot of velocity back this year and is pitching well.

              • nevermoor May 20,2009 5:26 pm || Up
                "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
                • mikeA May 20,2009 5:53 pm || Up

                  The simple truth, I think, is that Zito just doesn’t throw as hard as he once did

                  Yeah…. And he’s throwing harder this year, and getting better results. He started getting bad results in the middle of 06 when his fastball suddenly dropped (and he claimed after/before every start that it was a mechanical issue that he’d fixed.) Now it’s back up and he’s not getting hit as hard, so….

                • xbhaskarx May 20,2009 5:58 pm || Up

                  Strange… How can Neyer link to the Pitchfx data that shows Zito’s velocity is up 2mph across the board, and then say that?

                • mikeA May 20,2009 6:08 pm || Up

                  The post makes sense as a response to someone thinking “hey, Zito is back to being good like he was with the A’s” which does not seem likely.

                • nevermoor May 20,2009 6:01 pm || Up

                  I wonder how much of that is real. Especially since over 15% of his pitches are “unknown” this season for some reason.

                  "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
          • mikeA May 20,2009 5:18 pm || Up

            exaggeration; career: (93.7)(92.6)(91.9)(92.1)(91.7)(89.6)

      • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 4:56 pm || Up

        He’s a head case. He’s a total head case.

  6. monkeyball May 20,2009 4:55 pm

    Giambi runs like one of these:
    monkey

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  7. mikeA May 20,2009 5:02 pm

    4 straight fastballs to Iwamura right on the lower outside corner! Anderson is amazing!

  8. xbhaskarx May 20,2009 5:12 pm

    Man, what happened to Kazmir, he’s young and not injured, yet every year he’s worse than the year before…

    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 5:14 pm || Up

      he’s a head case, man. I’m telling you. Even Maddon talks about how he needs to not think so much and just pitch.

  9. mikeA May 20,2009 5:19 pm

    Ah, the old Zito play.

  10. nevermoor May 20,2009 5:23 pm

    Boo. I work for a little while and not only have we lost the picket fence, we lost the shutout.

    I still want to see a perfect picket fence game at some point in my life.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 5:25 pm || Up

      I saw four Indians no hit us in the the 90’s. Because it was a team effort, it was less dramatic. And because it was them, not us, it really kind of sucked.

      • nevermoor May 20,2009 5:35 pm || Up

        Oh, I actually meant 9 one-run innings.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  11. mikeA May 20,2009 5:47 pm

    Great play by Kennedy.

  12. Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 6:01 pm

    So would one of you stat guys tell me, is Ryan Sweeney any good in CF or is he breaking the wrong way and making it look good, ala Byrnes?

  13. nevermoor May 20,2009 6:08 pm

    -0.4 UZR/150 = very very close to average.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • mikeA May 20,2009 6:13 pm || Up

      this likes him a lot more than uzr (which has him below average in CF, way above average in RF). He’s probably a tad below average in CF. I would not say that Byrnes “made it look good”…..

  14. nevermoor May 20,2009 6:13 pm

    Sigh. I really thought Anderson was going 7.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • mikeA May 20,2009 6:19 pm || Up

      I would normally like that move, but not after yesterday…

  15. mikeA May 20,2009 6:22 pm

    Wow. That’s the type of thing that should happen when we play the Angels but never does.

    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 6:23 pm || Up

      it was sweet.

      • nevermoor May 20,2009 6:25 pm || Up

        Payback for Kennedy giving one up yesterday, or was it close this time?

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
        • mikeA May 20,2009 6:28 pm || Up

          It was close considering how shallow the ball was, but not really that close. I was shocked he ran.

  16. andeux May 20,2009 6:25 pm

    “B. Zobrist popped into double play second to catcher, A. Iwamura out at home ”

    WTH?

    TINSTAAFK
    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 6:31 pm || Up

      foul ball behind first.

      They were counting on the A’s being asleep.

  17. mikeA May 20,2009 6:31 pm

    Longoria looks great on defense.

    • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 6:32 pm || Up

      They, uh, they got a hell of a player there. If he stays healthy, his ceiling is very, very high.

      • mikeA May 20,2009 6:33 pm || Up

        I figure a gator or a snake or something will get him before he hits his prime.

        • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 6:40 pm || Up

          Entirely possible. Or the “Palmetto bugs”…

          • xbhaskarx May 20,2009 6:56 pm || Up

            Is that the name for whatever caused Woody Harrelson’s career to tank?

            • Leopold Bloom May 20,2009 7:19 pm || Up

              No, that’s called “weed.”

              “Palmetto bugs” are big-ass cockroaches, but they call them palmetto bugs because to call them big-ass cockroaches would mean we live in a shithole, which everyone here seems to be in denial of.

      • nevermoor May 20,2009 6:34 pm || Up

        Hell, I’d even trade Crosby AND Davis for him.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  18. nevermoor May 20,2009 6:33 pm

    Injury Delay before the first pitch?

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • mikeA May 20,2009 6:34 pm || Up

      Trainer came out to look at Springer with Geren, then they left…. Don’t know what’s going on…

      • nevermoor May 20,2009 6:35 pm || Up

        He’s wearing Green/Gold?

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  19. mikeA May 20,2009 6:55 pm

    That was unpleasant. Nice play from Hannahan. I recall that last year Geren ibb’d Pena who represented the winning run and he came around to score…

  20. nevermoor May 20,2009 7:05 pm
    Ziggy

    got squeezed.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  21. mikeA May 20,2009 7:10 pm

    There you go Leopold!

  22. nevermoor May 20,2009 7:10 pm

    VICTORY CABBAGE!

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  23. xbhaskarx May 20,2009 7:14 pm

    That was a very very close to average play by Sweeney.

  24. monkeyball May 20,2009 7:19 pm

    He snatched that one right out of the ol’ cabbage patch!

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  25. salb918 May 20,2009 7:26 pm

    Hunh. Nice.

  26. mikeA May 20,2009 7:33 pm

    I like Holliday’s “Sweeney is #1” signal.

    • nevermoor May 20,2009 11:07 pm || Up

      I like whoever posted the image.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • xbhaskarx May 21,2009 12:44 am || Up

        I stole it from **.

        • green star oakland May 21,2009 1:03 am || Up

          Looks like a Chronicle link to me ;-)

          If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
  27. whiteshoes40 May 20,2009 11:37 pm

    I love the catch.
    I love the picture.
    I love Holliday’s reactions to Ryan’s catches.
    I love it when the A’s actually win a game or two.

    • nevermoor May 20,2009 11:43 pm || Up

      I love lamp

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  28. mk May 21,2009 5:06 am

    • monkeyball May 21,2009 6:23 am || Up

      Henceforth, it shall be known as “the Sweetbay Catch.”

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • the dogfather May 21,2009 9:55 am || Up

        It was a Sweet Deal.

        … by Sweeney, Sweeney god — the demon fielder with fleet feet.

        The meaning of life is not so much found, as it is Made. -- Opus
        • monkeyball May 21,2009 11:53 am || Up

          I think it should be “Sweeney Bod”

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor May 21,2009 11:39 am || Up

        Put it in the FKtionary

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
        • monkeyball May 21,2009 11:52 am || Up

          We need FK interns to do things like that.

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • nevermoor May 21,2009 1:34 pm || Up

            I can has internment camps?
            maglalang

            "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  29. xbhaskarx May 21,2009 10:09 am

    large version

    • green star oakland May 21,2009 10:52 am || Up

      Just a *little* small as an avatar.

      If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
    • nevermoor May 21,2009 11:40 am || Up

      Sexy

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"

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