Athletics Nation

Yup

great, there is still innings left in the game.

In more positive news

There is now a nice strong breeze coming off Lake Merritt. Yesterday at this time was miserable.

Go A’s!

That is good news

Still dead calm up here in the Berkeley Hills, which almost never happens.

Englishmajor - April 21, 2009 reply

I say stretch out Bailey

and put him in the starting rotation. He has nasty stuff.

His stuff won't be as nasty in the rotation.

I know his curve is good, but I don’t know if he has any other secondary pitches.

NateHST - April 21, 2009 reply

how about a 98 mph fastball?

curve and cutter - both exceptional

Okay, but do you think his cutter will be as good

If he’s not throwing it 98?

NateHST - April 21, 2009 reply

Andrew Bailey is the real deal, folks

I am truly impressed. And his results are not luck.

He looks good

Holliday does not.

and he looks very average in the field thus far

that's an understatment

statement

Looks pretty easy fir him, too.

I would swear that I saw a rabbit's foot hanging from his glove

easy fur him

Yeah hes a monster.

95 fastball, nasty cutter and slurve. And a here it is, try to hit attitude. Love it!

Sounds like a closer to me

We can hope so

Sure thing. That would move Ziggy to a very effective situational guy.

ROOGY

Or a starter. You have to give serious consideration

to putting a guy with that arsenal in the rotation. He said his mentality was wrong before and he was nibbling. You wonder what he could do if he didn’t nibble and threw that stuff for 6 IP.

How long would it take to stretch him out and would it have to be at Sactown?

Probably only 10 days - one 3-4 inning stint and one 5 inning stint?

He could probably make the next #5 spot’s start on May 2nd if the A’s wanted him to.

Yes, a starter

Wow...this is the pissiest thread I've ever read....and there were two before this one

I still have faith!

We've had some baserunning errors.

We've had some good baserunning, too

Just not sure which we had more of.

oops, i’m being pissy. Go A’s.

the others were worse haha

It's only 4-2. We can still win....and I'm OK with Bailey in a game we can win.

gee whiz, my first inning of the game and it went like pfffft.

I missed the A's whole half of the inning

Switching computers from my work laptop to the desktop in the living room. The A’s offense is really efficient in getting our pitcher back out there quickly.

rally zombie kittens

We need to show that on Diamond Vision

Hahahahahaha

ROFL

Jeter was in the baseline!!!

what i was thinking!! nail 'im!

Jeter IS the baseline

What about his spine?

Bob Shepherd on tape to announce Jeter every at bat

Will Jeter be live or a hologram?

damn

Fire Bailey Now.

NateHST - April 21, 2009 reply

gad

grumble.

OOPS

ish

There's Bailey's first run.

Fuck.

mikev - April 21, 2009 reply

Why does everyone else hit a homer?

If Bailey cant do it

then no one can

Frickin' Johnny Damon has more homers than any A

Sorry, as many as

Since Cust has 2.

asfaninpismobeach - April 21, 2009 reply

sad

that Damon has more HRs than Giambi, Holliday, Chavez combined.

micdog2001 - April 21, 2009 reply

man crush over!

El Cerrito Steve - April 21, 2009 reply

Oakland

thats what a homerun looks like

what's a home run?

A what?

OH GOD

whoops

2 outs!

We could possibly be a bottom 5 team this year... if our offense keeps this up...

Yeah but will we win the AL West?

D:

Nice play by Rajai.

So guys...who has more power, David Eckstein or the entire A's lineup?

Jason Kendall

Joe Blanton

His wife

TWSS

MobiusKlein - April 21, 2009 reply

Oh K!

Angels recalled infielder Brandon Wood from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Finally

The relevance?

baseball

I think he means the A's offense is so bad we should trade for Wood

I'm in favor of this

I think he means that

that team knows how and when to make AAA moves

How true

Okay. Just didn't know if I was missing something.

Easy now. I honestly thought there was something to this

when you said “finally.”

Great prospect

on Rival team, something to be aware of

Damn does that mean no more Macier Iztrus hitting third?

Angels contacted Mulder accord. to MLBTR

athleticsBB4life - April 21, 2009 reply

i will pout if he is ever an angel

Oh my God

A's AD: Kurt made the ball go over the wall, is that good

Even they don't know what a homer is!

