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Open Thread: Game 107 - A's vs. Tigers

On paper, it looks like a terrific pitching matchup: Danny Haren against Justin Verlander. In reality, given that Verlander has no-hit a team that wasn’t the A’s, the over/under on hits allowed by Verlander tonight is -2.

Meanwhile, look for Placido Polanco to punch a single to right-center during the National Anthem and become the first player in major league history to go 2/2 by the end of his first at-bat.

No trades for the A’s today. And it looks like my fear about Scutaro playing too much SS has been solved by the fact that Eric Chavez no longer plays. The lineups:

Granderson – CF
Babe f***ing Ruth – 2B
Sheffield – DH
Ordonez – RF
Guillen – SS
Casey – 1B
Monroe – LF
Rabelo – C
Inge – 3B

Buck – RF
Swisher – 1B
Cust – LF
Piazza – DH
Ellis – 2B
Kotsay – CF
Scutaro – 3B
Murphy – SS
Suzuki – C

0 recs  |  363 comments

Comments

Babe ******* Ruth

at second base is a nice touch.

Cust and Piazza together again.

We win.  Book it.

don't hate me, AN

but i must share with you all ...

PINCH HITTER 2!!!

Oh, we were all over Pinch Hitter 2

weeks ago.

We don't hate you. Now we just hate ourselves.

what the?

where was i? haha.

Ourselves and the A's of course.
Scutaro and Murphy

Actually I would not mind seeing Murphy play 3B and Scutaro play SS.  For that matter, I wouldn't mind seeing Murphy play some 2B either...although since the A's only have 3 healthy bodies for 2B, SS and 3B at the moment and Ellis is limited to 2B, that's not an option tonight.

The notion being that, since no IF prospects were acquired at the trade deadline, I want to know if Murphy would be an improvement over Scutaro for the utility job in 2008.  I don't consider Murphy a candidate to replace Crosby (or Chavez) on a full-time basis.

I'm having a bad day

and I know I shouldn't be using the game as a way to cheer me up, because it's probably going to put me in a worse mood.

This could be verrrrrry ugly.

The cold medicine is working.
I thought your subject read "I'm having a baby."
That is soooooo scary.

Also scary? Jack Cust's first play in left field.

This is going to be bad.

TWO HANDS PEOPLE!

Seriously.

God gave you two hands, Jack. Let's use them. Ay.

Really?

Oy, not good....

HAHAHAHA

[Heads to fridge for another beer]

Straight to the medicine cabinet.
ugh

<turns off tv>

TWO HANDS, JACK!

OH MY HOLY CRAP! STAB ME WITH A DULL, HOT, RUSTY KNIFE. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? AHHHHHH!

Yeah, our defense is awesome!

Lets dedicate the pregame show to touting our defense!

cust better hit a HR tonight
Is sal here?
shouldn't you be napping?
You need your sleep. And you really need your beauty sleep.
I'm about to.
I have to find out an answer to a question first.
c'mon
what  does sal know that I don't?

oh, right

Question.
Poppy said she was cold. I said use Chavy's carcass. She then texted "Tauntaun!"

WTF?

She said "ask sal to explain why Chavy is a tauntaun if I was to use his carcass for warmth.

it's a Star Wars geek question
why on earth wear you asking sal? In the 2nd movie, Luke survives the harsh winter night of the ice planet hoth by killing his tauntaun with his life sabre and crawling inside

or so I'm told

Thanks!

I knew it was Star Wars... but those movies came out 25 years before I was born. ;)

Love ya!

I AM the oldest person on AN
You're only 2 years old?
Fosse

My MLB Radio feed just blinked and jumped back to somewhere in the pre-game show, where I heard Fosse kissing Rob Bowen's butt in an interview. "You obviously know how to catch."

Has Fosse found his new man-crush?

Fosse

New to this forum and actually the A's Who is Fosse and how much of the interview did you hear?

Ray Fosse

is a former catcher for the A's. For the last several years he's been a broadcast commentator for the A's, on both TV and radio.  He does interviews regularly (before every game, I think).

I heard only a teeny bit of today's interview, not much more than the line I quoted.  But like many A's fans I have plenty of familiarity with Ray generally.  For two full seasons I watched/listened to every single game broadcast, including Fosse's pre-game interview.

