Athletics Nation

well that usually ahppens when one has this thing called "bad hitting"

LOl

Hey small markets keep guys employed. Guys like Cust would be in NJ teaching other young guys how to make it to the bigs if it werent for the A’s.

Garland is dealing

1 Hitter.

maybe you could rub a nipple for good luck...

we need something.

Im doing that

for my own good luck, lol

they need to find ways to fight off pitchers pitches

at least make Garland earn his K’s

instead of taking strike 3's or putting a ball in play towards fielders

geez, angels back up already

cannot fart and the house during this game….will miss all our at bats.

ak_A - June 7, 2008 reply

I like how quickly Cust grabbed it and threw.

Looking for the positives, here.

Ziggy's changed from 47 to 31

It was a sacrifice beaver.

Poor beaver!

LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME

Suzuki was too far in front of the plate again.

He was late on the tag.

Front foot in ... bad positioning by Zook

very close call though

He's gotta work on blocking off the plate.

This has happened several times this season.

showing he needs work on it

block the fuckin' plate...

Zooks!!! Please.

How about blocking the plate

Like a normal catcher does

Jesus Christ fundamentals and this team don’t mix

Since we''ve lost anyways, can we just plunk all the angels hitters till they get injured?

No

Zonis, go sit in the corner and think about what you have said.

MobiusKlein - June 7, 2008 reply

bring Braden in to pitch

just gets worse

kurts probably thinking in back of his mind

block the plate and I’m dinged-up and Bowen is in.

ak_A - June 7, 2008 reply

Ziggy’s warming up! yaay!

Geren better not defend these morons tonight

They need a fire lit under their sorry arses

Positive Bob?

He aitn going to say shit but ” Good Job”

Like I said earlier

Harden has to throw a perfect game and then it is still doubtful we win tomorrow

I wouldn't say this is our best by a longshot

I like this one

The A’s players are doing their best. They are just not very good at hitting. Cant knock a guy for trying.

are you serious

Im trying to take a positive attitude

This is more applicable to a team like the padres or nationals

Padres – 3.62 runs scored per game, 4.12 ERA
Nationals – 3.65 runs scored per game, 4.53 ERA

When their best is not necessarily good enough.

And when our worst is good enough for them

"Uncle"

This game sucks more and more!!! It's like Spaceballs out there!

Just a total hemmorhage of runs.

Whatever could possibly go wrong has.

Angels are exposing the A's

Just as long as Scoscia doesn't expose himself.

I don’t think I could deal with that.

is this really a surprise?

paradox - June 7, 2008 reply

Whats worse

is other teams are going to do the same thing. Just throw strikes and the A’s have no chance.

To be the Mariners?

MobiusKlein - June 7, 2008 reply

going to far

we have at least some pride left to cause fans to be indignant about a beat down like this. SEA, there’s nothing left there.

Exposing are young team

Dear Kurt,

Please learn to block the plate.

Sincerely,

AN

I need to drink more...

so I can fall asleep and miss the exciting comeback in the bottom of the 9th.

You mean...

the one where the A’s walk the bases loaded with two outs against K-Rod and then Cust watches strike three zip right down the middle?

exactly...

I want to be passed out by then.

Sounds like a good plan.

I hate that all of their runs are coming off of sacrifices and the wild pitch. If it was still 1-0 I wouldn’t be as upset.

Oh and that base hit that could have been an out at the plate. Whatever.

Fielder's choice

MobiusKlein - June 7, 2008 reply

I am lame.

Eveland and Smith are understandably have trouble going second time thru the league

Maybe it's pressure that they have to go out there and pitch a perfect game in order

to get a win because the A’s can’t score crap!!

Our hitters

are having trouble going through the league for the second time. Every other team hits better, we hit worse, lol

They weren't even supposed to be the best pitchers in the Haren deal

really, their performances so far this year are gravy.

Chad Gaudin

is better than Eveland and Smith.

Just saying.

and

Blanton

bullshit!!

I doubt

Idiot!

This game is even wiping out any excitement over another Ziegler appearance.

Anyone notice that Ziggy is allowing a hell of a lot of inherited runners to score?

