Athletics Nation

It really was, you know it?!

It would have been so easy for the youngsters to just roll over after gettin’ down 0-4.

But they battled … I’m just really impressed with how hard they play. No superstars … mistakes galore … but they battle.

It’s time the naysayers (you know, the ones who act mad because the A’s aren’t 0-19) on this site start handing out some compliments instead of telling us after every game how much Crosby sucks … or Emil Brown sucks … or Huston Street sucks … or Ryan Sweeney sucks. You know what? YOU SUCK! Shut up and enjoy your team …

Vacafan - April 19, 2008 reply

Yes, that would be nice.

Flashfire - April 19, 2008 reply

Hmm

I don’t think anyone is mad that the A’s aren’t 0-19!

My point exactly,

so why act like it?

Vacafan - April 19, 2008 reply

Hah.

Because even though we’re “rebuilding, it’s hard to tell that we are. Props to the guys for playing so well so far – I do love how they battled back today, but people are always going to get emotional about plays and pitches made or missed (11 straight games with an error is nothing to be proud of), because we’re fans…and that’s what we’re supposed to do! Just because we’re critical sometimes doesn’t mean we suck! We can be critical and still enjoy a win.

So, playiff tickets aren't on sale?

Future Ed - April 20, 2008 reply

Got mine last night ... bought 'em in the parking lot. Front row, baby.

Vacafan - April 20, 2008 reply

I know

who you are talking about.

Shippee33 - April 20, 2008 reply

just got back from the game

Smith was pretty hittable (though after raving about his move to first to my friends I was glad to see him pick one off again). Barton again give too much of an adventure with the glove—but today he made up for it with the bat.

The Royals have some good hitters and starters; seems that their major weakness is the bullpen. If you can stay close and tire the starters out (which is the A’s MO) you have an excellent chance to win against them.

Huston gave us a bit of a scare in the ninth. That was a 30 pitch outing, beginning with two out in the eighth….and if Jack Cust was in left field instead of Chris Denorfia they might still be playing!

By the way: I was on my way across the BART bridge around 11:45 toward the coliseum. Passing me going away were quite a few people with bobbleheads—sometimes with two or three bobbleheads.

bullpen

is was good they tied/took the lead earlyish, because they have some very good relievers that didn’t pitch because they weren’t ahead. I had the exact same thought on Cust/Denorfia watching that play…

Yea I saw

the same thing, that pisses me off. I bet all those bobbleheads you we saw crossing that BART bridge before noon, were up on E bay before the first pitch

Shippee33 - April 20, 2008 reply

Fun game.

Stressful, until we tied it up but once the boys started making Greinke really pitch to them and his count went up I knew we had a good chance. Huston still scares me every time he comes in though.

The weather was perfect for a day at the Coliseum. I squatted in Section 129 and some guys next to me had the perfect nickname for Chris Denorfia: “Ratatouille” – just take a look at his team pic. It’s hilarious.

I did get there (way too) early for a Travis Buck bobblehead…after BP I went into the store to pick up a sweatshirt around 12:00 and there were people walking in at that point with bobbleheads in their hands…low attendance indeed.

what a shame

that there is always low attendance. I live in Houston, the A’s came in last summer, I went and it was great, one of the best experiences of my life! If I was in California, I would totally be attending every game possible! I take advantage of the Extra Innings that Directv provides, maybe it’s the organization that is not making an effort in gaining more fans.

LiZaRdReVoLuTiOn - April 19, 2008 reply

I was shocked by that.

I don’t normally don’t go very early, but my co-worker has a little bobblehead collection going so we got there at 11:30. I was pretty certain they’d be gone and was surprised that they weren’t.

Anyway, a pretty good day because:
1) The A’s came back to win
2) I met my first ANer (Bleacher Dave)
3) I am not a jinx after all (first time I’ve seen the A’s win in person this season, after three losses)

67MARQUEZ - April 19, 2008 reply

Hard to know without having watched,

but it sounds like the 0-2 pitch to Oliva was a near-disaster on Street’s part. How do you get near the strike zone 0-2 to that guy? Right after he chased a slider down and away, too. That was scary.

yeah, luckily Oliva didn't quite get all of it

like I said, Huston made us sweat in 225—which wasn’t easy since it was quite chilly in the shade

Hi there, AN. Question for you.

I’m from Bleed Cubbie Blue but I stop by here often to read Brad Ziegler’s postings. Have you heard from him lately? I’ve been checking back every once in a while for Gettin’ Ziggy With It but haven’t seen one since Spring Training.

northsider - April 19, 2008 reply

He's doing well in Sacramento

I’m sure he posts when he gets time but I got to chat with him briefly before Wednesday’s game following a little pre-game thing where he and Todd Steverson chatted with local schoolkids. He ended up pitching 2 innings in the game, picking up the save.

