Athletics Nation

WBC on ESPN2

Netherlands 3 – D.R. 2 in the 9th inning.

Just goes to show you how much a couple mistakes can hurt in a game like this

The Netherlands were really helped by that and haven’t done anything else, but their pitching has been good enough to hang on to that lead. Three more outs to go.

I'm going to two of the Round 2 games in Miami next week

Can’t wait!

I’d love to follow the game with you guys, but I’ll be watching the California-Arizona State game on CBS.

Heresy.

And my cousin is a soph at Cal, too.

mikev - March 7, 2009 reply

any news on if

cabrera is going to buy 18 from bowen? someone said nomar was going to wear 1 yesterday.

flipgatey3 - March 7, 2009 reply

I had read that Cabrera did get # 18 for an undisclosed exchange

Bowen to wear #20...

Nomar has #1, for now. It’s the 1st time an A’s player has been assigned the #1 since Bill Martin wore it. Nomar metioned he may not have it for good. I’m guessing #7 may be availble at some point. Holliday said Nomar can have #5 for a Rolex. Hopefully Bowen won’t have #20 for long, I’m thinking that belongs to Mulder once he signs a minor league deal.

athleticsBB4life - March 7, 2009 reply

Mulder could have 20 again if he makes the big club.

Wow - caught stealing at 3rd, Taveras is out!

Called strike three on a low pitch - Netherlands wins!

Hey, it's my birthday!

Happy birthday, NateHST!

Mine was on Monday, so we are Pisces brethren. The good news is I got an Oakland 2009 Division Championship!
The bad news is I’m still drinking.

SF Geoff - March 7, 2009 reply

shouldn't the bad news be waiting until you stop drinking?

oh HELL yeah

but just like the A’s today, I plan on going deep…going to birthday party #4 right now…

SF Geoff - March 7, 2009 reply

And also, Nomar looks seriously skinny.

looks seriously like

Duke’s long-lost brother

SF Geoff - March 7, 2009 reply

watching team U!S!A! U!S!A! vs Canadia on the tv

Just a general observation – the USA really doesn’t do very well when it comes to national jerseys, in any sport, does it?

I mean, the soccerball ones are not great, the rugby ones are not, and these baseball ones look a bit like a souvenir from disney world circa 1984…

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

IM LOVING THE WBC!!!!

The fans at the stadium are REALLY into it, plus all this drama from the Netherlands game helps

I will probably forget about A’s baseball for a week or 2, WBC!!!

ATarHeel - March 7, 2009 reply

MLB Network Says A's Game Will Be Shown at Noon

So if you have it on channel 412 (check local listings), you’re in luck!

Something I've learned

The other SB Nation sites are not filled with the quality people that AN is. The Blackhawks blog is absolutely terrible. I tried to post in a game thread there and after about 3 minutes I wanted to kill everyone else posting.

I think I’ll stick to AN only.

thejd44 - March 7, 2009 reply

i checked out mccovey chronicles for the first time this year

the quality has really declined. of course the same could be said about AN…

I'm curious

How long has AN been around?
-and to a newcomer its a great spot IMO.

Not exactly sure, but over 5 years

I joined in 2004 and I know it had been around at least a year or two before that, so I want to say maybe 2002?

goldfish - March 7, 2009 reply

Thanks

Its sweet for me, most of my friends that liked to talk baseball have moved away.

you've been very negative lately...

what gives?

athleticsBB4life - March 7, 2009 reply

No kidding - join us here in happy land, x-man!

i am happy

the topic came up, i’m just calling it like i see it.

he meant come to Berkeley/Oakland

mikeA - March 7, 2009 reply

i was in berkeley just a few days ago

btw the pegasus on shattuck had a book on scary clowns for only $4.

lately?

I've noticed the same thing

with a few of the other MLB teams’ SB Nation sites.

I blame Yahoo

We have live Spring Training A's baseball on TV!

Go MLB Network Go!