Well, he's getting outs. It's just hard when he's always inheriting runners on with less than 2 outs.

I'm just glad he kept Guerrero in the ballpark

put gaudin back in for eveland

Let’s go A’s!!!

Is there some Royals blog where you've stolen all these from?

Will somebody in Chicago

please introduce Zonis to an attractive and engaging woman?

lol

+1

In Chicago

all you have to do is go outside

have you been to Chicago?

Hell yes, I lived near there

for amost 2 years. Talk about a fun city

Congratulations!

Sure, you have $200-$300?

And what’s he gonna do after the hour is over?

hour?

$200-$300? :)

I know Spitzer got ripped off!

well, Spitzer supposedly went top of the line

paying for discretion and all that

Shocking.

Cust K’s.

Angels are clearly the best team in the AL

Ouch.

This is too painful. Listening to it was bad enough but now I’m home and seeing this crap.

crap indeed

Cust trying to bench himself when Sweeney and Frank come back

Sure not doing himself any favors

The Cust love is

way to thick with the A’s and the fans. He could strikeout 220 times a year and A’s fans would say strikeouts are overrated.

yep, 221 and that would be it for me.

ak_A - June 7, 2008 reply

Everyone, let's all take a sit of haterade!!

sit

sip

let's take a sip of haterade!!

HOW ABOUT

like ten gulps

I already have enough hate without sipping anymore

I am just expressing mu disgust at the lack of offense on a non strikeout pitcher who has become Roger Clemens lite

What? I'm more frustrated at our offense or lack there of!!

I’m not mad at our pitching, in fact our pitching is what has helped us stay so close, it’s our freaking stupid fense!

how about our

defensive ineptness? or our obvious noobiness?

Now that I've caught up on all the posts............. ugh, this weekend sucks.

kapers - June 7, 2008 reply

Let's go Chavvy!

YAY WALK

WALK! Wheels are falling off the Garland bus!

5 run homer is almost all we need!

Let’s go MaEl!!!

Let's go Ellie!

very very fitting

Hey

At least Carlos Gonzalez got a hit tonight.

And Chad Gaudin is yet another bad start closer to being re-inserted into the rotation. Keep it up, Blanton/Smith/Eveland!

You can rest assured Gaudin won't be replacing Blanton in the rotation.

If you like him so much, why don't you marry him?

I don't think

I’m his type.

Come on, I don't think he has a type or in that matter: standards.

j/k

:(

ugh

paradox - June 7, 2008 reply

nice

Finally Chavez does something!

Ellis

is doing a great job of lowering his value with his offense this year

Maybe if it was Briggs birffday.

Big time

he is such a solid player but other teams will not value him as much as the A’s do.

If anyone expected a hit there from Ellis

you were fooling yourselves

Not the way they are playing at the moment

at the moment?

Tis Early

Interleague comes around and the A’s tend to do well.

Hit4TheCycle - June 7, 2008 reply

NOOO!!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

The A's of 3 years ago tended to do well

This bunch…I dunno.

coffee roaster - June 7, 2008 reply

doesn't matter

because they’re going to have to beat the Angels to win this division and unless they’re close by September it’s not going to happen unless we’re healthy….Zook blocks the plate and Barton lets Ellis take grounders

c'mon Ziggy

that was worse than Barton's play

PFP. Tomorrow. 10:30. Be on time.

EFF.

At least no matter how bad they play

They can only lose one game tonight

BTW, Yuke made an error!

Looking REALLY pathetic guys

So I guess it really is a repeat of last night for Suzuki

Night in the Ruts

Night(s)

I guess they only got one last night.

Ziggy had to make sure the other one got knocked out, as well.

Now Suzuki can be envious of Tom Green and John Kruk

Party of one...

...people who envy Tom Green.

[Kurt's GF heads to Longs for more batteries]

Someone posted this on ESPN board and I think it has some merit

The A’s young hitters either regress or don’t develop further. This organization needs to alter their hitting strategy. They take way too many hittable pitches, putting too much pressure on the hitters.

Yeah really, take Giambi or Tejada for example........................................

