Athletics Nation

King Felix should do a little better than John Garland did today

9 Runs in 1 inning.

Got the first out then the next 9 all reached.

They went from leading 7-0 to being down 9-7

or Zambrano for that matter

Don't forget about Nick Blackburn

or suppan, or parra

What is wrong with the Brew Crew Lately? They suck monkey balls right now.

It seems everytime someone throws a no hitter

they get shelled next time out.

How about just "every Twins pitcher this month"?

Good God

Hannahan continues to blackmail management.

All Feliz has to do is throw 3 fastballs and it’s automatic.

Go A’s

Except for the fact that he HRed twice off of Felix in their last matchup

and he homered against the angels this past series

Other than Cust, Hannahan has the most homeruns of anybody in the lineup tonight this season

Probably a good bet that they were cement mix sliders

no way he hits his fastball even if he tells him it’s coming.

Bottom line is that Baisley should be playing to see if he is any good.

We know Hannahan belongs on a team like the Angels

they were fastballs. i remember it like it was yesterday

Baisley IS playing; Barton is out sick (flu)

Well

even a broken clock is right twice a day

You're just grasping for reasons to rag on Hannahan

With Ellis, Patterson, and Barton unavailable, it makes perfect sense to start Hannahan.

No he's right, there are PLENTY of reasons to rag on Hannahan

I have an odd fascination with/interest in

the notion of the Mariners becoming the first $100 million/100 loss team. They need to win 6 of their final 10 to avoid that, meaning they need to win at least 2 of the 6 games against the A’s. (The other 4 are against LAAA at Safeco Field).

I also understand that, if they lose the 100, there’s a decent chance that Stephen Strasburg will be in the division from 2011-2016.

Lineup

Why not put one of the many young outfielders in at DH? We know what Cust can do. And why have an abundance of outflielders and not enough infielders – especially with Patterson out. I’d like another look at Conrad – he hit a ton of homeruns at Sacramento. I am tired of Hannahan but seems we’re stuck with him because there is no one else on the roster.

sacto - September 19, 2008 reply

i agree. i want to see more of denorfia

You know instead of Cliff Pennington

we could have drafted Colby Rasmus. Sometimes, I wish we had the foresight/luck that the Rays have had in the last few years in the draft.

You know instead of Jorge Soto, Keith Surkont, Darin Moore, Mario Ramos, Josh Hochgesang,

Justin Lehr, Kirk Aasche, Justin Sobchuk, Michael Wenner or Jay Garthwaite, we could have drafted Albert Pujols.

why did you just ruin my life like that...whyyyyy?!

that's my second favorite team

so i’m not as unhappy as if it was the Angels or something, but El Hombre on the A’s? I think I would die happy.

True, we should trade some of our minor league pitching depth for him

Anyone but Cahill or Anderson.

I heartily agree

except for the fact that I think it would take something along the lines of Duke, Gio, Cahill, Street, Cargon, and maybe Harry Potter’s invisible cloak to get that deal done.

I don't think Albert will leave St. Louis.

He’s not the money-grubbing type. You’re talking about the best hitter in baseball making only 14 million a year. Yes, 14 million is a lot, but certainly not for a guy of his caliber. He’s from Missouri, and he has tons of ties to the community.

ya he should be a lifer

no doubt. I still think there’s something special to a player playing his entire career for one team, a la Biggio, Jeter, and maybe Chipper, etc.

People said the same thing about Kurt Warner.

That did not turn out so well.

true

but look at warners stats…when he’s healthy, he still has a ridiculous completion percentage. Maybe his problem is not only health, but the crappy teams he plays for. I would argue that if he was on the Pats, they would be one scary and frightening team.

Ya Brady's been holding the Pats back for years.

lol

so true. warner would have beaten the Giants.

Warner's a peculiar case

of a quarterback becoming successful in a certain type of offense. The Rams had a very fast, relatively short-range passing game. It was especially dangerous because of Marshall Faulk’s ability to both run and receive.

The Rams went with Bulger, and Bulger is a long-pass type of guy. Totally different styles.

but stat wise he still looks good on the Cards

but i guess football stats and actually winning games are two different things

I really hope Albert doesn't leave St Louis.

