Oakland A's Days

Oakland A's: Expect the Non-Worst

We won't act like we expected the A's to be in first place on May 12.  And we won't pretend that we knew it would be because the former D Rays would sweep the Angels.  Or because Bobby Crosby of all unlikely people would steal home like he was Jason Kendall.  Or because the A's lineup of random nobodies would get hot and score 12 runs against the Rangers who had basically been murdering them (which we just considered a favor for dear old Wash, who seemed like he really needed some help).  Nor will we deny that we are surprised that Rich Harden actually pitched again this season (although not especially well).  We figured he was back on the DL to stay like so many times before.  And as for the sweeping the Orioles last week, we can admit that we didn't really expect that either.  We were dumbfounded by the Mark Ellis walkoff off the foul pole.  Truly shocked.  We are used to expecting the worst, and so we do, but all this good stuff keeps happening.  And while this makes us doubt our long held belief that the A's success depends upon our own individual positive thinking, we definitely like it.  First place feels great.  So officially from this day forward, we are going to stop expecting the worst.  We will leave that to the Mariners fans.  Instead, we are going to expect the non-worst.  While it still seems somewhat far fetched for us to expect the best, and we want to be reasonable and keep our expectations in check, these strange, surprising A's seem to find a way.   

Go A's!

100% Quirkiness

We really like the A's new 100% Baseball ad campaign.  Our only concern is that it fails to sufficiently highlight the awesome quirkiness of the 2008 A's.  Although it is surprising that the quirkiest A's team in recent memory doesn't include Nick Swisher or Bobby Kielty, we think that the current A's take OAD-style quirkiness to a whole new level.  The A's have 2 Browns and 2 Sweeneys.  They have a guy named Huston and another named Dallas.  Their best reliever used to play under an entirely different name.  There is also the much publicized Andrew Brown strangeness, and the insanity of Dallas Braden's afro.  Plus, the A's third baseman is a recovering alcoholic.  And the A's DH warms up with a huge metal pipe.  Plus, the A's are playing a style of baseball that is completely odd (especially for the A's) with lots of pinch runners and almost no homeruns.  Every game with these A's something completely weird and unexpected happens.    We love these quirky A's and really hope they keep winning.

Go A's!

OAD Road Report

In our never ending quest to bring our readers the freshest A's commentary out there, your intrepid bloggers here at Oakland A's Days have headed in opposite directions (one north, one south) to watch the A's play road games in Seattle and Anaheim. Especially given the amazing win in the last game of the Angels series, this road trip was a big, inspiring success. Our eyewitness reports from the front follow:

Seattle

Half of OAD went to the games last Saturday and Sunday against the Mariners at the completely awesome Safeco Field. First off, let us say that Safeco is way better than AT&T/PacBell/Telephone Park. The concourses are wider; the food, including the fabled Ichi-Roll, is tastier (except for the chili dog -- avoid); the sight lines are better; and the people, from the ushers (who they call Guest Seating Coordinators or something ridiculous) to the Mariners fans, are unbelievably friendly and nice. The Saturday game, however, wasn't much to write home about. The A's offense looked confused and the A's defense looked confused-er (we are looking at you Jack Cust). But Sunday was a whole different story. After Saturday's game, we went to the ticket window to see about getting tickets for Sunday. The ticket guy was the nicest human being we have ever met and we got seats directly behind home plate and about 14 rows up. Why seats like this are NEVER available at the A's despite the constant whining about low attendance we cannot understand. Anyway, we agree with Ray Fosse that Sunday could be the game that epitomizes the A's surprising and inspiring 2008 season. Watching the A's rally against stupid fist pumping Felix while the lovely retractable roof unfurled was magical. We love watching these A's because they get hits at times when the old A's never would. Emil and Barton and Sweeney look fearless. It is great. And we love using double pinch runners and having fast guys on the base paths. And we love a reliable bullpen. And the return of Frank was spectacular. One of the best things about the Seattle fans was that rather than heckling Frank, they were all shouting that he should have been playing for the home team. When the meanest thing the opposing fans say about your team is that one of your players should be playing for their team, you start to feel like you are in some kind of twilight zone. And we were. As we walked out bedecked in A's flair, we expected some trouble from the Mariners fans given that we had all just watched the A's come from behind to beat their ace. Instead, a fratty looking guy patted us on the shoulder and said -- and we are not kidding, this is a direct quote -- "Good game guys. Go take the AL West from the Angels." We are serious. That actually happened. The Mariners fans had that downtrodden, self-effacing, expect the worse mentality that we used to find charming about Red Sox fans back in the good old curse days. We love that the A's won 2 out of 3. We love that Joe B got a win. And we have to admit that we love Safeco Field. Should the A's continue with this moving to Fremont idea, we might just consider relocating to the Pacific Northwest. The only black spot on another-wise excellent roadtrip was that gross Mariner Moose. The Moose looks even creepier and more child molesty in person. He is just bad.

