It’s hard to add anything to that
A couple notes from the game:
– as sparse as the crowd was, they were fired up. It felt a little like the old Kingdome games, where if you turned out for a weekday non-promo night, you were pretty hardcore
– Jimenez sucks
– Ichiro, in stark contrast, rocks. Even that ball he didn’t get early in center he bolted after on contact, and ran full-out like a blur just to not make a play on. I sooo love Ichiro
– Dobbs won’t stop hitting in games I attend. He should pay me to follow him around.
– pinch-hitting for Snelling with Morse is dumb even if it works if only becuase it limits your options later
– Why run Jones for Johjima at 2nd instead of Ibanez at first, down by two runs?
– How can it be that it’s September and there’s no 3rd catcher to allow a PH for Rivera?
– How did Bloomquist get 245 ABs? That’s twice as many as your UT should have
– Huston Street’s a chump
– I was on my feet clapping and cheering as Bloomquist hit that pitch. Hell yeah.
– NO CLINCHING IN OUR HOUSE HA HA HA WHAT IS UP ATHLETICS???
Hopefully the A’s, who have dropped a bunch of games trying to clinch, will get even more psychologically screwed up over this and stumble to the finish, unable to rest their starters. There’s not a lot of honor in being a spoiler… but there’s some.
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Hopefully the A’s, who have dropped a bunch of games trying to clinch, will get even more psychologically screwed up over this and stumble to the finish, unable to rest their starters. There’s not a lot of honor in being a spoiler… but there’s some.
So the Twins or the Tigers get a free ride in the first round of the playoffs, and you’re happy about this?
I’d much rather see the A’s win a World Series (with a payroll at 70% of the M’s) and tell the “Moneyball Doesn’t Win Championships” crowd to STFU.
I just don’t want to see games played in Seattle where the A’s throw out the Sacramento Rivercats rotation against us because they’ve clinched.
If that makes me a selfish fan, so be it. I don’t care. I don’t want to see the A’s clinch in Safeco.
I’ve paid full price to see that before, and something tells me I’ll see it again.
Go A’s.
Go Whoever’s Playing the Yankees.
There’s not a lot of honor in being a spoiler… but there’s some.
Am I going MAD, or did the words “no honor” escape your lips? I’ve hired you to help me spoiler someone else’s season. It’s an prestigious line of work, with a long and glorious tradition!
It depresses me to no end that if we just played .500 baseball against the A’s, not only would they not be in first place right now, but we’d be still racing the A’s and Angels down to the wire in what would be the most exciting division race to watch in baseball.
Instead, I’m content to watch the Padres / Dodgers dogfight and the NL Wild Card brouhaha.
Considering the current Ms’ rotation, I wouldn’t blame the As for sending out the Rivercats’ rotation.
Considering the M’s history against new and untested pitchers, I definitely would send out the Rivercats’ rotation.
Well maybe the ownage that the M’s have seen from the Athletics is now over.
“My name is Ichiro. You’ve ruined my team’s season, prepare to lose!”
So Ichiro = Inigo Montoya?
I’m rooting for the Tigers in the AL, so sure, I’d love for them to have an easy path. Tigers/Twins ALCS would make me pretty happy.
If Jiminez sucks, Chick is the black hole of baseball. He tops out about 89 MPH, is right handed, can’t find the plate with a GPS system, and ain’t fooling anybody with the crap he throws up there. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a pitcher so overmatched in the majors.
I just want the M’s to get to .500, to do that they have to win the rest of their games. If they ruin a teams playoff hopes in the process all the better. And besides if history tells us anything the A’s are going to win their first 2 games in the playoffs and then loose 3 straight and be out.
I don’t want the A’s to clinch in Safeco, either, but on the other hand I do want them to win the World Series.
Better them than the Yankees or Twins. Or the… I can’t even remember the names of National League teams they’ve been so lousy.
On running Jones for Johjima, supposedly Kenji’s back was acting up or something. I don’t think it was planned that way, because it took at least a minute after Kenji came off the field before Jones came out of the dugout – didn’t seem like he was ready to come in.
