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Open Thread: Game 119 - A's vs. Mariners

The A's and Los Kirk with a 4-6 record and a 4.89 ERA take on the Mariners and Joel Pineiro with a 7-10 record and a 5.91 ERA.

Well, if the remarkable streak against the Mariners was to ever end, tonight would be the night.  Saarloos has struggled as a starter this season.  As a starter, his ERA is 5.37 and as a reliever his ERA is nearly a run and a half lower at 3.94.

The A's lineup looks like this:

Kendall
Kotsay
Bradley
Thomas
Chavez
Payton
Swisher
Scutaro
Ellis

The A's as a team have good numbers against Pineiro with a .280 batting average and a .353 OBP.  Mark Ellis, Frank Thomas and Milton Bradley should seem particularly amped to see the Mariners pitcher.

The M's send out this lineup to try and stop the A's streak against them at 13 straight wins:

Suzuki
Lopez
Beltre
Ibanez
Broussard
Johjima
Dobbs
Betancourt
Bloomquist

The formula is very simple for Los Kirk, keep the ball down against an aggressive swinging team and you should have good success.  Keep it up and you'll get hurt and the streak will die.

LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!

0 recs  |  292 comments

Comments

No Matter the rest of the Series
I think the A's will just barely take the season series from the Mariners...
LET'S GO OAKLAND!
this season continues to amaze me
By the way, welcome back, Kots
I missed ya, man.
Welcome back Kots
10 pitch inning!
Good job, Captain Kirk!
HAWT
Oh
Look who decided to show up!
<leaves game thread>
I need my beauty sleep. :)
I *really* need beauty sleep,
if you know what I mean.
That looked too easy.
Hi everybody
LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!
Kirk is rarin' to mow these bitches down.
How I love that sweet little mullet-lovin' man!
Fly ball outs
Good sign or bad for Kirk?
OUTS are a good sign...
Kotsay!
Most excellent.  Continues the hitting streak!
lets go
a's
come on frank
hit mt davis
Opposite field!
Hooray!
Jennifer...
...the commercials are gone.  I wonder if it had anything to do with the half-hour conversation I had with the MLBAM customer service supervisor :-)
Are they really?
I almost ate my damn computer this morning I was so pissed about those stupid commercials.
Gone for me; for now.
Who knows when they might bring 'em back.
You mean...
they are actually listening to the customers? I don't believe it.

<gasp>

It was fun.
I asked him to speak to me as a baseball fan and not as a MLBAM employee.  Then I asked him to watch the commercial.  He conceded that the commercial would get annoying after a few repetitions (the first lady I talked to said that I should be happy because she thought the commercials were really funny).  Eventually, he took my side but said "I'm just lowly customer service supervisor.  I can't actually do anything."  I told him he should tell the MLBAM head honchos that I was very upset, and that I have a lot of influence on the internet.  I also told him that I would start seeking out illegal means to watch MLB through the internet.

I doubt I had anything to do with the commercials not being there, but it felt good to really lay into MLBAM.

LOL
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN!
Basically.
I'm not above embellishing my position in life.
Hey, it worked. :)
Was it the same f'in commercial every time?
Yup.
And guess what the theme was?  Red Sox fans versus Yankee fans.  Because no other fans would possibly want to purchase MLBAM products.
Let's go Frank
Big fly please!
Fire Kuiper.
I can't stand him. His call of Swisher's homerun sucked. I have yet to hear anything inspiring from him since he got the job.
Believe it or not
I actually miss Greg Papa, even if ownership may have had issues with him.
Glen is decent at times, but at least he stays away from stupid, used-to-often catch phrases/wannabe signature calls like his brother uses too much
grand slam
eric slam dennys time
RUNS, RUNS, RUNS.
Let's go Chavvy!
Crush one!
yes yes yes
Pineiro
I've always felt bad for Joel. He's always had such potential but for some reason he has one good game every like fifteen starts. I don't get it. Oh well, take him down!
I'll settle for a 2 run double...
or single...but bring home 2 is fine with me
2 outs?
didn't see that on the menu
<whispers>
Why is it so quiet in here?
I KNEW you were still here!
Word got out
you were going to be here.
will be noisy when
a's get up he he
calm down
we're just putting our usual LOBs and DPs on the scoreboard fisrt, runs will come later.
DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
at least he waited 3 pitches to do it...
We're a small ball team now?
Driving home I was listening to the Mariners radio pre-game show.  On "keys to the game", Ron Fairly says the M's have to avoid a close, low-scoring game because the A's play small ball "as good as any team in the league".

(He actually said "little ball", but it was clear he meant the same thing.)

