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Open Game Thread: Game 14 - A's at Chicago (cont.)

The A's are up 2-0 and Greg Smith has kept the White Sox, the top scoring team in the AL so far, off balance the entire game.

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

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Comments

Ball four>>>dp

oh sweet

neither former A could get to it.
Antoher double, and Zook killin!

If only Zooks could hit major league pitching

I love this kid.

Zook!

Anyone Hip to this guys swing?

Is KZ legit and going to keep this up or is this just another 'Small Sample Size'?

I like how Dye managed to run into the wall

5 seconds after the ball had already dropped.

Does that make him a grinder or is he still too black?

A's are 2nd in the AL in avg w/RISP

wow

9 hits tonight, not bad

clearly

we worked on clutch hitting all spring.
it's better to be clutch than good.
and/or scrappy.

I know it's early in the season but

our two new pitchers look so much better than what we were running out there last year. Wow.

"high speed replay"

hahahaahahaahaha

you beat me to it

further evidence

of Comcast suckage.

Sox coverage:

Why is that lady wearing sunglasses at this hour?

shes playing poker

Shielding herself from Greg Smith's blinding brilliance.

And Denorfia's stunning beauty.

Is she Mrs. Corey Hart?

Did a "professional" broadcaster work with

DJ & Hawk this year? They seem to not suck as much as previous years. Oh they still suck... but just not as badly.

They always behave...

...when the Sox' bats are getting manhandled.

Young Moyer.......

Whoooo Hooooooo

Juan Uribe=not a good hitter

ill take him over Jose

But one helluva defensive player

The High Cheese

Stinky yet tasty!!

The high heat!

85 mph, baby

In reality.....

that is really fast, just not by MLB standards

Time to get Swish for the 1st time tonight

DJ called us green and "yellow"

Well, really, it is yellow.

For that, we'll call the Sox black and "gray"

Good job Emile!!

JOE CREDE WOULDA HAD THAT

Swish dominating

ouch

Ok, Swish,

do something funny on the bases again.

well, he tried, damn

This is me

not bitching about Emil ignoring the cutoff

Emil has a nice arm

and likes to show it off

He was OUT!!!!

He was safe

Hey ump. Wait until the play is made b4

calling him safe!

Oops. I guess he did wait.

ROBBED!

upon replay

looks like a good call to me.

Young Moyer cant worry about Swish

just get a ground ball

TYTYTYTYTTYY LSLSLSLSLSLSL

I love that guy

Oh Nick. :-(

why do you hurt me when I love you?

I've tried to convince Poppy

that Don Wakamatsu could be Adam Melhuse's father. She disagrees.



I've thought Poppy was male for years

Oh well.

I'll give you a dollar

If you replace your "For Rent" sign with Wak's picture.

I have my avatars turned off

so it wouldn't bother me.

But why?

'Cause... it's a really bad picture.

And I wouldn't ever actually give you a dollar.

Eh...I dunno.

But I do think Masters champ Trevor Immelman could be Johnny Damon's twin brother. The more polished, South African one.

that thing on Swisher's chin

is so distracting.

That's what she said.

/LL

Free Base Smith!!

Don;t give in!!

Yes, say no to drugs!

Freebasing is bad, m'kay?

What about cheesing?

The thought makes my blood curd-le

Richard Prior

OK...Forgive me for just now noticing this...

...but Swish bleached his goatee. Just when I thought he couldn't be more of an odd duck...

it looks terrible too

usually he has better sense then to look that bad

Doesn't it just.

Denorfius?

Yes, you know the guy from the Matrix who asks red pill or blue pill?

Helluva job, Mr. Smith.

Konerko is hilarious in the field

He's very sure handed

and good at preventing errors from the other infielders...but he can't move very well.

Mark B at 96 pitches

Why won't Buck swing at pitches right down the middle?

swing the bat!

Crede is so unbelievable. How many GG's now?

Whoops. No clue why I inserted a comment there.

Buck looks like pre-Toronto Buck again

needs his Ninja mask

He needs a dome

and more shin splints.