Swish has really done well

since leaving to Chicago

He was already damaged goods when he was traded

If only Emil Brown could hit because his aggressive approach is warranted. Just too bad he misses or pops up the 1st pitches he swings at

I think its some of the players that they select also

I was happy to see that they got a guy like Gonzales. He is going to try and hit first, walk second.

Really, Rex? They call it a frisbee slider?

maybe Ziggy can throw it at Rex's dog and see if he catches it

Hopefully

things change throughout the season. Because these two teams arent even in the same ballpark. The rivercats would have done better then the A’s tonight.

+1

Ugh, I don't know if you guys can hear it

the Wave is totally going around.

and nothing kills the wave good like the end of an inning :)

I always boo fans when they participate in the wave

Zero for Ziggy...

that’s a good thing.

BEAT LA!

The Coliseum should start that chant to mess with the Angels’ minds.

yeah that's a great idea.............................................

I hate the Celtics!! Especially Paulina Pierce aka Fake n Shake!!

“I heard a pop on my knee but I’m going to come out of the locker room skipping after a minute!” Pathetic!!

The Wave

is like a fat chick. Fun to do but not so fun when your friends find out.

it's not really fun to do and when my friends find out it's kind of funny anyway

we need a grand slam outta Barton

Leading off?

Yay! hit hit hit! Let’s go team!

Well this game was fun

have a great night all. Time for a Mojito and to meet a chick. Saturday night and im feelin alright. Have a great night and I will see you for more walks and strikeouts soon.

Man on 1st, 0 out .... over/under on runs scored in the inning = 1

Place your bets!

Double play time

mm pie ;) heh

How about 2

YES!!!!

BEAT LA

HRRR!!

Home run time!

HR

Travis, you're my freaking hero.

BEAT LA!!

please stop

T BUCK!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!

Another HR for Buck!!

Haha.

Travis didn’t even think that ball was going to stay fair.

I haven't quite passed out yet...

too early for the comeback.

Again, thanks for making it slightly less embarrasing, Travis.

Let’s go A’s!! Come back now!

Finally some life!

BEAT LA

stop

are their three R's in that guy's name

Tied Johnny Mize!

lolz

DOUBLES MACHINE!!!!

Damn, I thought you were just HOPING for a Buck HR. Not that he actually got one!

kapers - June 7, 2008 reply

Holy crap CarGon!!

Another double for Cargon!

AMAZING.

In case you missed it...

...Mize was the last hitter to have extra base hits in his first 7 hits (1936)

That is hilarious and amazing

Getting your name mentioned

in the same sentence with The Big Cat is pretty impressive.

Okay...

but were they all doubles?

DMOAS - June 7, 2008 reply

CarGo 2B

Naturally

Hahahahaha!

Never seen anything like this, ever.

CarGon!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Let’s go A’s!!! WOOOHOOOO RALLY TIMEEEEE!!!!

C'mon Guy

Chant with me – BEAT LA, BEAT LA, BEAT LA!

stop

Scoscia looks like a cartoon

And door slams shut ...

relievers in

am I the only one who thinks...

Patrol Craft should have gone for 3 on that one?

I hope so

seriously...

i thought he was gonna break his streak of doubles… Looked like an easy triple to me.

the A's don't like risks!

ummmm amazing

thats all i can say about the double

Athletix Man - June 7, 2008 reply

broken bat and the ball

flies for a double

Carlos Gonzalez

has no use for your petty singles.

Don’t Stop believing! HOld on to that feeling!

FWIW

After pitch 75, Garland 5.86 ERA, .337 BAA this yr prior to tonight

C'mon Kurt! Keep the rally alive!

Suzuki

is just a rally killer. Really.

not for the Angels he isn't

No he isn't

I mean, he didn’t hit the Rally Killer HR, after all.

Suzuki closest thing to an auto-non-productive-out

And Hudler made the comment that he moves runners and gets the job done while he was batting earlier in the night

Let’s go A’s!!! COME ONNNNNN!!!!

Suzuki doesn't deserve to have a bobblehead!

where's Zonis?

lol

still here

I just ran out of images…

but I can get some more if you want

no, wait until the final futile out...

of this inning.