This is about a good as time as any for that to happen.

Why are we glad that Chavez is back?

.111 BA for Chavez now

let’s go A’s!!!

Let Bailey bat

infield hits! WE HAS THEM

Good a runner on so Rajai can drive him in

Zook is 3-3 on the knubber

Zook's like

COME ON GUYS, I’M DYING OUT HERE

He should do that more often

WTB 3 Run HR.

HOORAY! base hits!

or maybe an error, whatever.

I always remember Ramn Hernandez

when a infield hit happens

cry…

Here comes a big SPLASH!

E-5

Ryan: pop one up into right field and see what happens

oh that would be very nice to have a HR right now. i’ll take any kind of xbh to be honest.

I'll take a non out.

Yes, best to be realistic

I'll settle for solid contact.

mikev - April 21, 2009 reply

really sweeney? lol lookin goofy on that swing.

Holy shit Sweeney...

he’s a bad hitter.

Why would you swing at that?

The second one was worse

Put himself into a bad count.

oh nooooes COME ON SWEENEY

woo movin the runners again, eh?

CAN I GET A HIT PLZ

The hell is sweeney swinging at

We are still alive.

Let’s get a run here fellas.

We all know we aint scoring here.

C'mon O-Cab

Orlando will come thru

oh god

Hmm. Where is this wind tunnel I've been hearing so much about?

Ask Damon.

mikev - April 21, 2009 reply

Annoncers booth

I'm thinking if they love Rajai so much, send Gallagher down and bring up Denorfia

But then Gallagher might pitch

You have to think these things through.

(ponders conundrum)

.219 RISP

LOL

wasn't it worse last year?

come on cabrera

hey, at least he moved the runners over

looking on the bright side

Please God.

Let us win one game.

crappity crap crap

Vince is an idiot

would have scored the tying run for the A’s

Fail.

mother f'n O-Cab

What a fucking worthless top of the order...

man alive they’re bad.

sta-rand a pear

I am not sitting through this

you shouldn't

it’s the stretch!

Failure

The 2009 A's are so frustrating

They have the offensive potential and they just don’t do ANYTHING with it.

thesteve9x - April 21, 2009 reply

At least we're not the UNC football team

I can’t complain

How long do we have to wait to trade Matt Holliday?

Ryan Ludwick and fillers for Holliday

The way he is hitting

he aint going to be worth much

Damn.

And we had such good hitters in the #1 and #2 spots.

I'm glad you're consistent in your opinions

yes, I know you’re joking

I think Denorfia instead of Sweeney in this game would make a difference

Definitely

And Suzuki higher up – he should never bat below Chavez against LHP.

lets see ,bob sheppard recording

long dead, kate smith, recording.

better than that Ronan tynon

Groanin Tiresome.

Well thats game...

Good thing the NBA playoffs are on!

lol good one

Get to watch the sharks after this

I'm sick of the A's offense

I was so ready for the new and “improved” lineup which has only been half right. I hate not scoring.

micdog2001 - April 21, 2009 reply

WTB 2001

Instead of 1-9 hitters, we should have 5-13 hitters

Sure that's a .385 avg

We have hitters good enough to hit in fifth to ninth spots

Plus four extra lower order spots custom-created for the A’s.

Our lineup is fine for 1 - 9

as long as it’s AAA or lower.

The A's system has looked away from Slugging % so much

that now we have none

Get on base man!

Just get on base you’ll score!

No Sluggo Just Nancy

Hard to watch the recap

Why were we playing the infield in that early in the game?

because we make really good decisions

the same as we do with our lineup

I should have used an exclamation point instead of a "?"

:-)

it's OK

sarcasm is now assumed in every post, and none of us can offend another any more than the A’s have already offended us

I don't know. I think I've offended ATarHeel for some reason.

Was that you batting last inning with two outs and men on 2nd and 3rd?

I’m offended, too.

3 home runs in 13 games

if we don’t hit any today.

Laughing stock of baseball.

.308 OBP for the OBP lovers.

Swing the bats 1st pitch every batter. Probably increase the numbers in the positive

I know it's a 1-billion dollar stadium but I have no desire

to go to NY anymore for baseball.

I'm going to the game tommorrow. If the A's dont hit I may hang myself in the stadium.

That's one way to get in the record books...

Yeah. He could be the 1st one.

