Athletics Nation

Or not so intense...

Way to get that bat off your shoulder, Chavy.

Bases juiced for heartless Chavvy!

Cupcakes has only 84, but is getting stiff waiting

Chavez is gonna choke with the bags juiced and 2 out late in a game.

You called it.

secret ASian man - April 7, 2006 reply

Called it ...

I want to see a new commercial of Scutaro teaching Chavez how to focus with runners on.

<censored>

c'mon...get stiff?? that's too easy.

His nickname is Cupcakes, not Pie

Right down the pipe - damn swing the bat Chavvy

is chavez aware that in order to hit the ball you

have to swing the bat?

larrysgurl - April 7, 2006 reply

He started to flip the bat away

before it even left Sherrill's hand

Chavvy's only good when the game is on the line.

that's cuz

of his grit and heart and other intangibles

Ouch

Chavy tonight:

0 for 5, 3 K's, 7 LOB.

HAY-SUS!

interior decor - April 7, 2006 reply

I hope Diego is asleep already.

I don't want the poor child exposed to that kind of poo. He should see his father go down like that.

ugh

shouldn't.

Stupid.

Ha, I didn't even notice.

It's kind of better the first time though. Makes you sound evil.

Standard Chavvy

Watch strike three. Gah!

That was RIGHT down the gut...

if you don't want to offer at that, what will you offer at?

I say they get Street in there for some work.

Chavez is getting all the called strike 3s

out of the way in April or this road trip ...

nooo, a walk!

we got robbed

Ball two

looked like strike three

Go Scutaro, way to draw the foul

or interference.

HA HA

Interference!!!!! CHEATIN ASSED PUNK

HA!

He may not believe in dinosaurs, but he better believe in interference!

whoa!

that was intense.

And Everett can't believe it!!!

n/t

Oooh! The rarely seen interference call.

That's one way to get the DP.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

sniff, what did i miss mlbtv crapped out

LMAO on reply

Runner got pegged in the wrist by the throw AND called for interference.

Bases juiced for Yanks

down 4 -1 Sheff at bat versus Shields

1 out 2-2

double play!

I'd rather the LAAAAAAAAAAA lose....

me too

read those lips

Hargrove says "that's f'n B.S." (but the extended version of those words)

What happened?

Something good involving a double play, from what I gather...

Beltre slid at Scutaro

who had already left the bag, and Scoot's relay to 1st hit Beltre's right wrist. His left had was about 1 foot away from 2nd as he slid, so he never even came close to the bag.

Thanks :)

Did the Mariner's Skip get ejected?

nope

2 outs...Duke warming up in the bullpen...

Why is Duke up?

There's no one else to close out a 5 run lead?

You never know.

Macha wants to nail. it. down.

Think Blanton's nearing 100 pitches and may be...

starting to get a little tired. We'll see what Macha decides. Duke may be insurance.

"Frankly, blue

I'm sick to f***ing death of watching my pitchers walk the whole ballpark, so I'm gonna stand out here screaming at you until you run me so I can go get a beer!"

I can sorta read lips. I'm pretty sure that's what he was saying.

Hee!

The A's would have made a lot of money for a walk-a-thon tonight....

Maybe Milton

has secretly organized a "missed-base-a-thon" (possibly to make up for Zito's Strikeouts for Troops...).

Who woulda thunk...

We'd get our best start from our #5 in this young season (yes M's/Yankees are two different beasts), but this has been a joy...

8 from #5, oh hell yeah!

Don't Underestimate M's

They looked darned good last night. And Felix Hernandez is pretty much as advertised.

We're just better.

Oh I don't...

Just celebrating the longest a starter has gone....

And that's the way this game is played.

Except for MB's little gaffe, this is the kind of Baseball I like to see.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

8 sweet innings for cupcakes!

macha

should at least let blanton start the ninth.

he's up near 100 pitches, but he's only faced 25 through eight innings.
put him on a short leash but let him back out there.

also

blanton has never pitched a shutout.
you gotta give him a chance with a five run lead i say.

I'm torn...

It's a long season, but...

Whata way to start (especially given last season...)

Damn...

...Blanton was just about perfect tonight.

Cupcakes is probably done

pitch count at 98

He should be...

...why push it with a 5 run lead?

I agree

You'd love to see him get the shutout, but you'd also love to guarantee he starts his season with 8 2-hit shutout innings.

Eggman - April 7, 2006 reply

Beltre out of game.

Injury to insult.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

<snicker>

Big Hurt just hasn't looked good this yr...

save the HR and the double

Early days yet. Let's see where he's at after a

month.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

It's early

And he didn't really have spring traning.

guapobob - April 7, 2006 reply

Don't forget a couple of walks. And 4 RBI.