Fosse is known for, among other things, an interesting interviewing style in which he provides all the answers in his question and pronounced bias for catchers.

Opinions on Ray Fosse, mine and others', can be found scattered throughout AN. Stick around long enough and you'll see plenty.

thanks for the info

I thought I replied to this so I appologize if this is a duplicate. I'm new that's my excuse. I don't know how long I will be around I've rooted for three teams this season SD, Cubs and now the A's. I follow Bowen thus my interest in the interview.

The worst part? Wifethereof called it...

I was all giddy the A's had Cust and Buck in the game, and wifethereof says, "Can Cust play the outfield?". I answer, "Sure. Does it matter though? He can hit!"...

Next play - you know what happened.

Now the d**n wife thinks she knows baseball better than Joe Morgan. Wait. Maybe she does.

I could see it going wrong

right off the bat. Kotsay was right there! Let him take it, JACK! JFC!

TRAVIS!

No, my CAPS LOCK isn't stuck.

WE GOT A HIT.
A's with more hit's the Placido!

Good start?

Sigh of relief, at least.

Beer for everyone!

I love Ken Korach

Is it just me, or does everyone think it's cool how he pronounces names. I love hearing him say "Brandon Innnnnge", so that it's just as long as "Polanco" or "Granderson"

Jack Cust: Redemption time.
I like Travis Buck.
Wow

that was tight.

Piazza. True Fuckin Athletic

F'n manufaturing

Didn't the A's outsource that off-continent?

I am so glad the A's made all those deals today

I mean, this team is awesome! Look how great the offense is doing thus far!

And the defense is rock solid!

The pitching? Spectacular! Only 3 runs in 2 innings!

Cust error

I missed the first inning. Did Cust drop an easy fly ball?

it wasn't easy for him
but yeah

my mom could have caught that.

Helen Keller could've caught it.
That was horrible.

I apologize.

Ray Fosse says...

"Don't be patient! Swing at the first pitch, fellas!"

MLB.TV

Working for anyone else?  Mine isn't.

mosaic is for me
Can the A's ever get a runner home from 3rd

It is insane.

Bases loaded.

Don't worry, nothing's gonna happen.

It's Travis Buck!
You shut your mouth!
Oohhhhhh

Your love isn't so fickle tonight!

I like Pudge.
Travis Buck is up... so there is some hope

but since it is the A's... I say strike out.

OMG! CLUTCH WALK!
That's what someone does

right as they're having a heart attack, right?

Thats the way we can score

walk with the bases loaded.

Pathetic. Sad. Annoying.

But I'll take it.

What up, AN? Hell of an AB by Mr. Buck.
Indeed it was.
Swisher... booooo!
Has Swisher

ever...and I mean ever had a RBI hit with 2 out?

Do you mean THIS year? I don't think so.
fickle
Fickle Fackle. It's a new candy for A's fans

dealing with a crappy season.

Hmm.

My candy tonight is Spanish wine.

Can you pour me a glass? Go ahead and fill it to

the top.

Gladly.

And since you're not here, I'll just have to sacrifice and drink it myself.

Double fisting wine: Classy.

My kinda gal. Mix a cracker in every once in a

while please.  It will help reduce the hangover that you appear to be working on already.

Tough love.

He knows deep down that he will always be my #1 Travis.

You've played "bad cop" long enough...

it's time to hold each one of them in your arms.

nice ab buck!

chavy would've definitely struck out on one of the two breaking balls with the count 0-2

swish is playing like

chavy...what gives?

He

learns from the best.

Polyjuice Potion?
He should have surgery.
I think many on AN

already believe that Chavy has had the surgery.

Ohhh. You mean THE surgery?
Not looking like a good baseball night

I'm flipping back and forth between Oakland and Seattle.  Lackey vs. Weaver looks even worse than this one.  (Anybody else think the Mariners' season may have hit its high point last night?)

I have no interest in any goings on at Dodger Stadium tonight.

Swisher
swings for the fences every time. If he just cut down he'd hit .280 and would be a much better hitter. But no the guy wants to try and hit 70 HR's. I love Swisher don't get me wrong but he needs to stop.
I agree. However swinging for the fences did

work for him before.  I hope they go to ST with an emphasis on execution and situational hitting.  A lazy single would have netted at least two there.  Sheesh.

just dropping in to say

hi everybody! like my man haroldmd.   don't even know the score, don't even care, watching bronx is burning and grillin chicken.

