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Open Game Thread: Game 26 - A's at Mariners (cont.)

Walks, hits, and no runs makes monkeyball a dull boy.

A's trail the Mariners 2-0 going to the top of the 6th. Maybe the A's can swing their axes and break through against Hernandez and/or the Mariner bullpen.

The_shining_movie_image_jack_nicholson__1__medium

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Comments

Here's GreenNGoldSooner!
I think the others don't know there is a new thread
Hey everybody!

How are we doing against Felix?
...

...
Somebody better PBR me, ASAP.

He has shown some dominance. We loaded the bases. We C’d a couple of times. (K is now C in honor of Cust)

And kapers! Go A's!
Must. get. Jack. Cust. out. of left. field.
He fields the position like a DH
The rebus would be more effective

if the pictures were .

good point

I need to do better prep. I’m always pulling the images together when the first thread’s hitting 375 comments.

Nice glovework, Jack.

Sheesh.

Well, he's got a pretty good arm, at least.
Double play

roll it up!

I'm here!

Now we can start scoring some runs! :)

jack futility cust

could possibly be the worst player in baseball right now. he strikes out almost half his ABs, terrible defensive liability…

Maybe a stretch

I think Royce Clayton still has a job somewhere.

ROL IT UP BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did Jack Cust just create a SECOND double in this game

He’s got to GO.

New Thread brings GIDP!
Ok that was a good way to end that.

Cahill just struck out the side. Giving up a run on some less than stellar defense.

The Giants suck

WHY are they on my TV instead of the 1st place A’s?! Arrgh!
Oh… you already discussed this in the first thread? Sigh. Go A’s!

PS Hi everyone. Gorgeous day at least :)

I can't believe...

... I just said “please don’t get yourself ejected, Crosby.”

What a difference a year makes ey?

Cahill 5k’s through 2 innings

This is getting so frustrating.
He's been throwing strikes all day...

Yet we don’t swing the bats…

Yeah at least try!
He had a short spell

where he wasn’t throwing strikes, and we swung at a few bad ones.

This is fucking ridiculous

Remember when we told ourselves...

... that the team is young and that there was going to be a lot of ups and downs? Bam.

Yeah but now we have less

young guys.

Because they're all hurt - Go A's!!!!
Granted, Frank THomas brings up the mean to about 37...

... but 2/3 of the lineup is under 30. Hell, probably under 28.

I wonder what it feels like to have an offense....
Probably about how it feels to have a defense
I can remember a defense.

The offense thing is ongoing year in and year out.

No O, No D...

tied for first. I’ll take it.

Starting pitching and the bullpen have been great...

no complaints about that so far…

Why is Blanton still out there?

Take him out Geren take him out! Argh!

He's only thrown 89 pitches, 31 since the 3rd.

2 runs in 6 IP isn’t bad.

Saves our bullpen for the Angels

he’s pitching well….

and that's going to be clutch!
Seriously, I think our batters

are doing better today than they did on Friday.

The batters don’t look that bad to me, Felix is just dominating.

As opposed to Friday where the pitchers were lousy and sucked anyway.

Good observation iglew.

Seems true to me.

The game against the Twins was the worst....

when Livan looked like an All-Star.

Let's try to forget that.
Getting carved up by Bedard and Hernandez is one thing (or two, I guess)

... getting carved up by Baek is another.

If our hitters were good

Baek would have come in in the first inning with men on base and a 6-0 deficit. Batista didn’t have anything at all. The only out he earned was against Ellis. The rest we gave away.

True

The A’s never paste Batista, which bothers me to no end ‘cuz I think he’s a worthless slopballer.

He's been good at times

but on Friday he was playing hurt.

Take out Felix Take out Felix...
On a bright note

Trevor Cahill is absolutely dealing in Stockton right now. 8Ks in 3 IP.

Yea he is filthy right now. Absolutely dealing.

but Gio is not
He's had by far the best year of our minor league pitchers
Come on Ellie.

Get a hold of one here.

Tie it up with a blast.

Time to make something happen.
Bullpen Plz!
Single ties it...

