Oakland A's Days

TGIM

Never have we been so happy for a weekend to be over and for Monday to arrive.  You don’t need us to tell you that the weekend’s games against the Giants were awful.  After Friday went as planned, we thought on a couple more breezy wins against our hapless rivals from across the Bay were inevitable.  In fact, the Giants seemed so lame that they were starting to feel unworthy of being considered rivals.  So when Duke pitched beautifully in the loss on Saturday, we were frustrated.  And then when Joe B. pitched like crap on Sunday, we were demoralized.  All those Giants fans who have had nothing to cheer about all season long really came out strong on Sunday and what should have been an enjoyable sunny Sunday at the Coliseum became an exercise in self-restraint because it would have been inappropriate to strangle the 9 year old girl in orange who was sitting behind us screaming non-stop in our ears.  But we’ve gotta say, last night’s win erased all of that.  There is nothing we love more than beating the Angels.  Nothing.  Tonight’s pitching match up should be off the hook.  We can’t wait. 

LET’S GO OAKLAND!

Strikeout Machine and a Series Win

Wow, huh?  Rich Harden was amazing today.  Our only complaint is that we were not there in person.  11 Ks is pretty remarkable and we love that the A's took 2 of 3 from the Phillies. 

Go A's!

Interminable Interleague

Although in a lot of ways it would be awesome if the A's were more like the Marlins, we are definitely glad to see them go.  It is too stressful watching a game where any member of the other team is likely to hit a huge-mongous homerun at any minute.  It made us long for those much more A's-style games where nothing really happens and then it is over 2-1.  Anyway, we are hoping that the slumping Phillies are more beatable for the A's, to be followed up by the infinitely beatable Gigantes from across the Bay.  And then we will be happy for interleague to be over.  This year it feels like interleague has been going on for months.  We just want to figure out whether or not the A's have a chance of beating the Angels.  So can we get to it already? 

 

Go A's!

 

p.s. We are so proud of nice, quiet Duke and his league leading ERA.  Two-time All-Star?  Maybe?

Hey A's

That is EXACTLY what we were talking about.  Do you even read this blog?

 

Go Oakland!

Spread it Around

We can't complain about 15 runs against the best pitcher in the NL.  We can't.  But we do hope that last night's offensive explosion doesn't mean that the A's offense will go into hibernation for a week.  Because Joe B. really deserves some run support.  And we would be so happy if he could beat his pal Dan Haren.  We love offense, we just wish the A's could spread it around a little more.  Is that too much to ask?
 
Go A's! 

Hi again, A's:

Thank you so much for beating the Giants.  You really went above and beyond this weekend with that amazing sweep and you made us very happy.  We love that you always kill it in interleague play.  And we love that the Giants were humiliated even after turning on the sprinklers while you were still on the field.  Here's looking forward to more of the same (wins, not sprinklers) in Arizona!

Always,
Oakland A's Days

p.s. We've said it before, but we can't enough of Andrew Brown's quirky A's-iness.  We're crazy about the fact that he rides his bike to BART and BARTs to the Coliseum.  So great!

Small Request

Dear A's,

 

Last night was pretty terrible.  But we are willing to put it behind us.  Just please, please, please beat the Giants.  It would mean so much.

 

Your friends,

Oakland A's Days

Games Are Not Selling Out Because Yankee "Fans" Have

The Chron's constant reporting on the small crowds at the Coliseum is annoying.  We get it, not very many people are going to the games lately, where's the news?  However, we have to say that the smaller crowds at the Yankee games this week do seem notable.  Those obnoxious, gloating, in your face lunatics that have plagued us for the last decade don't seem to be around.  And while it should not surprise us that those so-called fans never were in the first place, we have been pleasantly surprised by how normal the real Yankee fans have been.  It makes us feel a little guilty for assuming that they were all bandwagoners.  In spite of the outcome, Tuesday night's game was actually a lot of fun.  We downright enjoyed many of the fans who came out to see Wang pitch.  And last night game's was obviously great.  We're hoping for more of the same tonight.

Go A's!

Are You Kidding?

Mark Ellis should be given the title King of the A's.  It just isn't enough for us to consider him our humble, underrated, South Dakotan second baseman.  It isn't enough for us to appreciate that he should win Gold Gloves and be kind of famous because he is a really great baseball player and is nice and cute.  That just doesn't do justice to the fact that he is the most awesome, reliable A we have right now.  He is King of the A's.  Two walkoffs?  Off the excellently named "Scutarpole"?  One of them a grand slam?  How is that even possible?  It shocks us.  And we were really feeling down yesterday.  The Kurt Suzuki bobblehead game on Friday was awful.  Watching Lackey is a nightmare and there are no words for how wretched it feels to watch stupid K-Rod celebrate like he has just won the World Series.  And Saturday really wasn't any better.  (Since when does Maicer Izturis own the A's?  And in what alternate universe do his highlights look cool?)  So for King of the A's to come through to stave off the sweep in extra innings?  Well, that is something special.  That is why he is King of the A's.  And we are going to cherish this feeling of wonderful appreciativeness today and not start worrying about the Yankees and their terrible fans until tomorrow.