CUST DOUBLE
He looked so fast... when compared to

Frank Thomas.

That was scary.

Like watching Big Foot.

You know what's scarier than Big Foot?

Big Foot's dick!!  Isn't that from a movie?

Uh...
Nevermind. It's from "Anchorman" when they are

talking about the potency of Panther cologne.

Some good news

Another strong outing from Meyer tonight. 7 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 1 BB (intentional), 7 K, 100 pitches. He did take the loss, however.

I'm almost shocked, actually

I expected Meyer to be called up to start in place of Braden.

Very economical PC for him. Normally it's a

puzzling stat line for him.

Piazza just punched the heater...
MUST MAKE PRODUCTIVE OUTS

FITZ
did I miss anything?

Hey all

watching the game on TV

more of the same

for fuck sake...

leadoff double and we can't even get him to third!?!?  a's season in a nutshell

It's been that way for years

Haven't you been watching?

yea...

unfortunately

How did we come to this?

We started well.  Was it only two weeks before the ASB that we went to hell?

seven game

losing streak with asb in between i believe...

They have a lot of work to do in ST '08.

They are horrible at executing the necessary plan for a particular moment.  My high school coach would have kicked my butt for not getting him over.  

4 hits, 3 walks 3 innings

(two were doubles) and one run!

why only one run?
No productive outs, and DP

The leadoff double is the tough one to take.

Heck this season is tough to take.  My life has been turned "upside down" dealing with this crap.  

Everyone can say that we suck but you don't give yourself much of a chance when you can't move a runner or when Swish is going for a GS rather than a basehit.  As if a lousy TWO run single isn't a big deal to this club!

Anyone have any Tigers

on their fantasy team worth cheering?

Hi Everybody!!

LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!

no trades and our crappy offense is doing the same s**t, I just hope we could do something drastic in the offseason.

FIRE MACHA NOW!!!

Hey Dr.! Let's HIRE MACHA!!
I was hoping for a trade, so we can get him back

lol

dissapointed about not trading anyone (everybody except haren, blanton, street, casilla, buck)

Kots can still play some CF.

I like how he waved Cust off....as if he had a chance in hell of running his ass all the way to left center. lol

HIRE MACHA NOW!

jk btw...

lol

Still, we need someone to clean out the restrooms in the coli

Already 0-7 with RISP

My firm reasoned belief that RISP batting average is no different than normal long term is tested every time I watch an A's game.

An inning to late Donnie...

but it's nice to see anyway.  

oh good

a double...i wonder how were going to waste this one..

FC....now the execution.
Donnie Murphy

It's so nice to see a shortstop take a nice, smooth, self-contained swing, and drive the ball.

sweet!

we got him to third!  we should get half a run at least for that.

Your 2007/2008 Oakland A's.

Maybe it's a ploy by Lew Wolfe to have the team run out of Oakland and into Fremont by the Oakland residents.

i like that theory...

maybe instead of corking the bats he put lead in them.

Root beer float day is on a Wed.?
Has it always been? And on top of that, it's radio only! My first A's game was a root beer float game, which combined my favorite team with my favorite dessert.

Oh, what a season!

if anyone's going....

take lots of pics please!

we need an special rule

if we get to 3rd, that is run, that way we could score at least twice a game, yahooo!!

it wouldn't be fear, right??

What the hell was that?

DP ball with no outs?

Now I know we are snakebit

This is just unbelievable.

As bad a through as it was Ellis should have known just to hold the glove on Granderson.  He was going to come off the bag during the slide.  

Make that a "throw"
Haren must be relieved. I think I would have

lost it that inning if I were him.

Man, I was thinking the same thing.

I wonder how often he looks around the infield before making a pitch and considers drilling one of his own teammates.

Is Swisher sad?

his pick looks that way

Verlander has not been great tonight yet we

have only netted a single run thus far.  Come on Custy!

Verlander has had some help from the HP ump.

That pitch was not a strike.  But it was to close to take.