Nogatory

lol! Negatory

I like No-go-tory

Ninja are awesome!!

He can't hit in America.

except Ohio

Stretch Time!!

little yoga break

Buehrle had a nice game

They will take 2 runs from him every game through 7

Normally there is some peculiar play that screws him

when he pitches against the A's. Well... we're waiting....

Man

This announcer is really hard to listen to. I miss Matt Vasgersian.

I just imagine them with clown outfits on......

and its kinda funny

Ha ha...

If the shoe fits... :)

your signature

mmmmm wendy's

Ok, am I nuts? Am I the only one who thinks Crede gets dirty on a lot of plays where many, if not most, 3Bs just backhand?

Ef Dye

fall down Dye, fall down!

WOW!!!OMG

The Sox announcer just compared Crede to Brooks Robinson!! Only Chavy comes close. That is a laugher!!!

That is why I don't like the guy. He comes across as a "nice" guy

when in reality he is being rude. He knows that A's fans are watching and that Chavez is the cream of the crop at 3B.

they got anybody goin

in the 'pen?

Casilla in teh pen

His pickoff move makes me happy.

Oh, that's...a balk

Negatory!!!

Only if the back knee breaks, and his movement towards home is decisive

me too

all tickley in my tummy

Smith has another pick off...

what a great move!!!

1-3-6 PO

Sorry, Jermaine. Had to be done.

woo! great move

Circus on the bases with the ex-A's!

Okay, Smith has an amazing move.

it's a balk, but it's really good.

Its only a balk if

his back knee breaks and he moves decisively towards home

His front leg was decisively going towards home plate

From a Sox perspective........ROFL

Actually, checked on DVR...

From their replay angle, which was down the first base line from home plate, it looks like it leans toward home. But checking the replay of the live play (from behind the mound), his front leg definitively goes to first.

Haha

Damn, man. That's some good pickin'.

A new "pickin' machine"

Picker

his nose!

that's why I liked it

room for mocking

a good nick name

should go both ways
(not *that* way)

how many former A's has Smitty picked?

That pick off is huge

Good pitch....

better at bat

It's amazing...

... every player on the White Sox apparently belongs on the All-Century team. White Sox announcing, brought to you by the Nintendo DS!

at least its not the celtics crew

And Robin Ventura

He's losing it a little here....

Save him!

Zuke....

dont get eatin by the Sox fans

Zook!

Gamer! So scrappy!

Is he breathing?

Does he know where he is?

< Standing O >

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Smit is Awesome!!!

Young Moyer!!

Baby Jamie

BJ

Or, even better, Baby Moyer, a.k.a., BM.

Shouldn't we shorten/hippen it?

Young Meezy, perhaps?

Crede is so clutch. What a clutch whiff.

My clutch

makes the same noise...

My clutch is more clutch than your clutch

Big round of applause for Greg Smith!!

My Standing O face

Yeah, the Dbacks can keep Dan Haren.

Man. This guy is so not Dallas Braden.

SuZUKI = ZUKes !!

pass it on.......

spelling Nazi

NO ZUKes FOR YOU

I'm not sure how this would work, but I think

Smitty's gonna pick off Dotel here. Call it a crazy hunch.

Dotel, huh?

Hey Dotel

another former A...
thank gawd.

It's been four years already?

For as long as these seasons go, they can sure fly by...

The A's

are the CWS farm team.

So it's...

...Royals --> A's --> White Sox?

seriously

they aren't on my radar if they aren't A's... for the most part anyway.

Add Dotel to the All AL West Sox of the central

0-2 to a walk.....

Barton = Gamer

let KNBR use gamer

Dotel- Reminiscing about that dreadful

weekend series in Boston.

We were just talking about that...

I was there for the game when Millar hit the walk off, and in Boston watching when he gave up the game the following day and Kielty got injured.

Let's remember to forget.

Or to remember to remember.

Our reaction for game #1: http://www.athleticsnation.com/2005/5/11/25557/3510#120563

Our reaction was here for game #2: http://www.athleticsnation.com/2005/5/11/124034/364#119572

Athletics Nation remembers all.