I may be screwed with CC too. Lol

You'd get on TV

Nope, Foss and Little Kuip would be looking at menu items

if i was in town, i would hang out with you. figuratively though

lol

It's certainly not a bargain anymore

I've always wanted to take my brother the Yankees fan there

So he could see up close what douches Yankee fans are.

I hate yankee fans..all I'm getting right now is texts about how good Andy Pettitte is...FML

Pettitte isnt even good anymore

Nor is he pitching well

We just suck

ChadGod - April 21, 2009 reply

Exactly..thats why I hate Yankee fans..they dont realize that. Or anything. They just think the Yankees are the best team ever.

The A's are not helping change that idea.

Tell your friends you'll give them $1,000.00

for each of Pettitte’s strikeouts today.

Is he good? Or are the A's bad?

Might as well stop by and see the other douches in Boston

Make it a “douchefest”

are you including me in that?

didn’t know I was a douche, but, hey, I live in Boston, so maybe I am

Do you like the Red Sawx?

I tolerate them

I know four good people who are current or former players or staff, and my wife and kids are fans. But I can still really only root for them vs. the Yankees, the slegnA, and other AL West teams.

So, I’m a douche, right?

You fit into a class called "partial douchedness"

It’s not a full blown case of “douchery” so you should be fine.

that's the best I could hope for, thanks

douche

jk :-)

Kids and wives are immune to this disease : )

let’s go one more out

They should bring Wang out to pitch tomorrow

After all, they wanted him to pitch against AAA hitters so he could get his confidence back, and not have a lot of HR’s hit off of him.

We don't have AAA hitters

We have AAAA hitters

They still wouldn't hit Wang

Wang would no hit the A's

They would want to walk against him and watch all the high sinkers right down the middle.

Wang would be 9 IP 0 Hits 7 BB’s and 27 K’s looking

streetisclosedin08 - April 21, 2009 reply

I get the sense that

Cabrera, Sweeney, Suzuki, Ellis are all going to hit < 10 HRs this year.

ChadGod - April 21, 2009 reply

you can bank on that

the whole team could hit less than 10 hr combined to be honest with you

streetisclosedin08 - April 21, 2009 reply

I am betting against you re: Suzuki and Ellis

No clue on Cabrera and no faith with Sweeney.

That would be OK

but if cust, giambi, holliday and Chavez do the same, we’re in trouble

Cabrera and Ellis have hit at least 10 HR 4 times each

The others nonce.

Lots of warm weather coming for Suzuki

Our nine hits are actually pretty good for us

If only they were combined in productive ways so we had more than 2 runs.

That's where slugging percentage comes into play...

and we often leave a lot of LOB so hitting at the right time might make us all feel better

hey it's the a-hole d-bag that p'd off the A's

http://www.pinstripealley.com/2007/4/15/23116/5098

Remember this

Oh holliday

Bet he goes back to the NL next year

if this keeps up.

No way he signs for an AL team

outman warming up

clap!

was that a one hand clap?

Must mean they're skipping him?

correct

Could be a slice of good news during a bad time

Or it takes him a really long time to warm up

LOL.

Hi pam :-)

Good he'll be available for extra innings

That's the spirit!

I'm back!

BART home, then workout. Now I’m back. Mojo!

Holliday's bat seems slow...

bah :(

that was not "brawn"

Holliday makes me sad

come on cust!!!!

Really?

A 3-2 comebacker?

just sad.

He swung at Ball 4

TNT? whatcha got?

Too bad we couldn't have switched the 2 runs to Sunday

and got shutout tonight.

hmm

hooray!

Base hit...I'll take it.

It certainly was some "TNT"... ... ....

thanks for shifting over, Robie!

i don’t have a picture for dribbly singles

Yay Jack!

come on ellis!!!

Let's go Ellie!!

Suzuki .313 and Cust .304

the rest of them are not worth listing

It is a billion degrees in the Fruitvale right now

85 here in walnut creek, still have to get my bike ride in

Singles work best

with men on base.

sigh.

scoring position! drive him in plz

The A's will try to do that

with a chrysler product

YAY Cust!

C’mon Ellis!

Can we get a pity run?

Yes!

there you go...

We can!

Yes we can

Is that

change we need? or not enough change?

