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Open Thread: Game 3 - A's vs. Red Sox (cont).

1-0 A's going to the 5th, on the strength of Joe Blanton's excellence and a Custian blast.

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LETS go OAKland

dun dun dun dun dun

LETS GO OAKLAND

Let's go for some New Thread Mojo

Shite - I was wrong on the Trivia question. Was actually Magadan

Don't feel too bad. I was wrong too.

Of course he is employed by the Red Sox. Everything is about the Red Sox.

Well there is generally a link between the

two sides in the trivia questions.....

I know I know... but it's just annoying because its them.

Hi Everybody!!!

Let's go Oakland!!!

Good evening, Dr.

hey!!

it's been a long time.

CSN: the Cust Sports Network.

CSN:

Red Sox Only Sports Channel and Other Sox Things Like Highlights and Frosted Gloves... and Such

I guess acronyms are an acquired taste

Joe scared me.

T-BUCK!!

Sounds like a great catch!

awful read, awkward catch stumbling back into the wall

Huh. Well, Korach made it sound beautiful

but then I guess that's not surprising..

not pretty at all

not pretty

Nearly a repeat of the error in Japan (even if it wasn't

scored an error).

TBuck

Makes up for those whiffs

Hey, Ice Cream! Ice Cream heeeere....

NICE CATCH, BUCK!

Is Dibs a flavor? You're killin' me.

It's a product. An ICE CREAM! product.

nesn trivia q

which team fielded the most rookies in 2007?
answer in a few

Wow...nice play by Buck!

Buck just looks bad with everything he does right now

Please play a day game

because the Red Sox are duchebags.

Please make a double post

because AN3.0 hates Jennifer

Please play a day game

because the Red Sox are duchebags.

back, back... tracWALL!

I haz redz tooz maniz of

doze pixchurz xspezily wid kewt andimals.

holy cow, i heard that! Buck!

we should definitely

trade CarGo(n) for Coco

I weep for T's shins

NO WAY

he looked F#$&ing out

OK so Ellis has to do something awesome today since his is pretty much the last picture thingy I have.

wha happen?

We just got the big green shaft.

shiite

clockwerks!

Why do I have a big empty space between comments when I reply?

The whole fucking world's against us.

single to right

youk scored on a close play at plaet

ump got the call right

Zuke missed the swipe tag.

Buck looks like crap.

good call

Suzuki whiffed.

CUPCAKE

ANGRYYY

MLB decree

He must be safe

Details, please?

it was like

boom boom, safe!
;)

Single to Buck in RF, Travis gets in a strong, accurate

throw to home. Youkilis heads home from second and slides feet first into the plate. Suzuki tries to block it with his left leg and misses the swipe tag on the lead foot (which would have been out). He gets a solid tag in after Youk is safe.....who then goes back to touch the plate for some reason.

Though you've probably already seen this on the new fangled gameday video links. ;)

No, Ray, you're wrong.

He's safe.

Suzuki didn't tag him, and Youkilis did go over the plate after the initial block.

even though i have pedroia on my fantasy STRIKE OUT ONE TIME

Looked out to me.

Let's go A's!!!!!!!

MI's dont touch the bag

on double plays. Plate was blocked, out should have been applied

It looked like Zooks stepped on Youk's...

left hand when he went back to re-tag home plate. He had it wrapped in a towel in the dugout.

agh

and now we dont get the strike call.

Come on Joe.

Time for a big popup to Hannahan.

C;mon, don't let Pedreckstein beat us

Come on Blanton!

in this crucial moment with the bases loaded and papi at the plate

the answer to the trivia question!
which team fielded the most rookies in 2007?

new york yankees. didnt see that one coming did you?

whoa... really?

no, didn't see that coming at all...

Too many Wank Sox fans in this stadium.

time for Joe to shut em up!

Shut up

executed

Thank goodness Ortiz isn't hitting well.

yeah, I'll take this while it lasts

Would love to see Ramirez lead off next inning

I fail

reply to OldhamA, obviously

WHEW!!!