I've got it on... this is AWESOME

lineups

Oakland
Buck, LF
Ellis, DH
Sweeney, R, CF
Cust, RF
Powell, C
Doolittle, 1B
Hannahan, 3B
Pennington, SS
Patterson, 2B

San Diego
Venable, CF
Eckstein, 2B
Giles, RF
Floyd, DH
Kouzmanoff, 3B
Brown, E, LF
Blanks, 1B
Alfonzo, C
Rodriguez, L, SS

starting pitchers
Oakland
Gonzalez, G

San Diego
Geer

A's Lineup

1) Travis Buck – LF
2) Mark Ellis – DH
3) Ryan Sweeney – CF
4) Jack Cust – RF
5) Landon Powell – C
6) Sean Doolittle – 1B
7) Jack Hannahan – 3B
8) Cliff Pennington – SS
9) Eric Patterson – 2B

I get to watch the A's on tv today & I'm a little upset

that I don’t get to see either Matt Holliday or Jason Giambi in the lineup

Don't worry

You’ll see enough of them on TV in about a month.

Think of it as a chance to see Doolittle today.

Understood.

This is the B or C team.

Nicely done, Travis.

There's a good start for Buck

Long double

Off the wall!

Leadoff double.

what a Thriller!

Nice piece of situational hitting, Ellis

1-0 A's

We can haz lead!

Buck will walk home easily.

And a passed ball (should be) plates Buck

Gone!

Sweeney!

sweeney belts one

nice

Solo shot by Sweeney!

BOOM!

HR Sweeney

I've always said that guy had tremendous power

Boom goes the dynamite?

OkayJay81 - March 7, 2009 reply

RYANNNNN!

nice rip by sween

I'm tellin you

It’s the hands.

Ha, he hit that over the “Hit a Homer” sign out there.

Geer pitching batting practice

fine with me

wow

keep this guy in!

Gone!

Powell!

Holy crap

we’re taking BP here

Powell HR

Nice.

Good thing I mentioned the lack of homers today!

Now I just hope Gio doesn’t start walking half the Padres lineup.

son of gun, I have the game on tv

my 2009 A’s first viewing.

ak_A - March 7, 2009 reply

mine too it kicks ass!

I know its exciting

We've secretly replaced the Oakland A's Offense with that of an All Star Lineup

Lets see if they notice.

Yecch! My coffee tastes like ballplayer

Wonder what that’s about.

Followed by a double.

4 XBH in the 1st.

Crap, Hannahan is up.

The inning is over.

On the contrary - he just ripped a walk

Haha.

What a great game to be on MLB Network in HD! Glad im DVRing this :).

Syphon - March 7, 2009 reply

Josh Geer is not good at baseball

wow what a dick announcer:

“They’re trying to juice up lineup, no pun intended, with Jason Giambi and some others.”

no class...

"No pun inteded..."

he said..

that usually means the pun WAS intended

"No offense, but in my humble opinion..."

{makes offensive comment arrogantly}

needless to say....

I am going to say something needless…

I seem to remember this discussion taking place on AN already, but I may be wrong.

It could’ve been somewhere else.

I know,

just shows that he what he was saying…

Admit it...

if Giambi were on the Halos we would love saying crap like that. :-)

true

In other news...

Mark Sweeney officially retired yesterday.

Which team had he signed with?

I remember seeing his new portrait and being surprised.

Channel up if anyone wants to chat

Server: irc.irchighway.net
Channel: #AthleticsNation

Isn't that what this thread is for?

UOSportsDude - March 7, 2009 reply

yeah, i don't get it

maybe there’s more zonis rosterbation?

good lord what is wrong with these commentators?

goldfish - March 7, 2009 reply

Ball 4 to Hannahan

Two on two out three in.

Gameday still has 0-0

doesn’t know how to react

They actually put the A's 0 up last Summer

these announcers are retarted

Ryan Sweeney hit that home run because he saw a picture of Derek Jeter once?

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

anyone streaming this

on justin.tv or another site?

mlb network isnt available on basic cable comcast even with an hd cable box

Wow, I have the A's on TV!

In HD, no less.

I thought MLB Network was going to be a Basic Cable channel?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090307&content_id=3935692&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

crosby demands trade lol

I demand a BMW!

A's demand that another team want Crosby to be their starting SS

+1

you have high demands

Turnabout is fair play, Bobby -

We’ve been demanding contact for three years. We’ll trade you in 2012.

One problem with the article...

“Crosby has never played a position other than shortstop as a professional.”

By professional… are they referring to what he’s done for the A’s?

Gallagher pitching, yes?

See the summary ;-)

Seems like that would have been the logical thing to do.

"But that's just what they'll be expecting..."

{strokes imaginary long beard}

Gio

No, he's got the flu

Gio

Gonzalez scratched with the plague.

Gallagher, I meant.

After Votto mashes one for Canada, Youkilis ties it with a solo shot of his own for USA.

