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Open Thread: Game 135 - A's vs. Yankees

Sing it with me, everybody: "It's a Saarloos world after all, " (Now just the altos!) "It's a Saarloos world after all"...That's right, ladies, gentlemen, and oversized rodents: It's Aaron Small against Kirk Saarloos today, in a matchup that almost certainly does not affect anyone's fantasy team.

With Gordon, Rivera, Duke, and Street all well-rested, today is most certainly a 7-inning game, and one which Macha has the capacity to turn into a 5-inning game as desired or needed.

Today's "fun fact" centers around the reality that Ricardo Rincon may be called upon in a key spot today or tomorrow: Against left-handed pitching this year, Hideki Matsui is batting .352 with an OPS of .995, while Jason Giambi hits just .236 and the switch-hitting Ruben Sierra drops 66 points (.245/.311).

The starting lineups:

Jeter
Matsui
Sheffield
A-Rod
Giambi
Lawton
Posada
Cano
Crosby

Kendall
Ellis
Chavez
Hatteberg
Payton
Johnson
Kielty
Swisher
Scutaro

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Comments

GO A'S
and I hope Seattle beats the Angels and Vlad gets the chicken pox.
Or, if he's vegetarian,
gluten-pox.
lol funny you should mention
sitting here looking up gluten-free foods/additives etc while I surf AN pre-game, to get a better idea of the specifics of the diet that recently diagnosed celiac disease will apparently confine me to for the rest of my life (first priority: brewing gluten-free beer)...
Anyone for a
Chicken Coors?
In the Fire Swamp...
Buttercup: We'll never succeed. We may as well die here.

Westley: No, no. We have already succeeded. I mean, what are the three terrors of the Fire Swamp? One, the flame spurt - no problem. There's a popping sound preceding each; we can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand, which you were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.'s?

Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

[famous last words]

This is days late and barely related...
Don't you think Colon looks far more like André the Giant than like Shrek?
Haha I could see that.
Although it's kind of an insult to Andre the Giant.

I love that movie. "Inconceivable!"

Basic summary
of Ray Fosse's pre-game interview: "We're joined by Scott Hatteberg. Scotty, isn't Jason Kendall great? How great is he?"
SoCal A's Fan wanting to gloat...
I'm ready for the A's to get back into to first.  I went to the game on Thursday and was frustrated with the arogant Angel fans.

Hopefully the A's will be in first place in a few hours and the Angel fans will be quieted once again by the underdog A's.

LET'S GO OAKLAND!!

Ciabatta
C-I-A-B-A-DoubleT-A, Ciabatta

Peace out.

Actually Glenn....
The Angels will play in Seattle later this afternoon

Actually, the Angels will play in Anaheim this evening.

Oh, well. Hope it has the same result! LOSE ANAHEIM!

Hatteberg - Cleanup...
NO MACHA NO!
MLB on Fox
Took a break from all the College Football action taking from their ratings.

A televised Saturday daygame for the A's?

Awesome.

not for me : (
Pitchcounts
Saarloos: 1/3 inning, 1.
This lineup is terrifying.
I assume Greenwald is announcing
so I've got Mute + Radio again today
i cant even imagine greenwald yesterday
'....and Hatteberg hits it, and its a three run home run. You know Barry Bonds...."
Wow Chavvy!!!
thats why Slappy-Mc-Purple-Lips will never win the golden glove!
Pitchcounts
Saarloos: 2/3 inning, 5.
what a great start for 'Loos!
In what is probably one of his biggest starts ever!
You're right, it is.
I love it when EVERY GAME is huge.

Gotta love MLB Baseball.  :-)

King:
"Chavez grabs the ball instead of the bat"
Saarloos, 12 pitches.
Let's see how long we can keep him in there.  It'd be nice to have 2 games in a row where we didn't have to go deep.
Smallball?
Do we move Ellis over?
That was a GREAT AB by Chavvy...
...even though he got out.

Worked the count all the way, took a tough 2-2 pitch low, and hit it up the middle.

Ellis' baserunning sucked though.

3-2
No, what I meant...
...was he TOOK a tough 2-2 pitch, THEN hit up the middle on the next one.
Whoops!
I missed the hit and run.

Sorry, Ellis. Way to take out Giambi!

College Foot...
What?
NO! NO! NO!
Damnit! Why couldn't Bernie Williams be back in CF! That would have been a Triple if he were there!
After 1:
Small:    10 pitches
Saarloos: 12 pitches
There goes the perfect game.
Drat.
If he had played normaly
he would be out
I'm so confused.
Is A-Rod out or on base? First Gameday said "no out recorded" but then I look away for a second, come back and there's one out (and no description of what happened yet).

....And now it says A-Rod singled. Spastic.

