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Open Thread: Game 12 - A's at Toronto (cont.)

1-0 Blue Jays in the middle of the 6th. Dallas Braden has most certainly done his job.

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Mojo, please?
It's unreal...

….we can’t waste this pitching!!!!

What the hell is up with the offense?
ugh, our offense never fails at FAIL
They get diseased after being here for a week or two

No Matter the player they contract outitis

Yeah they come down with a bad case of Athleticnitis
I was bummed that I missed 6 innings!

Now I see, that I didnt miss much at all

pitchers duel!
Pitchers duels are only fun when we're winning
Another GIDP.
Hey oh! Way to go infield! Good scoop LP!
Braden

Has done his job and more.

He should take a bat and hit himself. He cannot do any worse

Its now or never for the Offense in this game!!!

Suzuki, Ellis have hit the ball well today. Maybe they can inspire the guys hitting in the heart of the order.

I still have residual Red Sux dislike for Millar

So extra glad to see him GIDP.

72 pitches thru 6
GYMNASTICS.

GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS
GYMNASTICS

+1 million
We need to do some pregame gymnastics at the tailgate.

Who does the cartwheels and who does the backflips?

Zigfan threatened to scan pictures of gymnastics, I’m calling that bluff.

last time i did a cartwheel when i was drinking

i nearly broke my wrist

Solution: no handed cartwheel.
just ask Daric Barton
Aloha, Mr. Blown Save
Mr. Blown Save usually hangs out with Mr. Offense

and from what I see, they’re both on vacation

That was a risky slide
no, this is a risky slide

Think they'll take Braden into 7?

Only 72 pitches.

He could do a CG
Dallas should buy the bullpen dinner.

Especially Wuertz and Bailey.

Dallas will throw 100 pitches today, no doubt.
1 run in the last 18 innings

FAIL!!

F minus minus!
The Jays announcers just noted

that yesterday was the first win of the year fir Toronto when scoring less than 5 runs. Leave it to the A’s

Zooks walks!
Good work.
It's ok, that accidental baserunner was rectified.
Things could be worse

We could have the slegnA Bullpen

Or their rotation.
Or their fans.
Or their owner.

Oh, wait.

Meatball coming

be ready

Why couldn't Ellis have just popped up again?
Disgusting.

I want to scream!! We have given up ONE RUN TODAY!!!!

Who's stoppin' ya?
Like I said

No extra innings today’s game.

Pedroia....D-bag of the year
I thought that was last year.
They gave him the MVD award, right?
How many MVD's do you know who can't hit that pitch?
aside from you pedroia? ...hmmm
Mmmm...other that you?
He's so good, he got it twice!
I cant watch these hitters

It is so painful

Got lunch.

So what’d I miss?

Fail.
Oh, good.

I haven’t missed much, then.

nothing.

and that’s the truth

Pitches

just like the hitters.

Professional futility
Everyone is calling Cust off today

I haven’t seen him make a catch yet.

Thats a good thing.
Cust = every fielder on the Bad News Bears other than the CF
Kelly Leak rocks!
We paid...

…how much for this offense???

Not as much as the Yankees did for their suckfest
That ones worth the amount of grins I get from it

True, but quite frankly, I don’t care what the Yanks do. They’ve been spending for years. This A’s team has been overhyped frmo the get-go. I think last year’s team was even better…at least for the first half of the season…

I'm so glad we got Giambi instead of Dunn.

.281/.500/.625 hitters are overrated.

dunn's stats this year are ridiculous.

he’s off to a ridiculous start

He's probably also getting pitched around a lot

Not much else around him in the lineup.

So that .344 ISO SLG is pretty good then
so is the more BBs than Ks
Whatever the reasons, he's looking very good so far
I'm going with "He's an awesome hitter"
He doesn't like baseball though.
It may be a small thing but I don't like what Cust just did there

Yeah, that was Sweeney’s ball and he called Cust off, but Cust turned his back to the play as he jogged away. You don’t assume the catch there. What if Sweeney loses it in the lights? Then Cust has no idea what’s happening because he’s not watching.

dude I was thinking the exact same thing
Who’s gonna get hot for the A’s offensively? That’s a big question.

Thanks, Vince.

We hardly ever hit in April

This year is just par for the course—would be nice to see the new guys hitting but I’m trying not to worry until May rolls around.

isn't May usually our worst month?
La la la la

(refuses to look up the stat)

April is the cruelest month

T.S Elliot

sometimes June, as well

And the July

I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of a blue jays fan

Does anyone think they might be worried that the Jays’ failure to score will ultimately come back to bite them?

GREAT PITCHING BRADEN!!!!!
Seriously, what a great start.

I’m disGUSted at our offense.

A'S OFFENSE EXPLOSION TIME

OK. Braden is pitching one hell of a game

The offense really needs to get going

Props to the A's for making Braden the #1 starter

After Duke went down. I’m trying to find something nice to say.