He’s thrown 6 2/3 innings in four games this season and has allowed just 5 hits and an unearned run along with no walks and 5 strikeouts.

Flashfire - April 19, 2008 reply

Thanks Flashfire!

I sure enjoy his insight. And yours!

northsider - April 19, 2008 reply

does anyone else find this funny?

LiZaRdReVoLuTiOn - April 19, 2008 reply

find that photo mildly hilarious

oakinboston - April 19, 2008 reply

A GREAT game

I, like the OaklandSI of thirty minutes ago, just got back to my apartment from the game. And what a game it was. It’s true that attendance was on the sparse side (I couldn’t help but excoriate a few of the people who passed me in the other direction, their arms filled with bobbleheads, on my way in), but there was a definite energy to those who hung around.

It could just be hindsight getting the better of me, but one thing that I noticed to my seating area (the LF bleachers) was that nobody grew particularly dejected. It’s true that Guillen’s homer in the first knocked the wind out of us early, but as the game wore on, and the A’s kept getting their hits, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they broke through. No-one counted the green and gold out and the guys rewarded that faith rather nicely. By the time Barton tripled in the seventh, the bleachers were going bananas. (Although Huston did provide a few stomach pains in the ninth.)

So even if the Hollywood script wasn’t required (I mused to the woman sitting next to me, a huge Travis Buck fan, that Geren was saving T-Buck for a pinch-hit homer in the bottom of ninth) it still feels awfully good to head into this Saturday night with a win. Hopefully we can earn another sweep tomorrow. (I’ll be back in the LF bleachers if anyone else plans on attending.)

Oh and hey, for those who were there today, anyone have any plans to make use of the All You Can Eat discount on Tuesday night? I figured if the A’s were going to give me a discount on it, the least I could do was sacrifice my GI tract. It might be fun to have an AN contingent take over the section.

Wes7 - April 19, 2008 reply

I don't think my stomach can handle it

I’ll be in 225 on Tuesday night, probably after sampling one of my preferred food items: bbq, pastrami sandwich, buffalo wings, or? Taquitos might be an option, but I wouldn’t eat too many.

I'll be there

Tues. night, in 317 Row 10.

streetfan - April 19, 2008 reply

Woo, that was a great game

-I felt like they were completely done Tues, Wed., and Thurs., but I had a good feeling about this one.
-About an hour before the game I had a premonition that Barton would hit a HR. He didn’t, but I think I misunderstood the premonition as “HR short of the cycle.” I love Barton. It seems he is not good at catching pop flies, though…
-The woman in front of me on the BART train was excited that Barton used to work at Jamba Juice.
-Geren is a genius for avoiding the bobblejinx.
-All those hits are really fun to watch. I like those frustrating lob innings better than 1-2-3s.
-93 win pace, baby!
-Devine has looked shaky almost every time out, but pretty good results. He’s not going to be a closer with the poor control, but he was a good pickup. Solid 2nd-4th bullpen guy.
-Denorfia kinda sucks, but he’s very fun to watch.
-Tony Pena Jr. had a .640 OPS last year and a .275 (!) OPS so far this year. Apparently he’s a good defender, but he botched like 4 plays the last two games. The Royals have to be able to do better than that…

glad I'm not the only one who noticed

Geren’s bobblejinx workaround

tony pena jr,

brian bocock, and luis hernandez give me hope that i can still be a starting major league shortstop. and i have never even played shortstop…

i'd be a poor man's left-handed adam everett without the slick defense

do you throw left too? I'm throw right, bat left

You’d have trouble winning a starting SS job, but you’d probably be a good ph option off the bench for those guys.

i can throw with my right hand

not well, but i can do it. probably about as well as any other lefty…

I'd be a poor man's xbhaskarx

Or a rich man’s Angel Berroa.

bocock

is pretty good at defense, but absolutely terrible with the bat. he could be adam everett lite in a couple years

flipgatey3 - April 19, 2008 reply

There are a ton of SSs

who are good at defense and terrible with the bat. None of them are as great as Everett with the glove. Everett is the only SS who is an average/above average player with the offense he puts up.

being the next adam everett

is kind of like being the next jamie moyer.

I was tempted to disagree because I want Greg Smith to be good,

but then I remembered that Greg Smith is the next Glavine, not the next Moyer. So… Lots of Glavines. Just two of Everett and Moyer.