That was lame. Come on guys! Get a hit! Get the run!

Great

Rodriguez now has a save opp … just what I want to see.

he looks forward to pissing himself on the mound, having just won the world series

or a regular game, same diff.

I hate FRod so hard. Ugh. Least favorite human.

Kirk Gibson

Derek Lowe

AJ Prickzinski

indeed

AJ is not human

he's a punching bag!!

Decent nominees, but I still stick by my original statement. He’s sooooo overrated and obnoxious. Blegghhh

except to what he did to the Angels in 2005. lol

I'm talking about AJ! sorry I also think K-Rod is all of the above.

And if it wasn't for Big Brown...

yeah the whole

Kendall stealing home moment is priceless as was the look on Krod’s face in that moment. For that reason I can’t hate him more than the others

Oh I still dislike him more. That moment was pure bliss, only made better by the moment of silence in the Angels broadcast booth and Rex Hudler’s statement that it was ALMOST unacceptable. BRILLIANT.

almost?? lols

+1

don’t worry, The Humans Are Dead, after all

When you have a team

without any really good hitters, it’s generally hard to string together 5 runs in two innings.

I’m just happy they scored at all, and Buck and Gonzalez showed some life in this game.

It’s too bad Shields is hurt. He always sucks in Oakland.

Just got home

Looks like I got here just in time for our big comeback. Go A’s!

You got home just in time for

The Tease.

And Cust providing the tease.

Ummm....

lols

y is he swinging at that on 3 and 1

He heard some poster on ESPN said the A's need to be more aggressive ....

Because that's what we do

blow opportunities that are handed to us on a golden plate…..

Guess so

I feel

a BACK TO BACK TO BACK HRS!

BEAT L.A.

We need one more TO BACK there

No, just a walk in front of the first one.

Hey, uh, ad guys?

June 6 was yesterday. Time to take the bobblehead commercial out of the rotation.

and burn it!

i dont' know about BURNING it............

My message to K-Hole

“Suck my butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

yikes!! tsssssssss......burn!!

swing and a miss by Cust.......

twice.

I’m really waiting for a comebacker that he is completely unable to field due to his violent and stupid delivery. I won’t wish for an injury, I just want him to be made a fool of (again).

And there's the first

Atta boy Jack!

CUSTY!!!!!!

Hey HEY!

The Tease is in full effect.

Thanks, Jack.

Tease is better than no action at all.

No matter what guys tell you.

"cust is doing a great job of taking himself out of the lineup.........................."

2 hr 2 nights

LIKE I SAID

1st of 3

HR!!!

Cust haters...

take a seat.

BEAST! Love it! I think Cust should have squatted and screamed.

Almost, but good!

JAAAAAAAACK!

Just two more.

Yeah, this is gonna be really painful when we strand the winning run on 2nd.

Exactly.

Chavvy with a double!

I can’t stand it!

Chavy!

2B

YEAAAA!!!

That was close, but a hit is a hit! LETS GO OAKLAND!

even Chavvy is scripted to hit a double...

during The Tease.

Fucking Chavvy baby!

love it!!!!

LETS GO A’S!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Holy crap.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

Ellis is clutch

F' you offense ...

HR
Double
out, runner advances
walk
double play

completing the tease

one of three ... here comes the walk

Wow, thanks

My radio feed must be delayed. I haven’t heard that part yet.

That's enough.

Really.

I can only hope to be savagely wrong

COME ON A’s!!!!!

BAH

DAAAAAAAAAAALE!

You can do it (?)

No he can't.

Let’s go Barton! Just don’t make an out here. I know you want to tie it up with one swing, but don’t over do it!

Rodriguez has been used in like 7 straight games.

Keep wearing him out guys!

they should just take their walks now...

k-rod is scared shitless.

(chews off nails)

wow gutsy breaking ball

I think that was high

looked friggin' good to me

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

...what?

no it was a strike

Nevermind. Right over the belt.

yeah it was filthy

Bad Call.

