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Dan-Friggin-Tastic II: Electric Bugaloo

On July 26, Danny Haren was brilliant against the Red Sox.  I said this as the opening to the wrap of that game...

The only way this day could've been better by Danny Haren was if he conserved his pitch count and pitched all nine innings.

Apparently, Haren wanted to go all "Empire Strikes Back" on us and top his last outing.  He went the distance, saving a tired bullpen another appearance.  He outdueled one of the A's recent nemesis in Santana and Milton Bradley and Jay Payton continued their hot hitting.  The other beautiful thing is that Haren said that he watched a lot of tape on his last start and made adjustments going into this game on how to approach the Angels hitters.  You taking notes on how to make adjustments, Bobby Crosby and Dan Johnson?

Lew Wolff was there to see Nick Swisher also make an Eric Chavez-like play at first with an amazing pick on an Adam Kennedy shot that would've likely been a double and second and third with no one out.  Instead it was a double play with the bases empty.  Perhaps there is something to this defense and pitching equation that Billy Beane has been preaching for a while now.

It was beautiful that Bradley hit that home run after he could've potentially been kicked out earlier in the game for flipping his bat away in anger after a questionable strike call.  You had to guess that the Southern California fans were all over Bradley as well.  That's why it is sweet justice.

Beane may get a lot of grief for not making a big trade, but what people don't realize is that he essentially made a move without ever doing anything when Bradley came off the DL.  Bradley has been so important to the team and he truly is a special talent.  He's very well could be that number three batter the team has been starving for since Tejada left.

This is a huge win as the A's are now up 1.5 games on their So Cal rivals.  If Blanton can match his last start against Toronto tomorrow, than things will be looking up.  

0 recs  |  173 comments

Comments

Haren was awesome....Just awesome
How bout some props for Kendall too?  Have you ever seen a catcher more masterful calling pitches in a final 2 innings.  The 9th inning, especially the last 2 batters was pure wizardy from Kendall and Haren didnt have to shake him off once.  The breaking balls in a row to GA then 2 breaking balls to Rivera and perfect timing for the fastball to end it.  Just amazing pitchcalling to the last 6 hitters....I really enjoyed the way he built up the sequences there late.  Fun stuff.
I thought the beauty of Kendall tonight
was that freaking barehanded scoop.  And it was awesomeness seeing it in super slo-mo.
That was a sweet camera angle.
The wild thing about that play was no one was on base....classic Kendall scooping that when it wasnt even needed.
I do agree with you about
the game plan.  I love that Kendall worked with Danny to come up with a better way to attack their hitters.  It means our Danny is learning how to pitch instead of just throw.
It was so fun to watch them the last 2 innings...
It was almost as if they had a script in their head only the two of them had seen.  The fastball to Rivera was just so perfect....exceptional work from JK.  Really a fun game for someone who loves the setup of hitters.
Agreed
I think everyone in the building thought the splitter was coming.  And then the pop of the fastball to end the game was a fine exclaimation point on the ending.
Oh yea....no way a fastball after the way
he pitched GA.  Rivera had no chance.....you could see him just shake his head..No way in hell he could have been looking for that on 1-2.

The real key to that late game was the 8th....Not letting Vlad get up as the tying run was so huge....the line drive catch on Figgy was just enormous.  He gets on and steals 2nd with 0 outs and who knows where the game goes.

Re: fastball
Danny was announcing his presence with authority.
Actually, he was announcing his departure with...
authori-TAY!
I missed that play... :(
I hope it shows up in the Top Plays archive...
It is!
At the A's official site.
About when in the game
was this bare-handed fool'ery?  Remember who was up?
Angels 1-0...
that is all I remember.  Had to be bottom of 4 of 5
just in case
you hadn't found it yet, it's in the highlights on the mlb oakland site if you click on the article for today's game.

if i knew how to post the link, i would.  but alas, i do not and therefore cannot.

Found it
Thx-  Had to mute the commentary of course.
interview
kept on game afterwards and was rewarded with great haren interview. he talked a lot about him and kendall. he also said his family-hes socal guy-was watching plus finances family so had to get a lot of tickets
lol
fiance-i think thats the spelling
Haren was wonderful.
Bradley is too but his temper worries me a little. What if he pulled one of his little temper outbursts in a playoff game. Could get ugly.