Unicorn LOVES pity runs

OMGOSH...LOVE IT!

lol

i think i’ve only gotten to post it like twice here so far

It's beautiful, just beautiful.

It's like you, pam.

HAHAHAHA

You are the Doc Holliday of quick picture posting.

thanks haha

The leather jacket is a nice touch.

whiteshoes40 - April 21, 2009 reply

LMAO

That’s amazing

PITY!!!1

WOOWOO

YES!!!!

gogogogogoogogog

Yay Mark!

Yea-nicorn!

eyyyy run!

YES!!

Let’s get another!

Yeah Ellis!!! nice xbh!!!!!

so do you PH for Raj when we get there?

Ideally

you ph for raj starting the first time he’s up

A little late for that

Buck or Powell?

Damn.

Chavy ends the inning.

hey let’s do a really awesome 9th inning rally and win, eh?

I'm in favor of this

Do the Yanks have a good closer?

lol. Marco Scutaro doesn't think so

What ever happened to that guy?

He's probably totally washed up now

Yeah we'll probably sign him as a FA now

A la Goose Gossage?

Chavez

needs some help

Well he hit it hard

Nice hit chavy, too bad.

Guess the movie to kill time?

“Too bad, Butch. Too bad.”

DAMN YOU CHAVEZ!

cant get mad at him for that. He scortched it.

right at someone!

That was the best hit ball off Chavy's bat I've seen all day

year

Unless you include the homer off tim lincecum...remember how optimistic we were way back then....

Uh huh.

Chavez drills one AT someone. Poor guy.

Yeah - nothing wrong with that AB, just bad luck

i need to make pictures for everyone on the roster. i only have player specific ones for cust, ellis, and swooney.

Swooney's up next inning

Kurt and probably Buck as well

I have a good TBuck defense one but not an offense one

It'll do in a pinch

Red Ruffing? Did Scooby Do name him?

Outman in?

White flag?

I would love to pop the Yankee's blown save cherry at the new stadium

(ponders fruit reference)

does AN have a 'food metaphors' tag like FJM?

i miss that site.

Hmmm.....cucumber....banana....custard apple.....

OK good the Angels still have Macier Iztrus and his .143 average hitting third and DH'ing.

That makes me a little happier.

I like Outman’s socks, so he has that going for him.

which is nice

That yellow sock is quite distracting for the hitter

I bet Scioscia would bitch about it.

Maybe he read the Wall Street Journal today

Englishmajor - April 21, 2009 reply

He doesn't look like he can read, but maybe

I don't think Outman is good enough to deserve stirrups

Yikes that could have been very ugly.

does he get to keep the bat?

Why is everyone hating on Outman so much?

give him a chance!

OK

Lets. Do. This.

Memo to Brett:

bats stay on the field

Outman K's Gardner on a 95MPH fastball

THAT’S why he should be in the bullpen.

Exactley some pitchers just need to go max effort to be succesfull.

That’s why Bailey probably didn’t work as a starter. Had to save his stuff to make it last.

See I wonder if Bailey might excel now

He said he nibbled too much as a starter – that doesn’t mean he’d nibble too much now. Maybe his experience and success in the bullpen would allow him to excel as a starter.

Good theory. It may be true.

But why mess with something that’s working right now.

Because he'd be so much more valuable as an effective starter

Why not try it and if it doesn't work, you put him at closer

It shouldn’t shatter his confidence – and if it does, he shouldn’t be closing either.

Very true.

With Devine out for the year, I say keep in the pen. Then maybe re visit the idea in the offseason.

Well, let me ask you this -

IF (and it’s no guarantee) Bailey, if he started, could pitch as well as, say, Braden, would you prefer him to replace Eveland/Outman in the rotation or stay in the pen?

Definatly in the rotation.

But I hope they let Gio have a shot first.

Well I’m glad he knocked it down at least

Damn his grit

Way to knock it down.

i'm beginning to develop and unfounded theory

about ellis and pain killers

That I need some when he plays?

Good theory

be nice to grandpa Giambi

his knees can’t take that

Bad throw. Bad Bad Throw.

and it was only a preview...

Aw shit.

I'm surprised that Jeter didn't will the ball to go down the RF line

He is capable of anything.

He did that time

FAIL POST OF THE YEAR

Don't handcuff yourself like that.

It’s only the thirteenth game.