Big time, Joe, big time.

siddown, Papi

Too many Wank Sox fans in this stadium

FTFY

Yeah thats true.

YES Ok let's go offense!!!

< wipes brow with 06 rally towel >

(seriously)

grrrrr

We need to win this game. fuck the Sox.

I'll take it

It was a good call by the ump and I'm pleasantly surprised it isn't 5-1.

Agree

Looks like Suzuki missed the tag

at least he hung in there

Ramon would have been 10' up the 1B line on that play.

we MusT eT ther bAbeeZ

silly west coast bias

it's getting too late out here, im turning in
go A's!

lol

only 10:30 here

Only 4:30am here. :P

no time for a snack

we need emil!

and now

we're left starving

Glen and Ray

Interviewing Dick Williams

according to Vince, Sayles sez ...

... Chavvy" still rehabbing, still no "baseball activities," no timetable for him to resume baseball activities.

Vince's inflection made it sound ominous.

like his fly ball calls his first year?

He's dead until further notice.

Don't expect anything from him this year, much like Kotsay last.

that's been my working assumption since July of last year

Keep in mind that Vince's inflection

on a three hopper to SS makes it sound like a fly ball to right.

cbs

has 4 balls for hanahan but not showing a walk

CSN

just showed the third strike

Matsusaka is dealing

If we can escape with a win tonight, I'll be ecstatic

Pitch count for Joe?

~90

90 as of the second out pitch

Much appreciated.

Pretty dang high

I think he's around 80-90

Manny's starting to zone in on Joe

I don't want Blanton facing the heart of the lineup next time 'round.

He won't be there long enough to do that

He's getting high on the pitch count

Why do Red Sox fans cheer their own outs?

They think all fly balls are home runs.

It's an annoying trait.

Speaking of which, wouldn't you be embarrassed to be a Boston fan in California? Talk about glory supporting.

Not good, Emil....

EEWWGHHH Youkilis is so gross. He needs to stop getting hits.

cant beat

that goat tho...

Nice Podsednik play by Brown

Eek, lots of ropes now...

Joe's done

Tell me about it. He's run out of gas again.

Calling it an HR on the radio

$5 that it goes the red sox way

It was a HR from the video

That's a homer.

Above the line.

It looks like...

it hit but didn't go over the line, doesn't it????

It went over, just above it

Nah, it bounced on top of the scoreboard...

...and back into the field, so it should've been called a homer.

But it wasn't, so...yay!

These umpires are less than confidence-inspiring

A little A's luck, in an unlucky situation.

We'll take the missed calls that go our way.

its the only way we'll get it

So this makes up for the horrible call at home

Take a second look it was the right call

Both times

I would relish beating the Sox on a bad call....

Yeah

A win is a win

Id relish beating the sox any way

Lucky break.

Come on, let's take advantage and stop the bleeding.

yes sir they heard you

Well to honest with you it balances out that bad call at the plate

He was safe.

You missed the part where he was tagged out then

Everyone missed it, because it didn't happen

Suzuki never touched him

Missed him with the swipe tag.

He was tagged, but after his foot had touched

the plate. Suzuki missed the swipe tag on the foot, which would have been out.

6 IP, 2 R against the Sox?

I'll take it.

Ok

Good job Joe. Need some runs and bullpen now.

They get a call.. and

we get a call. All even in the end.

Make up call

As far as I'm concerned, Youkilis should've been called out at home earlier. So this is the make up call. Of course, the umps got 'em both wrong. And since Varitek didn't score, the game score is as it should be.

Well thankfully the call went our way. Now we just need to get some runs.

Let's not overlook the horrible 0-2 pitch

from Blanton.

Blanton never makes mistakes,

What you talkin bout, Willis?

Absolutely right...

Funny how a controversial call can cover up the main point: We're going to the bullpen in the 7th.

He's tired, it happens.

Anyone warming up?

...yeah, Poppy to Cust.

As long as he stays off the outfield grass...