Let’s go Barton… show us why we’ve been waiting for you for 3 years!!

We're hanging in there.

Ok …a rally!

THANK YOU MARK ELLIS

YOU ARE THE BEST SECOND BASEMAN ON THIS TEAM THIS YEAR EVER!

ZOMG

Runners in scoring position???

Holy cow

A walk! Yay

Go-ahead run at the plate
RBI man up! Keep it going
er Barton, that's good too
2nd and 3rd, 0 out

icanhazrunscoringrallyplz?

I want Putz I want Putz!

and I want him to pitch like last night!

at least cust isn't up
Dale.

hititinthegap. hititinthegap. hititinthegap. hititinthegap. hititinthegap. hititinthegap. hititinthegap.

Brown on deck

on one hand, Brown hits good with RISP.

On the other hand, Brown sucks, especially vs RHP.

Jesus Barton become a man!

yeah, walks are totally womanly
Please score Please score!
run expectancy here for us? 1 run.
DON'T K!
He's battling

Just give me a BB, Daric.

Hang in there Dale.
Huff... huff...

Must… not… get… hopes… up.

Wow

The 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0 pitches were all in the same spot (Mariners little K-Zone gimmick confirms this). Somehow Eddings calls the 3-0 a strike. Horrible

Should add that all 3 of them were 6 inches closer to the plate than the one strike to Cust earlier
Electronic Strike Zone

negate the bad ump’ing.

I will puke if he k’s

Johjima is telling Felix to throw a meatball down the middle
YESSSSSSS

COME ON

BB

I’ll take it. Great AB.

Let's go Brown
Geez, epic battle.
woot! bases juiced, 0 out

hmm … DP still only scores 1 run.

BASES LOADED

on an almost K

Yes! Double play will score a run. maybe.

Knock on wood!

Damn you!

Now that's thinking like an A's fan!
Nice AB

Emil needs another “clutch” hit…

Pinch hit for Brown

if they don’t bring in a Lefty

with whom?

We have all our LH hitters in the lineup.

lol wait I got it reversed
Here comes Brown first pitch swinging
Walk-check swing!

no outs, sacks jammed

There's no possible way we can't score...right?
Ha.

hahahahahahahaha.

don't underestimate the A's

I fully expect a trple play

Wrong

Never underestimate the crappy bullpen management of a major league manager.

This is what we were

waiting for.

er, seriously? K, DP, 0 runs scored?
that tracker deal sucks balls...

or the ump does…

Thank you Brown!!!

Tie Game

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YES YES YES YES YES
EMIL FUCKING BROWN!
Yes!

Emil’s for real!

TIE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woooooooooooo!!! tied 2-2

RBI Brown!

HOLY SHIT BROWN YOU ARE THE BEST RBI GUY EVER
What happened??
silence at Safeco...

it’s nice.

Woooo hoooo!

What the hell just happened??!

We've got Emil, RISPy machine!

Like Scutaro, but more consistent … hits instead of HRs and outs

Yay Jay Payton 2.0!

Although Brown did swing at two pitches nowhere near the strike zone to start the at bat.

Brown is the best hitter on this team

Currently by a fucking mile

I still think he really blows to be honest
and you are the best poster on AN
Now everybody on this site

needs to quit hating on Brown!

I have defended him multiple times :)
I refuse!
Niceeeee, now its your turn Hurt
Woooooooooooooooooooo
Ok, now I believe Brown is clutch
LOL - What can Brown do for you???!!!!

What happened was Geren said to leave Felix in an inning too long.

Bullpen please?!

Get Felix out!

Frank Thomas should sacrifice

to set up contact by Jack Cust!

SMALL BALL BABY!
Lmao

But this is so great!

Thomas should homer

to set up a K by Cust.

Let's get some more to get Blanton a W (for my fantasy team)
Email!

The M’s lead has been… DELETED!

Man, I was not expecting this inning
Once again for all the clowns who bad mouth Emil

that’s what happens when you spend all day playing video games. Go outside! Date someone! Do something!

Is that musk you're wearing?
Who is up in our bullpen?
Who do we have available anyways?

Brown?