But I loved this game. This is what the A's are all about. pitching and defense.

better to show a little temper
and remember to touch home plate
Yeah Noone can argue with that.
Being fiery is a good thing..as long as it doesn't go too far. Bradley is a refreshing.
And 3rd base.
Hmm...I'd agree that
he's refreshing, but I'm not sure I'd agree that he's third base.

He just doesn't strike me as being that square.

Apparently you 've never seen
Milton's shrine to Lawrence Welk.
I used to watch Lawrence welk when I was young.
Bobby and Cissy could really shake a leg. But the Lennon siters were my favorite.
vhat a nice rendishin, sank you boyz.
<Standing O>
You conjure the man himself.
Actually, it's true--
Milton's HR yesterday had that "big band" sound.
Yeah the Glen Miller ring.
Mmmmm.
I LOVE beating the Angels. Love love love. A little breathing room in the standings... complete game for Danny... Milton! and JayPay!... much love all around.

Oh, and Milton and JayPay hugging in the dugout after Payton's home run? Absolutely adorable. I wanted them to show it again... and again... and again... <swoon>

I love this team. :D

Haha..
Awesome title Blez...that's old school right there
Perfect
All about Danny, nicley done.  However, I felt that the "MB factor" was a big difference for young "Ervin" tonight.  It seemed like he attacked the zone against everyone in the lineup except MB - and he made him pay.  Shut down inning, check.  Kids confidence wavering, check.  Payton.  Cool.

Also, Emmett89 and others had me rolling all night in the GT.  Bravo people, bravo.

The Halo pitching was fine.
Danny was just better. :-)
hey, some praise!
all right!
Just a great performance
Haren was very impressive, going the distance tonight.  What I especially liked was that he threw mostly offspeed/breaking stuff later in the game, except for that perfect fastball call by Kendall to end it.

I was waiting for Blez to start singing "Oh Danny Boy" after this one.

Great win

Tejada = Bradley
Blez, I couldn't agree more and I was thought of that when Bradley was off the bench screaming at the (un-named) pitcher and again the other day with his walk-off.

I had some deja vu'

THIS fire is EXACTLY what our team needs...

Let's hope it continues.

The subjective feel of the team....
has shown tremendous improvement.  It's a return to the opening series against the Yanks...Scutaro giving us a walkoff hit in the bottom of the ninth in the rain for a win.  When the Jays scored on us in the ninth on Sunday, you couldn't help but feel that the game was effectively over.  Now though, we have proof positive that the team CAN mount a come from behind victory.  Who knows...in the next month or so the team may build an indominable aura...one where you just know victory is but a swing of the bat away.  I hope so.  Let the magic build to a thumping crescendo which ends in a WS victory lap around the Coli...The spark is here....that, or I really did have to much to drink tonight.  Whatever.
subjective?
subjective?!?!?

How dare you?!  Where are the numbers?!  ;)

Numbers???
Now you want me to count the empties???  Slurring numbers....now where did they go....
Gag me...
BBT is saying how great Figgins sliding catch was. Little drama bitch IMO.
Bingo! Say the secret word and win a hundred...
sheckles.

And tonight's secret word was "bitch", as in, SIDDOWN YOU LITTLE ANGEL BITCH!!!

Choney Schmaloney who?

Milton and Jay Pay played a little HOMA-LOMA-DING-DONG.

All you need to know about
whether Bradley is a legitimate #3 hitter was answered when the Angels walked him intentionally to pitch to Frank Thomas. They can't have exactly looked forward to pitching to Thomas--he has been hot, he is incredibly imposing in the batter's box, a 3-run HR would have suddenly broken a tight game open--yet Scioscia preferred to pass on Bradley.

And I don't know about October 1st, but on August 1st the Mariners will be ahead of the Rangers...Sweet.

Exactly my thinking
I thought it was a very strange move. But also a testament to Bradley's talent.

It's a move I'd welcome over and over again, of course.