The new Moneyball.
The talking heads are having trouble with the new story arc, actually.  This offseason, free agent Brian Giles was linked with the Yankees with the thought that he would add a much needed smallball grinder compononent to the team.  The article went on to mention his high walk and doubles rate as evidence of his smallballosity.
What would happen if Jennifer booed Kuiper?
Nothing.
Poppy broke the BOOO! mojo.
<sobs>
Well, it might make me feel better.

BOOO!!!

Glen has been extra sucky lately.
KenKo was awesome last night.
I second that
His game-ending call of the pickoff ties him with with Street's game-ending strikeout of Balco for best call of the season.  The Milton walkoff is a close 2nd to both of these.
lets go a's
clap clap lets go a's clap clap
way to go
jay pay
lets go
swiiiiish
Come on Nick
Smash it!
Ranger bullpen blows it again
whoo hoo
way to go swish
I love the XBH that follows the fake bunt.
We are smokingthe ball so far...lets get some damn
runs out of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
swisha!!!
let's go A's.
runs, runs, runs.
I like the new Swish
it's a lot like the old Swish.
Whee!!!!!
As soon as I got here!!!!!!
Woohooo! Marco!
way to go scoot
whoo hoo
Ohh Marquito!
Ah, those sweet words
In play, run-scoring play
Long live Lord Scutaro's reign of SS-domination!
OMG!
That license plate!
HLY 2LDO
<SIGH>
where did
you see that
On the FSN Bay telecast....
Some lady was holding it.  A's fan, I'm guessing.  :)
That was going to be my next license plate!  
crosby really has to come back?
Am i the only one that wants Scutaro to stay in
the lineup when Crosby comes back? I ay let Scutaro play until he goes cold.
MAAAAAAAAAAARCOOOOOO
MARCO!
I love that little man!
I missed all of it.
Keep missing it, please.
Adrian Beltre!  Defense wins championships!  (He was distracted by Kendall's speed, I'm sure).
Beltre picks up Scutaro.
Excuse me while I go <melt>.
Middle infield of death!
jason
whoo what a doll
weeeeeee!!!!!!!!!
Marco tastes like Fun Dip.
Another run!
I love seeing Hotsay back in the lineup.
WOO HOO!!!
3-0 A's!
Why the hell was Betancourt there?
That was weird.
LAAAA with a 3 spot in the 8th...
Lead Texas 9-7.  
Kotsay may never make an out again.
By the way,
I've missed the game threads so much!  
I hate double plays.
Except when we turn them.

That was annoying.

Let's go Milton!!!
Smash it!!!
Aargh.
I hate double plays.
i can't believe
we don't lead the league in GIDPs.
anyone else get the feeling
that we're gonna make it 14 in a row tonite??????
I"m loving it!!!!!!!!!!!
i hate double plays.
Why is FP on the Giants telecast?
Where's Krukow?!
He was eliminated.
LOL.
Ok, seriously, though!  :)
Radio with Kuip, I believe.
Unless he has a few days off.
Hmm...
<Turns on KNBR to make sure>

So far, it's just Flemming...

... and the *other* Kupier.
Then he may just have had the past few days off...
FP has been on the G's telecast for the past 3 days now.
Oh, scoot.
But honestly, Nick could have used his go-go gadget arm.
That's also great on dates.
lol
Go-go Swisher Mullet!
<sproing>
Go-Go Gadget <censored>!
<sproing>

<Scoot placed on DL with eye injury>

Scoot, watch the gold glover make the play.
Saars is
mad that the M's are disrespecting the A's by not trying to win.
ERIC F CHAVEZ.
Wow.
Dude.
E. F. C.
doesn't matter now, but
If Kendall was backing up first on Scoot's bad
throw, would the runner still have had enough of a chance to get to second?  Or. did they say it went into the dugout?  Missed that part.
Just curious.
Ssshhh, don't jinx us, Vince!
Pineiro, this is a lesson
in why you don't shake off your catcher.

'Cuz Big Frank will pummel your ass.

It was Ichiro
He would have made second regardless.

Kendall was there, but it deflected off Swish's glove, so he had to chase it.

okay, thanks mdl
those 1's added together do make a two.
Wheee!!!!!
Me likey!
SWISHAAAA LIVES!
Oh my god, that corpse can HIT!
all I want for tonight is
a blowout and a CG.

am I asking for too much??