Casilla, Brown, Street, Embree

Clearly embree since it is the 8th

Serious props to Blanton

for keeping us in this.

I cannot believe this game is not being televised.
Serves you right

for living in Oakland.

Yay out-of-market MLB.tv!
It upsets me more and more each year.
We have to watch

sucky Barry Zito :(

too hard to Capricorn One this inning on tv
Nobody throwing in the pen?

Casilla was but not anymore.

How long until Brown finally gets some respect?
when he gets his OPS to .800
Hmm

When he stops swinging at every first pitch, when he can play defense, when he doesnt do stupid things on the bases, when he can sustain an OBP over .315 (which is what it was before today).

Oh, and when he does all these things for more than 3-4 weeks.

Quite seriously, I would hit Denorfia for Cust here
Oh jeezus. Bases loaded again.

Cust.

Bases Loaded!

they should PR for Thomas though

Come on Jack

Fly ball, at least.

FLy ball please Cust.
Cust gets a HIT!!

A’s lead 3-2!!

W, K, Single, HR ... time to spin the Cust wheel
Daily Jack Cust Questionaire:

a) Homerun
b) Walk
c) Strikeout

d none of the above
you forgot single ;)
good boy jack
{gives liver treat}
YESSSSSSSS JACK CUST!!!
R U kidding me? Cust RBI single?
And the A's take the lead

Way to go, Jack!

Thank you Jack Cust!
HOLY FCUKAROONIES!!!

Did not see that coming.

He was due!

I still hate Cust

Amazing.

Didn’t see that coming.

NOW they run for Thomas lol
Finally a hit by Jack
OK I will quit hating on Cust...

for today.

Miracle

He hit it

The Win Expectancy graph will look rather funny today...
Best part about this

is Felix is on the hook for the loss.

That's "the no-decision" at this point

<\placates woofing gods>

Hypocrisy, YAY!

So everybody should be respecting Emil Brown for being slightly above replacement for a couple weeks, but Jack Cust sucks because of an early season slump?

We have no clue - we just react!
Yay!...I mean....Boo!...

....er what are we reacting to at the moment!

(I think it’s still “Yay,” though mlb.tv is doing that little tape-delay thing.)

Blind squirrel

etc.

Who's the squirrel?

HIstory suggest it’s Brown.

Most squirrels are
OK, I can think of three breeds of squirrel,

and they’re named red squirrel, grey squirrel, and black squirrel.

I know,

that’s why it’s funny that most are still brown.

I've never been down on Cust
that's only because you play video games all the time
addonaddonaddon
and in comes the Raj

too bad the bases are clogged.
man i hate clogged bases.

HEEEEEERE'S JOHNNY!
Did Geren only bring the pinch-runner in for Frank after Cust's single ?

That’s what gameday is claiming …

I believe so, and that makes sense.

You don’t bring him in when he’s on first and could easily be forced out.

But he's unlikely to come to the plate again

and on 1st he a dp waiting to happen.

Yes, PR for both Frank and Cust.
Yea but Cust is usually feast or famine....

Frank would have been walking, jogging, or staying put. Luckily Cust came through with a single and not a ground ball.

Thing is, the A's should and NEED to get at least

a fourth run here. Lotta game left.

jd44

I’d respect you a lot more if you’d simply give credit when and where it’s due.

But I wasn't the one who made the blind squirrel comment!
Needed contact from Bobby there

Bobby continues to regress

Come on Sweeney...

Surprise us!

Oh good.

If BoCro would’ve gotten a hit I would’ve been very confused.

Come on Sweeney...

Surprise us!

Done and done!
There's only 1 out

but why does it feel like 2….

I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A HUGE SUPPORTER

OF BROWN, CUST, AND RYAN SWEENEY!!!!

Huge supporter=11-inch Stonehenge replica
You would need a huge supporter for 11 inches
Yes... needed that run...

sweeney comes thru

thank you minisweeney

RUNS! RUNS!
MiniSweeney!

4-2 A’s

Yes!

Bad Sweeney! Iowa boy! My MAN!