It was...
But the fact any ground ball is a DP with Frank prob played some into it.  In addition to the righty-righty matchup with Thomas rather than righty-lefty with Milt.
I've actually been amazed
at how few DPs Thomas has hit into this year. I attribute it to a combination of:
  • Before the ASB, he always batted with the bases empty because all our hitters were batting .012
  • He is naturally a fly-ball/line drive hitter
  • Maybe he makes a conscious effort to lay off low pitches in DP situations
  • He is deceptively fast
Scratch the last one.
I just hope the Baseball 2nite folks
doesn't anoint Milton Bradley the league's next MVP the same way they did Crosby last yr.
Umm...DJ *does* seem to have been taking notes...
...on making adjustments.  In 15 games at AAA he's hitting .450 and slugging .833!

Where does he fit, though, if we were to call him up?

I know how well DJ has been hitting
in Triple-A, but there's no telling if he's receiving the steady diet of sliders away that he was in the MLB.  I'll only be convinced if he does it back up here.
Agreed.
But when Swisher's been hitting like a .190 in July, it makes you wonder...

Would we ever demote Swisher and bring up DJ so that Swisher can get back in his groove?  I'm sure that sounds like a travesty to some, but he's really been sucking of late...

on the pregame show today
someone (don't remember who) mentioned Macha saying that if Swish didn't come around with the bat we could be seeing alot more of Kotsay at first base
yeah i heard that too...
{shudders}
Ugh...Swish's double play
today should buy him 1B time no matter what he hits...talk about a game changer
it was a beauty
...and I don't think DJ makes that play...
no, not quite as quick
The horror ... the horror ...
Can anyone explain any sort of logic behind this whole Kotsay-as-first-baseman farce? Kotsay's a subpar batter as a CF -- as a 1B, he's sub-replacement-player as a batter, and is an inadequate fielder. What's more, instead of getting a genuine day off to rest his back and assorted other parts when he doesn't play CF, he's stuck out there at an unfamiliar position. Kotsay at 1B is an even worse move than Erstad at 1B.

I'm resigned to the fact that Swisher will never be benched so long as Beane is running the team, and that bringing DJ up presents a host of roster-management problems -- but for the love of all that's holy, why the ^%&@ isn't Melhuse starting at 1st occasionally?!?

because melhuse sucks
we really need to just bring up DJ.
well, that's overstating the case ...
... I'm certainly not saying Melhuse is a panacaea for all of our offensive ills, nor that if he was the regular C or 1B that he'd post an .850+ OPS.

But he'd sure as shit hit and field better than Kotsay at 1B, wouldn't he? If Melhuse "sucks," then how, precisely, would you characterize Kotsay?

On a related tangent, even though Kendall's been getting on base with some regularity the last couple weeks, isn't Macha setting him up for a sub-.300 OBP September?

LSS, Melhuse (and Perez, for that matter) need to be mixed in to the starting lineup more regularly the next 4 weeks. (I'm also in agreement on bringing up DJ, xbx.)

From a roster- and personnel-management perspective -- let alone an on-field talent-management perspective -- it makes zero sense to play Kotsay at 1B in any circumstance, and it's sheer idiocy to start him there.

if he's on in CF
i'd never want to see kotsay in the lineup.
that should be
if he's NOT in CF
Well...
According to DJ:
Johnson said he's still seeing a steady dose of outside pitches, which was the culprit behind his funk this season.

"They're throwing everything at me -- the whole kitchen sink. I'll see five breaking balls in a row," he said

I think DJ was already coming out of that funk, but he was squeezed out of the major league roster when Bradley came back.  Kielty and Payton were playing better, and the bullpen needed the arms they had.  DJ will be fine.

he's getting tons of outside pitches
i think it was an article in the tribune about DJ, talking about how he's been getting a slew of breaking balls and outside pitches since he's been back in AAA. if that's really the case, then his ridiculous numbers do hopefully mean he's made adjustments.
well, we should let him try to do so
Sadly....
Unless a hitter goes on the DL, we might not see Johnson again until September.  Maybe this will teach him a lesson and motivate him to work harder on those ajustments if he doesn't want to be a AAAA pitcher.
Anybody watching the Giants
versus the Nationals?  Watching Felipe Alou manage against Frank Robinson is like watching an ad for depends.
Hey they're not old...
they're "seasoned"
i like frank robinson
for one, he cried when he had to explain why he pulled out lecroy and he slept through a game....  no one has that track record
So Cute!
Home

Danny was Amazing! I don't know what else can be said, just AMAZING! If that is what his family being there does for him, I certainly hope he DOES start flying them around the country with him!