What a freaking gamer

he's so clutch

speaking of gamers

the pesky David Eckstine

Whoa, Emil Brown!

What can brown for for you? Besides be a master of not making contact and not walking, I mean.

Hopefully

lots of errors & strike outs

Inning end yet?

That was a gritty double by Eckstein

I hope this thing goes down in the next four hours.

You're stealing my lines already!

I’d just written down “David Eckstein gritted his way to a double down the LF line.”

Go faster then. :-)

Bring it on.

Oh, this is for the recap later

pesky, gamer, gritty, scrappy

Color guy on Gio: "I like his build, too" Heh!

An "ass man" eh?

Homerun McCann!

Derek Jeter is so amazing.

Did he breathe?

McCann was sitting in the same dugout as Jeter before homering

I rest my case.

You know who was sitting next to A-Rod?

McCannt.

Nno Wway!

4-2!

Patterson really smoked that one.

Cust HR

oops, Buck

Not yet

Gone!

Buck!

T Bone

solo HR

fuckin BUCK!

Home Run T-Buck!

Boom! 4-0 A’s.

If this is the Buck we can expect I'll be a happy man

I don't expect lots of starters like Geer

BUCK!

The pitcher is missing up.

You could see the catcher wanted the pitch a foot off the ground, but the pitcher missed high by two feet. Meatball.

the pitcher is messing up.

understatement

One more homer to double their spring total

Is Buck crowding the plate more than he used to?

doesnt seem like it

NICE

what if ryan sweeney actually develops some power

that would be awesome

Yes. Yes, it would.

I agree with this comment

mikeA - March 7, 2009 reply

And I also wish to express my concurrence as well

I am of the same mind

is it just me, or is it still really weird to see nomar in the green and gold?

I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years he’d ever be in Oakland (as an A’s player, that is).

DyeLongJustice - March 7, 2009 reply

Do you remember his first career HR?

It was at the Coliseum, and I was there. I remember seeing it and looking at the board to realize it was hist first. Who knew he’d have stuck around so long?

whoa, thats kinda cool!

I saw him in Sacto last year when he was rehabbing (he was with the Dodgers AAA team, of course). I remember thinking it was weird to see a player, who was once heading towards a surefire Hall Of Fame career, fall so far. I also never thought I’d see him again….

DyeLongJustice - March 7, 2009 reply

I'm not making any accusations, but his career looks like a lot of those PED guys

He used to be absolutely huge. Then the PED testing got a little stricter, he sustained a string of injuries, and now compare that picture to the skinny-as-a-rail Nomar that’s shown in the thread description. It’s just a thought.

Again, there is no evidence linking him to steroids, and I’m certainly not making any accusations, it’s just something I’ve always wondered about. It could be just as well that the injuries prevented him from keeping in shape and his power was sapped due to a move away from the Monster, but you know, it’s just a thought.

Buck...showing a goooooood stroke!

He’s swining the bat very nicely. Good power stroke.

CaptainKid - March 7, 2009 reply

You know, with his new, husky look

Gio is a little reminiscent of Sid Fernandez (but without the shotput motion).

He's got a ways to go until he's El Sid

Is that what's different about him?

I couldn’t figure it out.

Don't need a hurt Gio

looked like the ball hit his knee?

Shin, I think

below the knee outer calf seemed to me

DFA!

ah…memories

Looks so good in a not-A's uniform

thejd44 - March 7, 2009 reply

that's the email we love

Emil Brown - still got it!

You rule!

Did you know?

David Wright was playing catch before the game with Derek Jeter!

Lucky.

Anyone know when Nomar and Cabrera will play?

i think forst said at least week,

depending on their conditioning

Dustin Pedroia really looks and sounds like a douchebag in that video game commercial

thejd44 - March 7, 2009 reply

The game is awesome, though.

It's probably not hard for him

And up here near Boston, he's considered a dreamboat.

Kill me.

"douchebag" isn't the right insult for the Pedroia family

mikeA - March 7, 2009 reply

There is a "pedo" in Pedroia...

that other dude is funny though

Hanrahan's in the game

For Team USA.

Yes, Hanrahan.

Just got here

so what’d I miss?

Round-trippers

3 oakland homers

Sweeney, Powell, and Buck hit solo home runs.

Also, Buck scored on a wild pitch or a passed ball.

