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Open Thread: Game 90 - A's vs. Mariners (cont.)

2-0 A's going to the 6th.

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I want to see a Bankston homerun...

in this thread.

Nico understands our pain. Thanks for the link.
New thread AND Ricky mojo!
Elton Brand to sign with Philly

More good news for you Warriors fans.

CJ Wilson intentionally walked GA to load the bases?
Angels actually lose a game. Woohoo!
ya just beat me to it

3-2 texas. Angels loaded the bases but do not score.

Runners at first and third, two out, and the runner steals second, but they call it “indifference”??
They then walked Garret Anderson.

I think people got lost…

the link WAS very confusing.
why would anyone want anybody besides CarGo in CF?

The guy just glides to the ball. I don’t mind Swooney as a corner guy at all. In fact, I think he’ll be a good one. His power will come with maturity.

Coz he'll grow muscles and become stout.
who?
Carlos
good... a power bat in CF...

be a nice change from guys like Kotsay.

OK but he probably won't glide any more
do you watch the games?

the guy is a “glider.” Muscles ain’t gonna change his instincts.

It's just a question on how you want present your assets:

You can either have a prototypical RFer and a good CFer with Gonzalez in right and Sweeney in center;

or

You can have an elite-hitting CFer and an insufficient RFer (assuming Sweeney doesn’t develop 20-25 HR power).

I'll keep Swooney in the corner and hope...

I don’t think the kid will let me down.

I really hope so

Without power, he’s a fourth OF, or a very competent starting CF.

Hey everybody

Go A’s! I’m glad we traded Harden. There’s a lot of Cubs fans around here bragging about getting Harden. I tell them yeah, he’ll be great… until he goes on the DL in two weeks.

Gaudin?
Not as happy about that.

But oh well, a deal’s a deal. We’ll just have to wait and see how these new guys pan out.

They are happy

as hell! Anything they can get to beat the Cards? Oh yeah!

Is it too late

to get Harden back???

(Throws self off of bridge!)

Halos Lose!
It's a beautiful day after all.
Brown!!
Good Dee!

even if it is not “Dee Brown”.

Duke is the mothef*$%6n master!
Dukemasterer
If they take the money from Hardens contract

and use it to sign Duke, we have a Win

Assuming he doesn't go on the DL...
What are they saving on Harden's contract? $1MM?

I mean after they pay Gallagher, Murton and Patterson.

How about next year, though?
bin

go

Harden had an option for next year, so the A's didn't have to pay anything

if they didn’t want to.

What would be the point in letting him walk?

Getting a Type-B player who may not come around for several years?

There would be no compensation. They'd have to non-tender him.
Okay. I guess that makes it even more reasonable

to trade him now.

What exactly does Cust have to hit to lose his job?
Beane's daughter?
QOTM

even if no one else will concur. LOL

Play me off, Sam!

Lower his OBP considerably.
It's not exactly off the charts

or anything. .365, which of course is great for this team.

and OPS.

Yeah… it’s frustrating when you have to measure your team based on the AAA talent.

I wish I knew

Probably under .100, which will probably happen soon.

Silva's really dealin' tonight
He's dealt before?
Let's go little-Beltran.
Im reading about

some of the guys in the trade. Isn’t Patterson a close version of Weeks? Is a very small man, plays second, has good speed. He has a .875 OPS in AAA so you would think he can hit a little. Any info on his glove at Second?

I'm hoping he can fill in at 3B and CF -- basically replace Davis and maybe Murphy
that was my guess too.
Lefty bat though

should be interesting.

This game sure is moving quickly…

Hudson-esque.
imagine, the fans filing out of the Coli

and it’s still light out..

“Lights have taken full effect”...

Woah!

Decent defense out of Emil!

Email trying not to get deleted
No question of that
78 through 7 innings...

effortless. Duke is good. Better than Lee.

2H, 0BB
Of course

we are making Carlos Silva look good.

Didn't we do that once before, this year?
we make almost every pitcher look good...

but, we still win more than we lose.