I'm going to save myself the pain of reading those

and just go ahead and slit my face against the grain and throw some salt in the open wounds.

Send pics!

Make sure it's sea salt and not the ... processed kind.

Interesting- Brian in 317 is also a Pirates' fan.

That is all I could find in those posts. The rest was invisible.

rising FB there?

hmmm, why not send Cust out to PH

Sweeny Rakes!!!

Was that walk more

to Barton's ability or Dotel's inability?

I'm pretty sure the universe is going to explode

in about ten minutes. Too many Royals.

Ode to Dotel:

Please pitch today
as I remember you pitching as an A

(politely applausing)

it had the height....

ugh.

again, why not PH Cust :/

'cause he's stone cold

And Big Sweeney is 2-4

or was

the second post was for brown

don't want to put Cust in the OF with a one run lead

QED

he should have pinch hit for sweeney then

lol or double switch

would be funny to see a late game double switch in the AL. We don't need no stinking DH

brain fart n/m

and also the 2-3 logic for both of them begs the response...

they were clearly due to make outs.

if they aren't gonna PH him against 2 pitch fastball pitchers, he shouldn't be on the team

When you're in a slump, it's almost as if you look out at the field and it's one big glove. ~Vance Law

that was the move

Cuz Sweeney's the Biggest Loser

Lets Go Royals Lets Go

Swisher up 2nd

Will they let Smith continue?? Pitch Count anybody??

95

Methinks he's done

No way they leave him in

Wtf, where was that first pitch?

apropo of nothing

44 is my favorite baseball number.

Mine for Basketball

Ice Man George Gervin

Hank Aaron

And don't you think it's lame that Lastings Milledge wears it?

scary

End of the bat

Just a leeeeeeeeedle bit.

Hilarious call by Hawk.

"DADGUMIT!"

I thought that was a goner.

Yes, this close, Swish.

Thank you, cold weather.

Wow!! these announcers are such clowns

Understatement of the year

He damn near yelled DADGUMIT!@#%

9 faces of nick swisher

top right and middle left looked like giambi

Denorfius!

Dadgummit?

Jeez.

uh, don't walk Cabrera

im a big fan of 2 out walks with 1 run leads.

At least he didn't walk him

nope, just lelegraphed a fastball

Casilla....

You walk this guy....

throw the fastball

There you go, fall behind again, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

yanked

[shakes head]

"That ball hit hard into center field! ...

Stretch! STRETCH! HE LOOKS UP! NO! NO!

Dad gummit!"

Tee hee!

That was awesome.

does anybody else wish the A's had Ron Flores and not Alan Embree?

no me

Embree Redemption Project:

Now. (please)

makes one long for duke in his old role

whatever happened to ol ron?

Cardnals?

Maybe?

yes i think so but not in majors

MLB.com

Lists him as "Padres" with status "Non-roster invitee." That's it.

Isn't that his brother?

randy his brother

but i think ron was there, at least in the spring.

Out sailing.

Yes, he's now Captain Ron.

Miss Kitty?

Boss?

What are you talking about?

CRAZY!

Captain Ron quotes, silly girl!!

One of the best, worst movies ever made.

Hey!

No negative vibes, dude!

ive always thought embree was a gas can, hard to change just because he's an Athletic now :-/

so far so good

He was pretty good last year.

Dare I say...

... Ricardo Rincon?

Sliders, please

^^^^^genius up here^^^^^^^^

Post of the year. It's still early so don't go getting

a big heAd.

I dont like this matchup at all

why not?

I like it fine

me too

I didn't realize Embree wouldn't throw a fastball

cuz Thome is crushing lefties this year

should have had more faith

My fears were reasonable

Embree is normally a 1 pitch pitcher, and a fastball is about the only thing Thome can hit this year. Embree isn't one of those funky lefties who is used as a LOOGY, either.

Great job by Embree and Suzuki to not throw Thome anything hard and/or straight.

Career 300 points of offense difference

This year doesn't matter even a little bit.

Who would you have pitching?

Where can I get an Embree jersey?

I love that guy.

99 cent store?