We have no one to blame but ourselves though

due to the lack of execution.  

especially you ohtobe...

You're lack of execution has kept the A's from the division crown this year, and I suspect the WS last year.  Step it up!

Fosse's kind of starting to annoy me.
It seems like every other thing he says just drips with spiteful sarcasm towards the team's situation.
I kind of like it.

Not so subtle voice of the fan to the front office.

How funny..I hadn't even noticed.

I guess I've completely tuned him out!

Just got back from dinner.

Go Oakland!

It's two runs, after what happened on Sunday, this is doable. I think.

Sort of like world conquest

is doable??

Today the AL West, tomorrow the world!
Or at least the NL.

I would settle for the NL.  

Or just this game.
lol...baby steps.

That would be nice too.

We should have more than the one run.

Swish had a big opportunity with the bases loaded but he was trying to kill the ball instead of looking for a single.  We also had Cust leadoff with a double and did nothing that inning.

Ugh again.

LAAAAAA leading M's 6-0 now.

They are easily going to win the AL West.
can't stand watching the A's anymore...

but I can't turn away for too long... however, I love AN

Just be yourself Erik. Let's hope 2008 is better
Can the A's really be this bad?

They were in the ALCS last year.  Not that much of the roster has changed.  

Or is this just one of the years where nothing goes your way?  I can't help but wonder which one was the fluke year....this one or the last one.

Most disagree with my assessment but I have

truly never seen so many things go wrong for a team in one season and think it could have gone much, much better.  Even if we were better this team would still be extremely boring to watch.  I hope BB can work some straaaaange magic during the offseason because this team is about as bland as it gets.

Heh. Straaaaange magic.

ELO rocked.

They have a greatest hits cd that is killler.

Talk about some music that puts you in a good mood!

HE CAUGHT IT...

Jack caught the ball!!!

Sorry, I gotta cheer for something.

I was still scared.

Two hands please.

You were scared....

Think about poor Jack.  He was probably terrified.

You're right. I'm being selfish.

Poor Jack.

Nobody Expects

The Spanish Inquisition!

.

Why am I suddenly reminded of

Mel Brooks.

Dunno

since that was a Montey Python joke.

Kind of like Bluto's speech about the

Germans bombing Pearl Harbor.

I thought it was "History of the World"

where they sang the inquisition song.

The Inquisition... what a show... the Inquisition

go-go-go.  We were wishin'...

2008 is kind of far away...

and the 2008 season is even further....
can i get some DECENT baseball this year... if not too much to ask, how about this inning...
LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!

Things that might end up making the season

somewhat better-

The return of Loiaza.  The beginning of the Daric Barton experiment.  The possibility of Dan Meyer showing that he could be ready for '08.

That's all I've got.

Things that you can't get excited about-

The return of Bobby Crosby.  Hoping that Harden gets healthy.  

ok, here we go again

can we do it the right way now?

leyland trying to pull some playoff magic..
by going to the mound?
callin 3 run shot...
LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!
almost... almost..
102 pitches through 5

thats why

Damn...

this is going to make it really difficult for the next A to make a dp.

TAKE THE LEAD GOD DAMMIT!
Grumble grumble grumble
I <3 Donnie Murphy

Maybe I should change my screen name to DonnieMurphysGirl.

I wouldn't

you might jinx him into becoming AN target #1

Please God no.

It really hasn't worked out well for Bobby.

ALL I WANT IS A DECENT INNING!!!

come on Suzuki!!

TIE GAME!

SUZU COMES THROUGH!

TIE GAME!

Suzukiiiii!

It's still fun to see the A's do good things.

Nice hit by our new catcher.

YEAH!!

SUZUKI!!

This kid Suzuki has no freaking

idea on how to fit in on this team.  This will not be tolerated for long.....lol

Yay rookies!
there not

"true athletics" yet so they can hit with RISP.

BBRRRRRMMMMM

HE'S THE MOTORBOY!!!!

we scored multiple runs!

woo hoo!

What is this "multiple runs" you speak of?
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE'RE BACK IN THE RACE, BABY!!!!!!!!!

Too much?

OK, but me happy!

<buys world series tickets>
Nothing "boring" about this inning!!

Must say though, maybe if Monroe doesn't take 4 steps before he unloads the throw, he has a shot at Scutaro at the plate.