A good comparison to Harden

I love Rich (and I mean I really love Rich…), but even when healthy the guy could barely get into the 6th inning. Granted, they were babying him and holding him to

whoops rest of my post got cut but the thread has passed me by...
Yay Emil!

What am I saying?

A's need some runs

Let’s go! I think Bankston is going to get a hit to start it off.

Weeks, already a better interview than Ross was.
Ross Tyson interview was painful

he said “all the right things”, but nothing worth hearing. Mind you, it is a matter of the questions asked, not just the interviewee.

I've spoken with Ross

so I know he’s smarter, and quicker than he was in that interview. Questions, sure. But he was also nervous. Weeks says all the right things too, but is at ease about it.

I like Weeks already
Weeks is tiny. I hope he is like Rickey.
floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee

and fast as f*ck.

Rickey is big

Short, but very muscular.

I thought he bulked up over the years.
Don't we all?
Ricky a halfback (I think)

at Oakland Tech. Contact was his thing. He wanted to go on with a football career, but his mother said, “No way.”

Lucky for us!

My point was more about what I hope he brings...

not really much about his overall size. He should be a threat on the bases.

Yeah, he could be the next Willie Bloomquist.

Nooooooo!

After all of this shit today that post was just wrong.
Ain't I a stinker?
I wanted to go on with my football career, too...

but, after getting hit by Eck in Fremont Football, I said “No way.”

Lets put this game

away!

Weeks looks like he's in high school
Heck...grade school.
But dresses

like Tim Brown.

Yes, he's sardonic as heck.
sardonic?
Scornfully or cynically mocking.

as in “sarcastic”... WC’s comment made no sense to me either…

Nor me. I meant sartorial of course.

I’m just old enough to be suspected of dementia, senility and Alzheimers.

Donnie Murphy has a Jaymee Sire nose.
Same plastic surgeon?
lmao!

I never noticed the pig-nose on sMurphy… are you sure? Pics as proof? Anyone?

I do like this montage

It cheers me up a tiny tiny bit.

Can we just let Duke take all of Harden's starts?
When you have a chance to pitch a guy like Sean Gallagher, you take it!
yes, until Gallagher moves into his spot
This Duchscherer Guy Is Pretty Good

Good thing he’s on our team.

For now...
Gaaaaack!

Don’t say things like that!

See. It's contagious.
New article on the homepage

Sounds good. Team sounds like they are ready to fight, but don’t tell Trainman.

We are all AN
Immediate results don’t happen overnight, though, leaving Ellis and his teammates with just one option—believing in a popular A’s fan phrase, “In Billy we trust.”
We're bigger than E L V I S
I think you will see I made a reference to them

taking this as a challenge.

OK

Good! They will continue to play, and you will continue to cheer for them.

3K's and killin
look at the pitching analysis on "driveline mechanics"

Duchscherer has above-average luck on BABIP. He gets above-average outs on batted balls.

Does it seem to anyone else that Duke is getting really lucky?

Lots of fly balls getting hit to fielders…

Ya, but they would have mostly been singles

If he had pitched a six hitter, I’d be fine with that.

would you have really?

Just watching the game, a couple of singles and we might be going into extras instead of holding on to a tight lead

Ya. They'd have to be evenly spaced out.
Cust is not getting really lucky...

I wish Duke would rub his head or something.

91 pitches going into the 9th

Let him finish it, Geren!

I think he will
What. A. Stud.

Way to go, Duke!

91 through 8...

let’s let Huston get the save, though. He’s our closer, after all. And, these guys are such easy outs, he should have no problem.

No!

And I mean that sincerely.

No Two

a second no. CG more important here.

Easy outs? What Huston Street are you talking about?

Swooney!

I want a 4 run 8th… take Street out of the equation… please.

a CGSO just might pump up his trade value just a bit...
heyyyyyy????

Let me get Pittsburgh on the phone…

For Duke

I want Bay, AT LEAST.

shoot

the Cards may get desperate…

The general feeling here is that the Cards have had a good run, but

the playoffs are a longshot. No one expects them to do anything big. They’re talking about Anthony Reyes for a lefty reliever.

for Duke, I want the whole dang Ocean
Duch for LaRoche?
Jamie Romak sounds like another Chris Carter. Duke Welker sounds interesting.
Love that from Ellis

Run halfway up the line, stop, and stare.