That picture is DYING for a caption!
How about--
"No, Milton: Count to 5 and then you can decide whether charging the umpire is a good idea."
Or how about?
JayPay: "Meet me at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at midnight..."
I was thinking along the lines of
"Milt, you should have been a massage therapist!"

or

"Forget Swish... THIS is the best hug in the major leagues!"

Or
"If we pat each other's back, then we don't have to pat our own"
Great Results, Guys
I apologize for missing the game threads - something about flying cross-country will do that to you. But upon arrival in Boston, you've got to believe the first thing I did was hop on the Blackberry, and quasi-watch the A's finish off the Hated Halos from the 8th inning on. Sounds like an awesome performance by Mr. Dan Haren. Great to see Bradley staying hot as well.

Can you imagine a 9-person lineup made entirely of Bradley and Frank Thomas? Chills!

I don't know--
after Bradley got ejected in the 2nd for throwing his helmet and then the umpire, we'd really be a station-to-station team.
Email me if you want to catch
a drink (of coffee, since you don't drink) or watch an A's-Angels game on MLB.tv.
(I'm in Cambridge, MA)
cambridge rules!
well, except for all the red sox fans. being at fenway for that extra-inning victory a few weeks ago was sweet-- of course, i went to the next one too where A's won 15-3 or whatever it was. good times. :)
cambridge is HOT
I mean, it's really, really hot. And muggy.
salb, I know you were
addressing louismg and not me--not because louismg is in Boston and I'm in California, but because you said, "since you don't drink."
Can we close the book on whether or not...
..the Ethier trade was a good one now?

Milton Bradley is the F'ing man.

I hate to say it, but he brings intangibles.

Omigod, and I don't
ever want to hear about Bradley is a clubhouse cancer--I looked it up and he's TOTALLY an Aries!

-Cindi.

P.S. Way to go, hotties!!!!!! :-}

Twice as much in fact
2 times more intangibles than David Eckstien, and 50% more than Derek Jeter.

But still way less grit than Jason Kendall.  But 7 times more HRs.

Can we also add Kendall
to that list.
JK brings so many intangibles to the table. The job he did 2nite w/ Haren is a prime example and won't show up in any stat sheet.
I'm down with that.
Kendall's a guy who brings it every game. He might not have the swing he once did, but when your rotation is young, who would you prefer calling the shots - Kendall or Melhuse?

Or Brown? Or Baker?

of course not....
And the same was equally true two weeks ago before Bradley got hot and Ethier looked like the Steal of the Century.

fact is... we traded a guy making the minimum for a guy who makes a lot more-- and so far the first guy has had a more productive season than the second guy. and that's about how you have to judge it so far-- respecting the fact that there are two more months to go.

Ohmigod!
Is that Oaktoon asking for us to take our time assessing the value of a trade?

The king of 'small sample size' pointing out there are two months to go?

I'm tickled.

question in mind
It was mentioned on the pregame (think it was) that Milton's hr Sunday was the first 3-run, 9th inning walkoff when down by two runs, since 1970. Did I hear that correctly? Should history repeat itself, in that we go to the post season 5 times in a row the year after with the 3 WS? ;-) I am hoping for this year too, don't get me wrong, but I couldn't help thinking that.
Anyway, I didn't have a chance to read all the posts since yesterday afternoon, so pardon any repetition if anyone else brought this up.
Even weirder is that Big Papi
did the same tonight.  I can't believe that stat to be true.
It was the first 2 out, down 2 walk off
since 1970
For the A's.
What about the Miguel Tejada
18th win in a row? Or were we down by just 1? Maybe there was just one out.
There were two outs
But we were down just one run.