TheBigO - April 7, 2006 reply

I don't care if Thomas bats .219 this year

As long as each hit is a homer or a bases loaded double

A -freakin'-men!

Seriously

someone needs to get a hit so Marco can get one more AB tonight!

Scutaro The Great - April 7, 2006 reply

MB has some GREAT ABs

New player on the M's...

Gameday sez: "Defensive Substitution: Jose Lopez replaces second baseman Unknown, batting 5th."

Wonder where they found that guy, Unknown...

Unknown...

....was a Player to be Named Later.

I thought

He was the player with the bag on his head.

guapobob - April 7, 2006 reply

another three ball count

i wonder why beane got bradley.
will he fit in with the a's??

WHAT?!

Did they say MB has seen 34 pitches tonight?! That's NUTS!!!

preemptive:

I want DJ to get a hit, finally...

no more 0'fers...

me too

Wow, crazy stat Fosse just called....

MB saw 34 pitches tonight...

That's hot.

Will you eat a burger & wash a car now?

put blanton back out there

if he's at 98 pitches, tell him he has until 110, give or take one or two.
that's what they used to do with mulder...

blanton deserves his first shutout tonight.

No presure DJ...

just a dink, bloop, etc....

I LOVE BASEBALL.

I've missed this, you guys.

Me too

Finally got my first game thread of the season. :)

<group hug>

:D

What the heck, do your silly Pepsi dance... :)

"silly"?

<drinks Pepsi>

Mmmmm, refreshing.

Now it's your turn to dance.

I'd like to see Crosby and Ellis

do the Pepsi dance.

Yeah, but they need to be 20 feet

apart.

We would have to make sure

Crosby didn't jump on the taxi. And he couldn't throw MaEl.

Basically,

he can twirl his fingers and maybe shake his ass.

But that's it.

Can he whistle?

I guess...

<sucks in bug>

<dies>

Well...

What the heck.

<busted rump doing Pepsi dance>

I'm day-to-day.

And yet Sharon doesn't want it called silly

Go fig. :)

<dances>

Awwwww!

The announcers called him "DJ"...

Thomas

He is probably the least paid former mvp that is still starting in any lineup
He is the veteran presence the A's like to carry each year
He has had 2 impact at bats in 2 games already.
He's happy to wear the green;
Read Thursdays NY Times sports extra for more details on Thomas the A

There is nothing wrong with Thomas

Let Cupcakes go for the CGSO...

but have him on a short leash with Duke ready to come in

i hear you

but 8 IP of 2-hit, 1-walk ball is unbelievable, and I'll gladly take it any time.

If you have him on your fantasy team, that's too bad, but I say the A's always trump my fantasy successes and failings.

Blanton only faced 1 over the minimum...that's just crazy! Almost as crazy as MB seeing 34 pitches tonight!! GO A'S!!

send DJ to sacramento

until he gets his head straight. think of it as rehab...

what?!

Nah, I think he just needs to bat in the 8 spot-

right ahead of Kendall

that's ridiculous

based on five games.

we'll talk in two weeks.

MACHA

DONT YOU FREAKING DARE PULL BLANTON!

Devyn - April 7, 2006 reply

he's sleepy

he dared

Fire Macha now!

5 lineups in 5 days? He obviously doesn't know what he's doin'

Duke's in...

<Standing O>

Sweet Job, Joe! Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!

atomopawn - April 7, 2006 reply

Cupcakes done

Duke in

That is one freakin' awesome line...

...for Joe Blanton

8 innings

99 pitches

Duke in,

Helluva fine job, Joe.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

Why Duke?

Awesome job by Cupcakes.

Woulda liked to see him get the CG though. We'll save that one for next time I suppose...

Much as I love Duchscherer...

...Cupcakes should be out there!

FIRE MACHA ;-) !

DUKE

Wow that was a filthy pitch by Duke

Yes, that looked inspired...

Can't Witasick pitch...

we might need Duke tomorrow and Sunday

I SO agree.

"Can't Witasick pitch?"

Well, uh, now that you ask....

true dat

this is a good time for yabu

Duke's curveball call strike three!

I still don't see why Duke is in there?

We need him in the close ones!

Yack!!

That is just a beautiful pitch.

Cupcakes is gonna have to pitch better

or more efficiently in his pitch count if he wants a CG SO. 98 pitches in 8 innings isn't gonna cut it.