“Just step on the goddamn bag already.”

Predictions for Cust?

A strikeout is my guess.

ding ding ding

we have a winner

You are a wise man.
It's gotta be the beard.

Your wish is his command

uncanny!

what.
a.
call!!

Let get custodial here

and clean this up, Jack…

Cust has 1 BB and 16 BB in July
Duke in the 9th
Damn it Cust
He needs to be down the order

0-18 is a little bit of a slump

Someone who is 1-17 can take his place (LOL)

I agree

But someone who is 1-1000 could take his place, because it’s above .000. Exaggeration, of course, but sometimes I wonder.

I don't understand bunting there,

with a .225 hitter followed by a sub .300 OBP guy coming up. Of course, they are our #3 and #4 hitters, but so what?

Given those conditions,

when would it make sense for the A’s to bunt?

I agree with you there.

because Cust should be in the 6th hole.

did you understand the Harden/Gaudin trade?

I’m just sayin’.

"Yum rocket"

Thanks, ohtobe.

I know Subway is gettin' thru to you gals :-)
Justin Duchscherer is my yum rocket.
I think you have more than one yum rocket in your basement.

Okay… that’s enough.

Anyone have a $5 yum rocket lately?

I got an idea... how about dropping Cust to sixth in the order. He's in the three spot with a 220 avg?
on former A's picthers...

Harang had a tough night v. the Cubs tonight.4.1IP, 6ER, 7BB

Oh! the Cubs!

I know people there…

So is this the non-Harden-angst thread?

C’mon Duke, polish these losers off.

Splits

He looks so much better doing it then Bankston

nice, still up two zip.
Duke's been great against Ichiro

got him every time this game.

that pitch looked weird

from wind-up all the way through…

that was a strike
Duke is a stud
damn what a bend on that curve
Got hosed on that curve ball

but it didn’t matter

On My Feet!

Bring it Duke!

Duke is on fire!

Complete.Game.Tonight!
I can't wait until Beane trades Duke. That'll be swell.
He is probably at the highest value he's ever been.
Let's just enjoy this tonight...
Is Duke better than Huddy?

I’m starting to get the same feeling with Duke on the mound as I did with Huddy… only strangely… better.

If I had a son

I was going to name him Hudson. But I had a girl.

did you name her Huddaughter?
No, but now I wish I did.
In five years, Hudson will be a girl's name.

Seriously. Surnames usually start male and then drift female—Madison, Taylor, Kennedy, McKenzie, Payton, etc.

seems like, for lack of a better word, his is a more sober presence.
I-bye-nyez
Come on!

K him Duke!

That's nice

Still out of happy, but good for Duke.

Duke = Very impressive
Ball game!

A’s win! Complete game shutout!

Absolutely Fucking Beautiful!
Best way to end it.

Whoo!

It's over

Mariners have just been Duchs’d!

Holy shit, that was one sexy pitching performance.

Just what I needed, Duke. Thanks.

and, it's still a little light outside

Amazing, under two hours. Great game.

Dude.

It’s 11 here.

I'm trained to watch the game until at least midnight.

Guess I’ll watch postgame with Urban.

+1!

And amen!

Mychael Urban on postgame analysis.

Wonder if Gaudin’s “attitude” will come up?

Maybe someone can post it on You-Tube for those of us out of the area that don't get the post-game show.
All-Star!!
Duke statement: I am your ace!
Looks like we didn't trade our Cy Young Award candidate.
That was

+ucking awesome!

Wow, Duke is so amazing!
Ok, so, can we clone Duke 4 times?

We really wouldn’t need Harden or Gaudin then.

Just get three guys to copy his pitching motion
we should make an extra

just in case one of them gets Hardenitis

Then Eveland, Smith, or Blanton can fill in

Actually, wait, why didnt we just clone about 500 Hardens? One falls apart, throw in the next one. Come on, Billy, what are you thinking?