Believe me, I listen to the play-by-play every other day to make me feel warm and fuzzy.

Tio Milty, Erwin
A goat on Friday to a hero for the last two games. After Wednesday's game, I wrote to Haren's blog about his start just because I wanted to say thank you. Guess, I need do it again.
I'm liking this
All the photos at the bottom of Yahoo Sports right now are of the A's giving high fives :)
And that's even after Papi hit another walk-off earlier (ho hum).

Let's go A's!

come on, Nationals...
...hold on to the lead
Can someone explain to me what Zito is saying?
Asked his reaction to his own team's quiet day, Zito said, "I don't think we would have been opposed to getting a big name, what team would? But (with no personnel changes) there are no speed bumps on a social level in the clubhouse. Well, there are, but they're internal, the ones we expected.''
link
Referring to normal ups & downs?
Could he just be talking about the normal bitching and moaning, new faces from the farm teams, coming & going?  (And some of the guys might have B.O.)
But aren't they always internal.
And expected? If it's normal bitching and moaning...who cares if a trade is made to help the club?

Also, once you mention the "expected, internal speed bumps"...it's not so internal anymore.

Couldn't "internal speed bumps"
just refer to the effects of their meals at Applebees?
Sure, but if they're expected
then why not avoid Applebees?
Well...
Why does Larry Davis avoid acupuncture?
Why does he avoid low-fat foods?
Why does Crosby try to pull everything?
Why does Dan Meyer try to throw through pain instead of having a career?

So many questions left unanswered, so much time...

no...
I think they're racing those damn remote cars again in the clubhouse.
Huh.
Is Zito clearly tired of a certain act?
hmmm
paging dr. urban.  expected social speed bumps?  payton and bradley are the only ones known to lash out.
Maybe he's talking about Loiaza's DUI...
Sauerbeck's issues, the young'uns like Swish partying hardy, stuff like that.
I think he means the On the DL bombshell
Those A's tomcats and the licking girl...a story that was bound to break.
I don't know why so many people were down on...
licking-girl. Those are very handy to have a round when it's time to apply a stamp to a letter, or to wet a fingertip when you're about to leaf through a fat roll of hundred dollar bills, as Armando Benitez and I so often do.
zito is saying
"i'm the unidentified source used by mychael urban, you should have already known that since we've been best buddies ever since he wrote Aces."

urban is a typical sportswriter, they're all failed jocks who want to hero worship athletes.  he won't talk shit about anyone unless it's someone who ignores the media.  
loaiza can drive 120mph drunk, saurbeck can hide from cops in the bushes, swisher can party all night and pass out in a pool of his own vomit, but as long as they're pals with the sportswriters, it's okay.

Bingo
My thoughts exactly.
Nats beat Giants...YEY!
8 down straight (and hopefully counting!)
I take it we won!
always have to leave early on Monday night games and it is usually an adventure deciding how to find out the results....

a. go blindly into the last game thread and tracing it post by post.
b. going straight to yahoo sports for the score
c.  tuning in espn and just letting it happen

Ah, AlaskaA, is Monday night
when you have to do your mandated community service for indecent exposure, public drunkenness, urinating in public, and being out after the 4pm Alaska Winter curfew?
That's my schedule for years.
civic and community minded that I am <takes off orange jumpsuit, gloves, and stick with nail on it>
Glad to hear it
<carelessly tosses used condom out of car window onto Alaskan highway>
Listening to Buanny on Xtra Inn...
that was the best quote ever! With Tejada, what does that that turn us into? "A Tyrannosaurus like Texas!"
Great game tonite!!!
Kind of a moot point now but when is Melheuse ever gonna get some PT?
This is probably
One of the cleanest wins in a "big game" matchup.

Other than the Red Sox or Yankees series in said cities...

On another note,
Did anyone else see Frank Thomas slam his helmet into the dugout after he grounded into the DP?  Man, he was pissed.  But I like the intensity.  Some might call it bad sporstmanship, but what I see is not uncontrollable anger or random off the handle stuff, but rather, our guys caring about the game.  We care about the game a hell of a lot, so shouldn't they?  I'd much rather have a team of guys who care than just have a bunch of bums who go through the motions day in and day out, caring more about their money than if they win.
Totally agree...
JayPay, MB and Big Hurt are our players that have that fire
I was pissed too!
And I totally slammed my batting helmet onto the floor when he did that.