Her quote:

"I hate Emil Brown. Can we put Cust in LF?"

Then my phone exploded.

My laptop just exploded. Thanks a lot.

He's worth at least $100

Whose side are you on, anyway??

Jairo, according to Glen

None of the A's hitters

We need to get Matsusaka out

He's really pitching well...

He's only in the mid 80s for pitches, and

he has the ability to go 120+, so no luck with that one.

Need to string some singles or walks together

R. Sweeney does not look good

He really doesn't.

Wow, they're swinging at everything...

Wasn't that the same pitch Sweeney struck out on before?

Ugh, more swinging at high fastballs.

Yeah, Sweeney and Buck especially

have been terrible at the plate today.

Offense needs to wake up

T-Buck, lets go!

Execute the talent?

I don't think the MLBPA will go for that...

Buck

needs to be dropped in the lineup...

honestly, I think he needs to be dropped to AAA

His timing and body language are off in every single thing he does on the field. There's either something wrong with him physically, or he needs an extended spring training to get his timing down.

he's not playing well enough to start for the rivercats

T. Buck does not look good

I do not disagree

WoW

Offense looks like total shit.

Buck

Unfortunately, rhymes with suck

And yuck

And f***

Yes, please!

Go for it!!

At least

he'd be hitting something.

The way he looks, it would probably sound like this:

"Ow, my eye!"

Which one of you

would be saying that???

Both.

Well

As long as you don't put him on the DL...

I make no guarantees.

Fair enough

As long as you both agree to wear protection. You know, like safety goggles.

And ear plugs.

I think the rest of us need those.

Buck sure does need to drop down

to 9th and Sweeney needs the bench

I can see the headlines on ESPN.com now:

"Dice-K Fans 14, Cures Cancer"

C'mon, guys, don't let Varitek of all people get the last word.

and saves drowning puppy

From a burning building.

In Tupperware. For later.

At least

the commercials are entertaining

Sweeney is a damn joke

CarGon needs those abs

He

must work out

I'd rather Denorfia got them with Sweeney in AAA.

Pretty much everyone bar Brown needs constant at bats in the outfield, so it's a tough one.

What's the most strikeouts in a game for Dice-K?

IDK

Must be a HAI amount.

a-thankyou

Looks like 10 in the Majors

Couldn't say about prior records.

For the record

mine was better

I have to agree

Mine came across much more nerdy.

I really, really hate the Redsox

Note to the A's:

Please win.

Everybody is behind on the fastball

Either Matsusaka's getting massive late movement and zip or we just didn't practice hitting since Japan

y isnt mike sweeney in the lineup?

Barton and Buck havn't looked too hot....

at least Barton

gets on base

iirc, Dice-K has faced one over minimum so far...

2 hits, 0 BBs... and Suzuki was CS

Casilla in

(murmur murmur)

(reckoning reckoning)

(location location)

BBBZZZZT!

Try again. You missed the sequence.

One day

...one day

E. Brown does not inspire confidence in tracking balls in LF

Or running the bases

Plus

his face is weird

When is Bob goign to realize not play ryan sweeney

I assume it's not his choice to make.

Exactly

Ryan Sweeney should be in AAA and Carlos with the big club. They will realize this when he goes 0 for his next 40

casilla giving ol p-ho some chin music

Or, as JediLeroy called him

Pedreckstein

Wasn't it a great pitch. :D

ryan sweeney has longest swing ever, he needs more abs then CarGon

I think

its his delts that need work

i agree let's try to not make too many judgments this early. it's going to be an adjustment period

good inning by casia

time to see if dinner's ready yet

Amici's

on its way!

still only 135 degrees

15-20 more minutes on the roast.

Whatcha grilling?

pork tenderloin crusted with fresh garlic and rosemary

Smells goooooooooooood.

The pitching will be there this season

But are offense will be dead last in everything

I dont know about dead last

the A's might have have the least walks or runs. Dont believe me go look at the Giants

IT'S EARLY APRIL!!!

Buck will get a hit, bats will get faster, CarGon will be called up.