Can't listen to the radio?
Might be worth getting Gameday Audio?
Nope, no radio or anything
because I'm in the Midwest for college. I've thought about getting MLB Audio or TV but it would just suck more time away. But I'm definitely planning on buying the one-day thing for MLB.TV if/when there's a do-or-die game at the end of the season...
Dude, feel free to step it up...
...to less of a 'jog' and more of a 'hustle' to catch that foul ball there Kielty!
HAHAH!
4-5-3 Double Play

Ellis to Chavez to Johnson

That sounds weird.
It's b/c of the shift, I assume?

Gameday time: nothing; then back in time to previous AB; then the current AB takes about .34 seconds to be completed; and the next one is about 10 seconds long. (As in, Lawton got walked in 8 seconds.) Annoying. Is CBS Sportsline better than gameday? Anyone know?

i'm so confused
gameday is worthless
Okay kid...You canNOT help this team!
Wow, nice throw, Kendall.
WHY?!

Lord!

From radio...
...sounds like that steal was on Saarloos and not Kendall. But then again, if you have no chance, don't throw it!
On TV...
...Kendall threw the ball to the center fielder.
great
now Kendalls OVERTHROWING the bag instead of not getting there...

Middle ground, Kendall, middle ground.

This is what I don't get...
...he HAS THE ARM strength to get it there...why is he so bad at this?
settle down, 'loos!
3 str balls
come on Capn
If this is another low scoring game
huge moment right here...
kind of like last night? ;)
NO, SILLY
;-)
Beautiful. BEAUTIFUL!
What happened?
Hard ground ball to 2nd.
A's out of the inning.
I hear the drums!!!!!
Hi saint!
32 pitches for Saarloos.
This could be a short appearance for him if he doesn't settle down.
it's okay...
we have the whole bullpen available.
Right,
but every extra bit of rest is huge for this stretch run.  This is why the Angels using KRod yesterday was such a big deal.
Basehit for Hatty!
On a 1-2 count!
Hatteberg
Yankee Dismantler.
Hatteberg:
12 hits in his last 24 at-bats?

Nice!

NICE RUNNING JAYPAY!
Way to beat that out!

One out.

Let's let that open the door
We need to unload on this guy. He's ripe for it.
See, Kielty?
HE ran for that ball and caught it!

Nice tag up by JayPay.

Yuck.
Next inning.

C'mon 'Loos, make it quick!

After 2:
Small, 23 pitches
Saarloos, 32 pitches.
We need to make Small throw pitches to us
and not just stroll through the lineup.
whiteshoes40
I have the today's game televised. Do you want to use my gameday audio today?
Ooh, definitely
except I have no idea how that would work... :)
send me an email
baseballgirl1976@hotmail.com
Crap.
First two Yankees on.
GO GO KENDALL
And Kendall Double Clutched too!
AWWWWW....HELL YEAH!
GREAT JOB KENDALL!
Kendall... throws a runner out?
Way to go! Nice job by Chavvy of keeping Cano out of the endzone... er... 3rd base.
Geez...'Loos!
ONE MORE GROUND BALL DP!
Yankees playing a little
smallball.
Okay, it's only one. It's only one.
Whoa
Macha is irate! It looked safe to me, though.
jeter was safe.
But Macha is PISSED. I love seeing that.
How huge is that Kendall throw, though?
It'd be 2-0.
I hate the Yankees
And I don't understand why we can't hit Small!
Saarloos
48 Pitches after 3.  Guy needs a 1-2-3 soon.
That inning is a great example
of how running can take you OUT of an inning. With the patented Moneyball approach, the Yanks might have put up 3-4. Score one for the Beaniacs.
shhhhh
Scioscia might be reading
Scoscia can read?
zing... yeah I know that was bad, lol
Thanks BBG!
It's working :D :D So good to hear Ken Korach's voice. Yay!

:)

You are welcome!
It's really a great bargin for the whole season. VERY cheap.
Gameday is a POS btw
use this instead
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20050903_NYY@OAK

Much better, faster, more detailed.

First time I've seen swish take..
...seven pitches for a full count then walk. Nice!
Yankees are
the Anti-Angels when it comes to Double Plays.
Hee! Nice slide Swish!
And nice catch Giambi! (not)
Was an error ruled
On Jeter or Giambi?
Neither.
You can't assume a DP.
Can't assume a double play...
so no error.

Failing that, I'd have given it to the Curse of the Giambino.

Small is overthrowing a bit...
...c'mon patient offense! Take advantage!
Hit and run! Awesome!
I like that idea.
We should be scoring on this guy.
I'd take Ellis' single here!
wow
great throw by ARod.
Anything to avoid a double play
not like the Yankees can turn any.
Small just looks
so thoroughly mediocre, it's a crying shame if we don't get to him. With a lot of crying, I should add.
WHY CAN'T WE SCORE OFF THIS GUY!?
ARGH
Pitch Counts
Small: 38
Saarloos: 48
Did A-Rod yell "Ow!" ...
before the pitch was at home plate?
Saarloos playing with fire.
Earth to Saarloos: Throw Strikes
Sit down, Roid Boy!
Which one?
Giambi or Sheffield?