Not that IK wear a batting helmet during games.

And especially NOT that really cool yellow one with the green bill and A's logo that Reggie wore when he hit that titanic All-Star game blast off the light stantion in Detroit back in the '70's.

Totally not that one that I'm not wearing.

I slammed McFood's batting helmet too.
Sorry.
when Frank GIDP'ed last night ...
... I pooped in McFood's batting helmet.
who remembers when Miggy
threw a whole bunch of equipment into the stands in anger?

Ellis threw his helmet on the ground in disgust after hitting into the double play against Toronto last Friday night.

Milton threw his bat --- not at anybody -- when he was called out on strikes last night.

Of all of these understandable displays of emotion only Miggy's might possible have resulted in injury.

tonton Duo!!
Mil"ton" & Pay"ton"  ^^

I'm A's fan in Seoul, Korea.
A's is famous for Korea.
(big three, Bean GM, Cap..etc)
sports channel is broadcasted A's-Angels game, today.
I'm used to write A's game-review in MLB board.
(in Korean ;;;)

URL: http://mlbbada.com

today game review URL

http://www.mlbbada.com/zeroboard/zboard.php?id=mlbboard&page=1&sn1=&divpage=6&sn=off &ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=29711

written by µ¥¹Ì¾È (nickname)

Go~ A's!!

Welcome!
Thanks for coming by!
yes, great to hear from the land of the
morning calm.
this would explain those comics
featuring the a's.  did they ever get translated?
what comics
featuring the A's??
oh, was it last year
there was an occassional post of Korean comic panes featuring the A's (and other teams)....there was some scrambling at first among the posters as to what language it was at first.
here is the link a diary discussing the latest one
http://athleticsnation.com/story/2006/1/27/43513/3971#readmore

There were other ones before, but this was the easiest for me to find.

awesome
thanks
make a translation?(if U need)
I made a translation into Korean from AN post. ^^;

Antic in the link was posted up on the board who I know. (I told him about AN. AN is famous for Korean A's fan. But, he is "good" Redsox fan. I hate "ugly" Redsox fan in Korea.)

MLB cartoon in Korean post up in no.1 portal site "naver.com"

The cartoonist is Twins Fan, but he has many MLB
common sense and knowledge.

It's a few cartoon about A's among his works.

URL

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=mlb&menu=cartoon&mode=view&seq=12&of fice_id=223&article_id=0000000008

(about Zito's curve)

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=mlb&menu=cartoon&mode=view&seq=24&of fice_id=223&article_id=0000000015

(about Big Three)

http://news.naver.com/sports/index.nhn?category=mlb&menu=cartoon&mode=view&seq=83&of fice_id=223&article_id=0000000066

(about 2004 season)

If U needs, I can make a translation.

(but, I'm not good at English;;;)

i just wanted to say
that I have now been to BOTH dan haren complete games this year (there WERE only two, right??)

and the A's are now 11-6 in games I've attended.

Oh!  AND I met bbg and erik at the game tonight!  how fun!!

yay oakland!

I'm 3 for 3 this week!
I didn't think anything could top Sat & Sun's game, but what a night! I met Erik and Misplaced OakFan, who are SO cool, and we beat the Angels again. I LOVE IT!

Some thoughts:


  • I love love love love me some Milton Bradley. CALL ME!
  • Jay Payton is saying, 'Not an everyday player, huh? Take THAT Boston bitches'!
  • Haren was fantastic! No question he pitches the ninth; he seemed more solid in the 6-9 innings than in the earlier ones.
  • Oakland fans represented!! There was quite of bit of 'Let's Go Oak-land' and tons of green and gold!
  • Swisher's DP was HAWT!!!!

Going for another one tomorrow!!!!

I wanna meet you all too!
i was thinking of getting tix for the late sept series in anaheim.
Bummed I missed it...
Just couldnt get out of work in time to sit in traffic.

