Oakland A's Days

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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!