But you gotta freakin’ PROTECT THE PLATE.

it was a strike

Yeah, I saw the replay. Fell right in.

what a nice tease

Come on T-Buck

Englishmajor - June 7, 2008 reply

Oh Rex, STFU if it was an Angels player complaining you’d be congratulating him for sticking up for himself.

LETS GO OAKLANNNNDDDD

only way we win (or tie at least)

is if Buck walks and CarGon hits a 2 RBI double

I would laugh a lot. That would be amazing if he got another double.

yeah he's really getting that slider in

A's keep taking these hanging sliders

yeah and barton swung at ball 4 too

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

screw this, i'd rather watch finding nemo than the end of this game

I'll tell you how the movie ends.

I think the ol strategy of laying off KROD breaking pitches

cuz he can’t throw em for strikes isn’t valid anymore

its because he's hanging them

I think it's because he isn't hanging them

they look high but they’re snapping in the zone

usually his slider stays outside and breaks into the dirt.

well, game over, night all.

was that a post

FROM THE FUTURE?

wrong

at least for now

The game isn't over

until alaskaA “clicks”

good night, Eeyore...

did you just throw in the towel?

"night"

lols

Here comes doubles!!! LETS DO IT!!!!!!!

2B*8

This can only end badly.

Can Buck steal 2nd?

Nope. Not tonight.

maybe raj can

or score from first

This would be a good time for another extra base hit that is double a double.

This is too much.

BEAT LA

C’mon Gonzalez 1 more Double!

I believe in Carlos

You know, a double would be pretty useful right now….

Screw the double... I want a 3-run homer!

ditto

sticks a quarter in the doubles machine

LETS GO CARGONN!!!! I’m so nervous!

great eye

Carlos won't look at hanging meatballs like Barton did

I'm getting confused by all the

gloomy poopy-heads prematurely announcing the end.

Is their feed faster than mine? Or are they just being jerks?

Jerks.

pessimists

The latter

Englishmajor - June 7, 2008 reply

Just jerks.

psychics

or palm readers … whichever is more accurate

hi everybody

now i’m excited.

WOOOOOO LETS GO OAKLANNNNNDDDDDD!!!!

shit Suzuki on deck

we need Mike Sweeny back

its not like Buck is slow

weird guy to PR for.

But Davis is real fast

ellisD - June 7, 2008 reply

I'm thinking, better chance for raj to score from first

should have pinch run jemile weeks!

OOOO FRod is afraid. Come on give him one of those pitches down the middle.

DAMN

SUZUKI IS UP NEXT

3-0!

this is an epic tease

SHIT THEY ALMOST PICKED ME OFF

wow greenlight him on 3-0

he doesn’t have a good enough eye anyways to take a slider 3-1 or 3-2

crap its "No Doubles" defense against a guy who can only hit doubles!

Why didn't they think of that before?

It’s bulletproof!

that was a perfect liner

into the gap pitch

says me

Aw crap

Haha got the rookie looking for the fastball

Game Over

Ugh stfu FRod. You still suck. God does not love you more. Sit down.

That was a nasty pitch, though. Damn.

it was a good tease...

I’m glad I didn’t pass out.

no such thing as a good tease

I’d rather end the date early

meh

he looked at two pitches he coulda knocked for a double

goodnight!

At least we got the winning run to the plate

“KRod has been KRific” ::vomit::

That was a fun game anyway, I’m glad we got a little bit of offense, I only wish it would feel like that the entire game instead of waiting until the last inning.

at least the made the end look like baseball

GeorgiaBoy - June 7, 2008 reply

Well, oh well

At least they didn’t get 5-0’d.

yes except

had the A’s played like a solid team the rest of the game it would have been 3-3 instead of 5

kept their run differential down to mediocre leves

levels, even

Just got home

Looks like I got here just in time for our big comeback. Go A’s!

You're just posting early for tomorrow.

WTF?

New AN going psycho on me. It ate my post and reposted an old one instead. ???

Here's how the game ends

HR
2B
Out, runner advances
K
Bases get loaded.
Out

And hey, cut down on the baserunning and fielding mistakes and we could’ve won this one! Let’s get ‘em tomorrow!