Is This Ryan "Mike" Sweeney or Mike "Ryan" Sweeney?
I think it was Mark Mark Sweeney!
Keep it going!

More runs!

Did you just call me a moron?

Lucky guess.

Not a guess.
Is this about the garden equipment?
It was a contributing factor.
I don't name the tools,

I just use the English language.

I blame Webster.

Bo Cro Ks......

Is it just me or do the A’s not like blowing people out. Sure they have had a couple this season, but they usually get the lead and then blow their opportunities to put um away. I guess it works when you have a good pen, but It still makes me uncomfortable.

Is Felix on the hook for the loss

or Morrow?

Nico?

Who’s good Sweeney now??????

Lets get greedy here
ahahah.....

This is what you call station to station baseball. SOMEONE GIVE ME A JACK PLEASE!!!!

- J. Cust singled to right, D. Barton scored, E. Brown to third, F. Thomas to second
How about two Diamond Jaxx?
So now we'll be seeing the "all outfielders" outfield in the bottom of the 8th
I want to see the all DH outfield

Frank in left, Cust in center, Mike Sweeney in right.

That’d be a fun practical joke.

Can we still call him Bad Sweeney even though he's not that bad?
I heard he likes that
he's bad....
That's the funny part -

They’re Good Sweeney and Bad Sweeney no matter what they do.

You see this cat Sweeney is a bad mother--

(Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ about Sweeney
(Then we can dig it)

Let us remember

Hannahan started this inning with a walk.

It was a very nice tough walk too
hope he walks again this inning...

(or get’s a hit)

I was away from my computer when it happened...

... but it’s my contractual duty to point out that RYAN SWEENEY GOT A HIT.

Probably won’t have to do that for another month or so…

Who said we could score?

PS – I hate AN 3 game threads.

Prolly not what you meant

but they load horribly for me and the threads get mixed up when a lot of people post at once.

What I hate is when I type X or Z

to mark one read, and another one pops up just as I’m typing the key, so the new comment gets marked read and I can’t find it.

Yup, that's my beef too.

Gotta use C and X to avoid it in those situations.

Even with C and X

it still gets me. I even watch and try to time it, and I still get caught.

Should NOT jump to the new comment when it appears.

Yes -- also, helps if you wait for the little flag to timeout.

Then, no problems! But I am not that patient.

How do we tell clockwerks?

I don’t think he’s watching this blog anymore.

Dunno.

I’ve posted it a couple of times. Try yelling CLOCKWERKS!!! in a DLD.

It's slow.

On a slow comp like mine. and it’s very annoying.

When there are lots of comments

that come in at once, my computer almost crashes. My computer is a year old. This is the only site I have problems with. And when I go to read old threads with lots of comments it does the same thing. I can’t even scroll.

Jennifer, I have the exact same experience.

If I miss a game sometimes I want to read an old lengthy game thread and it locks up my computer.

Grand Salami Time

c’mon Bowen, you’ve got the power….

But not the touch
Geren

Don’t leave Blanton in, please.

+1

Geren loves doing it though, so I expect Blanton to be in until a run has scored and runners are on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

Thank god

Casilla is in.

Who said we could score?
Holy shit we're winning!

I was pulling weeds in the yard.

What kind of garden equipment were you using?

Never mind.

inappropriate

ellis’ wife is a saint.

Hanahan! no.........

c;mon, Jack!
foulin’ em off

SO HAPPY

we got the 4th run.

Shut it down, NOW.

hanananannahan strike out

pitch was a foot outside.

The correct spelling is

“Hannahan! nah….”

Terrible call,

but he was in big trouble 0-2 anyway.

Shhh

I got yelled at earlier when I pointed out how crappy Eddings was.

Eddings is a blind squirrel
Another Cahill update

5IP 10Ks 0BBs 4H

Promote him and Doolittle already.

I would rather have them keep Doolittle in Stockton and convert him to a third basemen.

Why can't he practice converting in Midland?

He has nothing more to prove in Stockton.

Don't bring religion into this
After he learns to convert

trade him to the Padres.

I agree, but it is tough for someone to focus on a new positon and have to face superior pitching in AA.