Barbecused and watched on TV instead :-)

For those unfamiliar with the term,
"barbecuse" is when you find a good excuse not to bother to barbecue, and go eat out instead.
Thanks for clarifying
I thought "barbecused" happened when you can't get it lit and you scream profanities at it, then go out to eat instead. But I guess that's spelled with a double-s.
Many confuse these
with "barbiecued," which simply means to signal to a figurine that it's her turn to speak.
A beautiful thing...
that's right an A's victory i So Cal with the company of other A's fans
I knew it was going to be a victory when BBG blessed our group with her presence down in left field.
Great to meet the misplacedOakfan for a little post game commentary
and another shout out to Paul who should be posting in about 4 hours after his initial 24 hours are up
nothing new to add that BBG didn't say except, we had a nice rendition of "Celebration" going on in 105 after the game
oh, I met baseballgirl... Hell YEAH!!! What up Amnesiac?!
<gasp>
I forgot about the singing!! And the dancing!!!! Celebration indeed!
LOL
That's SO lame.
Nice win bitches
Hmmmm
  • I'm loving out 3-4-5-6 Punch right now - Payton anchors this foursome.  I never give Payton enough credit...I like that he's a Free-Swinger - Not Looking for the Walk - He's Solid.
  • Gotta get Swisher to gain the 15 lbs back - He looks weak right now...maybe puting him on the DL to get him healthy would do EVERYONE some good.  Bring DJ back up, and give him another try to be our everyday First Baseman.
  • If either Crosby or Ellis could get hot down the stretch, this team could really take off.
  • Kendall is showing off some "Warning Track Power" and "Hard Hit Balls" as of late.  No complaints here.
  • Chavvy: Nine Game Hitting Streak?  Golde Glove is a WRAP.
great game
...enjoyed it immensely.  A big win, and (I hope and predict) the first of an away sweep at the big A.

Have to say I was less than impressed by Lew Wolff's visit to the TV broadcast booth. He had very little to say (compared to Lew, Kuiper is a ball of energy) and couldn't wait to get out of there (Fosse made him stay until the third out was recorded).  The one thing he did talk about was that the new ballpark (in Fremont) would have lots of high-tech, digital "signage" (YUCK) like they have at Anaheim. When asked about the closure of the third deck, he said he was very happy with how that has turned out (though he didn't say why other than it looked better with more people in the lower seating areas). I did think it was pretty funny when Fosse showed him with the telestrator how they knocked down the outfield seating at the big A to make it a more baseball-friendly facility- hint hint (Lew: "We don't have that option in Oakland").  Lastly, I found his heavy breathing to be really creepy.  I'm sorry but the guy creeps me out and for me personifies the impending doom of the A's in Oakland.

I mentioned in the game thread...
...that I'm a little apprehensive about having "more fun" digital signage, too.  I really don't want to leave every game with a migraine...
the Wolffe group wants free land
for its retail-hotel-condo complex. That's why they are considering Fremont, in a location that is over five miles away from BART.

But I still think the preference is San Jose. When asked jokingly about the "Oakland A's of Fremont" I found it interesting that Wolffe immediately mentioned Santa Clara and San Jose.

Signage
Isn't the signage in the park in Anaheim alot like that in SF? Really, like, seizure-inspiring?
thoughts about Bruce Jenkins?
Does anyone else read Bruce Jenkins at the SF Chronicle (www.sfgate.com) and find him to be obnoxious about pitch counts (and other MoneyBall/SABR-metrics issues)?

I don't care enough to go back and find the old articles in which he's praised Dusty Baker for leaving pitchers in to throw over 130 pitches (didn't Chicago used to have some live young arms? Prior and Wood, wasn't it?) and wrote that Grady Little did right to leave Pedro in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (despite the stark spike in Pedro's opposition-batting-average-allowed after 90 and especially 105 pitches), but when he writes, as he did this morning (here), "Ken Macha allowed Dan Haren to pitch the ninth inning, with 96 pitches behind him, and guess what, pitch-count geeks: Haren was better than ever" it makes me see red.