Handcuffs?

can we let t-buck out of his?

so you know, he can play baseball?

I'm sure Jennifer wants to keep it that way

don't beat yourself up

you can much bigger fails than that, but only if you believe in yourself.

grammar FAIL

Tie goes to the last FAIL post!

E1

EFF

WTF

jakebmill - April 21, 2009 reply

K?

queso?

And now we know what Queso looks like.

lol i wasn’t paying attention i only heard it, was it swinging?

lol yea buts its ok. I was really just kidding

i think he swung.

my bad haha

that’s what i get for not really paying attention

Dear Outman:

More strikes, less throws to 1st

That was payback for the pity run

Now we owe them, and Outman was just trying to help out with that.

Jeter's good

It has gotten to the point were I can’t hate him anymore. I’ll just enjoy his last years of his career and respect him

He's venerable now?

Not venerable but respectable

(ponders distinction)

woo hoo COME BACK TIME!!!!!!!!!

Synchronize watches!

Outman recovers

And Holliday still has 1 more RBI than Teixeira.

plzz plz plz

have Buck pinch-hit for davis!!!

Rajai's 2 for 3

That makes too much sense for Geren

Even with Raj 2 for 3

I still feel more comfortable with TB in there in the ninth.

Hope I don’t have to eat my words.

Ask and you shall receive.

So… I have this awesome “A’s win” picture that I like to use… and I’d really love to use it today. That would be great.

I'm in favor of this

Really, this inning should help convince folks that Outman belongs in the bullpen

He threw harder, and was excellent in a way he hasn’t been in the rotation.

I'm hoping Mazzaro's ready May 2

I don't see that happening

He’s probably a half season away.

He seems more ready than Gio or Gallagher

We’ll see.

Who's Gallagher?

True but it depends on how much Outman, Eveland and Gallagher stink.

Who's this Rivera kid? Any good?

Is Nomar available?

No.

Let’s get some of these runs w/less than 2 outs too, ok?

c'mon zooks!

buck in on-deck circle?

i think i heard that.

hot damn

Travis Buck Sighting!

Michael Kay is terrible

Called strike? Really?

Looked way inside on Gameday.

BASE HIT! RALLY TIMEEEEEE

Gad Zooks!

rhymeswithelephant - April 21, 2009 reply

zook! zook! zook!

4-4 zooks!

4/4

great day for zooks.

4-4 nice game ’zuki!

Yay Kurt!

OK, Buck, pretend it's Papelbon and you're at Fenway

Suzuki!!! 4-4!!

hmm that was weird

Travis you lucky bastard.

poop

bahdsfasfa.

why swing first pitch?

No complaining from the Buck fans

When he makes an easy out. But at least it wasn’t two!

zuki should have ran around him and gone to 2nd lol

shoulda hurdled him like willie mays hayes

But the rule is that on any ball anywhere,

the Yankee has the right of way. :-(

2 lifes left

Have we used the "phone a friend" yet?

DP ball botched

What the hell was that?

Cutter. I hear Rivera has a good one.

I'm gonna cut something if we dont score soon

rhymeswithelephant - April 21, 2009 reply

time for some signature ryan sweeney power

So we've heard about this "Sweeney power"?

Mike plays for Seattle

And Mark?

COME ON SWOONEY

9th inning rally time lets go lets go

Sweeney seems to be about one Crosby-length away from the plate.

Worrisome.

sweeney/cabrera

the last two people I want up when I want a HR

You mean you'd rather have Cust?

Has anyone suggested he bat second?

dang

WHY DO YOU NOT PROTECT THE FREAKING PLATE THERE

zooks is +23.3% today.

pettitte is +22.7%

the entire offence, to this point, is -27%

I don't know about you guys, but I was blown away by that Sweeney power!

Damn Rivera

At least he doesn't point to the sky and scream like an idiot

Englishmajor - April 21, 2009 reply

click

rhymeswithelephant - April 21, 2009 reply

thank you ramon hernandez

Great move, O-Cab

Everyone who K's looking should be fined

worst fail ever

Well that was appropriate

Great work O-Cab.

WTF.

why is he bunting? AGAIN?!

He's not a good hitter?

he's not a good bunter, either.

ok ok ok, i stop being posetivie

worst bunt ever

so pissed i can't even spell

Ugh. A loss.