Heck even I haven’t really left St Louis. By the way, I’d do that deal in a second.

I have a man crush on Grady Sizemore.

I try not to have more than one man crush. I at least try to pretend I’m a masculine, heterosexual male.

well as long as it isn't for someone like jack hannahan

or any of the angels players, i think its forgivable

There's nobody better with a bat in his hands.

I read somewhere that he might be the most valuable hitter (cost wise). Evan Longoria is the best player for the best price, but Pujols is the best hitter.

You could have two Pujols for one A-Rod!

I don't think there is room

for two PooHoles

I always wondered how such an obvious talent went basically unnoticed..

In 2001 he wasn’t even expected to make the team. I don’t think he had any significant amount of time in AAA, either.

Now here’s what I find interesting; when Pujols was asked why he went unnoticed, he said it was because he was fat.

How did the A’s not get him?

well Prince Fielder was "too fat" for us

so why wouldn’t the best hitter in baseball be any different? it makes perfect sense for the A’s to miss out on him.

Can anyone surpass Prince Fielder's brand of fat, though?

Cecil.

Supposedly..

Prince is even fatter.

Anyone see Tony Gwynn lately though? Damn.

sidney ponson?

David Wells?

John Kruk

Gahhhh

Hate that guy.

He's good when he makes Steve Philips look stupid

which is always

How hard is it to make Steve Philips look stupid?

That guy radiates stupidity. He sweats it.

No he doesn't.

yes he does.

I miss Harold Reynolds

Is he gone because of that DUI thing or what?

ya, i think he does talk for like mlb.com or something

Sexual harassment

he won his lawsuit against espn though

IIRC….

thanx.

that really sucks though he was good.

well they have Steven A. to do something random

Shorter maybe..

But yeah – Tony, geez.. It’s like David Wells wearing a Tony Gwynn fat suit.

I just find it interesting..

that he does the DVT commercials. I WONDER WHY?!?!

I just flipped over the the Rangers game.

The Angels are on pace for 30 hits… but the game is tied 9-9.

And it's the T5th inning.

ahhh

Rangers baseball…the antithesis of A’s baseball

Just have it go

45 innings and burn thru their pen and pitch K-Rod three innings for five days in a row

notsellingjeans - September 19, 2008 reply

Lineups posted

Only four lefties in the lineup. Hmm.

I wonder if Ryan made Dale some chicken soup.

LiZaRdReVoLuTiOn - September 19, 2008 reply

What's wrong with Dale?

Late scratch- flu

LiZaRdReVoLuTiOn - September 19, 2008 reply

mhhh flu, yeah right.

I love this picture

From when Ryan got drilled in the ass.

its looks like he's either being really giddy

or throwing a temper tantrum…but TWDS!

This one would be even better

but the watermark kills it. Here.

He looks like a turtle stuck on his back.

Looks kind of like a turtle stuck on his back

We need the seconds on the timestamp back.

pam5981 - September 19, 2008 reply

LOL

yeah, just how close was it? minutes are useless.

Haha…

Rain?

OMG!

It’s raining in the BA? Should I go to the bomb shelter?

It's been a little drizzly late this afternoon

Not enough to form a puddle on the street.

It does remind you that winter/baseball hibernation is not that far away.

Great brawl in the Cleveland-Detroit game

He charged the mound from FIRST!

because i’m an a’s fan, i’m rooting for the mariners to win all 6 of these games.
by losing the a’s can get a high draft pick AND keep stephen strasburg out of the division for the next decade…

Nah. Let's keep him in the division. Then we can avoid him in the playoffs.

heh

One of my all-time favorite images.

LOL at Korach

over at 3rd Tui-arse-so soap-oh

Pretty much, lol!

Poor Tui!

I think he accentuated the arsssssssssssssssssssssse a little too much

Haha!

Watching Felix makes me feel old and worthless.

Hell, I don't need Felix to feel like that

Yeah, I guess that's true for me also.