He's certainly pitched like it
We're going to win today
Solo HR, please? HRs are good.
I vote Powell or Chavez
How about 2 Solo Home Runs?

Might as well ask for at least that

Just like last year

We get unexpectedly awesome pitching and the offense does just enough to waste their efforts.

Can we get a leadoff runner to 3rd base so we can attempt to strand him at least
wheres rally Salma?

Is that the new 'workplace friendly' version?
lol..me thinks that Salma will have the opposite effect
Scott "Kelly" Downs?
pls PH for Landon
wow..Powell is atrocious
no way, Landon's looked just as good as anyone else today

which is to say, he’s not looking very good

He worked a walk and actually got the ball out of the outfield.

That’s production today.

Who would you want?

Crosby? Davis?

Buck?
+ 1

Give em a chance Geren…

buck

and put giambi at first

We lose the DH if we do that.
maybe our pitchers can hit...can't do worse
re

Wouldn’t we lose our DH spot by doing that?

We're using a DH?
i think just a D
actually, in Giambi's case, a Designated Swinger?
sorry, this was meant as a reply to thesteve9x
That was terrible.
It didn't help that Downs threw three perfect pitches...
Buck hasn't played in like a month (it seems)

I highly doubt that he’ll be any better than anybody else who tries to hit.

Seriously, sweeney?
I bet you say that about all the guys
The funny thing is that his 3rd strike swing looked like a power hitter swing and not a slap single swing.

Unfortunately he’s nowhere fucking close to the ball, but hey.

I'm out of Advil. Shit.
I'm out of hard liquor.
I'm out of airplane glue
switch to Vodka
Try Makers Mark.
Out of that, but I do have some Bulleit and an ample supply of Ginger Ale. Deal.
Well... Giambi, Holliday, and Cust in the 9th
Ah the paneer of the order
K, line to left, K?
Single, homer, homer.

We’re going to win this game.

beef on beef on beef

Is not a healthy diet.

Yay offense!

Baseball is like golf, right? No? Well, is it opposite day?

look on the brightside..at least Cabrera hit the ball
When he first hit it, I thought it was gone
Wait! Wait!

Did I just see a commercial for an MC Hammer concert?

That looks like A's baserunners

when they get on

Hammer has a lot of Twitter followers

He might be able to get a good turnout.

Maybe Crosby, as a righty...

…should have played?

Instead of Chavez....yes he always should vs a lefty unless Anderson or Cahill are pitching
steady on there. careful for what you ask!
maybe they should do steroids

pronto

I about throw up everytime KK mentions Outman is pitching on Wednesday
Vince says B J Ryan has pedestrian stuff

should fit right in with our pedestrian hitters

Does that mean he walks a lot of guys?
BJ Ryan kinda sucks

maybe they still have a chance?

he's left handed

So, no.

Chavy due up 4th in the inning - oh joy (vs. LHP)
Crosby PH?
Jeez how far have we fallen?
I'm out of ideas. We don't even have Smith anymore.
Milton Bradley liked him

at the Coli

KK just mentioned that too
I hope so

I picked him to blow a save in the GOG.

Goodbye, Dallas

Great effort from ya today. We appreciate it.

Springer in

nice game Dallas!

Good move by Geren there...

really looking hard for the positives now

I'm really mad.

We literally have the BEST pitching outing you could HOPE FOR, and it’s wasted.

YEah I'm not too happy either
Yep

Pitched great

Lead off walks alwys seem to bite along with the WP. He deserved a W but not going to happen now

I am right there with you...

This is pissing me off.

On a side note..

How about Doolittle tearing up AAA pitching! … Including an inside the park granny yesterday.

Inside the park grand slam?

What even happened?

Probably.

Seems nearly every wacky play, somehow.

Not sure, they are on the road… But I’m sure something weird because I don’t think he has wheels like that.

It's nice, but he started fast last year too.

He needs to maintain it for the whole year…or at least something respectable. Also he needs to learn RF.

hasn't held Cust back
Yeah, but there's a big difference between the Cal League and the PCL

He’s playing RF a good deal right now, too.

He claims he got tired last year, and trained differently in the offseason.

This offense could use some new blood.

Doolittle assaulted someone's granny???
Braden threw a 3-0 changeup to Hill

Must have thought Hill had the green light.

If I ever see a guy drinking Pepsi Max

I will be sure to point out that I thought that beverage was only for ladies.

It's got a guy's name in it and all.

If they wanted it to be for ladies, they should’ve called it Pepsi Maxine.

Jaymee Sire...::sigh::....
Focusing on the good things, are we?
of course
sigh

I wish extra innings didn’t have the Jays feed then, because Jaymee is…well…you know

She was better as a blonde.