Cabrera is fucking retarded

Can't think of a more pathetic way to end the game.

It’s finally over.

cabrera needs to stop bunting

sad times.

er...

trying to bunt

ARGH...

This is bullshit... Let's trade everyone who won't be here longer than a year.

Isn't that true by definition?

Let's go, A's!

To the clubhouse, that is.

Please have a reporter have the balls to

drill Geren with how embarrassing he and his team are

Cabrera needs to take some lessons from Scutaro

GAME OVER

we freaking suck

I cannot stress how bad the A's are...

Just for fun

every hitter tomorrow is only allowed to take uppercut swings

We're not that bad

but we're kind of

Any chance they fire Geren??? Something needs to change. Cant keep this bullshit up

Geren has to hit something first

Preferrably something close to beane.

No

We couldn’t be that lucky

Would you fire your best friend after giving him an extension?

If he sucks this bad. Yea. Lol but i guess BB wouldn't

Not sure why we gave him an extension

Was he a threat to go elsewhere?

Geren is Billy's proxy

BFF.

you know,

i think it was almost a paranoia of losing your coaches to division rivals twice.

it’s not justification and can’t be the whole story, but i have to believe it played a part.

I would have went with Terry Francona

Why does the A's telecast on EI cut out mid sentence but the Yankees feed still going strong well into the postgame?

Conspiracy and it pisses me off.

Color me paranoid. This is the first year that EI has ever cut off after the telecast. I also don’t get CSNCA on the 600’s on Directv. Unbelievable.

Yea, I don't have CSNCA 698 either. Sucks.

It’s not worth the extra money just for postgame.

can someone explain to me

why Geren finally uses Buck— and it’s against probably the toughest RHP vs lefties in the last 25 years??

I don’t get it.

jasonthea - April 21, 2009 reply

three words

what
the
fuck

my_cat_max - April 21, 2009 reply

wpa-cap

kurt +23.3%
rest of offence: -54.9% (chavvy -14.4, o-cab -15.8, sweeney -19.8)

eveland: -20.0%
pitching: -18.4%, hitting -31.6%

11 of 13 yankees positive.

don’t care enough to do plays.

O-Cabs should get -100.0%

Thanks for this...

Frustrating!

Get your damn bat off your shoulder, Swoony, and RUN KURT RUN! Oh well. Tomorrow is another day! See you all at 10AM!

A'sfansince1970 - April 21, 2009 reply

I dont know if I'm excited to watch another of these damn things..too many yankee fans to listen to.

what a pathetic final at-bat

what happened to that whole Moneyball, not giving away outs, thing?

Benjamin Light - April 21, 2009 reply

They give away outs by looking at strike 3 every game

AT least they tried to hit the ball on quite a few occasions

Don't forget the baserunning gaffes especially the pickoffs.

Pathetic mental team. Thank goodness the season is still young.

Richie still pitching in the 6th.

Awww….I miss him.

Oh wait! I'ts April!

Don’t we ALWAYS suck in April? Teams go through this crap sometimes. They’ll improve. I’m sure it’s because our team is different every year. Nice job by the bullpen yet again and not a terrible job by Eveland. AND let’s all agree to turn the volume off of the computer or TV. That way we don’t have to hear the Yankee fans!

A'sfansince1970 - April 21, 2009 reply

Yep

Respectfully disagree

Eveland was garbage period.

4 IP 9 Hits, 4 BBs and 4 runs

is garbage

Eh i don't think he was too bad..I mean in that stadium with that lineup...4 earned isn't the worst.

He obviously wasn’t good, but i wouldnt say garbage

and Geren didn't help with the early defensive plan

He really gave us no chance to win.

I live in NJ, i'll never stop hearing yankee fans

Tell them to worry about the Rays and Sox.

They are not a dynasty these days.

Yanks telecast said this is our worst start in 8 years.

I thought we always started badly but we normally don’t look this bad.

for all this, we're 5-7? 5-8 now?

the offence is concerning, because it’s anemic. it just looks bad.
that and the mental errors.

i watch an SC team that throws the ball away A LOT – 6 errors 5 times this year so far. i understand it’s college, but that’s kind of a silver lining thing. it really could be worse. but sometimes i think that SC’s offence could do just as good against a major league team… all it takes is one or two bounces.

but all it takes IS one or two bounces.