You are absolutely right.
I think he saw J Kendall had a 2 run hit..

I"m just happy to see an RBI hit... then I can go back to watching Milton Bradley continue to keep raking

Milton pisses me off.

I wonder if he's "playing hurt" right now.  Cause if I had a few million dollars riding on it, I would play with a broken leg.

Give McBride a ride here Bucko.
Damn he went right at him...
pour it on T-$
That ball almost went through
the pitcher's head. Then last night, Travis almost took Waller's head off. Travis is a headhunter.
TRAVIS!
WOO!
Were you finally nice to him? Tough love

ain't working.

No.

I turned his bobblehead around before the game. I told him mommy was angry. It's working.

You need to get a life-sized "time-out" doll for

each A's player.  You can turn them all around next year and see if your negative reinforcement works.

I could make pipe cleaner dolls.

I need a bobblehead for each player on the roster. The turnover, though... it'd be hard to keep up.

What is a "pipe cleaner doll?" It sounds

like something from a porn shop.

A doll made out of pipe cleaners.

http://www.likeacarp.com/images/pipe...

Memories of Boy Scouts. My dad made me stay

in scouts until high school and we made shit like that one time.  No merit badge either.

Go Rooks!!

Rivercats and draft picks doin' alright!!

Nice hit, Buck!

Swish, stop trying to jack the thing. Hit for a single.

YEAH SWISH.

Grr.

T-Money...

reminding me of T-Long rookie year...and no one can hate on T-Long's rookie year...let's just leave it at that.

Time to play who hits in to DP?
Swisher?
Cust?
Piazza?

only time will tell....

just wait swish
maybe this has already been asked...

sorry; haven't seen any live action for the past... oh long time.

what's up with Swish's stance?
it looks like Bret Boone's old 2-strike stance...

weird.

Bases Loaded, 1 out for Cust
i haven't seen

swisher hit it opposite field in a long time.

Cust:

redemption.

Bases loaded for Cust!

*sits tight*

if we don't score at least one run here

i'm going to punch a wall

I believe your damage deposit is safe
<doesn't punch wall>
McBride has a very red face.
Cust:

he giveth and he taketh away....

CUST COMING THROUGH!!

MAKING UP FOR CATCH FAILURE!!

Haren in line for the win...
Might Mr. Cust.

Be on to something here?

that CUST us 2 runs!!!!
ALL i wanted was a good inning...

I"m happy.
I'm not going to be greedy and ask for the pitching to hold up, but it's nice to see the A's put a crooked number on the board (on offense)

odds on 1st pitch swinging by Piazza?
odds that it's a rbi double?

let the good inning continue;
LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!

Damn that looked like it was hit well.
I'll call you Kuiper from this day forward ;-)
Kuiper sounds like Angels' stadium on a fly ball

I think he believed that one was gone and he has been doing games for how long?

Man

I thought it was a MaEl call

We got the lead though

let's protect our lead

c'mon guys

Maybe it'll start raining?

Maybe it'll start raining?

Hi everyone. Coming to you from a campsite in

Louisville, Ky.  I have to do some work that's due on Thursday, so I'll be checking in and out the rest of the game.  I have a low connection strength so I'm not opening gameday.  Just give me the reader's digest version thus far and also any big trades I missed other than Texiera.

Came here to see Jake Robbins pitch, drove 13 hours and nada.  Not sure it was worth it to chat for 10 or 15 mins and watch him coach 1st base.  No, it was not and I'm not looking forward to the trip home.  :-(

Right now A's 5, Tigers 3

20 minutes ago Tigers 3, A's 1.  So you chose a good time to camp.  It's the seventh inning and Huston is pitching.  

And the A's made no trades
We are winning 5-3. Suzuki has two RBI's,

Buck has one and Cust has two.  Verlander did not look sharp at all.

I was just in Louisville, KY and the town actually has a pulse.  My 25 year old cousin may get a VP job in finance at GE so I'm really proud of him.  You should go by Louisville Slugger while you're there... and Churchill Downs if you have time.  That place is HUGE.

Slugger factory is awesome

just don't bring minibats on your carry-ons because the airport mall cops will take 'em away.

Seriously, there is a big box of them.