We're progressing to Rally Jaymees now?
I prefer the brunette Jaymee
His username would lead me to believe

That forgetting today’s game won’t be much of an issue.

Or he/she’s a big Radiohead fan.

Good stuff either way.

all of the above!
I feel like I'm yelling at my T-ball team

CUST, YOU CATCH THE BALL WITH TWO HANDS DAMMIT.

shhhhhhhh!

he’s trying to concentrate, it’s hard enough for him as it is!

He tried that once and covered his eyes with his glove.
I was half-expecting Sweeney to fly in and call him off.
I call an amazing 9th inning rally.
Yes

2 runs would be an amazing rally.

Go A’s

I'd settle for one
no, I've got stuff to do this afternoon

no extra innings,please

I've taken the liberty of cancelling all your appointments
i think the A's bullpen would quite like it not to go to extras, too
Nah they're horses with rubber arms
I'm just worried about what will happen to Giese in the Yankees comical ballpark
Duck season!
Wabbit season!
Yeah, something's going to be taking flight, is for sure
So were the Yankees

Hence, they cut him.

yeah, I feel like, erm, flyball pitchers won't do well there
Let's get there w/ 1 run against us first
I wonder if on tonight's highlights

They’ll show the commercial with Jaymee Sire, cause really that was it, everything else sucked. Well her and Braden’s pitching of course.

Great job Braden...

…I hope he knows it. He can’t get shutout forever.

Let's go boys! Let's go!
Let's Go Oak-Land!
Now can we have a miracle

Please

Should I be excited about having the "heart" of the order up in the bottom of the 9th?
About as excited as if we had the liver of the order.
You'd rather see Crosby, Ellis, and Rajai?
Almost.

That’s the bad part.

Shhh...don't give Geren any ideas
well

its better than the alternative, right?

I love strickouts (by the other team)
ok, let's bring in Marco Scutero to hit one of the foul pole

wait, what?

Or Pennington to chop one off the plate?

So K-Rod can launch it into the dugout?

Time for a walk
That fastball

Did not look very pedestrian

Rally Hat ON!!!
Mine too.

I forgot I had one.

HBP, error anything
Didn't take long to get to 0-2.

Cripes.

fail
Moratorium on fail posts?

Yes, it sucks, but be creative!

Non-performance
In play: out(s)

fail

Yeah, I'll say it.

Giambi looks like shit at the plate.

bring back

Barton

Swing the bat

at the first pitch

Looking at strikes all day = LOSS

Well, there's a single
Wow, two hits for Holliday

Cust time.

Wha...wha...

Not fail?!

Being aggressive gives better results

Good Matt

has cust gotten on this game?
Good point

he’s due

Why don't umpires call balks on Ryan?
That's a real good question

One that Geren et al should be asking on every pitch.

Yeah. He doesn't come to a complete stop for a second.
That looked outside.
Gameday has it inside.

I checked, looked outside to me too.

That was a good cut
I dont want to look ::closes eyes::
He's throwing 87

Not hitting him is inexcusable.

sure looks faster
Kuiper was talking about it.

It’s really not all that fast. Just looks it.

well

IF it looks faster to the hitters as well, it doesn’t really matter what the radar gun says

Braden throws 87 and he did just fine
BJ Ryan = Left-handed Trevor Hoffman
Shut up Cotroneo

He doesn’t have that finishing pitch

Cust getting a good look at Ryan
Oh look, a bullshit strike 3.
But, there's no excuse for watching it.
He just took an 87 MPH fastball for a strike
Gotta swing.

God dammit.

that was a strike..
Kust

Third time.

And Chavez is hitting...because...?
No he was just standing there.
Nomar is hurt and Crosby is Crosby
Not PHing for Chavy?

Terrible.

No excuse for looking at that

Pathetic

Chavez has no fucking clue what he's doing right now
Have a good afternoon lads and ladies.

boo.

Boo!

Puke, Barf, That was Horrible.

sigh

That hurts

Another 1-0 loss. Ugh.
god chavez looked terrible

Yeah, I think we can stick a fork in it. Chavvy’s done. Looks like he’s shrunk, too. I wonder if he was on some sort of performance enhancers a few years ago.

not exactly a great game

Dump away, Billy! Dump away!

Please resume your normal Sunday activities

Thanks for sticking through that game.

Honestly, that was a revolting loss.

And WHY THE HELL DID GEREN LET BJ RYAN FACE 3 LEFTIES!?!?!?

Well, let's look at the options

Rajai Davis

offensive indifference.
Geren

is clueless in many facets of the game

We could certainly use some new hitters. I vote Denorfia for Davis.
GEREN

Question answered.

:(

They should be made to walk to NY

Don’t waste the fuel.

hahaha! that’s going to be one crap of series between two underahieving teams.