Well, not sure about the first one.

Or the second, for that matter.

time for some hits..

i get the privelege of listening to the sox announcers slanted pov on everything

same, but it's still good to be able to watch the game on NESN as opposed to just listening on MLB.com

I'm surprised MLB.tv doesn't have the Boston feed.

It's a nightmare during the season having to sit through announcers who don't have a clue about the A's.

all we need is dice to give up a walk and he'll fall to pieces

yea absolutely

Time for a MA-EL-STROM!!!

I give that a 9.3

Because it was innovative and it had a beat I could dance to.

What if it turns out

that I just stole it from the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

(clap clap clap)

Here we go Mark Ellis.... Lets get something started...

Ok

3 innings, let's do this. As the lf sign says....

mark the man ellis is about due

So much for that.

I wish i could watch. gameday is all i get. i might have to cave and get mlb tv being out of any baseball market all together i'll at least get my monies worth

mlb.tv

You might want to check around the support forums and make sure all their problems are taken care of being putting down any money. Many people, including myself, have been unable to watch anything so far.

are you using firefox?

I updated to firefox 3 today and can no longer use mlb.tv (used to be able to on firefox), but it's currently working on IE.

tried both

Neither IE or FF work on either of the two computers I tried tonight.

Anyone here want to second my nomination

Of this game as the worst game officiated game of the Season. I don't need to see any more games this season to know this

Seriously, how are there so many Red Sox

fans there? No way they've all flown out from Boston.

Clearly you are not a student of cancer

Transplanted Massholes

Lowest form of human life found in the US

Nope

they have a tube system a la Futurama

frontrunners...im stuck in New England and ive never seen a fan base that knew so little about their team or baseball in general

so you've never been to anaheim?

Bart

cant wait until Bart's power comes around

I can't wait till he gets a hit this year

its called BandWagons

they're these wonderful people who realise that the bay is a dope place to live. but not quite wonderful enough to realise that the a's are dope as well

On a more serious note

Kids, say no to dope

Good one! Seriously, kids -

Say yes.

Dope is whack. Y'all be trippin.

But only

if it makes you accepted or cool

On a more serious note

Say no to dope

Yes...Matsuzaka out!

this game will be his best performance of the year...its all downhill from here

Barton knocks out Dice-K

with moderately sharp grounder to first!

Yuck. Too many Red Sox fans.

Why, was there one?

CUST BOMB

coming up

Is that what they're calling walks these days?

Jeez, they have nicknames for everything!

Come on Jack.

Hit one for Poppy.

Let's not get carried away.

Cool! Poppy's name is on the cover of the catalog I'm looking at

There's a walk

or maybe just a walk...whatever works

Vince says:

That free pass was brought to you by (the) Clear!

haha performance enhanced batting eye

yaaaay a baserunner!

Jack Cust is a beast

lays off the breaking pitches

emil brown everybody

Ugh

Swing on 2-0 with a pitcher who's having trouble throwing strikes.

Good pitch to hit

Tried to pull even though it was away... he has Dan Johnson disease

At least its better than

Bobby Crosbitis

Is that equivalent

to pure suckage?

If I ever learned to play an instrument

or sing, and started a band, I'd call it Pure Suckage.

At least its better than

Bobby Crosbitis

Since when has that stopped anybody?

people watching on NESN: "sox appeal" is the worst show in history

These ads just make me sad about leaving Oakland

and I'm already sad about being down in this game.

The Romelli Bail Bonds ones?

98 mph??????

Wow, Casilla, calm down, haha

barton caught it!!!!

Barton catches one!

POSER

why didnt manny pose? The ball was in the air

I'm going to have to bail soon. I have an informal

interview tomorrow at 9:30 AM.

Informal enough for pj's ?

If I wasn't taking my son to school first, yes. I get to do it from home and they are calling from FL

Best of luck!

are empathy and civility allowed in a game thread?

Thanks. If they're interested, I guess they'll fly me out there. I'm just testing the waters.