It was weird that they promoted H-Rod before Cahill

They may switch them soon if H-Rod continues to struggle

H-Rod is on the 40 man. Maybe they were hoping he would continue to deal so they could call him up to the bigs at roster expansion time.

Worth a try I guess

He can look so damn good and then so terrible. I guess thats why young pitchers take time to develope

It's Mr. Vanilla!

Still crax me up.

Excuse me

Vanilla is my favorite flavor, too. What’s wrong with vanilla? Good stuff.

I saw the hits and the runs.

but they have not imprinted on my brain yet.

Do we have to play Beethoven's 5th ...

...while torturing you?

Speaking of clockwerks....
The music is optional,

just so long as the torture occurs.

Anyway, isn't it the 9th they play during the torture?
9th....5th....

....I’d settle for “Celebration”!

Well, that was exciting!

Time for Embree now?

Oops

Santiago now

What happened to "the 8th is Embree's inning"?

Not that I’m complaining.

they haven't done that for a few weeks
Casilla is my boy.

He’s my fantasy player .

1-2-3 inning so Street has to face their garbage hitters.

Them not scoring in the 8th is good too!
Your ideas are intriguing to me...

...and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter!

Beasiality Weekly?

OK, I’ll add you to the mailing list.

How about the A's put up a 5 spot in the 9th

Just to make things a little more calm around here.

What is this "calm" of which you speak?
If wishing made it so.
I'm happy

Especially after Friday night, what a sour win that was. Sexson walks!

"sour" "win" ?

You are paradox.

It was

The whole thread was hurlin’ turds the whole game, and we were winning. The defense finally got to the Nation.

Uh hem

I think I said it was way too early to give up in the last thread.

Always a safe bet.

resident optimist ;)

LOL

No but it’s always silly to give up in the first few innings when the game is close.

Sexson walks

Ichiro will hit again.

Maybe Casilla will pick off Sexson

I love Santiago Casilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[smiles]

The delay on the internet can be interesting.

I told you he's my guy!
Obvious statement

but Santiago Casilla is effin nasty this year.

+1

and he’s just getting better.

Once Street gets traded Santiago will fit in nicely as our closer.

Casilla has been insanely awesome this year
LOL Casilla mad at himself for wasting a ball

To Wilkerson

I love that guy, he’s got fire and serious heat

I like Casilla because he's good at pitching
Yesssssssssssss, he is throwing hard!
Safeco is SILENT.

Luv.

I like the vitriol at Lookout Landing

When Wilkerson struck out, one guy posted:

Brad Wilkerson for guy that dies in a fire

They really must have a lot of disabled vets on that site!

ROFL!

Love those LL guys.

LL definitely nastier this year

Not sure what’s up with that.

yeah, it's gotten worse over there

better when it was fewer people

that's probably the case with every blog

definitely true for AN, MCC, and LL.

This blog has less interesting creative posters now IMO.

As a non-creative type I admire those that are.

One more run would be nice here
yes...

best to give Street as big a cushion as possible in a save situation.

Casilla was 94-95 last year

97-98 today. And his control is better!

He's been really good at changing speeds, too.
I really liked Barton's AB's tonight

Even the ones where he got out he worked it well.

If Barton would steal second I guarantee Emil would get a hit.

Emil

Our game MVP

I'd say it's Blanton.
Custy! He got a big hit

and only muffed two fly balls!

Yes Blanton.

He kept us in it.

Except for that play :(
Ok this is it.

Huston make us proud. (and please don’t frighten us while doing it).

[buckles seatbelt]
LET'S GO HUSTON!

clap clap clap clap clap

Huston is better than Dallas
For you techies out there, I have a question:

what program will play an m4a extension for a music file? somebody sent me a song with that extension and I can’t find a way to listen to it.

never mind, quicktime works
Blowing a Save makes me a Sad Panda. SO DON'T DO IT STREET!

Huston has a 4.75 ERA? Ewwwwww
Well, he gave up 5 runs in his first 3 games of the year

And just 1 since.

I think it’s a situation where it’s not nearly as bad as it looks.