You should feel better than him

Vince said something may be wrong with his back or something

ya you gotta watch out for the Beltre character

LOL

I was just diagnosed with spine bifida and a herniated disc.

Yikes. That doesn't sound like a LOL matter.

And I’ve no idea what it is.

I found it funny because of the back issues.

Spine bifida is a birth defect I just discovered I had. Not really a problem, other than a weird looking spot on my back.

OK. That's not so bad then. The herniated disk still sounds painful though.

I think it's more bulging than herniated. I don't know. I get them confused.

I get nice drugs.

Yay drugs!

Good, because that sounded a little scary.

I'm 24 and it was just discovered when I got test done for my disc thing.

It’s a miracle, the doctor said, that I haven’t had any health issues and that my back “fixed” itself. Normally there would be problems such as peeing or walking.

Yikes!

Peeing and walking are oh so important! I’m glad thats not the case with you.

Yeah seriously, I flipped when I saw ‘spina bifida’ because I learned a lot about that in Child Development and it scares the crap outta me. But now I see on wiki that there are different degrees… good. In school they only teach you about worst-case-scenario apparently.

Yes, I also learned about that in Child Development.

They only teach you about the scary one.

I freaked out when the doctor told me. Slight nervous breakdown. :)

It’s not likely to cause me any problems, thank goodness. They only outward sign I have is a knot on my lower back about the size of a golf ball that’s under the skin.

PHEW, thank god, good thing.

Plus the drugs totally help.

I thought the knot might've been a twin sister

I ate at birth. :)

Oh lord

Child Development is coming back to haunt us.

Did you watch a different birth, like, every day?

I think it was a requirement or something.

Thankfully I watched NO births

I think there might have been one on the screen once and I was one of the wimps who turned away.

I was thankful I didn't have to pack around that plastic baby.

Haha!

Shades of South Park.

yaaaa

That just reminds me of my arthritic back.

Crap, I feel old and worthless.

This is an area where Vince has been pretty observant

We’ll see in the next couple of innings whether the comment was prescient or not.

No make up game for the A's and BAL.

Boo.

notsellingjeans - September 19, 2008 reply

Not very athletic play on Baisley's behalf.

I think Barton makes that sweep tag on Crosby’s throw.

Not only does Barton make the tag..

he reflexively falls into the splits in the process.

HAWT

C'mon Tui - GIDP

Dear Dana: Please keep the wheels on the bus tonite

... go 'round and 'round ...

LOL Texas driving up Angels ERA still

13-12 Bradley at plate with runner on second

Tui_arsssssssssssssssse gets it in the back door

according to Ken

At least he has "soap-o"

Yay Cliff!

let's go John...

Going for the record.

AL record for K's now tied

what's the alltime record? and what is cust at?

189

199 by Ryan Howard

Custy now at 186.

looks like someone needs to go to the Jack Cust Baseball Academy Thing

Yahhhhhhhhh.

Way to go Jack.

Woo hoo Jack. Way to do something right…

I wonder what the record for total outs is

Where are all the Jack Cust lovers at?

Here I am.

ditto

You really got to give it to him he's had a great season...not.

You should really be tipping your cap.

Tonight would be the perfect time

for a Jack jack.

And by Jack Jack you are referring to 5 strikeouts right.

Oh no!

I want a base clearing, true to the baseball gods homer.

SwisherThresher - September 19, 2008 reply

I love Cust

and with that said, I miss Piazza

maybe we could trade Hannahan for Hanrahan

nobody would notice the difference, and Hanrahan couldn’t be any worse at 3b. Plus, he could pitch when he’s not playing the field.

HRH.

HGH?

Just seeing if HRH was on right now.

H & R Block?

Hanrahan is a real person?

I just thought he was Hannahan’s alter-ego who actually had a decent chance of being a semi-capable baseball player.

he's the more manlier version

apparently miley cyrus didn’t make the grade.

Its not that cool,

and it ain’t that rainy. Feels like earthquake weather.

only if we traded for Fielder...

The earth would move?

he's a big dude, it could happen

Is he Frank Thomas big?

That’s what I think of . . . stomp . . . stomp . . .stomp.