Not sure I want to leave Texas until Jennifer and Ohtobe come down for our Arlington AN Day.

What?

How can you not want to leave Texas? That's like an inmate refusing parole.

I've been ready to leave since the day I arrived. But I know Jennifer is not going to

come to Florida!

Jennifer might not come to Texas.

I'm cautiously optimistic. :-)

yea i have class in a few hours, but we're goin strong

Yeah for east coasters braving the AM

That's right!

(Of course, I'm on vacation this week...)

we've gotta take advantage when they're on tv out here. not too many espn games for this squad

Casilla's running the show

Two nice inning from

Garcia Casilla

Casilla looks like he's matured -

Better use of the fastball, more strikes. Last year, he threw a devastating slider out of the zone, but relied on hitters to chase it.

He has the stuff to close

Maybe it would help us get value for Street?

this red sox nation stuff is such bull...

for real, none of those fans "made the trek from boston"

probably watched fever pitch and went out and bought their Boston hats today

Never thought I'd see it.

A sentence on AN that Hank Steinbrenner would agree with.

"Okajima" = Japanese for "Rincon"

That looks like Crosby's old batting stance...

bad pitch to swing at ...

... took too big a swing, tried to pull it even though it was away.

Lucky placement.

BoCro tries to pull an outside pitch...

is successful.

You can do that if you are right-handed

Against lefties, I did it all the time in my playing days

exactly

Now he'll feel rewarded for a positive outcome on a poor execution.

Hey, we got a hit

yea, apparently he opened up to see the ball better

WTF

A's bunting?

I hate the red sox.

what true baseball fan doesnt

you mean "the rent sox"

most of the stars proved themselves with other teams (e.g. Manny, Pappy) and $$$ brought them to beantown.

I also don't like teams that fly on jet planes or use indoor plumbing

Well that didn't work.

Bad bunt, worse decision

Bunting in front of your 8-9 hitters with one of your better hitters up? Worst Geren decision of the year to date, IMO.

billy beane is shaking his head

We've been caught stealing and bunted.

What's that all about?!

Bunting is fine when the situation makes sense

This was stupid, IMO.

I usually go for bunting

but this made little sense. You have to have a decent hitter following.

So are the rest of us

Especially because the bunt was so obviously telegraphed.

yup, yup, and yup

It's a different situation if you are expecting to PH Sweeney though

In fairness, he probably had the thing mapped out before hand.

Well plus I imagine he was thinking about

the leftie, rightie matchup.

Yeah

Any other manager would have made the same decision. I don't fault Geren there, bad execution.

Not true that every manager would have

made the same decision. Hannahan, with right side open, is a great hit-and-run option. As a good doubles hitter, perfectly good swingaway option. Bunting was just one of many options I could see a lot of different managers choosing. I would have just let him hit away, figure you had three outs to work with and Hannahan, Suzuki, Mike Sweeney to bat.

I liked the A's that didn't run into outs and didn't sac bunt

infinitely more than these "new" A's.

c'mon better sweeney!!

PAP

can anyone else say John Rocker?

I thought Schilling was the redneck on that team

oh yea, he is, I meant his two years of dominance which are sure to be followed by a fade into obscurity...you can only throw fastballs down the middle so long

papelbon in the 8th?

Not exactly fireworks

I just noted your sig.

Then doctork's. Nick was on a roll in October.

He was smokin'

Yes he was

The only question is what, exactly, he was smokin'?

Ballgame.

C'mon. None of that.

Top of the order in the 9th.

buck is due to do something other than strikeout

Will Geren PH for Buck?

Pap will blow it just like he did in Japan and like he did last year with the T-Bone homer

good pitching tonight, from both sides unfortunately

Fuck you, CSN

and fuck you, Glen.

Cut it out with the Bloody Sux highlights already

Ugh! WHY are we seeing the Sox win the WS?

I think we're in need of an open letter to CSN.

See above for open letter.

I could even be convinced to close it

in the form of a cloaked dagger.