Anaheim

The other half of OAD when to Monday night's game at the Big A in Anaheim. The place feels like a casino where you are constantly bombarded with flashing lights and background noise to the point of sensory overload. There are huge, HD screens all over the stadium. They flash constantly with advertisements and commands (MAKE…SOME…NOISE!) and the lights are bright enough and the flashing is frenetic enough that you want to lose your mind. It's also very noisy in there, not just between innings like at most parks these days, but even during the game. Have you ever noticed that little bird chirping noise on Angels telecasts? Well, it's very loud when you're there in person. And don't even get us started on the beach balls! Needless to say, all of this distracts from the game on the field. Although we have to give Angels fans credit for coming out every night in such large numbers, we really can't say that they seem interested in baseball. As far as the friendliness of the people, we would rate them as decidedly not friendly. They were not hostile, though...they actually kind of seemed neutral and maybe even numb. It's as if they've been so overstimulated by the monotony of Orange County and all the flashing lights and music in the stadium, that they've been zapped of their humanity. Not to mention that everyone was wearing the same exact outfit – a brand new shiny white Angels jersey and a Crayola red cap. They just all looked the same. We were sitting by one energetic older woman who had a lot of personality and who seemed to be having a really good baseball-related time. She had a huge sign that said "Gettin' Figgy With It" and she would dance around every time Chone Figgins was up to bat. That kind of behavior might otherwise be annoying, but this particular woman had a lot of charm. She was certainly an outlier amongst the rest of the Angels fans. Overall, we would have to say that the experience at the stadium is nice, but in a creepy, sterile, homogenous way that actually makes you really uncomfortable. As for the game, it was AWESOME! That was the game where Big Frank was a home run short of the cycle and every A was great on offense. And of course, Chad Gaudin pitched really well and you just got the feeling that these A's are doing something special. So people and ballpark aside, it was a great night of baseball.

Go A's!

FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK!

FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK! FRANK!

Stupid Schadenfreude

We will admit that we wanted Barry Zito to be terrible.  At the end of his A's career, he had tortured us with so much nibbling, and trying to be too fine, and even admitting that his heart wasn't in the 2006 ALCS.  And all of those annoying post-game comments when he would repeatedly say things like "I thought I pitched well" even when he clearly had not.  So when he went to the Giants for more money than we could ever even conceive of, we were like, "We understand, but we kind of hope you suck forever."  And we will admit that we didn't really care if he ever got another strikeout for troops.  And when he started being bad, like that terrible first inning against the A's last season, we will admit that we enjoyed it.  It felt okay to us for Barry Zito to get a litttle comeuppance for so excitedly going to play for the hateful Giants for such an obscene amount of money.  We felt justified saying mean things about the fact that he can be such a headcase and that we knew that contract would mess with his mind.  And as a general rule, we like to see the Giants lose.  But we never hoped that he would lose every game.  We didn't wish for those shaky, annoying, fearful in the zone Barry Zito outings to occur every single time he took the mound.  At this point, he is just so bad that we can't even enjoy it.  Now it just seems sad.  Even pathetic.  And weird.  What on earth is wrong with him?

Thank You Universe

This article about Andrew Brown could not be more perfect if we had written it ourselves.  Turns out that Andrew Brown who is pitching beautifully is also completely nuts.  He plays chess with Huston Street (and they use Eric Chavez bobbleheads for some of the pieces), he sings songs to his teammates, and he is basically the Swisher replacement the 2008 A's have desperately needed.  We feel like we have won the lottery now that we know the A's have another character on the roster. 

Go A's!

Where's the Love for Joe B?

As much as we loved the awesome April weekend sweep of the Royals, and the share of first place, and all the offense that can actually score runs, and the comeback win on Saturday, we're actually hung up on a different issue from the weekend.  Although we usually try to look on the bright side when things are going poorly, now that things are going well we want to complain just a little.  Now, we aren't really bobblehead people.  That is well documented.  But the Travis Buck bobblehead giveaway on Saturday has left us pondering why Joe Blanton does not have a bobblehead.  He is the most veteran, home grown A who is currently playing, he's the number 1 starter, he has been lights out all season so far, and yet the A's decide to create a bobblehead of pretty boy Travis Buck, who can't buy a hit this season.  We think this is another example of the A's marketing department getting it wrong and catering to the "Mrs. Hudson" t-shirt crowd, rather than to true baseball fans.  It bugs us.