I take that back: dollar store.

Thome looking heat...

embry gives slider... twice

4 times and my negative vibes come through again :-)

Wow

Keep throwing it again, he's not even close

leave Embry on for the 9th!!

No Street please!!

Er, uh...

No.

Konerko, Dye, AssJack

It's Street time.

yea! Thanks Al!

Jennifer

I didn't want to jinx anything, but when I'm negative good things happen, and when I'm positive bad things happen. :-D

I was just messing with you.

Do whatever works. :)

stats

can you show the stats on that?

STATS ARE FOR SEAMHEADS

Come on guys, lets get some runs here

Wow.

That was most impressive!

I don't think Thome got within 6 inches of any of those pitches

4:20....Hawiian time!!

and I am in Cali, but who cares

cause I still feel the connection....

of all those people taking rips a few thousand miles away

x:20 is 4:20 somewhere

Yea just like its happy hour somewhere

It's 4:20 somewhere...

former A's prospect Mike McDougal

Can we have any more Royals in this game?

Yes. I want Alex Gordon on the A's.

:)

didn't Beane demand Sizemore

(tangent I know but as long as we are on the topic of pilfering top prospects) in a tampering case?

Couldn't tell ya.

That'd be tampering.

(No seriously -- I don't know.)

Former ROYAL!

They are taking over the work.

And by "work" I mean world.

Same difference.

Geico!

please

Why doesn't Jermaine Dye run for fly balls?

October baseball is cold too

depending on who's in it

Cold in Oakland

yea but..

It's cold in OAK for almost every night game... same basic temps though. not much range here.

It's so damn HOT during day games. I about died of heat stroke

last year. That sun's a bitch!

I was yelling "Drop"

I forgot to say "FAIR!!!!"

all your fault.

I can't remember the last time I've heard a game announced

That had a play-by-play guy not doing any play-by-play.

Zook's

gonna make me give up Mauer on my fantasy team.

haha

my team was on my case for picking Zooks up. Mine as well pick up his jersey too. he's perty good

no fosse

not a policeman, a mime.

I love it

2 on, nobody out!

Remember when the Royals had a monopoly on bullpen guys that threw 95+ and sucked?

they gave them all to the White Sox

It's too bad they don't have Burgos

He really, really sucked.

Funny because it's true

Good eye, blue

Lets Go Oakland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good time for a sac bunt -

and for Bucky to beat it out (or for the pitcher to pull a Gaudin).

I thought Buck was coming up too,

first game the CF hasn't hit ninth.

Hey, we're gonna bunt!

we're going to try

Just watched a strike sail in

farking pathetic

It was never woth the out anyway!

now im nervous

nothing more unsettling than watching guys who can't bunt try to sac bunt

Good, Jack has been striking out alot

I want Crede to make an error here.

Go Thing 2!

Execute!!!!

This is the perfect situation for the sac bunt

no

bunting is hard.

everyone assumes success. that't the problem. I'm just relieved he didnt pop one up

Dammit Hannahan

No more bunting this year for Hannahan

Dammit Hannahan

(Not AN 3 glitch)

Oh no... here go the "why you should never bunt"

posts.

you should never bunt with terrible bunters.

or with 2 strikes...

Totally agree. +100%

and over the years you could say we have had team fulls of terrible ones

We need Ramon back

One of my favorite A's moments ever.

The bunt laid down against the BoSox at past 1:00 in the morning.

i mean oakfosho was right

it was close to an ideal situation...but lots of guys just can't bunt worth @#@$ and they should never bunt.

Just turned on the game...

AFLAC!!

Wow, more Hanrahan

from the White Sox radio announcers, and by more, I mean saying it every three seconds. Is his name misprinted somewhere?

Hawk is not very intelligent.

He's also not on the radio

Ah. Does that change anything?

Swing. The. Bat!

(except when ball is in dirt)

(or a foot outside)

Freakin Barnum and Bailies in the announcing booth!!

I'm waiting to see the car stuffed with clowns roll in!!

maybe a juggling act with some elephants??

As a midwesterner...