Harden is...

the wisp of the wind.

Duchscherer is a damn summer rainstorm. Billy kept the right guy—they will resign him

I just wish Duke was 4 years younger
When he asked to start, he was
DUUUUUUUUUUUKE!
CY frontrunner??

After tonight, would think so.

ZOMFG

It’s only 11 p.m. here??! I’m not accustomed to this.

I know.

So much night left. What to do?

Have you ever considered taking up drinking?
1.78 ERA...

and, declining.

He should start the AS game

but the latest is to have Mariano Rivera start, because it’s Yankee Stadium, see, and they’re tearing it down, so….

I can't think of a better way to try to win and gain home field advantage!
I don't want Duke to touch a baseball for those 3 days

Especially if he’s just going to help another AL team get homefield advantage

Remember, Duke was once a Red Sox farmhand
Give Duke the 3 years he's asking for

NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He wants to stay at a discount and it needs to happen.

He just made his statement that the team is NOT giving up.

I think Billy should sign him...

for 4 years at $4.25 total. Just so he can say he made as much as the 16 year old.

Why??

Well just trade him for Scott Feldman or Kei Igawa, whoever Beane flips the coin on?

duke duke duke duchscherererer

Er, er, er, er!

I Love heem!

Well that was awesome

And the Angels lost!

Wouldn't it be awesome

If we just went ahead and made the playoffs anyway?

Perfect night

Even with the trade?

Or is that not considered night?

terrible day, perfect night

under 80 pitches?

what was Shooty smokin’ during the game?

Clearly the good stuff

Would it show insecurity to tell you...

That I told you so? :)

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2006/12/21/22473/545

I want a prize.

I don’t want to clutter up your fanposts, but do you think the A’s would be interested in someone like Casey Blake? He would be a relatively cheap rental and be an upgrade to Hannahan.

Very nice player. He is so versatile.
sure... have your people get in touch with Billy's people
If in mid-August the A's are knocking on the Angels' door

Or right up there in the wild card, and Chavez isn’t coming back, I could see them going after Blake in a post-non-waiver deadline deal. There’s no point in doing it now with the current direction, but in a month or 6 weeks it might be viable.

Yeah. It would be important to give up very little too.

Oh, he will probably be gone by then. Thanks for the input.

He seems like a guy built for the NL

Because he plays multiple positions.

Maybe Philly could use him, or even one of those NL West teams.

Erererer

Love heem!

Duchscherer says forget about the trade look at me…I’m the all star

BBTN.

They just called the rest of the A’s players leftovers on BBTN. Wonderful.

I love our leftovers. Let's surprise some people.
When is pizza the best?

Cold, the next day.

Leftovers.

We’re the fucking pizza of leftovers.

That's weird

Only because Harden didn’t exactly get love before today, and Gaudin is so anonymous nobody can even say his name right.

Also, I ate some leftover corned beef today. Leftovers rule.

That's about the truth

GOW-din will all of a sudden be terrific. Maybe someone should point out the the team of leftovers would have a pretty comfortable lead in the NL West.

Fuck BBTN and the woofing gods (and the AN doomsayers)...

I still think the A’s will win the AL West.

I like your style.
Hey, in Harden is traded Part 2 I laid out an optimistic view of the rest of 2008

I still think the trade is bad because Beane sold the guys for much less than he should have, the 2008 team isn’t that much worse.

Is Murton over Brown (an asusmption, but probably a good one) going to help the A’s more than Gallagher over Harden hurts? Because Harden has about 10-15 appearances left this year, I think that’s a pretty valid question. Since Gaudin was mostly being used in a role where his performance wasn’t deciding games, losing him might not actually negatively affect this team too much.

I can see the A’s staying in the thick of things for a while, especially if Gallagher can, like, pitch a little bit.

Michael Urban

next

Bob Geren would make a good cartoon character.
He would be the character who always had the ACME explosives backfire
Did Urban just say the A's were the last in the AL in runs?

That’s not true… the fucking Angels have scored fewer runs (as well as 3 other AL teams).

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