More like Fat Albert big

well he was in a McDonald's commericial with his pops...

They're speaking now?

Stats

Frank Thomas: 6’5 250
Prince Fielder: 5’11 270

you do the math

12' 4", 520 lb

if only shaq could hit...

hey, hey, hey

Nice play by Hannahan to keep after that bad hop

way to save pitch count and get it out of the way Dana

Yay Cliff!

King Felix no hitter through 3

it looks like the A’s “bad” offense showed up again tonite…

That was nice.

Almost perfect.

Hit and run = FAIL

Hit and FAIL.

That Balentine or whatever..

has the biggest mole on his face I have ever seen.

Little Tui is as bad at baseball as his brother is at football

green star oakland - September 19, 2008 reply

Time to put Lily to bed

but I expect to have this reaction again when I return.

That 40 yr. anniversary team is awesome!

minus the fact Zito isn't on it

even though he probably shouldn’t be

Indeed.

I’d have preferred a real CF, like Murphy or Monday and Bando at 3B (or even Chavez) and Hudson at P

BUCK BUCK BUCK!!!!!

Omg Buck!

Yay Travis!

Biscuit!

I’ve missed you!

Sweet biscuit!

hit diggity dog

My name is Buck...

…and I love to ~~fuck~~ mash.

He probably does use that line.

I'd like for you

to try my hash!

and T. Buck is BACK

Just turned the game on

Clearly I am lucky, for the first time ever.

Good. Now turn it off and back on for each A's AB.

Woo Hoo BUCK!!!!

Man, I forgot how much I love Travis Buck.

I’d consider going gay for him.

not again...lol

Missed him so much!

How does one CONSIDER going gay?

I’d like in on that thought process…. lol.

Primarily determined by cost-benefit analysis.

I have a formula but I refuse to release it.

Arent the costs and benefits the same?

Nope.

There are clear, distinct differences.

Heh... that's what I figured.

I’m going through the costs now…

Were you gay already?

Nope.

But sometimes Travis Buck makes me ask this question.

So you had tendencies?

You're asking an awful lot of questions.

I… am so confused!

He is lovely.

I love Cunningham, probably more than Buck

I've been a Buck man since last year, and I'm not changing now.

My boys!

YAY SWEENEY!!!

Yay Ryan!

Nice 2B, Swooney

Would love to have seen that yesterday against K-Fraud

k fraud and a fraud make babies?

Swooney is one hot piece

ROWR

Where's Emil to kill any run scoring opportunities?

Hopefully, on an airplane flying somewhere far away

And I hope he took Foulke with him.

No worries, Jack will help in DFAs spot

WOOO!!! SHOOT OFF THE FIREWORKS NOW!!!

O/U on Cust's strikeouts for the season: 200

I call over.

+1

Thanks Jack.

No curtain call?

Jesus Ryan, keep your feet, babe

Yay Kurt!

Oh Ryan, you’ve had some problems with footing lately…don’t hurt yourself

I am FUCKING shocked he didn't break his leg.

It’s just Ryan’s luck.

Is he okay?

He'll just need 1 more apparatus

it’s all good.

I like the word "apparatus"

I always think about a pommel horse.

Really?

I think about, like, the false junk that a F-to-M tranny would wear to feel more “complete” about their “transition”.

RyRy should just cut to the chase and wear fully body armor.

Damn you Itchyro!

cust sets another record

2007 – all time three true outcomes champion
2008 – all time AL strikeouts champion

hopefully next year he goes for the walk or home run records.

He just needs protection. Sign Dunn now!

whats up with our pitching lately?

Dana has yet to walk someone tonite, and smith/gallagher have been mild on the walkies in their last starts as well. did we get a new pitching coach?

Maybe the kids started listening to the one they already had

Dana worked on his delivery in AAA.

So somebody explain to me why Jack Cust is worth keeping next year.

Please explain how he's not our best hitter and one of the best in baseball.

Ditto.

Please, I want to hear this one.

185K 101BB and an average of .230.

His numbers are way down from last year.

OBP

Ichiro Suzuki – 0.365
Jack Cust – 0.369

Yeah, Cust sucks.