I've had to endure "The Hawk" for years.

So did a lot of us not in the Bay Area...

...when the Sox got on WGN and that was one of the few times we could see the A's (before Extra Innings, of course).

not like that

were the first two K's looking?

Shut these announcers up

Hanahan Reminds Me of Chavvy

Good glove (though Chavvy is great) but when you need a good AB ... uh, fat chance. He looks totally overmatched up there.

How do you get overmatched for a bunt?

Jesus.

You just saw it

its just not practiced that much unless you are a pitcher or omar vizquel

What is this, T-Ball?

Yo fucking millionaire, practice your bunting!

lol hannahan is no millionaire

Start by putting your first halfway up the first base line,

then take strikes down the middle and bunt and everything in the dirt.

Except Chavez, even when injured, is better at everything.

LS

I don't think that one had the distance.

Well that certainly does suck.

Sheesh...

Aww Crap

Get ready for a shaky 9nt inn

Eh, Huston doesn't need the help.

Cries

Hannahan could have bunted better

with his face down on the neighbor's lawn.

I have bad memories

of Street in this stadium

thinking of checking in later

and not letting my stomach bubble up with street in real time.

2 Runs Tonight

I've seen Buehrle look fabulous ... but not tonight. He hung too many pitches for the A's to have just gotten two. That key Crosby DB was the worst. I hope Huston closes the door but if he doesn't the loss is on the offense tonight. Pretty weak effort, not the least of which was the awful 9th ...

Smith sure looked terrific, though!

OMG I CANT WATCH STREET!!!

OK, Hotness.

Do good.

Do good? What is he, a super hero?

Let's hope so.

OMG THE SOX ANNOUNCERS JUST COMPLIMENTED STREET!!!

The death bell rings!!

naw

they don't have the power

They compliment opposing players all the time

They just like their own guys a lot more

I hope he's got the good fastball today

Come on, Huston. I don't want to change my

screen name.

This is to tense.....

Ima have a heart attack!!

Keep it low, hit the corners, no walks

And all will be fine.

Freaking junk baller.....

throw strikes please

Street is a middle reliever at best

Give it 5 minutes, would ya?

Don't be such a negative Nancy!

Ive given it three years and a blown ALCS!!

tytytytytyytt

70% save ratio

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/streehu01.shtml

Those are not the numbers of "middle reliever at best"

Sox fan....

please stop complimenting our players......

ALCS all street's fault

but ok, somehow he's a gascan too even though his peripherals are all good. i just don't get it.

Come on Huston...

finish him!

Sweet Street!

Yeah Huston!

OK Hotness....two more.

good start...

Painted.

Fucking pretty.

Okay. Breathe everyone. 1 down.

Owned that AB, let's get 2 more

Great pitch right there

Not so good there

I'mokay.I'mokay.I'mokay.I'mokay.I'mokay.I'mokay

Annie are you okay? Annie are you okay, you okay Annie?

Whah? "Blood stains on the carpet..."

A's Lucky That Didn't Get Hit Over Fence

Hanger

we're lucky it was a single.

Groundball? Please?

oh no AJ

hate him so much

me too

wadda jerk

Ass-Jack is king of the GIDP, though.

Bizarro world. Hawk and DJ actually

believe that they are funny.

WTF does Hawk have on his head?

According to DJ, a "rally bonnet."

He's Amish.

Think he can churn me some butter?

Even Ezekiel thinks that his mind is gone.

Okay, come on, ground ball here

Somebody call Michael Barrett!

It's amateur hour on the mlb.tv feed here

Street Blows!!!

WE GET IT!!!

You don't like Street. Thank you.

I expect an MLB catcher to do better.

58 feet 6 inches

Not even

That was on the grass

Get the eff off the ball, Blue!

Stop. Overthrowing!

curt young looks ancient btw

but still the best developer of pitching talent....

track record is amazing

filthy strike 2

I hope that hurt

a lot.

Hey, double play now!

JUNK BALLER!!!

STREET BLOWS!!!

cut it out till we trade him

we don't want to hurt his trade value!

he turned INTO it

i guess i came back too early.

yeah

We need a closer who closes out. We'll see.