C'mon Street - don't be a Putz!
No, Street, DO be a Putz!
I think he was talking about the Putz from last night

Not the one from last year.

1 down, 2 to go!
Uno!
Let's go A's!
Foul ball

Take off.

Dos, Doce, Du, Er,
Lord save us from Street, yet again!!
ton of movement on his fastball today

I wish Arthur Rhodes was in. I would be much more at ease right now.

because then the A's would be hitting?
Good point

I still growl every time I remember his ass as an Athletic.

2 down, Ichiro to go!

Start the lawnmower!

GO TIGERS
We should have a Sunday night thread
I would like to see Verlander throw the 2nd no hitter of his career

Couldn’t think of a better team to do it to

A's win!

Best win of the year, if you ask me.

They did?

Wow!

Very impressive.

[internet delay]
Sorry. At least you got to watch. :-(
[grins] I can't watch

I’m blacked out in San Jose.

I agree

Our odds of winning before the game started were as low as they’ve been all year, and odds going into the 8th…..

BEST RECORD IN AL!

that is so fucking awesome.

go tigres!

I hear that Pam

I will be watchng and rooting against their Rally Monkey asses

I am so there.
I hear that Pam

I will be watchng and rooting against their Rally Monkey asses

Wow, our team sure sucks,

and we’re unlucky, too.

Awesome!!! Take that F-Rod/Bosux/Stankees
absolutely huge win

I like understatements, sue me.

Nice win, very nice!

Now all that is left is win the All Star game for home field advantage.

Now THAT is a nice win
I love 1st place,,
It's the only place...

to be. ;-)

VICTORY!!

best record in the AL!

Awesome.

Except for those first 7 innings.

But they were respectable

unlike Zito’s first inning…
Zito couldn’t pitch well, and the position players didn’t do their thing.

Cust allowed the first run, no question, but our staff ACE showed his stuff!

Nice win for Blanton! That is a tough lineup, but he got outs when he needed to!

Zonis

That’s classic

You need to post that on the Mariners ESPN Board.

One of their idiot posters came over to our ESPN board and posted one of his comments for the second time this series. Both times his team lost

ah, that explains it
Anything happen in my absence?

Ah I see we scored four runs and Street closed out the win.

Glass full!!!

my glass sure is
Best game of the season so far.

IMO.

LL is hilarious

I should have opened both game threads in the 8th.

ooops...

in response to MikeA

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd

time to check out the LL thread!

Schaden

freude…

LOL

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/4/27/461899/4-27-open-game-thread-part#5514206

thank you
lol

Fuck the A’s and their damn elephant and fuck that queerbag SB nation guy and his backwards adjustable hat

I'm sure that will be funny
They look to be having a real party over there!
Good point

here:

If it weren’t for Cust we would have been shut out.

Nice pitching, Joe.

Other than the HR, of course.
.
So cool!

Used there own gag against them. I love it.

?

they used it, i’m quoting it.

rally dino and scrappy are both in “LL images”

Way to go Joe. You really deserve this win.
Listening to the highlghts

Low so far.

Here we go

Damn I’m impressed with this team!

“I led the [Royals] in RBIs. I don’t know if that means the team was really bad or I’m really good,” Brown said.

finally, the win has imprinted.
I am impressed, over and over again,

by this team’s refusal to quit.

I can’t believe we won this game.

**winks**

I’ll be watching at 5:00. God I love baseball!

Cahill threw a gem. 7 ip 1r 0bb 12 k

Player of the game

Big Joe Blanton. You earned it for pitching like an ace today and keeping us in it. Rock on dude.

God I just saw Zito's line today

3 innings and out..seven runs allowed in thr 1st inning alone..yikes! Poor bastard…sobbing all the way to the bank I guess. Nice come from behind win today by the boys in gng. This was a really an important win for the A’s because it accomplisehd two very important things: 1) They beat Felix Hernandez and proved that he is human. 2) They won a series from the M’s and proved that they will not start this season owning the A’s as they did last year. A really tough game and well deserved win. They never gave up and battled till they broke through on Hernandez and the M’s bullpen.

Way to go Blanton!!!

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