Or some other unnamed Yankee that the Players Association hushed?

You know...
for a $220 milllion dollar payroll, there's a lot of holes in this lineup.
Well, it's not as if Cano is not a good hitter...
Hee! It kinda is.
Now why does Washington
play on Qwest Field when they've got a capable Husky Stadium?
'Cause there's no company called Husky
...that's paying them millions of dollars.
Darn! SO CLOSE CHAVVY!
C'mon OFFENSE!!!!
Geez.
Nice inning offense!
/sarcasm
Offense
Offense wakes up, looks around, kicks some ass, then goes back to sleep.
GLARG.
Come ON, you guys didn't just lose your bats overnight. It's Aaron Freakin' Small, not Cy Young out there. Stop it!
Give me one more
shutout inning from Saarloos and a 2-spot, and Duke.
Come on A's!!!!!
Hello A's!
Where are the runs?
GOOD JOB SAARLOOS!
Can we help 'Loos out here, PLEASE?!!?!?
Pretty please?!
GREAT INNING SAARLOOS!
Now where in the hell is the offense!!??!??!
Lets go Oakland!
LET'S GO OAK-LAND!!!!!!
Scoreless inning: Check
Next: 2-spot.

Nice use of the earthquake drill for Saarloos: Duck and cover.

Saarloos through 5
70 pitches.  Keep him in there for 2 more, then put in Duchscherer for an inning or two.
I am so in love with Saarloos.
That was a great little defensive catch.

I love his delievery, I love his pitches, I love his poise on the mound, I love that he's a tad short for a ballplayer and skinnier than Huston, I love his hair, and I love that he's freakin' AWESOME on the mound.

So it's damn well time to GIVE HIM SOME RUN SUPPORT.

This is freakin' ridiculous.
THIS PITCHER IS JUST NOT THAT GOOD!
Wow
Might be relying on a home run here, fellas.
Unreal
I didn't follow the game yesterday and the A's score TEN runs in the first two innings.  

I'll take FIVE today in 9 innings.  

I'll take ONE right now!
How many pitches for Small thru 5?
Small's first strikeout
He so doesn't impress me. Just keep the Yanks' offense down and we have to have a good shot the next couple innings.
The fact is..
that pitchers that throw strikes and get ahead in the count do well against anyone, but especially a patient team like Oakland.

In other news, Hank Greenwald just noticed that there are fans in different places in the stadium. No, I'm not making that up.

aww crap... Rincon
We're doomed
This is where...
if Rincon were going good, you might have seen him against Roid Boy, since we're in that Era of Expanded Rosters.

Loos gets him anyway.

here we go...
And oh by the way...
has anyone else ever pointed out that expanding the rosters for the most important games of the year is kind of nuts?

It's not like in Week 14 of the regular season in the NFL, you suddenly get 70 players instead of 45, so you can go crazy with fresh blood on special teams. Only baseball does this.

Saars only 82 pitches
so he SHOULD stay in there... right?
Let him go out there in the 7th
and have a guy warming up at the same time.
Dandy, I see ZERO runs. famine again.
I have a question...
Can anyone remember a time when our 1-5 pitchers have pitched a better consecutive five games? Zito, Blanton, Kennedy (filling in for Harden), Haren, and Saarloos have been AMAZING this week; one run allowed, two runs, two runs, zero runs, and today, only one so far.

It's just incredible.

We're going to have to pull Saars...
because when the A's score 6 this inning, it's going to take a long time.
Now, OFFENSE.
Do your thing, okay?
Saarloos
has done everything we can ask for, just like most of our starters.

But we're back to our No Scoring offense.

It is amazing how well pitchers can do against the A's if they just throw strikes.

Greenwald on Hurricane Katrina
"They certainly have a lot of water down there."

OK, I made that up.

LETS GO A'S!!!!!!!!!
LET'S GO SCOOT
it'd be huge having a lead off hit here.
scratch that.
yes, it would have been.
Too bad Mussina got hurt...
Too bad Randy Johnson is only getting in some throwing...

Strike one.  Strike two.  64 pitches through 5 2/3 innings.

I have a bad feeling about this one...
Small is shutting down the A's with ease.
Does anyone else...
get flashbacks of May whenever they hear Greenwald do a game?
Kendell
sucks.
New thread open
Game over
Without Crosby and Kotsay, and soon, this team is done.
What I've learned from TV commercials
  1. All baseball fans root for their team the exact same way. Otherwise, why would Fox show me the same promos for the A's as the Giants?
  2. Steroids are bad for statues.
  3. Maybe I should just Tivo the game...
i feel.....
...like we;re back in Anaheim. C'mon Offense!!!! Sarloos is pitching too well.

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