Tap back to Duke; out 2

great job by blanton

it's the first good job by our starting rotation.
let's hope in the second round we get the rest of the staff clicking.

haroldMD - April 7, 2006 reply

Blanton's a stud

Great job Joe. I wasn't quite sure why he didn't seem to be getting much love here on AN throughout the spring. He was unbelievable the second half last year. I say he's going for 20 this year:)

strivan21 - April 7, 2006 reply

Jeez

All Duke does is throw strikes

i don't know how you pull a guy

when he's under 100 pitches and has only faced one over the minimum...
i guess because it's the first week of the season

yup

Seriously, though.

Zito, Harden, Haren, Estaban, TAKE NOTES! That's how you win ballgames.

haren was fine

he made one bad pitch and then retired like the next 10 batters.

Duke vs. Ichiro for the third out and...

Day-um

Duke looked like Huston!

Marty Lurie said it tonight

"Joe Blanton looks like he just walked out of a donut shop"...."
but so did Mickey Lolich"

Strikeout and flip to first. Game over!

A's WIN!!!

Another sic pitch by Duke on Ichrio

Great game all around except for MB on the basepaths :)

Duke ended it quickly

which was the point.

It's a long season. I agree with Macha this time

VICTORY!!!

Whooo!

and the A's win the ballgame !!!!!

cool, duke.

haroldMD - April 7, 2006 reply

Nice Inning, Duke!

Wow, Duke is amazing!

HUGS TO EVERYBODY!

That was a real feel-good game!

That is the sweetness that is Cupcakes!

A's WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OO-RAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

Hey, Joe beat Felix Hernandez!

He might want to save that lineup card!

Amazing pitching tonight

from the A's, that is

good thing is that Duke is still fresh to pitch

he barely broke a sweat

yahoo!

but mlb tv and audio won't let me sign back in....no post game for me.

no xm?

you might have to go that way. Until then, bummers:(

xm is very marginal here

i go to sleep with buans witty banter

let me fill you in

"blah blah... one game at a time, blah blah blah..."

28 Batters Faced, 2 Hit Shutout!

Thats quite a cure for last nite's debacle.

Heck yeah.

Now these are the games I like. Props to Joe-- he makes me happy. And much love again, to Kots and Scoot-- and Milton, of course. You go, MB. Take those pitches.

34 of them, to be exact!

18 percent of all M's pitches thrown...

...were seen by Bradley.

It reminded me of Durazo's at bats

against Pedro in the 2003 ALDS.

Mmmm, happy feelings.

Now that was a good game. Electric atmosphere... flippin' awesome. Man, I miss the playoffs.

Huddy! Huddy!

<sob>

<throws chair>

I miss Huddy.

Ditto.

Is Blanton going to get a shaving creme pie?

Stop it Fosse!

We know you love Kendall!

Great game! Good Night, folks.

kent1 - April 7, 2006 reply

Good job Joe...

"That's something to build on"

SERIOUSLY!!?!?!?! To BUILD ON!!?!?!?!

I would have said, "Good job Joe. That was freakin' awesome."

They should have to kowtow to Joe

for the show he put on tonight.

Meanwhile down the coast...

...the Tarzana Angels of Malibu are beating the Bronx Bombers 4-1 going into the bottom of the eighth.

For once .....

go Yankees!

TheBigO - April 7, 2006 reply

by the way, Huddy will be on Buan's

show tomorrow...they announced it earlier,

G'night everybody

awwww

Huddy?

Woohoo!

I hereby proclaim

this game to be 'the game Bradley forgot to touch third'. But a wins a win. Nice job Blanton too. Goodnight everyone:)

Wheee! More baseball!

Yankees/Angels in the 8th

Giants/ATL in the third

Man, I'm baseball-starved.

Kudos to Cupcakes tonight

Masterful performance. Hear hear! Again, the 4 run benchmark appears to be pretty reliable.

Now if only those damn Angels would lose tonight.

interior decor - April 7, 2006 reply

Is it wrong that I want K-rod to implode?

Figuratively or literally?

yah more b-ball that I can actually watch

tonight outside of stoopid uncooperative mlbtv....can't stay up too late, volunteered to cook at 5k pancake run tomorrow.

mmmm...

pancakes.

I volunteered to babysit the grandson of my boss tomorrow. I'll have to hide my guns and hypodermic needles before he gets here.

And close the door to the basement

Help, help, I'm down here!

The little boy is less than a year old.

:)

awwwww

with blond hair and blue eyes.

I thinking about keeping him. I'll tell Crosby it's his.

You've seen the movie Misery?

Kathy Bates?

Guy strapped to a bed, board between the ankles?

that's the one.

