Oakland A's Days

Where are we?

Dear Readers, 

We love this blog and we love the A's.  So much.  But you may have noticed that not much has been happening here lately.  We wanted to explain why and put up a note for those that might find our blog and wonder where we are.  Some huge life changes have happened here at Oakland A's Days.  Changes that have made it hard to keep up with the A's the way we used to.  When we started this blog we were single girls in our twenties working as lawyers.  We followed the A's back then with a dedication and devotion that now seems almost miraculous.  Indeed, we marvel at how prolific we used to be, at how much we used to know, at how deeply we cared about the minutiae of the A's season.  We treasure the memory of those days.  When we knew what car Jim Mecir would drive out of the A's parking lot, Dan Johnson's batting average, and Travis Buck's favorite restaurant.  It just isn't possible for us anymore.  We love the A's as much as we ever have.  But now one half of OAD is a new mom, raising a tiny A's fan.  And the other half of OAD has moved to Miami, the land of the Marlins.  We are both married, in our thirties, trying to start families and be grown ups.  And that has changed how we relate to the A's and how we think about this blog.  We see this blog as a loving and (we think) beautiful record of how we felt about the A's during a wonderful and unique period in our lives and in the history of the Oakland Athletics.  And we hope it will be here as long as the internet.  Accordingly, please peruse our archives, which amuse us to this day.  New posts, however, probably won't happen on a regular basis, at least not for a while.  Instead, we are going to wait until something strikes us, until the moment seems right.  We are going to wait until we feel inspired like we used to.  And then we will share those thoughts here with you.  Please don't forget about us.  Thank you for reading.  

Go Oakland!

Love, 
OAD 

Bay Bridge Series Sweep: EFF YES!

We couldn't be happier about the sweep of the Giants.  Here are a few random thoughts from the weekend:

We had been feeling genuinely happy about Barry Zito's success so far this season.  We still have love for the guy. But honestly, what A's fan is surprised that he had a hard time again in Oakland?  Regardless of his "stuff" he is and always will be a headcase.

Giants fans are lame.  L.A.M.E.

The Giants scored 1 run all weekend.  As terrible as the Giants' offense is, can the A's pitchers get some credit?  Please!  Gio was nothing short of amazing on Saturday (20 in a row, hello) and it is beyond awesome that Ben Sheets seems to be coming around.

It was amazing to see large crowds at the Coliseum.  All the energy of back-to-back sellouts reminds us how great baseball in Oakland can feel.

We feel happy for Ray that he got to work with Jon Miller on Friday.  He deserves a professional partner like that.  Krukow, on the other hand, is a homer hack.

Oh heck, Coco Crisp!  We were sooo excited to have you around for a couple games.  And you played darn well.  Pleasepleaseplease don't be hurt again.  Please.

We have officially decided that we love Chris Townsend.  At first, as much as we were relieved to be Buan-free, we were afriad that he might be too fratty and KNBR-ish.  We weren't sold on his A'sey-ness.  But the way he treats all A's fans with respect and enthusiasm is awesome.  And we loved how much he was loving the sweep.  Count us officially on his bandwagon.

Go Oakland!

More Braden Induced Happiness.

Go Oakland!

PERFECT

p.s. Stick it, A-Rod.

Dallas Braden: Green Collar Hero

Amen to DB for ferociously taking on the great jerk A-Rod.  We hate to use this term, but A-Rod is a dbag.  And Braden is the best, craziest, A's-iest gamer out there.  We just couldn't love him anymore than we do right now.

Go Oakland!  Go Braden!

Gun Shy

Maybe it's because we've been so disappointed by the past couple of baseball seasons.  Maybe it's because we put stock in all the pre-season predictions that said the A's would finish last.  Or maybe it's rational because after all, it is only April 13.  But we are really nervous about getting too excited about this winning.  We find ourselves knocking on wood and wishing Ray Fosse would too.  We just don't want to get ahead of ourselves.  So when will it be okay to get really excited?  May?  June?  After the All-Star Break?  September?

Go Oakland! 

Photo via

Sorry Bugaloos

 

"Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield," Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. "I guess we're the bug."
 
Go Oakland!

Enjoying the Present

The A's are in first place!  And we're going to enjoy it while it lasts.  Go Oakland!

Rag Tag Baseball

4 errors.  Coming back against Felix Hernandez and then blowing it.  A's fans booing Milton Bradley and Eric Byrnes.  The guy sitting in front of us who was passed out drunk in his seat by the middle of the 4th inning.  The parking lot that looked post-apocalyptic.  Waiting in line for the delicious sounding pork sliders, only to be told that they were unavailable because they were still frozen.  Getting our magnetic schedules and then realizing that the magnets are lower quality than in years past.  We are happy that baseball is back, we really are.  And nothing (not a cross country flight or a tiny baby) could have kept us away from the Coliseum last night.  But we have to say, things felt pretty shabby.  Here's hoping the A's straighten things out and beat the Mariners tonight.

Go A's!

p.s. One highlight was that Stomper was wearing a suit and tie.  Our only concern is that if Stomper isn't in uniform, what happens if the A's need him to pinch run?