Yes.
But you might get a blowout and a CGV.
swish is back!!
Jiminy Christmas, Nick!
He is REALLY gaining momentum now...from last night.
Cheers and Prayers for Betty Lorraine!
Who wants to raise the team BA?
They do! They do!
Good job Swish
Soooo glad he's getting over mono.  Now he's fully in stereo!
lol
Swish in stereo would be too much.
Awful lot of singles.
<strippers rejoice>
Whose turn is it
to GIDP this inning ?
Blah.
ANOTHER DP.  Yuck.  But I'll take the 4-0 lead!
Three innings, three GIDPs.
The game keeps along at a good clip.
Obviously,
they're going for the record -- a GIDP by almost every player in the lineup.
AAAAGGHHRR
4-0 lead... 3 DPs.... humph. Whatever.
3 innings, 3 DPs.
Nine players in the lineup, nine innings in a game...it's a matter of time.
But the M's would need to score!
Or else, no bottom of the 9th. We have a better chance of achieving this record on the road, methinks.
Despite the 3 DPs
we only have 1 more LOB than the M's
Jennifer, break out the EFC graphic.
Dude.
E. F. C.
DP bonanzas tonight,
Rangers lose
But
That means that teh Angels won
Exactly
but I couldn't bring myself to write those words.
Yeah
But no matter what one of them have to win, the important thing is that the A's keep winning and holding serve
MaEl
Going opposite field.  Very nice.
Strom
Setting up the DP
GOSH, I hope Ellie has his stroke back for
the rest of the year.  
where do those dogs do their business?
Fidelity Mutual, I think.
maybe
in the mariners dugout or on their pitchers mound
On Joe Morgan's lawn
n/t
Mariners TV announcer just said
Fremont is Giants territory.  Really?
DP #4.
Fourth different A, too.
AL record is 7
Thanks
They announced it on TV
(in Seattle)
dp every inning
I got it now!!!
Secrets don't make friends, Barry.
But Haren is such a bitch.
We need to know what the DP record is...
JOE-EL
Has thrown about 80 pitches already....
GIDP record
According to http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_gidp2.shtml the AL record is 6 and the NL record is 7.
Cool, let's hit into 8 DP's
and pull off an 6-0 win with 'Loos pitching a CG.
When things are going your way...
Ok, that was creepy.
join the party eric
everyone has a hit but you
It's party time
Good job Chavvy!
Every A's hitter has a hit...
and it's only the fourth inning.
pineiro has allowed....
11 hits and given up 4 walks and we only have 5 runs
6-0 ... not bad.
Time to go check on Lookout Landing to make sure they're okay.
Everyone with a hit. SWEET.
wowwwwwwwwww
you know it's bad when payton walks on 4 pitches
The only way he can walk
Well this is pretty fun
Hopefully we keep it up!
9-0 WOO HOO!
Payton bustin around from first!
I feel bad for the fans at lookout landing
that's why I appreciate being an a's fan, we always have smiles because we always put a solid team out on the field.
WTF IS SWISHER DOING????!!!
YES!!!
Oh dear.
That's a nice hit.
WOW, Swish really loves his Grama
here's the blowout
now get me a CG Kirk.

LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!!

caff-caff, ahem, where's my
carpet slipper, satin smoking jacket and nice big fat cigar?
17 is...
a) Mike Norris's old number
b) The number of times Kendall has to hit the ball to get it up to the 2nd deck where FT hit it with one swing last night
c) The number of baserunners the A's have with 2 outs in the 4th*

*poll written before JPay's bases-clearing double.

Should say
"have had" -- not that they have 17 runners all at the same time, obviously (though they could probably hit one to Bettancourt for a fifteenple-play if all those guys were actually on base simultaneously).
this game will help
the old run differenital stat. did neyer just say the rangers would catch us based on that?
mmmm....should help run differential
Who do we have to bribe
to play Seattle in the playoffs? Would sacrificing a virgin help?
Too easy,,,
Or we could go anti virgin, uhm you know, poster here...whats her name....er...<censored>
Nooo! Stay away from Huston!
Who let the dogs out?
Whoof, Whoof, Whoof!
I think we were
hoping for something like this sooner or later.  Now Kirk can wrap it up and the bullpen can get some rest.
That's probably what
everyone was saying when we went up 11-0 against the Royals after 19 consecutive wins.

It's the 5th.  No woofing (unless you're actually a dog).

I'm saying
leave Kirk in for the duration.  95 pitches or so.  No woofing here, trust me.  Just saying what should happen, not declaring anything.
Can you have 2 DP in one inning
if the first is a strike-out/throw-out but in the catcher's hurry to throw they don't apply a tag and the struck out batter makes it to first ?
Hmmm..
Is it really a double play if you only get one out?
Isn't there a breed of dog called 'Saarloos'?
New M's slogan
2007 Slogan
Toon switched sites?
In the fourth we had
six consecutive baserunners with two out.  How's that for RISP2 hitting?

Aww, Payong hugging - was that Buckley? - this team is fun to watch.

And Buckley with the catch of the game!
Awwwww...
Payton hugs Buckley
Get Calero up.
NOW!
I didn't think anyone could hit it out tonite.
What happened to the marine layer?
That HR was for the kids over at LL
Everybody getting into the DP
action tonight, even Ichiro.
what's the record for most double plays in one
game? both teams combined.
YAY!!!! No DP this inning!!!!!
Hassey!
I suppose everyone else knew that Ron Hassey is the Mariner's bench coach? Anyone know where Hubbard is?