I don't think I know enough to qualify as a "pitch-count geek", but I think it's rather obvious that when a starter has thrown 96 pitches in eight innings, with a single one-run mistake to show for it, no "pitch-count geek" is going to pull him, and it's a cheap, weak, argument to claim that they would.

I know Joe Morgan's crusade against Billy Beane is well established, but I'm curious if there are other reflexive "old-school" baseball analysts who annoy people on similar grounds...

Total straw man.
A cheap shot, to be sure.  I'm a pitch-count geek and I would have sent Haren out if we had Mariano Rivera in the 'pen.

I see you're generally new here - your reg ID is anyway - but stick around for a bit and you'll find that there are a whole host of "analysts" on the AN Sabermetric Spork shit list: Tim McCarver, Bill Plaschke, Jon Heyman, the list goes on and on.  Welcome, and hope to see more of you around here.

jenkins is an idiot
total straw man, as sal said.  if i had my way, jenkins would be placed inside some sort of wicker man...

kill me now ...
... before I have to suffer the witless nihilist Neil LaBute's pointless remake of The Wicker Man ...
only if you kill ME
when the remake of Rififi hits the theaters...
yurgh
Yeah, that's pretty pointless, especially after De Palma out-techniqued anyone else who might try revising the safe-heist-from-above scene in MI:1.
de palma
the only good thing about M:I was that it wasn't as bad as the next two.  de palma hasn't been involved in anything good in over a decade.
not that i would want anybody to remake Rififi, but couldn't they find a slightly more talented director than harold becker?  like maybe McG?
don't B H8n' on BDP
I'll grant that MI:1 was 75% crap, but the ceiling-heist scene, the lying-flashbacks, and the exploding fishtank were all exquisitely executed. Snake Eyes, likewise, was 75% crap with a few really nice moments. And Femme Fatale is genius from start to finish. (But even I won't defend M2M ... although it did precipitate BDP's fleeing the country, which enabled him to make FF ...)

And this is going to kick some serious ass.

I thought about doing it as a diary...
Thanks - I thought about making it a diary, but figured that would require some actual research, and I wasn't quite that motivated (part of the genius of the internet being that it's often easy to find someone else has already asked, and answered, the question you have, or something that's no less interesting).

I've been reading AN for a while (over a year, though only signed up for the account this spring and then promptly did nothing with it), but seldom have access (cable/radio) to the games in real time (well, aside from ESPN's Gamecast), or else I'd be more active in commenting (and I'm a MoneyBall fan, though not with the kind of free time that'd let me get too into the stats/SABR stuff). I love the running threads; it's like having our own announcers, especially for the weird plays (rundowns, ejections, etc.) or when the gamecast freezes up.

Cool.
Coming out of lurkerdom will be a fun thing :)
you should have made it into a diary
it wouldn't require that much more research, just throw in a soriano rumor...
And a Zito trade rumor
I'm willing to bet we'll see the 1st Zito-NY Mets trade rumor of 2007 in a NY rag before Thanksgiving.
it's so weird. i went to bed last night before the
game ended, and i had a dream that they won it with a solo homer and a two run homer. i kid you not.
Mad Angels of Pissed-offville
Not sure if this was already posted but check out this quote from our favorite loudmouth:  "I don't really get why people think [the Angels] are so good. Yeah, they've won the division the last two years but I think it was more by luck than talent. I have no doubt that we are a better team and will walk away with the west this year. " -Nick Swisher

Just so much confidence.  Sick.

swisher's gonna look stupid if the angels
win the division.
Link?
he said this on cold pizza
That's not confidence,
that's stupidity and arrogance--which, when added together, equal bulletin-board material to motivate the competition.

Advice to Swishee: Shut up. And cut down your swing. And get to bed on time.

i agree nico. swisher needs to keep his
mouth shut.
i would be okay with this
if swisher didn't have a .600 OPS over the last month...
Or if Pujols said it
given the recent statements
from crosby and swisher, i think maybe they've been partying with kellen winslow jr, who recently said that at 90% he was better than every other NFL tight end, even though he's only played two games in two years...
Then shouldn't Winslow Jr.
only be commenting on how he is at 6.25%?
what did crosby say?

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