Suzuki is a much better hitter than Cust, though. He could walk more if he wanted to, but...

…he can actually put the ball in play consistently.

I remember going over this a while back when talking about people who have a good eye without it helping them be a better hitter vs. the people who are good enough that they take a walk if it’s there but aren’t specifically looking for it over getting a hit first.

Did you really just make that comparison.

With all the crap that masquerades as "hitters" on this team, how does anyone

have time to single out Cust to criticize?

Hmmm. I think tonight is enough said.

(Insert 'getting on base a lot not equaling hitting ability' comment here)

See: VORP.

Thank you, Jack Cust

I'm not going to argue against VORP or anything like that.

I just know that Cust is better at taking pitches than hitting them and that’s often a bigger hindrance than it is a help on this team.

And his SLG says he's better at hitting them than anyone else on the team

and that’s a help.

Still.. according to BP

He is the most valuable hitter the A’s have.

Which is both good and bad, all things considered.

He’s not someone I’d point to if I wanted to show someone how to be a good hitter, though.

Errr...

But, all things considered, he’s a pretty valuable player. I just don’t understand why you don’t think he’s a good hitter.

Because I define being a good hitter as someone who's capable of actually hitting.

Cust doesn’t hit well. He hits a little bit and walks a ton.

I know this doesn’t put me in line with the people who love OBP and all that, but that’s just my opinion and I’m entitled to it. I’d take fewer walks if it meant him being better at making contact.

He’d have more value on a team that could take advantage of his ability to draw walks, but I’d think it’s pretty rare for someone to draw so many walks without hitting for a higher average as well.

The walks skew the fact he just can’t hit the ball consistently.

Even if you love outs for whatever reason, why no love for the SLG?

Oh, I like the SLG

I just wish it was more like last year’s. Cust is “only” 28th in the AL this year but he was 12th in 2007. There’s no doubt he’s dropped off.

Being the best slugger/on base guy on the A’s this year isn’t exactly something to brag about.

Well not being as awesome as last year isn't a crime either.

Just to note, though...

…compared to the rest of the teams in the AL, their top three VORP guys mostly destroy Cust’s number.

Ooh look, THERE'S how Bobby can help the team

Standing behind home plate, telling guys where to slide.

ilovegregsmith - September 19, 2008 reply

maybe that can be a new job. hire guys to stand back there telling people when to slide. Bobby would be one of the best for the job! We’d have THE man!!! finally, something I can use to defend him and his “talent”. I used to try to defend him with people..eventually I ran out of things to say besides “well..atleast he LOOKS good”

I used to be a batboy.

Now I’m Batman.

I used to be a ballboy.

Er, wait.

ilovegregsmith - September 19, 2008 reply

a superhero huh?!

What are the odds?! i am catwoman..I was never a batgirl of course, just a catgirl a long time ago!

STFU about HD, Ray.

Agreed - It really gets tiresome

I’d rather hear about Dibs – I can afford those.

How about dibs? Kinders?

A few years ago...

Ray wouldn’t shut up about the Cheesecake Factory. I miss those days. I miss the Cheesecake Factory Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake.

That is one of the few chain restaurants I like.

I think I might be one of the only people that dislike that place. Everyone I know loves it.

I'm not wild about it.

And I live in St Louis. It’s not like we have a vast array of fine dining.

I was dreading it,

but I went to one in NY (of all places) and it was aight!

It's okay.

But the Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake is my only reason to go. I don’t know why they don’t put it on the menu.

I'm holding out as long as possible,

Comcast is forcing me towards digital and HD and I hate them!

I hate comcast all together. They suck.

They're Com-crap-tastic

They took away my TV Guide Channel

I’ve been cranky ever since.

Ooh, look what I found

God, I miss Bill King

+1

I'll never forget that moment!

God damn.

That was one of the greatest moments of my baseball life. That entire 20 game stretch.

I was there, and there were these two young guys

in the seats next to us. They were leaving after we blew the lead and I said where the hell are you going? They said this game is over! I said, oh no, its not! It was our density!