CSN wants to be more like BSPN

Milton Bradley sac fly ... 2-1 Rangers

Friggin Varitek...wears that C to make himself feel special

if jeter doesn't wear a C, nobody should. this isn't hockey people

After all these years...

you'd think he would know by now what position he plays.

Are the A's in the National League this year?

We pinch hit for the 9-hole hitter every game...sure looks like the NL to me.

No complaints there

That's what you do when you have two DHs and some light-hitting OFs.

Crisp and Pierre

the two most overrated outfielders in baseball

y dont we use Andrew Brown?

anybody see the brewers batting kendall behind the pitcher yesterday?

no, but that's hilarious!

Yeah, he gritted his way to an 0-2

They were the best 2 at-bats anyone has ever seen

How well do the A's pitchers swing it?

larussa says the cardinals are going to bat the pitcher 8th everyday this year

When did Chavez come back? Nice play hanahan

in addition, hudson pitched a gem on opening night, minus the first inning

Wow where was that

nice job by Foulke

i call

buck's first hit, followed by ellis walkoff

I'm fading fast. Let's win this thing already.

WALLY TIME!!!!

Wet's Go Oakwand!!!!!

You're imitating me! (tweety)

Buck goes yard to right field just like last year at fenway...hes gotta be due. Right?

Right now I'd settle for a nice line drive to left-center

by the way,

foulke looks horrid in his gameday photo. not a creepy horrid, like denorfia's, but hung-over/stoned/ate-a-few-too-many-hamburgers horrid. kind of how i felt the first time i saw a picture of him in an A's uniform again.

Cheering the flyout again. Awesome.

I'm liking Suzuki behind the plate for what its worth, seems to really be improving.

WTF!

Terrible call

TBuck the new TBuck?

Golden sombrero for Buck? Or did I count wrong...

0/4 4 Ks

We always called that a silver sombrero

Gold was 5 Ks, though we had a lot of guys who struck out a lot...

Wikipedia says "In baseball, the golden sombrero is a slang term used to describe a player's inglorious feat of striking out four times in a single game." though I'm sure different people probably call it different things.

def the "Golden Sombrero"

I saw Buck smiling a bit after strikeout three, like, "Oh, no, sombrero looming!"

did Buck do that thing with his front ankle all year last year?

someone tell Pap to quit grabbing his balls before each pitch

He was grabbn' balls

in the replay of bucks homer last year. Look right after he turns to watch it.

Weak swing on that

TBuck has bad timing right now

this is a big sacrifice,

but i'd be willing to let buck cut his hair if it would mean he would not longer strike out 4 times per game. maybe the hair is not the source of strength, but the source of strikeouts...

Buck's Strikeouts

Did he strike out 4 times on 12 pitches tonight? Sure feels like it.

0-14 with 7 K's to start the season :-(

Needs to be benched or batting 9th tomorrow

That is pathetic to start the season.

He sure is better than that

what is so deceptive about a fastball down the heart of the plate

We've been behind the fastball all game

Papelbon is a tool

Not sure anyone mentioned this....

I hate the Red Sox.

I hate the Red Sox

ill third that

You hate the Red Sox.

as far as Beane theory goes, why not bat Barton leadoff over Buck

as far

That was not particularly enjoyable.

sure seemed like borderline calls went to some team

not call the Athletics.

Just saying.

RICH HARDEN

take care of biz tomorrow.

Well that sucks. Couldn't hit anything all game. Let's get 'em tomorrow.

Well that sucked

@#$%

We got dominated that game.

We really didn't.

great now i get to hear about this game all tomorrow and how the sox pitching is going to do this well all year....great

not the way to end opening night

by the way, does anyone now how those "trumpet puppets" turned out?

That wasn't worth staying up for, but at least I'm getting to bed before midnite.

Good nite!

Already looking ahead to Big Rich tomorrow, should be a good one

later all, talk to you later today (on my time)

It's going to be a tough season to be an A's starter

Cupcakes deserved better than the L (meaningless as that statistic is).

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