We Just Feel Confused When Bobby Crosby Does Something Good

We are used to always being disappointed by Bobby Crosby.  Even now that he is a certified doubles machine we still expect a huge swinging strike instead.  And we can't get it out of our heads that he never comes through in the clutch.  Indeed, if you had asked us yesterday afternoon, we would have said that he is probably the last guy we would choose to be at the plate in a situation where you need a run to win the game because it is tied 2-2 in the 9th, and it is getting pretty cold and windy and your friend didn't bring a coat to the Coliseum, and Kenny Rogers is so stupid but he pitches well in Oakland, and you had food poisoning over the weekend, and in any event you can't get the image out of your head of when Kimbo Slice punched that guy's cauliflower ear and it exploded, and the A's are 3.5 back, and the Angels won again, and the entire team is on the DL, and this homestand is going to be so hard, and you have this sinking feeling that this is when the surprising 2008 season is going to take a big turn for the worse.  And then just like that, Bobby Crosby hits a game winning double in a big "so there" to doubters like us.  Which is okay.  We deserve it.  We're going to be at the game tonight and we're incredibly excited to watch Dontrelle Willis pitch.  

Go A's!

Eric Chavez, Harbinger of Doom?

Chavvy's return was not so great.  Now obviously, we can't blame the 12 - 0 loss totally on him, especially since he was only DH'ing.  But we have this fear that his old bad mojo could infect all these new A's and start a downward spiral of sucking that will make the rest of the season very sad and hard to enjoy.  We hate the prospect of subtraction by addition.  12 to nothing is really bad.  Luckily, the game wasn't televised so we didn' t have to watch it.  But we would really like for the A's to get right on this short trip to Texas. 

A's: Let's do this!

Wednesday Happiness

We understand that it is bad for the A's that the attendance is so low.  We really do.  But the truth is, nothing is more fun than being at the Coliseum on a Tuesday night when you can sit anywhere you want, don't have to wait in line for food, can exit the parking lot in like two seconds, and all the A's fans there are super diehard lunatics wearing give away hats from the 80s and headphones.  We loved last night's game.  It was great to see so many former A's, especially embedded A Marco Scutaro, who was treated to the homecoming of a conquering hero.  We find it odd that he is playing the outfield, but we wish him the best no matter what.  Even better was Greg Smith's lovely pitching performance and the way in his postgame interview he referred to everyone by nicknames: Brownie, Bartty, Hanny, etc.  We also loved the scrappy A's offense that managed to make 3 runs out of thin air.  And we lurve that the bat boys are mimicking Frank's pose as he waits in the batters box -- you know the one where he is on one knee leaning over -- and we desperately hope that Frank didn't get a leg injury for his 40th birthday.  As for tonight, you couldn't ask for a more high class pitching matchup.  We hope hope hope that Harden dominates.
 
Go Oakland.
 
p.s. We neglected to mention that the Sunday game against the Sox made us realize that the Youkilis no error streak at first base is something of a joke.  There were two balls that he didn't get to -- both attributed to errors on the thrower -- that looked very much like Youkilis errors to us.  We were reminded of the old Moneyball philosophy that errors aren't necessarily an indicator that someone is a bad fielder because sometimes an error is the result of almost doing something amazing.  Youkilis looked definitely non-amazing to us on Sunday.  Plus, we hate his facial hair.

Revenge

We cannot wait for Frank to hit like 200 revenge homers in this series against the Blue Jays. 

Go A's!

p.s. The Chron should be murdered for this mean spirited column.

Sweep-a-Doodle-Doo

After this weekend's sweep of the hateful Red Sox we are ready to admit that we have absolutely no idea what these A's are up to.  At yesterday's game, seconds before Jack Cust hit a massive homerun, we said, "Cust is terrible.  He isn't going to do anything here."  Then, BAM. 

It was a wake up call for us.  These A's don't seem to have any of the baggage that we do.  So they just do crazy, surprising things all the time.  It is awesome.  On Friday, half of OAD went to the game with a non-annoying Red Sox fan (yes, they exist -- athough, this person might be the only one).  This non-annoying Red Sox fan was unnerved by the drubbing the Sox received and by the Trumpet Prumpet's Irish dancing video.  We kept saying, "The A's aren't usually like this.  This is very unusual."  But you know, with the 2008 A's, it really isn't.  First, that video is here to stay.  And we are starting to like it.  Second, the A's win games that no one expects them to.  We need to start believing. 

Red Sox Fan Irritation Report:  Obnoxious as ever, the Sox faithful were in full force this weekend.  Two things stood out as especially awful: 1. What is the deal with turning around to the fans behind you and pointing to the letter B on your hat?  As a visiting fan?  When your team is losing?  Who does that?  2. The Red Sox fans are now wearing as much bright, ugly red as Angels fans.  It isn't even the team's main uniform color.  Why are they doing this?  Can someone make them stop?  It makes the, "who is more annoying?" calculus between the Red Sox and Angels even harder to figure out.

Note to Selves: The A's Will Win Again

We are trying to keep cool about the A's recent lack of winningness.  It is hard though.  Especially after these hard fought losses to the non-D Rays.  If you had told us that Frank would start hitting homers and the A's would still be losing, we would have told you to shutup.  We used to be sad when the A's played like A Rays (meaning badly), but emulating the new Rays would be a good idea.  They are infuriatingly tenacious.  And they are shocking everyone.  And their manager has cool eye glasses.  We like them.  We can't help it.  Even with their very boring and pointless new logo.  But please let the A's beat them today.  Please.

 

Go Oakland!

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?