Worst goddamn game possible

I am just furious

12 games, 3 Shutouts

(almost 4, if you count the Wakefield game)

so in the full season, it would be 40 shutouts. I don’t think I can handle that.

I'm off to the Park to run this one off.

So frustrating. Have a good Sunday everyone

Wow 3 shutouts in the first 2 weeks
Even worse - two of those by 1-0 scores
I'm counting on Nico to voice our collective revulsion at this f*cking offense and coaching in the recap.
Beane needs to draft some damn hitters...

Not all these OBP guys. I want some real damn hitters.

Yeah like Holliday and Giambi.
Holliday I expected to to struggle.

Changing Leagues isnt fun. Giambi has no excuse.

He's old?
Well yeah...

but he was good last year.

WHERE IS OUR OFFENSE?!?

AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH……………

same laundry, same results

same Bay Area baseball teams. Even the Ports are off to a horrible start.

And people wonder why we get negative

A disgusting, embarrasing, futile LOSS

Fucking losers

Reason for loss = looking at strikes down the middle as per usual. Swing the bat, make contact and socre runs. Not this stagnant shit we see year after year.

Not gonna change unless Beane drafts hitters

and not walkers.

I have been saying this for years

Sacrafice OBP for hits. We have a shitty OBP anyway. I will take a hit over a walk anytime

Im all for working the count...

but take the bat off the shoulder with 2 strikes.

not to put too fine a point on it ...

But Galleraga should be charged this loss. To think that Ellis could get home from first on Sweeney’s double (with one out no less!) without a serious fielding mistake is on him. – Of course, that means the A’s still would need to score another run. One run. Probably not.

(Gallego)
yes, sorry. - the fury took over.
Ridiculous!!!! That's all I can say about this one!!!

It is an absolutely awesome day here in the Bay, time to go out and enjoy this awesome weather and pretend that I didn’t see what I just saw!!

This was pathetic and so far our offense this year has been pathetic.

I’ll be focusing on the nBA Playoffs and maybe when its over the A’s will be above .500

Folks, we are coming in last place in the AL West this season. Absolutely horrible team that can’t seem to play together. Beane’s got to swallow his pride and trade Holliday as soon as he gets another multi-hit game.

Wow, overreact much?

As much as I hate to see two 1-0 losses, if the A’s are pitching well, the A’s will compete. Remember that pretty much every A’s team that has made the playoffs the past decade started out terrible. The 2005 team started out 17-32 or something like that and they shared the division lead in September. Hell, in 2001 the A’s did terrible through May and that team was the best A’s team since 1988-90. Giambi is a notorious slow starter. So is Chavez. When the weather warms, so will the A’s bats.

The A’s are still in second in the division today (not that it really matters) and the team everybody expected to win is behind us. There’s still 150 games left.

Wow, ridiculously emotional overreaction

Think how silly you will feel if they do contend, and they probably will.

For one thing, the main unknown in projecting the 2009 A’s was the pitching, and the pitching looks WAY BETTER than expected. Meanwhile, the hitting wasn’t projected all that favorably to begin with, we know they won’t end up being that bad by the end of the season and they only have to be mediocre for us to still beat our preseason projections.

Secondly, have you seen how crappy our division is? The A’s might only have to be a .500 ballclub to take 1st place. That would be gross, but I’d still take it.

Couple of quick thoughts

before the recap is up…

— Ryan’s strikes to Cust were very good pitches, perfectly placed.

— Geren’s options when Chavez came to bat were, uh, limited.

— Even if he has a good year, Giambi is going to look bad for long stretches.

And one more: this team is bad enough to make me want to call in sick for the rest of the year.

I do wish Chavez were behind Suzuki in the order against LHP

and it would have really been good there, but oh well.

Yeah, Cust had a very good AB, Ryan just made perfect pitches. Hat tip.

I’ll chalk Chavez’s struggles up to inconsistent playing time because of his injuries, but he did look particularly bad. But I think Ryan’s release point against lefties is very, very hard to pick up. It seems like he stretches further out than even Ziggy does to righties, albeit from a higher arm slot. It can’t be easy to pick up a ball that starts behind your head.

I’ve liked how Giambi has looked so far, his approach is great and he’ll get results with the higher average this season. But I will say that he’s looking tired already, and that doesn’t bode well for his power over the course of the season. His numbers could slide if he starts looking really sluggish come July.

I hate Eric Chavez
Watching Cleveland at NY

Looks like the return of Jeffrey Maier – Umps reviewing HR call.

I can’t believe MLB can’t force teams to provide a buffer zone between the fans and players to avoid this kind of crap.

GAME RECAP IS UP

Wheeee!!!!

This is f'ing bullshit.

There is no excuse to score 3 runs in 2 games.

We’ve had two seasons of terrible Athletics teams, I’m sick of loosing.

One was against some clown name Tallet. Made him look like Cy Young himself.

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