She is driving so she might want to use one

on her kid if she brought him/her.

We went today. It was great. My kid is an angel

so I doubt I'll have to use it on him.  Wish I had it to use on Bill Bray who gave up the winning run tonight so the game wouldn't go into extra innings and I couldn't see Jake pitch.  I felt guilty being sorry his team won in 9 innings until he said he was hoping for extra innings as well!

Go A's!  I'll check back to make sure we don't blow the lead.

Should I be worried?
Heh. Shannon Stewart, defensive replacement

In the 7th inning, no less.

Your 2007 Oakland Athletics...

that's hilarious

Haren out of the game after 91 pitches through 6

I like it.  Get him the win (maybe), test Street and play like it's Spring Training.  Get ready for late summer '07, folks.

We'll call it ST = Summer Training
Is that Nico w/ the big hat & flashy glasses?

J/K Mr. Nico.

You can't spell Bootsy Collins

without the A's...'em...somehow...

When was the last time you've seen the A's

be the recipient of this much "luck" in one game?  Last year?

I just wish this is how the ALCS worked out

a million years ago

Ugh, bad bunt
That thing in Los Angeles?

Didn't happen.  

Honestly shocked, pleasantly surprised

Keep Murphy in, please!!

I like Travis Buck a lot. I am buying his jersey

as soon as I find one for sale.  I can't wait 3 weeks for special delivery.

MLB.com has em
Warning:

I will beat you over the head and steal it from you if I ever see you wearing it.

You keep your filthy paws off it. Ya hear?
Seriously...
I didn't see any BUCK jerseys when I was there. Of course, I was so excited I might not have paid attention that closely. I wanted to get a Swish but I didn't see any of those, either. I had to have missed them.
Yes, I just spoke to Poppy

who is @ the stadium, and she confirmed that they do not sell specific players' jerseys at the Coli.

Well fuck a green and gold duck.
You can only buy blank ones.

Customized authentics can be purchased online.

And it's "Well fuck a green and gold Buck."

You see him wearing it?

No one's ever seen YOU!

Both of us were on TV a lot when we were sitting

behind the A's dugout at the "K" last year.  She is a real person but will not "high five" when the A's score.  

I'm getting better about the "high five" stuff.

The medicine is working.

Dude.

People see me all the time. They can't miss me!

I'm bringing my AN sign to Kaufman next year

and I'm going to break it over your head.  Hopefully it will make a nice necklace if it breaks properly.

GATE D Team Store

The GATE D A's team store at the Coliseum has green #6 Buck t-shirt jerseys. They have plenty of them too.

MAH ROOKIES!
I like Kurt
So what dude? I like Travis Buck.

Time is on our side... tick, tock... flight leaving soon.

TRAVIS OR KURT

PICK A SIDE, WE'RE AT WAR!

With ourselves?

That explains the implosive nature of your 2007 Okay-land Athletics

I'm Bradley and sprtsnwyn is Kotsay in this

battle.  You know where to put your money.

good time for Swish to get a double..

to left center...

Swish needs a pickmeup

anyone know where to get a Milton impersonator?

swisher has become

a cust-type hitter: hr, walk, or k.  i can't remember the last time i've seen him hit the ball the other way.

what a perfect day for me to get my new shirt!!

=D

Very nice. Good call.
Crap! Donnie Murphy thought he was BroCro
Suzuki has three RBIs tonight

Max for Kendall in 2007: three games with two RBIs.

Kendall's last 3 RBI game..

September 25, 2006 in a 10-9 loss in Seattle.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bo...

There goes the learning curve

It's still all good for our future everyday SS

can we switch Kotsay and Swisher

in the lineup...

Kurt's been running after a lot of balls

at least they are in front of him

Good to see you back

Castilla

Not really

He blew that lead in Seattle.  That was awful.

Nice to see Lew Wolff is willing to go through

this stuff with the team.  I like that he attends a lot of games unlike some MLB owners.

i agree

and it's REALLY great that he actually sits with the fans and not in some luxury box somewhere.

Wolff is

probably going to build a small house underneath the Fremont Jumbotron

He'll be like our Hagrid, only with more power

Ironically

our GM is working out in the backroom never to be seen

He's like me during the playoffs. Playoffs?
Playoffs?
We can't even win A GAME! Playoffs?!?!
Practice? We talkin' about "PRACTICE?"
"There's not crying in BASEBALL!!"

