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Open Thread; Game 1 - A's vs. Red Sox

[Note by baseballgirl, 03/25/08 3:09 AM PDT ]The update to end all updates. Direct TV is having a meltdown on ESPN 2, which is just about the worst thing that could happen to some of us who left our cable houses in favor of dish homes. I have radio feed, but no TV, and will be re-locating back home after the first.

Good morning AN!!!!!!!!

Is everybody fired up for a little baseball!?!!

There isn't much else we can say about today's match-up that hasn't already been said; the 2008 Oakland Athletics, fresh off major personnel changes, with a team full of rookies and zero expectations face off in Japan against last year's MLB champions, in a ballpark and a country that is comprised of probably 99.99% Boston fans, obviously largely due to Dice-K mania.

The A's send out the following lineup:

Travis Buck, RF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Daric Barton, 1B
Jack Cust, DH
Brown, E, LF
Bobby Crosby, SS
Jack Hannahan, 3B
Kurt Suzuki, C
Sweeney, R, CF

They will be backed on the mound by our new ace, who went 14-10 last year with a 3.95 ERA.

Cupcakes2_medium

The lineup for the "visiting" Boston Red Sox will be:

Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Brandon Moss, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Julio Lugo, SS

Boston will be sending the pride of Japan to the mound. Dice K went 15-12 in his 2007 campaign, sporting a 4.40 ERA. Personally, I hope he wears this:

 Teletubbie_medium

Pictures courtesy of:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ana-g/2041456167/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11494884@N02/1404097198/

Here's to a new season of A's baseball! Let's make it a great one!

LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!!

0 recs  |  364 comments

Comments

I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready.

yay Baseball!

and yay baseballgirl for posting a new thread!

OK, I'm officially insane

Hi everyone, from Philly where it's only 6am. Go A's!!!

Morning my ass

It's the middle of the night.

Happy about it, too!

Hey there Nico-

You had the easiest path to attending this game thread.

Baseball!!

GOGOGOGOGO!!!

just finishing dinner here

In time to see former PM Mori throw out the first ball. Not any better at that than he was as PM....
Go A's!!!!

Hey everyone!

This is gonna be a good season. I can feel it.

LETS GO OAKLAND!

Can't wait

Luckily its only 12am here so didn't have to wake up but stay up

WTF?

Anyone else with DirectTV not have a signal? I just called the 800 number and they said they are having system problems. Unbelievable!

Yeah, mine died.

I'm going to freak out.

Ive heard other people

say theirs is not working either.

Goooooood morning

Good morning!
Sun beams will still shine through
Good morning, good morning to you
And you, and you, and you!

I'm so stoked for this.

Everybody's undefeated right now

lets stay that way

3 AM

It is time. Sweeep in Japan!

Let's Go A's !

J.D Drew is sctrched from lineup

Great Time for Us NRAFs in Europe

Let's Go Oakland!

Maybe it's sleep-deprivation, but I'm so excited!!!

THE PLAYERS ARE ON THE FIELD!

THEY'RE ON THE F***ING FIELD!!!!!!!!!!!!

gooood morning everyone

go a's

Astroturf!

Shit.

kick their a$$e$...

I hate Boston.

Good morning from Oakland

Cats are up, I'm up, coffee on.

Let's go A's!!!!

looks like I picked the wrong week

to quit caffeine

but I'm here...LET'S GO A'S!!

Anybody else lose sound...

...on their mlb.tv?

mine is working but sound only

The first game hasn't even started..

....and mlb.tv is already malfunctioning. Must be baseball season!

I hate you directTV

Ditto.

EAT SHIT, DIRECTV!

sonofabitchbastard!

I love baseball!

First pitch! STRIKE!

ESPN2

likes Hannahan butt

3 10 am

first pitch!

anybody else wathcing on NHK?

Let's Go Oakland!!

First pitch strike.....welcome back baseball.

First pitch

Strike!

Chickenshit turf hit

God I hate this stuff.