He's just setting them up for the double play. It's legit.

I got home and logged in just in time

for this....possibly the only circumstances in which I don't want to see AssJack get hit by a pitch.

Woah, woah...

Hitting AJ always has a silver lining.

This Guy Looks Totally Over Aggressive

Come on Huston

Gather yourself.

You shouldn't gather yourself in public.

If your name is an anagram for Utter Hotness

I think you can do whatever you want with yourself...

Uh oh, Joe Clutche on deck!

CQ is letting Street off the hook by swinging at balls

game. set. lets get the match!

Yes Huston!!

OK -- one more!! Go away, Carlos.

I don't think I could pass up the chance to throw something

very hard at AJ. Well done.

Awesome Play By Suzuki

Oh yeah, he held on...

Sit down, Quentin

nice snowcone

What did Mr. Tarantino want?

Nice snowcone by Zooks

BLUE!!!!

TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY

Wow, hell of a play

One More ...

CWS lov'emselves some junk

WE WIN! WE WIN! WE WIN!

WE WIN! WE WIN! WE WIN! WE WIN! WE WIN!

CLUTCH!

CLUTCH CREDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! Game over!

VICTORY!!!

Eat your rally bonnet, Hawk.

Phew.

Nice comeback

hell, it feels like a comeback win, eh?

A's led the whole game, though.

Dern, we won on the road again

paramedics called for Jennifer?

And she's OK!

The crowd stands up and applauds!

A's win!!!

Never in doubt!

Kudos to Greg Smith!

Hahahaha

Good 2 strike hitter Crede

okay, thats a yahoo

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD.......

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gaaaah!

That's not allowed.

mocking

Still

That's going TOO FAR! ; )

sorry..

I like many others just had to sit through 9 innings of "Hawk and DJ" and their stupid commercials. I can take a little jab at them can't I?

someone should add that to the TOS

Can we leave it on Hawk's voice mail?

Totally.

Spam away!

Hum the bars of Cel-e-brate good times, come on!!

These heart attack A's

are pretty exciting!

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.

Ooooo

Tom Glavine Jr. I like that.

greg smith was drafted ahead of

Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull?

Holy crap. Did anyone see that Swisher

commercial? Scary shit.

What's it like?

He is in CF and his pitcher K's the guy. Swish goes into this

big dance while using his hands as pistols and twirling around. Actually it was funny stuff.

It's hilarious, but I don't really get why he freaks out like that

Me neither

and what does his sign say?

I couldn't tell and I'm too lazy to rewind.

must be local

can someone find it on youtube?

It's not on youtube.

ty 4 checking

You might try whitesox.com b/c the A's always

post all of their commercials.

I saw it.. what the???? was that?

Mike's Weenie

with every baseball metaphor possible.

Mike Sweeney is too easy to like

easy to like

for $500K/year

greg smith kinda looks like kenny rogers

The pitcher, or the singer?

before or after plastic surgery?

pitcher

in the chin and the demeanor walking off the mound after a strikeout.

hopefully

he's not a d*ck like Rogers.

Can we have more road trips like this?

I'll even take those scary, shaky, life-shortening saves as long as they are saves.

WOW YEAH HUSTON!!!!

Did not want to jinx the game by jumping into the thread.

GREAT JOB SMITH!!!!!!

GREAT JOB SWEENEY/BROWN!!!

Hugs.

So far a very pleasant April.

Revenge of the Smith

It's going to be a great tale to tell the grandkids...

--Hey kiddo, did you know I got my first win against Mark Buerle while being supported by the A's lineup?

--Grandpa, you so crazy!

OakFoSho re: Smitty's nickname...

you approve of Glavish?

Royals at Mariners time.

Did anyone see the little girl? Aw!

The Mariner's ball girl handed a little girl in the front row a ball and the girl, who looked about three, tossed the ball back on the field. Too cute!

Also, nice win, bitches!

Is that you, Jennifer? You are still awake and the late news is almost over.

I know!

Uppers.

Post game wrap is open

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