Go Oakland!

D.J. to the Non-D Rays

We love rhyming things.  So that makes us think that Dan Johnson to the team formerly known as the D. Rays isn't so bad.  D.J., D. Rays sounds pretty good. 

Even though Dan Johnson never really made a mark in Oakland, we still like him.  He is quirky (even his medical ailments are quirky -- dry eyes?).  He has personality.  And he had (a few) great baseball moments here. 

We wish him the best.   

Go A's!

OAD Early Season Surprise Tally

Surprises:
Guys we knew nothing about = Great Pitching.
Jairo = Unstoppable.
Bobby Crosby = Not Sucking offensively.
Oakland Athletics = Best Record in the American League.

Non-Surprises:
Rich Harden = Weak Sauce.

Welcome Back to the Old Normal

One thing about not being a professional athlete is that we can do what we have to do even when our bodies might not be totally cooperating. For example, we can still type a blog post with a paper cut. We can watch the A's on TV even though our eyes are itchy. So we have a hard time really understanding why Rich Harden is always being scratched from starts due to what sound like totally minor aches and pains. You don't need us to tell you that this feels like the worst kind of normal.

On a brighter note, it's nice to see the A's win a couple of games so far in Toronto. And although we never like to see Scoot struggle in any way, watching him play defense gave us a nice warm feeling about him being an embedded A.

Go Oakland!

Welcome to the New Normal

After the A's first home weekend series, it amazes us how quickly things can return to normal, even if it is a new normal filled with things we are going to have to learn to get used to.  (Note: we aren't totally sure that previous sentence will make sense to anyone not living inside our brains.)  Anyway, in some ways, last weekend's games against the Indians were classic A's baseball.  There were tiny crowds but millions of tailgaters.  There was great pitching (except for poor CC, and even CC's suckingness is normal for when he plays in Oakland).  There was dot racing.  There was Roy Steele.  There was Stomper who entered the field in his "smiling Chevron car," and danced like a champ.  There was an excellent pitcher who got hurt during his first outing. 

But there were all kinds of new things too.  Like the A's horrible alternative black jerseys.   We don't think we are going out on a limb here to say that the A's new black jerseys are worse than the Truppet Puppets.  And speaking of, there was a cute new video of the Truppet Puppet hanging out at the Tokyo Dome.  There is also the new A's problem of unreliable defense. And the new price for Roundtable Pizza ($7, oy vey).   

But while we chafe against this new stuff right now, we know that someday soon it will be no big thing.  Honestly, if you had told us three years ago that we would be cool with the third deck being covered in strange tarps except for an area designated for people who are having all they can eat hot dogs and nachos, we not only wouldn't have believed it, we wouldn't have liked it, not one bit.  Honestly though, if the A's keep winning and keep winning in Oakland, we will put up with almost anything.  Go A's! 

Opening Night Cross-Examination

We here at Oakland A's Days have watched our fair share of Law & Order (chung chung). What follows is how we would describe opening night if being cross examined by Jack McCoy (chung chung).

McCoy: Oakland A's Days, you were present for A's opening night on April 1, 2008, is that correct?

OAD: Yes.

McCoy: Is it true that you maintain that you had fun even though the A's lost 2-1?

OAD: Yes.

McCoy: But you admit that the A's defense looked very shaky?

OAD: Yes. The defense looked frighteningly uneven. We need Ronnie Wash back and how. Every pop up and ground ball started to make us very nervous. And it seems strange that the A's appear to have no idea how to field a bunt.

McCoy: And you agree that the A's own attempts at small ball were a disaster?

OAD: Yes, on that too. The A's attempted bunt was a joke and Suzuki's effort to steal second was also very sad looking.

McCoy: And the Red Sox fans were very annoying?

OAD: Goodness yes. They started their own Let's Go Red Sox cheers repeatedly. They high fived each other obnoxiously for the smallest thing. They used incredibly irritating nicknames for the players, "Go Tek!" "Go Paps!", and the Red Sox fan sitting closest to us actually said to the A's fan sitting in front of him when David Ortiz came up to bat, "there is God." Fortunately, God hit a week grounder to Daric Barton.

McCoy: And there was an incredibly sad moment of silence for Joe Kennedy isn't that true?

OAD: Yes, shockingly sad.

McCoy: And the hot dog stand ran out of hot dogs?

OAD: Yes. That also happened.

McCoy: And the A's unveiled the Stomper Trumpet Puppet with an incredibly low budget movie that seems to be ripping off the Rally Monkey and the real Stomper was no where in sight?