2nd pitch

base hit

i hate

pedroia

Damn Pedroia.

That pesky little you know what.

Damn

Guess there's not going to be 162 consecutive no-hitters for us this year.

A little knubber thru the middle...

Aw... rats! Directv working here. No NESN but ESPN2HD is working fine.

Eat me, Papi

take off, 2 outs

thank goodness for ken korach

No.

MLB Audio says I'm BLACKED OUT! WHY DO YOU HATE ME?

lets go cupcakes

Lead-off single.

I liked the strike, but that's old history now.

calm down fellas

radio feed

way behind TV, bummer

3rd baseman blew the double play

Too early to spell it.

Hannahan!

Nice recovery!

I love baseball! Have I said that yet?

true, nice play, fans want it all with the DP

Papi

Paps ups

good morning!

sit down ortiz

Papi Gone!

2 down. Nice.

Nice big Papi pops out on the first pitch

Ortiz pops it up--yeah 2 outs

Big Papi stinks

And the sound returns to mlb.tv...

...as Big Papi steps up...and ironically pops out.

Sit down, Ortiz, you turkey!

Okay, I'm tired now.

But Lets Go A's.

Ortiz has really become a masterful hitter

I hope Direct TV feels the PAIN from the Red Sox fans with no way to watch the game.

They have NESN

NESN isn't working for me, either.

good to know

I'm back to being thrilled at the thought of 10 million pissed off sox fans storming DTV offices

buzzzzkill ;)

I have NESN on DirecTV

and I'm getting the same error message on that channel.

heee

This is the one time I will relish their assholeitude

If you have DTV, let me know when the game actually appears

weak ass, Manny...

8 for 12 off Blanton... all singles.

he stinks fo sho

inning over nice work Joe

YES

go cupcakes

Manny pops out to right in foul ground

3 outs and down

puahaha

love it.

no no-hitter for Blanton, though.

quick first for Joe

12 pitch inning?

That was my count. Awesome, Fat Man!

Manny flies out to right

damn

one half inning and no runs

longoria sent to AAA

Bad news for Rays. Here comes the player backlash...

the A's win the peanut the A's win the peanut

I want my 80s video games...

....or Tom Petty...or whatever mlb.tv is giving us between innings this year!

Oops...

....this reply was supposed to be to Boonee's comment below.

Whoa.

No commercial break? Awkward.

I hope they hit the hell out of Matsuzaka. Home game, yeah right.

No commercial? Strange...

this break is brought to you by BBG t-shirts

it looks like Geren

didn't care too much about alternating Left and Right hand hitters tonight.

great, just like soccer

I'm going back to bed.

I'll be on media blackout the rest of the day.

that really sucks, I would want to kill my tv. Sorry

Or is it just blackout?

She is blacked out because of the Royals...

Yeah, I'm absolutely pissed.

This is complete bullshit. DTV should turn on NESN for subscribers or something

My ESPN2HD is working.

But non-HD isn't.

Kaneechiwa, Jennifer!

Did you make it to Phoenix ya big loser?

oh man. it's beautiful!

and WS HD too! wait am i dreaming?

I hope the A's wear...

Dice-K out in the 1st inning... 4 walks and a couple of homers!

Is that possible?

Apparently, he's God. Who knew?

How is Suzuki in a homecoming situation?

I thought he was born in Hawaii?

haha racial profiling

well, ya know, his name is suzuki?

I'm awake! I'm here!

Is MLB.TV really blacked out for this game for Oakland residents? I DON'T HAVE CABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

national telecast

Get in your car and come down to Ricky's

Aw so you are still in Oakland.

I wish I was there. You guys are awesome.

I DON'T HAVE A CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I'm like, kind of a hippie.

Did they just say this was a homecoming for 'Zooks too?

He did.

Research of A's players: always optional.

interesting camera angle

directly overhead the mound.

i don't have a camera angle

thanks DTV

WTF DirecTV!!!