DAMMIT

5.5 games out

The story of the night is we took way too many strikes

The sad thing about that last set of at bats for us was that Barton got two off speed pitches that you could have hung all your laundry on.

Damn. Zukes needed to be on top of the damn plate for that play.

(just saw it for the first time on the highlight reel).

I was praying for at least another double by CarGon

for two reasons:

1) to tie it up

2) Suzuki would have ended the game with a pop up

What I was trying to say in the post that got eaten

To the people who were declaring the game over before it was actually over: What the hell? It was a dramatic finish, that could have been walk-off victory or game-over on the last at-bat. Baseball doesn’t get any better than that.

I mean, sure, I can understand being pissed when it’s over and we lose. But during the final at-bat?? If you can’t enjoy the excitement of a finish like that, why the hell are you even a fan? To me, that’s what baseball is all about.

At the time when our hitters were being made to look like 5 year olds

did you really think they were going to erase a 5 run defecit when up til then all they could do was get 1 hit every 10 plate appearances?

We all want to win so bad but I think being pissed off up to that point was very valid. Our team was stinking up the joint in all facets of the game.

I myself hate losing period. I can accet losing when getting out slugged but losing on errors, not blocking the plate, not playing fundamental baseball, that is unacceptable and deserves many negative comments and the wrath.

I'm talking about when you're down by

three with two men on base, with two outs in the 9th. Sure, the odds are against you, but you gotta be excited about the possibility. If you’re such a pessimist that you can’t even enjoy rooting for our guy to come through, and you post things like, “it’s over, we lost” before we even lost, then yes, I seriously wonder why you even bother following the game.

I know it’s a free country and an open forum and you can post whatever you like. But to me, people who post that crap are pissing in the punch bowl and spoiling the fun for the rest of us.

I didn't post "Game over" when we were down by two with 2 on

You are directing this at the wrong person.

I did say earlier there was no way we were going to score 4 runs tonight

I wasn't referring to your post, Trainman.

Someone else did post “game over” when it wasn’t over yet.

I guess part of the reason it pissed me off so much was because I listen to the MLB Radio feed and a lot of times I really am several seconds behind, so I figured he must have heard the final out before I did.

It’s one thing to say “we’re gonna lose!” if you’re pessimistic, but to actually say “we lost” when we haven’t yet, that ticks me off.

down by two, I mean

ie, HR wins it, double ties it, single keeps it alive, out loses.

OK

It's different when I'm at the game

At home, I less tainted by the hope of surrounding fans. I’ve seen enough times where we don’t come through to expect the likely outcome. It’s like needing a runner-runner (

K-Fraud post-game celebration

I hope he was saying “Yay, we won even though I sucked”. Because anything else would be dishonest.

that was nothing compared to seattle,

he’s a joke. every game after a save should start with izturis getting beaned (as long as izturis is gonna hit leadoff HRs every game)

In reply to iglew above, obviously

my AN-fu fails

Suzuki

At least we didn’t have to watch Suzuki bat in the bottom of the ninth, he definitely would have finished the game with a weak grounder to short. With Carlos Gonzalez at least we felt he could have won the game.

pedoman - June 7, 2008 reply

exactly

I am sure Kurt will eventually get it together but right now, He is an automatic out in those situations. Physioc said “Suzuki is very good in these situations” I LMFAO at that comment

My real problem tonight besides bad fielding

not blocking the palte, etc…..

Is the A’s do not play solid fundamental baseball. Not advancing the runners when the odds are on our side, less than 1 out when trying to get back in the game, and late in the game….....why did Geren not try to have Davis even fake running, let alone hit and run, especially when Car-Gon had a 3-1 count!

Chances are K-Hole is gonna throw a fast ball, which he did. And if Geren is on top of it, he sends Raj whether or not Gonzales hits the ball or not. It just seems like a waste to even put Davis in at that point…..why not put some added pressure on the pitcher, especially when the A’s have a history of making life tough for K-Hole?????

Maybe it is just me but sometimes I feel that Bob Geren lacks imagination and preparation in games like these and Sciosia is a step ahead of him just about every single time in close games….........Fuck to holy hell, I am so frustrated~~

Alright, time to breathe…..........Go A’s!