Glavine had velocity in his youth

He wasn’t always a junkballer.

DiegoSegui - April 20, 2008 reply

I'd happily take the next Moyer if you are talking about

35-41 year old moyer.

mrrickyg - April 20, 2008 reply

Marty Lurie agrees with me

(on Inside Baseball Saturday Night—on right now) that the A’s defense is disturbing.

They'll quit making these errors-I guarantee it

what a cold, windy day!

but it was a fun game!

even though they can be frustrating as hell (errors in 12 straight games?!), i LOVE this team!

and my buck bobble is waiting to join my other A’s bobbles at work on monday!

what the heck was rapper/ actor ludacris doing throwing out the first pitch today? that was SO RANDOM!

- jack cust hanging out with luda and his posse

- barton, one of my fave young guys, is also one of the fan friendliest ones!

and mister, if you are on AN and see this pic of you, i just want to say thank you for making me laugh with your jersey today! :)

gotgreen - April 19, 2008 reply

They should have made foolsh a custom jersey when he threw out the first pitch

i was thinking the same thing

Foolsh #22… at least, everyone on AN at the game would have known me.

FoolshGame22 - April 19, 2008 reply

Ludacris must of been there to shoot a video

He had 4 camera’s recording everything he did today
In the plaza bleachers he kept doin little scenes with a bunch of kids.

Athletix Man - April 20, 2008 reply

He was doing a doc

for the Discovery channel. Wonder what its about??

A's10thMan - April 20, 2008 reply

Probably the mating rituals of the

Polynesian sea-catepillar. Just a guess, obviously.

Nico - April 20, 2008 reply

Is that what

he’s calling it now?

Dilferules - April 20, 2008 reply

It was funny

Because the director who was filming Ludacris after he took batting practice, kept trying to get fans to chant “Luda”; but the response he got was very lack luster. For the record Ludacris is much better vocalist than he is an athlete. During his time in the batting cage, he barely got 3 or 4 balls out of the infield.

Shippee33 - April 20, 2008 reply

Corey Brown remains on fire, 3-4 2B, 3B, BB,

up to .333/.421/.652.

woo hoo

V. Chris Carter heating up... 2 HRs tonight

Is that "Item #5" or is Chris actually his middle name?

Or do you just like the letter “V”?

Oh, and

Woo hoo!

You may recall that that trade produced much confusion

since there were two Chris Carters associated with the White Sox/Dbacks (among others). His name is Vernon Christopher Carter and he is very tall.

But mostly I wrote that because "Vernon" is a cool name.

Oh thank God!

All this time I thought we had acquired Christopher Ohad-Rashid Carter and he was very short! Now I like the trade a lot better.

that's not what I heard from ohad and rashid: much much height according to them

Combined, maybe

Whoa, 3 HRs tonight

trying to make up for an awful start in one night! 2 HRs for Doolittle too. Not good pitching, I guess, but that is a lot of HRs.

Were they in High Desert or Lake Elsinore?

Some of those California League ballparks redefine the meaning of the term “bandbox.” I think there were 80 runs scored in a 3-game series at Lake Elsinore last year.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/2007_minor_league_park_multipliers/

Stockton

very very easy to hit HRs there, but not overall so great for offense.

Lake Elsinore appears to be a pitcher’s park.

To be fair..

His third homer, and Doolittle’s second, came off the other team’s third baseman.

lenscrafters - April 20, 2008 reply

Well this is totally depressing

John Marzano dead, age 45.

Nick - April 19, 2008 reply

His name is vaguely familiar to me,

but it feels like it should be more familiar than it is. RIP.

asfaninpismobeach - April 19, 2008 reply

He was on tv and radio locally in Philly for a few years

and since he was from Philadelphia he became a favorite guy around here. He was actually a good radio call-in host.

Nick - April 19, 2008 reply

Smith and Eveland.

Putting Kennedy and Hughes to shame.

BWH - April 19, 2008 reply

Gotta love Greg Smith though

Every pitcher has bad outings or doesnt have their best command that day. Smith didnt give up, he kept fighting and kept his team in the game. Eveland has the good arm and better stuff but it seems that Smith has the toughness that I would like to see from Eveland.

Glad todays game

wasn’t a night game. Wind is really kicking up.

Driving back from San Jose today

we saw a car’s hood literally blown off the top of the car and skittering down the roadway.

We changed lanes.