UnFreakinBelievable is all I can say. I'm canceling my DIrecTV as of today.

1 pitch 1 out

fuck MLB>TV!!!111

ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGAHHAAaaa

I like seeing Buck hit

But that was disappointing. One down.

Ouch

Anxious Buck. Let's go A's.

Take a pitch. C'mon.

Yeah they did Devo.

Pretty sad.

Wow ... just wow ...

I thought I misheard it, given the delirious feelings I'm having ...

ELLIS!!!!!!!!!!!

ELLISSSSS!!!!!!!

wooooooo

Elliee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love that man!

THE UNICORNS HAVE ARRIVED!

Ellis HR!

Awesome! Go A's!

ELLIS!

UNICORN POWER!

Gone!

Homer for Mark Ellis!

YES YES YES YES YES!!!

You sir have been UNICORNED!

Oh baby!!!

Let's hear it for the home team, suckers!!

ELLISSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

home run!!!!

SUPER UNICORN POWER!!!!!!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN UNICORNS???

i don't believe what i just didn't see

WOOO!

Take that!!!

Fuck and yes.

haha

kick their asses, Mark!

Mark Ellis HR!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ELLIS

heck yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!

helll yes

up yours japan

If it weren't for us...

...they'd all be speaking German! Or something.....

6:19

I signed up with AN just so I could brag about staying up this late for a baseball game (got a 12er of PBR to keep me going). Drinking 1 for Ellie!!!!!

you are my hero

6:19 is actually a decent time to be waking up

ive got a tall OJ and a coffee, which I too will be drinking for Ellie

mad man luv for elli

Ellllllllllllllllllisssssssssssss!

HR

1-0 A's

someone came to the door and I missed it

holy crap!

Victim of the delay

I read about the dinger before seeing it. But it's great anyway!!!

1-0 Athletics!

Nice start!

Great job Ellis!

Kenko

"and now it's gotten quiet in here"

Home field advantage

very quiet...

love it.

SAYONARA ELLIS!

(my mlb.tv is now working, even the audio)

I tried

I tried to get mine to work for an hour, then I gave up...

It is aways a headache to get them to work at the beginning of the season. You would think that they would have it down by now, but no, of course not.

Welcome to Tokyo

Mark Ellis!

That's it

for the vets

Ellis is on pace for like 600 home runs :-)

Is it better on ESPN

Than NESN? I assume so. Also I think we can all agree Mark Ellis is the best.

wild pitch

he's rattled !!!!!

Generals 1, Globetrotters 0

:-)

DiceK control issues

That last pitch was bounced in and in front.

In case somebody missed it

apparently Ellis went deep.

Dice-K now overthrowing.

Greetings from Redding

I don't think that was the Gyroball!

and now a walk!!!

league leader in HRs

Ellis HR seems to have rattled

Dice-K. Sweet.

I owned dice-k last year in fantasy

He gets rattled very, very easy. It was frustrating as hell.

elli owns him now

Barton takes a walk

Let's go Kasuto!

Whoever talked about ESPN2HD... THANK YOU!!!!

I didn't even think of that because I wanted to watch from the comfort of my bed. But I'm awake now!! Way to go Ellis!!!

It was probably me. You know how valuable

I can be in these game threads. How are you these days? Still in Texas?

Oh my gosh! How are you?? I was asking Jennifer about you the other day!

Yes, I'm in Texas and I'm trying to get some ANers to come down on May 30 (Fri) for a game because it's my birthday.

I'm doing great! Life has been crazy because of a promotion.

I'm going to be heading there on May 18th for Radiohead but I might be able to come down for the weekend. Are there games on Saturday and Sunday too?

yes

We'll talk later. I'll see if sprtsnwyn, ictshocker and nebraska

are interested in going.

ict is in Mexico

Well, he'll be in Mexico until that Friday, so he'll have to flip back around and go back on the road. But we've talked about it. Would like to go the first time around, but I've got finals the next week.