OAD: We can't deny it. The Trumpet Puppet video does seem to be derivative of the Rally Monkey caca that we hate so much. But, after a while, the picture of the puppet dancing on the screen started to make us laugh. Come on, it is a dancing puppet! If the real Stomper had been anywhere in evidence, we probably wouldn't have minded the Trumpet Puppet business at all. Except that we can't keep saying Trumpet Puppet. It should either be Trumpet Prumpet or Truppet Puppet. And, we still don't really understand what a Truppet Puppet is in the first place.

McCoy: Yet, despite all of this, you still contend that you had fun at opening night? Remember Oakland A's Days, you are under oath.

OAD: We did! It was great to see the A's. And even though the offense was basically non-existent and the defense looked very scary, the A's only lost 2-1! For much of the game Joe B, looked awesome. And the bull pen was incredible. The A's fans were all decked out in their goofy flair. And Roy Steele sounded great. They have spruced up the "A's Let's Do This" sign and there is a new one that just said "Joe." And we ate chili cheese fries and got magnetic schedules. Given our low expectations, it was perfect! Go A's!

3 Wishes for Opening Night

1. That the Boston fans in attendance are not completely unbearable.  (April Fool's!  Seriously, we try to be optimistic but we are not delusional.)
2. That the "Trumpet Puppet" is not as horrendous as it sounds.
3. That the A's play well and continue to be fun and exciting to watch.

LET'S GO OAKLAND!

Opening Night: YAY!

We are beyond excited that the A's real home opener is here.  Go A's!

Oakland A's Episode IV: A New Hope

We know.  This has happened before.  Rich Harden pitches one game, looks like some kind of amazing alien super pitching machine, and we get our hopes up sky high.  And then the inevitable (which we shall not name here) happens.  So we are keeping our heads, and are just going to say that those two games in Japan made us feel much more positive about this year's A's than we ever thought we would.  And not just because Harden looked great.  But because there was a lot more offense than we ever remember from the Kotsay/Kendall years.  And because it looks like Keith Foulke might not be awful.  And because Emil Brown in Eric Byrnes style totally redeemed himself for the base running mistake with a great homerun.  And because Mark Ellis hit a homer off Dice-K like it was no big thing.  And because it is fun to see Kurt Suzuki (who, let us just clarify, was not having a "homecoming" in Japan stupid Gary Thorne) run out to the mound to Joe Blanton who is a great A and didn't get traded.   And because there is a visible sort of scrappiness to Hannahan, Sweeney, Barton, Buck, etc.  They looked like they were really trying.  And it should be obvious to everyone that the A's played better than the Red Sox and should have won both games.  And they did it all in the face of complete apathy from the fans and announcers (the Gary Thorne screw ups vis-a-vis the A's are too many to list, but ESPN should be ashamed) and irritatingly pompous preening from certain players on the current World Champs (we're looking at you Manny).  And although we're still pretty irritated about the way things went down in Tokyo – the "home" games that weren't home games in any way shape or form (the A's didn't even get the "home" clubhouse; they had to cede even that to the arrogant Sox), the Red Sox demanding that the night game be switched to a day game, the ridiculous money demands that we mentioned in our last post – we would like to acknowledge how wonderfully the A's handled all that stuff.  They didn't seem to complain or feel slighted or worry about the disparate treatment.  They just played.  It was great and it reminded us that we've always loved the underdogginess of the A's.

These A's are going to be fun to watch this year.  As the marketing campaign says, they are 100% Baseball.

p.s.  We loved that the Tokyo Dome has "ball girls," although we are somewhat scared that they were wearing light pink uniforms.

News Flash! New Season, New Country, Boston Red Sox and Their Fans Still Jerks.

This always happens.  We wait and wait and wait for baseball to start and then it feels like it sneaks up on us all at once.  We cannot wait to watch the games in Japan (big ups Tivo!).  And while it's kind of cool and certainly novel that the A's are opening the season in Japan, it's fascinating to us how well things translate overseas.  After all, the small crowds at the A's exhibition games in Japan must have made the A's feel right at home.  It's totally fitting that even in Japan, the A's are just a bunch of scrappy nobodies who are ignored by the press and fans alike.  And we love that the games in Japan have displayed all the grating arrogance of the recent Red Sox and their bandwagon fans.  Only the Red Sox would threaten to boycott the trip to Japan because their coaches weren't getting paid, when the only reason their coaches weren't getting paid was because the Red Sox demanded more money.  And how perfect is it that the irritatingness of the Red Sox fans has turned off even their famously polite hosts?  How do you say "these Boston people are awful" in Japanese?

Baseball Boogie

There isn't anything we can really say about this -- enjoy!

Oakland A's Days Presents: Guest Blogger 8 Year Old Charlie