I heard part of the comeback while in the car

Left the game when it was tied, but I felt like the A’s would prevail—and I was delighted to find out I was right!
It was incredibly windy driving across the Bay Bridge, so I can imagine that it must have been a problem for the players, not to mention the fans. Congratulations to everyone who hung in there.
Quite apart from the wind, I nearly drove off the wind laughing at one point when Ken and Ray began discussing the Buck bobblehead. Ken said something like
“The next bobblehead day is Kurt Suzuki’s, I’ve seen it, and you’ll be interested in this, Ray; the catcher’s mask is detachable.”
And Ray said:
“Really? Was it like that for Kendall’s bobblehead?”

Englishmajor - April 19, 2008 reply

BobbleKurt!

That is very attractive.

Jennifer - April 19, 2008 reply

It's the crouch position

isn’t it.

He's crouching?

I thought he just had short legs!

Jennifer - April 19, 2008 reply

Crouching catcher, hidden ball trick...

He looks like he’s going to pee on the sponsor’s logo.

Jennifer - April 19, 2008 reply

at least he's not wearing a bathrobe

like in the commercial

OaklandSi - April 20, 2008 reply

You nearly drove off the wind?

Why, was it bridgy?

Kids playing T-ball in SF during game

The field was just opposite Pac-T&T park, downtown SF. The wind was insane, but the kids all hung in there through the gales. I suspect their Defense was affected by the conditions.

MobiusKlein - April 19, 2008 reply

where is m. sweeney?

why hasn’t he played in either game??

gotgreen - April 19, 2008 reply

Because...

He’s only a bit better of a hitter than Brown, and definitely worse than Cust vs. RHs, and Emil is way better on D than Cust. Or he might be injured, since he’s been limping… But what I said first should be why…

However, it is in fact the latter -

on the broadcast they said something about Sweeney’s “surgically repaired knee” and it wasn’t in the “is feeling great right now!” context.

....

Bonds

....

....
Piazza

drink409 - April 19, 2008 reply

Lori!

I don’t get it.

-Cindi

1) Awesome hitter.

2) Reminds me of food.

I applaud both of them! I enjoy both food and awesome hitting.

You would have enjoyed Jim Rice

Well, sure, he was an attractive man,

but would I have enjoyed him? Difficult to say…

With soy sauce, I think it's almost certain

that you would have.

Hmmm...tastes like chicken!

Or would that be Noodles Hahn?

GreenNGoldSooner - April 19, 2008 reply

....
Thomas

drink409 - April 20, 2008 reply

I'm down with that!

mikeA - April 21, 2008 reply

Thing 1 also looks like Jake Taylor running to first base. That knee's not right.

The Dogfather - April 20, 2008 reply

BobbleTravis

bobbles a lot.

Devine has more wins than Blanton

Go A’s

drink409 - April 19, 2008 reply

Also, "Devine" is an anagram of "Envied,"

whereas “Blanton” is merely an anagram of “Notbaln”.

Devine is first A with more than 1 win.

MobiusKlein - April 19, 2008 reply

Sigh. Coulda been Gerg.

Barton called him "Smitty"

during his radio interview after the game. Guess they didn’t see our poll.

"Smitty" is not so good, but it's way better than anything we've come up with so far...

I was fretting about his un-nicknameableness in the game thread of his first start, and my fears have been realized. Search AN if you don’t believe me. Wait….

I think I was there. I believe you.

But on the other hand...

I really really like Barton, so maybe he should decide.

I'm sure Daric

appreciates your trust in him.

Catfish Stew will be miffed

I think the A’s could have broken the record for most consecutive different pitchers to record a win at the start of a season if the right guy had picked it up.

I half expected Street to blow the save

but the A’s to get back the lead & win in the 9th.

MobiusKlein - April 20, 2008 reply

Thought this game was over!

I am totally shocked the A’s won this game. Down 4-0 I thought it was over. Good to see them come back and hold on to win.

fansince1980 - April 19, 2008 reply

I, on the other hand, knew all along we would win

In fact when Greinke struck out the side in the first inning, I remember thinking, “It’s ok – we’ll end up with 16 hits.”

Sad News

I don’t know how many of you tune in to MLB.com’s baseball “TV” programming, but Leading Off host and former Mariner catcher John Marzano died today after falling down a flight of stairs, possible because of a heart attack.

Too many deaths…

HigherPie - April 19, 2008 reply

Baseball Tonight's highlights of this game were pathetic

They show Barton’s drop and the home run that followed. Then they jumped to Sweeny’s going ahead hit and then the final out. That’s it. The Angels treatment wasn’t much better. ESPN east coast bias is really is obnoxious. When are we going to get an MLB network like the NFL and NFL have?

sactownbull - April 19, 2008 reply

200...9?

Not very long, anyway.