Dice K is rattled

We do have the home field advantage, afterall

Dice K keeps throwing over the right of the plate

hope he keeps up the wildness

Dicey is afraid of Cust...

he should be.

The "legend" of Jack Cust can be quite scary.

I don't feel so alone

I thought I'd be the only one up to watch......boy am I glad I got up at 5am to see that!!!!

Dicey...

Isn't as good as everyone thinks he is.

No Game on DirecTV!

Did DirecTV provide any type of estimated time for when they'll have the game? I couldn't get any good info from them.

2-1 pitch to Cust

Big rip, 2-2

C'mon, good outcome

Hit's Cust on the leg

Man Daisuke is off

This is great. Class will be so much better in four hours if the A's win.

Jack Cust!

hit on the foot!

WOW

that pitch was in the woods

Cust plunked on a 2 strike count

I'll take it.

Cust hit in the heel

Two on, one out

hello 1st place A's...

am I too excited?

Is that Olmedo Saenz in the batter's box?

It's still early

but Matsuzaka is looking bad...

Here's our cleanup hitter

Emil Brown. Dosen't quite sound right.

Actually he's batting 5th n/t

No ... it doesn't ... Geren agrees ... he's batting fifth ...

insomnia. i'm up.

Wow, the ballboy was hot

(just kidding)

I think Dice-K's

about to get "affronted" by a visit to the mound. I smell international incident

brown looked bad on that swing

Can't they just call do-over and start the game again

this isn't what anyone paid for

Lookin' good.

Not Dice-K though.

he's falling apart!

wild pitch runners advance

Emil

don't swing at junk, he can't get it over

Wild pitch.

This is awesome.

Ack!

ESPN2 froze!@

oh go sing it to someone who has a signal at all

;)

Nevermind #5 hitter

Wild Pitch

Most teams put up a crooked number here. The A's? Naaah.

here comes the new A's with RISP

double steal with barton and cust he he he

Varitek looks like he's catching Wakefield.

Varitek CAN'T catch Wakefield

I wonder who can cuz Mirabelli was released.

Daisuke

Not a pressure pitcher, apparently.

Another big rip

Payoff pitch to Brown..

Walks the bases loaded!

walks the bases loaded

holy cow

come on crosby!!

I hate to say it but...

is Emil our "Token" for the season?

uh-oh

First cringe moment of season.

Bases loaded, biatch

Time to blow it open.

Lets see the new BoCro!

This is pretty much

my favorite game. Ever.

My favorite game of the season. :)

Here comes the human DP.

/hope I'm wrong.

Bases. Are. Loaded.

Come on, Bobby.

And Francona can't even visit the mound

or Dice-K will be offended.

This is too much fun

Bobby....pleeeease don't remind me of 2007.

prove yourself BoCro!!!

LOADED!

Come on Croz!

BoCro, you suck

I'm just gonna say it now. Get it out of the way BEFORE he screws up.

outside and he didn't swing

22 pitches already

Wonder if anyone is warming up?

litmus test right here

High Sox

Lunges at changeup, swings through fastball, 1-2

Looks at strike three, got a break

"Pretty undisciplined cuts there by Crosby."

He sounded so shocked, haha.

damn...

Croz is lucky he didn't get called strike 3.

would have been with a Japnese ump

Ill take that!

2-0

We'll take it.

bobbi kurosubi

Restoring pitchers' confidence everywhere

Oop

Crosby still sucks. But its 2-0 thanks to that missed third strike.

Nice RBI, Bobby

BoCro does everything he can

to GIDP.

Croz with the RBI groundout

classic crosby swing

I'll take it though

one of the great stories. okay.

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Wazzup, sir!

not surpirsing

I swing better at drunken friday night softball

Nice play by Dice-K

Crosby gets the job done after somehow not being called out on strikes on a pitch down the middle.

it's his year!

The problem is when you're all over the place

umps don't tend to give you the pitch right down broadway (chuckles).

crosby

nice to see him standing a bit closer to the plate. not nice to see him take two huge swings and misses. nice to see him tone it down with two strikes to make contact on the rbi groundout.