I didn’t notice anything obviously wrong with Johjima, he looked okay trotting off the field. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rivera in the starting lineup tonight.
Why better than the Twins? What have they done that is so awful?
I would love to see the M’s get to .500, but to sweep the A’s and Texas after how bad both teams made us look in August….I don’t know.
A somewhat more achievable goal is to overtake Texas! With a little help from CA/Anahiem/LA Angles, and winning maybe 3 of 5 or 4 of 5 (or heck 5 of 5) to finish the season, things would look pretty good!
The Twins put Liriano in the bullpen to start the season. That’s about all I can come up with.
I don’t want to see the A’s clinch in Safeco.
Never want to see any team clinch on our field except our team. That’s not bad sportsmanship, that is pride for the home team. I wouldn’t boo Oakland if they did clinch but I won’t celebrate for them either.
Maybe it’s my memories of the 1980’s showing through, but I’d be pretty happy going 5-0 the rest of the way, because we’d A) be .500 and B) wouldn’t be in last place. Since we’re 2 behind Texas with 3 left to play with them, we’d automagically finish ahead of them if we sweep the rest of the season.
As it stands now, the team is about where I projected them to be- in the 75-85 win range, with a decent offense and suspect pitching (masked by the park, of course).
I was watching the game on tv for the first time this season (just moved into the bay area for school and now A’s games on local tv) and I’m sure everyone in my dorm heard me whooping when Willie won the game.
I love Bloomquist and this was the coolest Willie moment that I can remember.
I’m glad Derek’s back.
16 – They just got a new stadium from the taxpayers. I need them to suffer for that.
RE #21
I also am a bay area local. I was watching it a my fiancee’s house, her parents are huge A’s fans. I was going nuts in the 9th and when Willie got the hit. They seemed anoyed.
But living in the Bay Area most my life and being a M’s fan has made me hate the A’s and, to a certian extent, their fans, more than any other team in all of sports. When I was a kid I used to wear a JR jersey to the games. As a 8 year old I got heckeled by a crappy A’s fan. Then last year I was at a game in Oakland and some jerk was laying into this little Asian kid who was wearing a Ichrio jersey. Most of the A’s fans I have met, not all, are jerks. I hope they dont make the playoffs.
Theres my rant against the evil that is the A’s
I wouldn’t worry too much about Chick: Looking at his delivery- his arm is going to blow up in the next 24 months.
RE #10 . . . exactly . . . and the M’s aren’t dead, they’re just “mostly dead”
My experience with baseball fans at the park (having been to 100+ MLB games since 1989):
A’s fans — obnoxious, annoying, and uncreative. They’re the stupid younger brothers of Raiders fans. And while I hate the Raiders, I do like the guys who spend money on dressing like the KISS Army.
Yankees fans — obnoxious at times and quite smug about the Yanks’ success, but in my experience they’re actually pretty nice people to be with at a game. They know their stuff. They’ll buy you a beer.
Red Sox fans — I see them like your alcoholic friend who bagged the really hot wife. Before, he was a lovable loser and a friendly drunk. Now, he’s always rubbing it in your face that he has the hot girl, even when he’s not. And he’s still a drunk. An angry one. But you never noticed that before….
Giants fans — At home, they’re not bad, at least in my one game at Whatever SBC Is Calling Themselves This Week Park. Here, though, man they’re drunks. The ball park smelled like a beer train had overturned on the tracks. And their Barry obsession is unhealthy.
Rangers fans — Kinda non-entities, honestly. They, like me, grew up on baseball. But they’re not really loud or obnoxious or much of anything. It’s like going to the ballpark for them is punching the clock. They go for the game, not for the team.
Rockies fans — 10 years ago, they were loud and proud. Now, I’m not sure if there are any left. But going to a baseball game with 70,000+ in attendance was fun.
Cubs fans — I think for over half of them their only experience with Chicago is O’Hare.
Angels fans — They all seem like Republican suburbanites.
I have to say that’s the most exciting game i’ve been to this year, rivaling the Yankees game when Beltre hit the walkoff. I’ve never seen so few people make so much noise.
I also surprised myself yelling and pounding the aluminum top above the bullpen for ol’ Willie.