I'm enjoying this game!

I mean "no"

I suck

Ha, ha. Girly movie.
Gotta represent for Tom Hanks

who represents for the East Bay

Tom Hanks reps Chabot College in Hayward

Just giving you a hard time. If a movie includes

ANY baseball than it's all good in my book.

Baseketball?

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????!

That movie sucked ass. Give us back our $18.
I couldn't get through that one.
We play. To. Win. The. Game.
They are who we THOUGHT THEY WERE!!

If you want to crown 'em, CROWN THERE ASSES!!

(I still don't get it)

The bat boy keeps the scoop in the bat rack?

No wonder my rootbeer float tastes like pine tar!

Casey or Polanco can't catch that?

Okay, we gotta win today

Cust photo already on Yahoo Sports

where he drops the fly ball in the first inning tonight:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/photo?sl...

[right click][save image as...]

That will come in handy in December when people are arguing that we can live with Cust playing lots of time in the outfield.

we won? okay. fine. good.
I'm really glad Lache has

decided to wear a helmet. I love that guy.

That is a great reason to head to ST.

The guy never shuts up and everything he says is hilarious.  I listened to him go on and on for about 10 minutes straight.  

One year in KC...

Lache was harassing me for wearing a Kotsay shirt. You know his gruff voice he has. Well, at the very end he says softly, "Yeah, he's a pretty great guy."

Cute. I would love to have many beers with him

some night.  I would probably shoot hops through my nose so that might not be a good idea.

Pitchers are the ones

who should be wearing helmets.

base coaches should

seriously

don't disagree

but pitchers are 20 feet closer to the plate than the coaches. Then consider the aluminum/titanium/whatever -3 bats high school and college kids are swinging. Scary.

Hey, wanted to mention at the Louisville Slugger

factory, they had some bats for Vlad.  I looked for a drill or something to mess them up with but no luck.  My son suggested matches.

Put a curse on them.
Fart on them

Give Vlad Pinkeye

Shouldn't it be browneye?
Not appropriate.
I know.
Shoot me.
Okay. Any last words?
Yes.
"What's that?"
No

Jack Sparrow has that

Two hits each by NORODs

NOROD=not on roster opening day.

Meanwhile, Swisher, Ellis, other mainstays...well, pretty telling for 2007, IMHO.

I like Swish @ first.
"I liked him at first,

But then after I got to know him a little better...."

Watching Dan Johnson in Seattle on 7-29

he's taking each out for each AB with anguish.

Pressing means more pressing for some players.

Swish = first in my book
A's win a game!
Style points!
Big time Steez.
I love wining games even when it doesn't matter.

Let's go for 2 in a row!!  Kool and the Gang sounds very nice.

Yeah it matters

Gotta get Haren to 20-wins!

Sure, W-L records don't matter, it's a team game. Still, we all want it for Dan.

Nice catch, Buck!

Wow, a win. Haven't heard Celebration in a while.

Seems like a long time

since we heard that song!

Yeah

I've missed that corny ass birthday song replacement

This must be killing Ray
Ray hates Hawaii.
And puka shell necklaces.
Oh! Obligatory Kendall mention...
Well, he cheers for the uniform

more than any particular player.

You gotta remember, he travels with the team.  People are going to be people, and sometimes you resonate with, ah, other catchers. 8^).

Yaaaaaay!

Athletics win. Woo hoo.

I love winning.
Interesting to think

that when the season is over, only 1/30th of the MLB players will be very happy with the season, and 29/30ths will be much less than "Happy!".

Glad to hear we won. Will probably miss tomorrow

game since I'll still be driving.  Ugh.  Are we officially spoilers now that's it August?

Cool. Haren tied for AL wins lead.

Tied with Beckett, Carmona, Sabathia, and...Lackey.

CY Young Voters

have to keep in mind that Haren did it with the less-than-stellar-hitting of the A's.

He would have won more decisions if the BoToxSox, the Injuns or the Bent Angles were hitting behind hime

It's early, but whatever

The Front page writers must still

be in a state of shock.  Where's the post game wrap?  

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