Catching Up

Well, it is finally here.  Thank goodness.  Somehow we've made it through another long offseason and have the long summer to look forward to.  There have been some big changes here in OADland (including the birth of the first OADlet), so let us catch you up on where we stand on some important issues:

• We think that cancelling FanFest (the one day a year we get to see our dear friend Eugene) was the suckiest, lamest, most terrible thing.  
• We think getting Robert Buan off the radio was the exact opposite -- pure genius.  
• We think some of the A's prospects look good, but who really knows with prospects.  All we can say is that we hope they can hit.  
• We think Eric Chavez is going to have a good year at first base because at spring training he looked happy and loose.
• We think Green Collar Baseball is a great campaign.
• We think Bob Geren really has to put up or shut up this year.  We are tired of him and all the losing he brought with him.
• We think that designating Jack Cust was the right thing to do and we're not that sad about it.
• We think that Ronnie Wash's cocaine admission was the saddest thing.
• We think that the lack of any huge signings has made us kind of ambivalent about the twenty-ten A's, but after the massive disappointment that was Matt "How Can He Live With Himself" Holliday, maybe that isn't a bad thing.
• We think a Roy Steele bobblehead is awesome and we don't even like bobbleheads. 
• We think that this season has to be better.
• We think that even if it isn't, we are so happy the wait is over.

Go Oakland!

Good Morning Champions!

This makes us love Ben Sheets.

Go A's!

Hooray!

We are so happy the A's are playing baseball again

(and that Buan is not hosting the post-game show).

Go Oakland!

Happy Days Are Here Again

Finally!

Goodbye, Sad Clown

Dana Eveland, for as totally sweet and likable as you are, we can't say that we're really going to miss you.  Good luck though.

p.s. Most images of sad clowns are extremely creepy. 

Image via. 

Farewell, Marty Lurie

We'll miss you. Looks like our loss is the Giants' fans' gain. Michael Savage scares us.

Is this a good idea?

 

We wish Grant Desme could do both.

Like this guy.

 Photo via

Welcome Covelli!

Love this.

A Defense of the '89 A's

Editor's Note: With all the McGwire news lately, the Husband of Half of OAD ("Hohooad") has stepped into the breach to defend the A's of 1989.

In light of Mark McGwire’s recent revelations and the ubiquituous posting of Canseco/McGwire Bash Brother photos on ESPN.com and other outlets, I thought it was high time to defend the sanctity of the 1989 World Series Championship.   Some commentators (ok, my buddy and his brother) now claim that the ’89 trophy is “tainted” by the Bash Brothers.  Do the Bash Brothers accurately define the ’89 A’s?
 
As a kid watching Monte Moore and Ray Fosse broadcast that glorious season on TV, the characters and images that I remember most are Dave Stewart and his devastating scowl and forkball, Eckersley and his finger-pointing, Hendu and his gap-toothed grins during every single at-bat, Rickey and his lime-green batting gloves, Carney Lansford and his frenetic bat-waggle, Dave Parker and his giant on-deck-circle sledge hammer, Mike Moore’s slouched shoulders and Timothy McVeigh-ish countenance, Rick Honeycutt and his handy back-pocket ball-scuffing nail file, Gene Nelson’s Eck-apeing mullet and ‘stache, Terry Steinbach’s dorky extended batting helmet face-protector flap, and Mike Gallego’s rich and robust curly mullet.  I hardly even remember Jose or McGwire!    There’s a good reason for this:  Canseco only appeared in 65 games that year, racking up a scant 227 plate appearances.   Canseco was a beast in ’88 , but his impact on 1989 was minor.  McGwire had a solid season in ’89, but it’s questionable whether he was even using that year.  In his statement, he claims to have only started in the ’89-’90 offseason, and his physique wasn’t any noticeably different from his rookie year in 1987.  Plus, McGwire was just one guy in a lineup of guys in their prime.  Even if McGwire was using steroids in ‘89, then one guy among 9 seems par for the course in the “Steroid Era.”   

The only thing that tainted that championship was the Loma Prieta earthquake, which overshadowed one of the most dominant beatdowns in WS history.  1989 was a great year for an A's-loving 4th grader like me: hypercolor t-shirts, spandex bike shorts, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the NES, and the A’s reminding us for the fourth time that they are the only championship-caliber baseball franchise in the Bay Area.

When I dwell on “tainted” championships, I look back on the Red Sox of ’04 and ’07, with both Manny and Ortiz up to their eyeballs in PED’s, not my beloved '89 A's.

OAD Philosophy Time

Trading stuff has never really been in our wheelhouse.  We love the A's and we will love whoever it is that runs out on the field at the Alamedeum and tries.  That said, we have created an OAD Philosophy of the Types of Guys We Think Should Be A's.  Now, this doesn't have that much to do with stats and such, but deals more with how we feel that certain kinds of baseball players just fit in as A's.  If anyone in the A's front office is listening, we are happy to write this up in more detail.  Here goes: 

1. Hometown guys.  We always want guys who grew up in the Bay Area to be A's.  See C.C. Sabathia, Jimmy Rollins, Jermaine Dye, Dontrelle Willis.

2. Guys with style.  We always want guys with real style (even if it is weird) to be A's.  See Eric Byrnes, Nick Swisher.

3. Guys who are/were awesome and have great nicknames.  See Frank Thomas.

4. Guys with spark.  See Marco Scutaro, Milton Bradley, Tim Hudson, Kurt Suzuki.

5. Guys with weird names who seem to be better outfielders than anybody else on the A's.  See Coco Crisp.

Go Oakland!