We have a clerk in my office who talks and acts just like her and she it is very scary. Flipped out on me about a year ago...she has appointed herself "keeper" of the office refrigerator...well she monitors how long stuff has been in there. I had a yogurt that went past two days and she came in my office and while shouting at me, slammed the yogurt into my waste can...my coworkers were stunned.

That's creepy.

I was joking with her about

"laundering money" in some idle conversation....and unbeknownst to me evidently....she got real serious nodding her head...and said, "yes, I wash my bills in a bleach solution and dry them between towels as money is very dirty...before I give it to my son for his allowance."

That's a great idea.

She has a child?!

Poor kid.

Single mom and we

feel very sorry for him. I found him one day in the hallway standing in a corner holding a watch in his hand and staring at it. I say 'hey joe, how ya doing, the time is 2:10 if you want to know." No its not he replied, it is 2:07, my mom does not want me to come to see her until 2:15 and not before then.

awwww

:(

Further conversation with him

revealed that he cannot change his watch to the "right" time as his mom has the time he has to set it at. This gal will recite how many steps she takes from where she parks her car to her desk down to different parking slots in the lot.

Holy cow.

I feel really bad for this kid. Some people should never have children. A couple goldfish, maybe...

One more story...

All of our office crew will have a big dinner a couple of times a year at the bosses house. During one, with little Joe sitting next to her and normal conversation going....she turns to him and practically yells, Joe! sit up straight!. And she returns to her normal smiling demeanor....everyone was aghast.

<sob>

Did you hug him?

I hate coworkers.

No one ever cleans out the refrigerator except me. I have issues. Well, I had some dip I just purchased in ours. This <censored> decides she wants to put her can of tuna in there, but it's dirty and messy. SHE CLEANS THE ENTIRE THING OUT. Nothing left. Throws it all away. My new dip, my salad dressings, all of it.

Two days later, she eats my lunch. "I thought it was mine."

Hah, ha.

This clerk when she first came on was told to pick up the bosses phone as he was away all week. Well, sure enough, every phone call she picked up...she said, "No, he's not at his desk right now, may I take a message" After about a dozen calls answered that way, a coworker went over to straighten her out, tell them he's gone for the week....but she ignored her and continued like she was.

same "lunch" lady

We have to complete some paperwork by writing stuff at the top. We're supposed to write "pass" if we aren't using it. She has been writing "past" on top of all the papers for three years now. She won't stop.

We also have some papers that I am supposed to check off. I after I check everything over, enter it in our system, and print out the new papers, I check off that it's done. One day, after doing this process for over a year, I noticed all of my new papers were checked off already. I asked her why they were already marked off. "All the other pages were checked. I thought they were for me. I forgot why I checked them, though."

Wow, and you can't

get away from these people...I seem to attract them too.

As lab safety officer

I was annointed cleaner of the minifridge. The freezer section was so iced over a brought over a high-temperature heat gun (~800 deg F) from the lab and blasted the hell out of it. That cleaned right quick.

come on over

i got just the fridge for you.

Your entire state?

Nah, I live in the WARMEST

part of the state but with an office fridge freezer that is choked...can't fit my Nancy's Frozen Quiche Lorain in it.

You don't mess around! :)

He'll give you a puppy

even if he knows the kid isn't his.

woohoo!

I hate Rex Hudler.

I cant' stand the sound of his voice.

Long season

we really needed this start by Blanton. Our bullpen had pitched almost as many innings as our starters up till today. Excellent work by Smokin Joe

redruin - April 7, 2006 reply

LAA 4, NYY 1 - FINAL

Pffft.

Dangit!

C'mon Yanks, crush them!

TheBigO - April 7, 2006 reply

So alaska a is having problems with

mlb.tv. So am I; I can't log back in either. Anybody else?

Well sounds like a national problem at least

I sent them a sharp email peppered with appropriate language.

Good luck getting a response.

Their customer service is downright terrible and their "customer care experts" are downright rude.

I've had terrible troubles...

...getting on initially, but once I'm on it's been pretty stable.

Last night however. It died on me and it took me about an inning to get it up and running again. Oddly, I started with the A's feed, and ended up with the M's.

I think it's a toggle

Close it, restart it, and it will be A's.

I missed the key plays in both

of the last two yankees games...frozen just before scoots game winner....

Anyone else a little uneasy about..

..the image on the front of the A's mlb website?

Zito 0-1 47.25

Bold Prediction

Twenty-four hours from now, Zito will have a lower ERA.

Here's hoping for single digits again

What? don't see anything unusual.

I'm crossing my fingers

If he throws a CGSO, he'll have 6.10 ERA