9-1 games take me back to my (relative) youth.

do you mean glen hubbard? cause if you do he's
with the braves.
Just found it
on WikiPedia (unless, of course, he's on the President's Council of Economic Advisors....

"Well, Mr. President, given the current inflationary data and the muffling trend in the oil and consumer areas, I'd recommend you leave the interest rates alone, and sac fly to right"

Who else.... Carney is still coaching his younger son's little league team, Stew is an agent, wheres Mike Moore? Bob Welch?

C'mon, DP!
Booo, Scutaro!
How will we set the record?
scutaro really doesn't have much of an arm
Yeah, but Rich Harden
really doesn't have an arm.
No, the drummer for Def Lepperd
REALLY doesn't have an arm
Wow.
(I think it's funny, but some people here might not think so.  I guess a Dave Dravecky joke would be wildly inappropriate.)
Even more inappropriate
than if I offered to give you a hand with this line of thinking and made a reference to Jim Abbott.
Exactly!
Look what JA pitched through, Harden is a puss...
Ha!
We have a winner, give that man a hand, oh wait...
why not witasick??
keep KiKoKa resting.
Macha heard you
Witasick up in the 'pen
frank
hit mt davis
Lining up the triple play
to make up for last inning.
Perez pinch running.
What if we need Thomas again?
They just showed Hargrove
reaching down to get a drink in the dugout.

You think that was the cooler with the gin in it?

there were moments during this game
when it looked like Hargrove wanted to pee on Pineiro
Fire Macha now!
Wait, that was actually a good move
Bat head killed the DP.
That was 10 successive balls
ball 10!
I don't know how they're laying off pitches that close! </Uecker>
intentionally walk payton
to face swisher?  
chavvy hit that one twice
so would that be a bat-4-3 putout? I don't know how to score that one in my scorebook...
good thing
it wasnt clemens he would have thrown the bet
bat i mean
<Congress launches investigation>
Clemens: I have never bet on a game, or thrown one.

Congressman: But what about this? <produces AN gameday thread log>

Clemens: I've never heard of "smasfan", and if I find him, I'm probably going to chuck something heavy at his head, high and tight.

Congressman: Why don't you tell us the truth, what happened?

Clemens: I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm actually here to talk about the future... I'd like to begin by saying that I, for one, salute our new robot alien overlords.

Congressman: Huh?

Clemens: Oh, it's only 2006, isn't it. I need to get recalibrated. Nevermind that bit about overlords... </disappears in a flash of light>

Holy crap I hope Swish takes him deep...
M's walking JPay to load the bases
because they have a sense of history.
Swish,
The M's want you to have 8 RBI's tonight.  Go at it!
should have thought of this
Swisher is doing exceptional tonight because it is the only night this year in which both
dogs AND trucks are both present in/on coliseum premeses. (stadium and parking lot respectively)

That of course, doesn't include any crazy fan who would leave their dog in the car for 3-5 hours during any other game.

trucks ?
there's a monster truck rally
next door tonight
ok
thank you the arena isnt that big is it
it's gonna look worse
than the coliseum outfield in december....
Is there really?
I was just talking about the parkinglot, but that adds to the emphasis!  Now, if Kenny Chesney was playing a show in the arena after the truck rally (without cleaning up, just his showing up)
Swish would probably finish the night 5 for 5 and 8 RBI's.
i was just kidding
i don't think the arena could handle monster trucks.
Swisher went Pedro Serrano on that at-bat
4 breaking pitches = One K
Get Jobu more rum
quickly!
Scoot,
The M's want you to have more RBI's than LOB's tonight...go do something.
payton and scutaro with three walks
between them is probably a sign that things are not going according to plan for the opposing team.
lol
Not in the game plan?
not unless
the game plan is getting a high draft pick.
In the twelfth inning,
the Cubs and Astros are tied at six and have used a total of 15 pitchers.
41 total players
between the two teams.

I'd guess that number for a game of perhaps 20 innings, but just 12? That's NL baseball.

I can't wait until the bullpen catcher singles in the groundskeeper from third on a flare to the rightfielder, who's selling beer, off of the relief pitcher with the BB jersey on his back.

Awesome.
This should be fun.
Ellis,
Remember, they pitch you away....
Memo to Ellis:
Strike out and the unicorn dies.
M's clubhouse after closed-door meeting L8R 2nite
Jay Witasick: your job tonight...
make sure Kiko, Justin and Huston keep the bullpen bench warm
Can Witasick have a shutdown inning?
are the a's playing the mariners?

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