2-0!

Hannahan time.

Crosby leads the league in productive outs

To be overshadowed by Ellis' 648 HRs

The video feed's B&W

"Welcome to NCAA March Madness...

...On Demand"?

Who operates mlb.tv? A troop of howler monkeys?

work him...

we need more runs, Jack!

I'm sailing awaaaaay

up and to the right..
way up and way right

It's gonna be hard to get ready for work since I'm now

in the game room watching.

great start a's

Mornin' all

work is gonna suck today.

Hanahan K

And the inning draws to a close.

1 inning, 30 pitches

not a bad start.

30 pitch first inning..

Ill take it.

I miss Chavez

He be back soon enough.

3-2 to Hannahan

swung and missed at ball four.

End of 1, 2-0 A's

hannahan Ks

2-0 A's

he looked like Chavvy...

there.

did his back give out and both arms fall off his shoulders?

Matsuzaka can't take the pressure it seems

Oy

Bases loaded, 1 out, 1 run. On a crappy Bobby Crosby ground ball out RBI.

I hope we all can live with reading that a lot this year.

Hannahan - so unclutch

What, he's our 3Bman now.

There are three things these ESPN announcers know about Oakland:

1. Moneyball
2. Patience at the plate
3. Suzuki's homecoming

That's why i'm listening to the sweet sounds of KK on the radio

i'll deal with the radio being ahead just so i dont have to listen to what i'm sure are bad announcers.

God the first two get pretty old. Ughhh.

true, true, sooo true

I agree

Gotta think the A's let him off easy

that inning which usually bites you in the ass.

kotsay or kendall would have ended that inning so much quicker

I don't think they let him off easy

Two runs on one hit, just didn't get the big hit - but did get a productive RBI out.

(notes hair restoration 800 number)

At some angles, the Tokyo Dome...

....looks just like the Metrodome...

90 degrees up and down?

Blanton hit again

Lead off hitter singles again.

Lowell on first

This says it all...

ESPN announcer says "Jon Lester making the start tomorrow for Boston and Rich Harden scheduled to start". People aren't used to him making his scheduled starts.

I didn't even think about doing this again tomorrow. But I'm sure I will. I need more games like this

to actually get me out of bed in the morning. I never wake up this easily. Especially 2 hours early.

It does remind me of...

Zito, and his dismal first innings

I'm opening a new thread...I HAVE to go home!!!!

I can't see the game on Direct TV. I'm going home to cable. Hop over to the new thread, everyone!!!!

don't throw strikes, Joe!

They know you're going to do it. Everything out of the zone. Let 'em swing at air.

Y'know...

Sometimes Joe looks like he throws to home with nothing but pure hope.

Boo for no ESPN2

I now see the message at the top and am even sadder that it's happening to other people. I'm in a hotel in Maryland and it just says "Searching for Signal". I even called the hotel in advance to make sure they had ESPN2. What a bummer.

Exactly.

They probably are in the Metrodome. All that Japanese stuff on the walls? It's there to trick us.

Why don't you think they're showing the fans or any full shots of the scoreboard? I rest my case.

And beautiful play by Ellis!

Look @ Barton

Great defense so far!

Have to say

I am surpised the NY cable is showing the game, given the overall hatred that is generally expressed in NY for all team boston.

Nice.

They're on a roll here.

Let's hope Matsuzaka keeps up the lack of control

Yeah Suzuki

strokes a single up the middle

Leadoff man on

Good things are in our future.

Never seen Billy in a suit

Blackout on mlb.tv

the rules say blackouts don't start till may for national broadcast, but it still doesn't work. I'm getting drunk.

Red Sox Nation/Media...

was talking about a complete came from Dice-K. He might not even get through 5.

Dice-K got a gift there

Coulda been a ball but strike 3, Inning over

Warning track power

Maybe when Pedroia hits puberty that one would get out.

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