There were so few people im surprised Derek didn’t see me decked out in my USSMariner gear.
Rock on!
dw How would you characterize the M’s fans?
I always thought that the Oakland A’s should formally change their name to the Oakland Athletic Supporters. Think of the great mascot possibilites.
The pinch running moves looked a little funny, but Grover came up smelling like the prooverbial rose when Willie came through.
The third catcher thing crossed my mind, too. Part of it may be a 40-man roster issue; I see we don’t have another catcher on it.
I recall one year a team having a catcher come up injured in mid September one season. Not only did they not have a third one on the bench, the guy they wanted had gone back to his Latin America for the offseason and they had trouble contacting him for awhile. They eventually got somebody for the job.
AS for screwing up the A’s, I loved winning this one, but I’m pulling for them in the playoffs for several reasons. I have relatives who are Oakland fans, The Moneyball thing, they need ammo for a new stadium …oh, and those relatives have playoff tickets and might just invite me down for a game or two. 🙂
Why oh why did it have to be Bloomquist? Thank god I’m going to the game tonight so I don’t have to listen to Rizzs have an audio orgasm every time WFB comes to the plate.
It’s pretty simple though. If a catcher goes down, you 60 day him and fish Guillermo Quiroz out of the water. Or go pull Pat Borders out of retirement.
Is Huber the only pitchers up from the minors right now (besides Lowe) that has actually had a good amount of success.
I like the A’s a lot, still. And it would be very, very nice to send them away to beat the Angels all on their very own.
How would you characterize the M’s fans?
Aren’t they The Best Fans in Baseballâ„¢?
25. Haha yeah I’ve had a similar experience. As a 13-year-old wearing a Mariners shirt and hat in the bleachers at the Coliseum, I got into an argument with some drunk guys behind me. I kind of do want the A’s to win the World Series but the few fans that I’ve interacted with weren’t too pleasant. Now that I live here I’ll be going to a lot more games, so I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.
Is Huber the only pitchers up from the minors right now (besides Lowe) that has actually had a good amount of success.
Jake Woods.
The lack of a 3rd catcher is certainly a 40-man roster issue.
Woods isn’t up from the minors — he’s been here all season.
And we have a third catcher. His name is Rene Rivera. The problem is our second catcher, Guillermo Quiroz, has been rotting in the minors all season.
Back in the early 80s my college buddies and I went to a fair number of M’s games (cheapest seats possible, and then switch to something better in the later innings — the usual drill in a mostly-empty Kingdome, especially for day games). One of these buddies had grown up in Philadelphia and would occasionally wear a Phillies shirt. Once, about 1985 or so, while climbing up to our seats somebody said something to him about the Phillies’ legacy of failure. He stopped dead, looked the guy in the eye, and said “You’re at a Mariners game and you’re giving me grief about the Phillies?”
dw How would you characterize the M’s fans?
Mostly harmless. Far too many come to see and be seen; the game isn’t as important as the frat party out on Lookout Landing. But there are still a lot of diehards. And women. Lots and lots of women. Seattle’s fanbase is more female than most teams (even if most of us can only name Deanna, Moira, and Lauren The Token Chick).
28: Shut the #%!% up. *swig* *punch* I luv mah Sawx. *breaks down in tears weeping*
The Athletics Nation blog readership is actually probably about 50% female if not more.
They seem to think it’s really bizarre that I’m like the only prolific female poster on Lookout Landing.
Almost all the A’s fans I’ve interacted with have been pretty uniformly awesome, actually. Not sure why I’ve had different luck… though it might also be because I tend to show up for A’s games in things like a Pirates Kendall #18 shirt. Infact, I’ve had more issues with asshat Mariners fans during A’s games than with A’s fans regardless of what I’m wearing.
Hell, just yesterday I was trying to take pictures of Esteban Loaiza doing his pitching warmup, and this Mariners fan standing near me wouldn’t stop shouting nasty things at him and Brandon Buckley, and I eventually got so embarrassed about it that I went away rather than have them think I was associated with the shouter.
I think I basically spent this season learning to like the A’s, hate the Angels, and pity the Mariners. Sigh.