I missed a lot, then.

emil brown grunded into a double play

neat

That's not missing much

We saw that plenty last year.

Tyler Bleszinski - March 7, 2009 reply

is there a gameday link

Second'd

thi-wait nm

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_03_07_oakmlb_sdnmlb_1

gameday link

pyrfan - March 7, 2009 reply

Vlad is living a lie!

He’s a year older than we all thought! That means he’ll retire a year earlier. Right?

teahen!!

get him for crosby

60 feet 6 inches, Hanrahan

Ground rule double for miley

Pennington with a chance to pop out weakly from both sides of the plate today

Powell and Pennington are switch-hitters, is Patterson as well?

no

He’s a left-handed hitter.

7 hits in 3 innings-

I could get used to this.

Woo, Adam Dunn!

What? I thought he hated baseball.

canada has like no (healthy) pitching

harden, bedard, and now jeff francis, why can’t these canadian pitchers stay healthy…

don't forget Eric Gagne

that's socialised medicine for you

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

Some kind of tendon-weakening compound in maple syrup?

Lame.

that gritty bASTARD!!!

He's just really good at making contact.

Nothing gritty about it.

see above post about eckstein

Question

In college, Sean Doolittle put up some pretty good stats as a pitcher. I’ve heard that Virginia’s field is a big pitcher’s park, but was there any discussion as to whether he should be a pitcher or a position player?

I remember only that some scouts thought his low power numbers

offensively were probably because he didn’t exclusively play a position, and might improve if he was only a position player…and that he wasn’t really being looked at as a major league pitcher.

By the way, Shooty Babbitt was absolutely gushing over Doolittle yesterday.

For someone whose defense is so highly touted

Hannahan has an awfully weak arm.

Glad somebody else noticed that

I wish somebody would put together a video of all his throws to first from last year. I wouldn’t doubt that he led the league in bounced throws. He might have range, quickness, or whatever, but throwing is definitely not his strength.

thejd44 - March 7, 2009 reply

That fell apart pretty quickly for Gonzalez

Thats the knock on him.

Syphon - March 7, 2009 reply

didn't the Padres get a knock on him in an earlier inning?

what happened?

Lots of singles

Hate to see the animated head shaking.

He needs to be more even-keeled to deal with the ups and downs of starting.

Jeter taken out for a defensive replacement

Presumably so he can coach everyone

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

If the offense improves when he leaves

is that because he has such a great effect on the clubhouse? Or is it because the lineup is better with out him?

Clubhouse.

i think he has to update his status on the internet

DEREK TWEETER.

i have been waiting about a week for an opening for that one.

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

Boo hiss.

This is a Twitter-free forum, please!

I only occasionally use it.

I’m more of a punch-and-judy twitter.

Mine depends on the count and inning.

It’s more twit-uational twitting.

As long as you're patient.

A walk is as good as a twit, after all.

lots of radio static all of a sudden

I thought they said Ryan put on a little weight in the offseason?

He looks thin as ever to me.

Scot Shields is sucking the life out of Team USA

Matt Stairs up, 2 on, 2 out. Shields has already given up a big fly this inning.

it's cause they've taken jeter out of the game

clearly

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

Manager's decision

As in, Davey Johnson figured out that Jeter can’t hold Rollins’ jock.

I don't know.

Highly successful, yet a childless career bachelor into his 30’s…not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Whew

...and STRICKOUT on a low curveball

Good chance we'll see Ziggy in the 8th or 9th now

That's far, far away

Hours away. One never knows.

will they get his name right?

“coming in for team UA!, someone who plays on the West Coast. no, not Manny Ramirez”

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

Well, there goes the lead.

5-4 padres...

Apparently Ryan Sweeney is now black.

Thanks, announcers.

heh

i was paying attention to the WBC game

who is pitching and why won’t they stop

Someone who has no future with the big club

Schroder, singles...

ESPN announcers in mid-season SUCK form

Color guy has already thrown this gem out there:
“Seems like the Angels also manage to replace someone they lost with someone as good, if not better… They lose Teixeira, they get Abreu.”

So I guess Bobby Abreu is as good, if not better, than Mark Teixeira.

Well, he was more regularly on ESPN

so yeah. he’s clearly better.

alea iacta est - March 7, 2009 reply

And lest it go ignored...

I want to mention that I’m glad Flashfire specified it was his UID that had the name. After all, an IUD called Flashfire probably wouldn’t prove too popular, even if it were effective.