To my friends of AN, I'll be leaving you for about 573 days starting the first week in January. I'll be doing two years (minus good time credit) at a federal prison camp for minimum security offenders.  I got indicted for mdma related charges back in 2004, plead guilty in 2005, finally got sentenced to 24 months in 2006, and I'll start serving my time in 2007 -- a long process that now has it's end in sight.

Although I live in the Bay Area, I'll be doing my time about 1000 miles from here, so I'm sure A's news (and discussion) will be close to nill.  I'll keep an eye on box scores and I'll be cursing Bobby Crosby as much as possible, but staying in touch with AN will be near impossible.  baseballgirl has been kind enough to serve as a liaison to A's stuff and to you guys for me while I'm "inside".  She promises to print out some of your better discussions and mail them to me (I won't have email or internet access); I may get cute and write a dairy or two with my unquestionable insights into A's baseball </sarcasm> that could get scanned and posted, we'll see.  If you feel like writing me while I'm in, you can email me between now and January 5th and I'll give you my new temporary address, or you can ask baseballgirl after that, she'll have my mailing address.

One last thing; I haven't really been able to participate on AN much since we lost in the playoffs...  Some of you were very offended by a comment I made about Cory Lidle after we learned of his death -- I wanted to apologize to those people for being insensitive and crass, obviously there is a time and a place for that kind of humor, and while it may be my style, I shouldn't have posted it here.  Please accept my sincere apology.  

Take care AN.  I'll be out toward the end of the 2008 season, and I expect big things for our little team. I'll keep up my passionate fan hood, at least until they move to the suburbs and I abandon them like a bad real estate deal.

Merry Christmas - eamb

How to beat anyone at RPS (Rock Paper Scissors)  -- [ht fark].

WE'RE ALL GONNA GET WASTED!!!!

TDIBH

1971 Expos second baseman Ron Hunt is plunked by a pitch for the 50th time of the season establishing a big league record. By comparison, the runner-up in the league, teammate Rusty Staub, will only be hit by a pitch nine times.  (Jason Kendall unavailable for comment)

Around the league

Viva El Birdos... lonely little game

the irony. after nearly a full season of skepticism, emphasizing the cardinals' flaws and waving red flags -- their lousy strikeout rate, their negative homerun differential, their imbalanced rotation and misappropriation of roster resources -- after months and months of, in essence, issuing "sell" recommendations on st louis cardinals stock, i come to find that, at the very end, i may have overestimated this team. ...AT RALLY MONDAY!!!

Metstradamus... Operation Shutdown 2.0 [ht deadspin]

Pedro Martinez was signed by the Mets to help get them to the playoffs. Now, everyone else has to get the Mets through the playoffs, as Pedro's left calf (after all the worrying about the right calf) has a torn muscle. So five months after the Mets were looking for a special shoe for Pedro, now they'll need a dolly instead.

Bask in glory until next week when you get all anxious again department

Baseball Prospectus... Postseason Odds

AL West     Champions  Wild Card   Playoffs
Athletics    100.00000     .00000  100.00000

As you may have known, we had a small arts & crafts party at my house in Oakland this morning before the Angels heartlessly destroyed our playoff hopes.  We made the tiles for the card stunts to be performed next Saturday in Anaheim, nobody got too high off the spray adhesive, and I'm happy to report that no dogs were harmed.  For all you DUDES that silently shunned me for having an arts & crafts party, I'll have you know that it was just me and the ladies today, so THERE ;-).

Big thanks to gigglingone, batgirl, Poppy (& baseballgirl in absentia) for all your help, I had a great time.

Also, thanks to Poppy for putting out the dough for the materials.  If you feel like helping out, she fronted around $200, you can donate via

PayPal at distantsun7@gmail.com. Never mind, Poppy has been paid back in full

Photos after the jump...

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[UPDATE BY POPPY, 9-21-06 @ 5:30 p.m.] I placed an order with Office Depot for 100 each of kelly green and lemon yellow posterboard sheets (those were our only green & yellow choices), which measure 22" x 28". I ordered 100 of them so we can get creative with cutting & gluing and make the cards 28" x 28" -- that's going to be the largest affordable thing we can do. There were some beautiful 32" x 40" green & yellow matboards at University Art Center for about $20 each. Yeah. 28" x 28" doubled posterboard it is, then! ;)

Anyway, the paper is going to be delivered to eamb's house tomorrow, so we're set for Saturday! Total cost for the paper, including tax, came to a shade over $170.00 ($171.83, to be precise), and I'd really appreciate any little donations anyone is willing to make. If you want to use PayPal, my account is the same as the email address that's in my AN profile: distantsun7@gmail.com. Or if you just want to hand me some spare change if you see me at eamb's or in Anaheim, that's good, too... thanks for whatever you can do to help... :)

As originally brought up by TrojaNoava in this diary (AN Invades Anaheim: Card Stunts!) and has been discussed further in this diary (AN weekend in Anaheim) by Rickeyfan, folks are organizing to pull off some AN card stunts.

If you're not sure of what card stunts are, you can read about them here or here.  

BBG organized a SoCal AN Day for next Saturday's A's Vs. Halos game in Anaheim.  There will be over 70 A's fan in attendence!  As 'Noava has diagramed, we will need to produce the 70 cards that will make up the card stunts and get them to those that will be in attendance.  I've volunteered my house to get the job done this weekend, but I'll need some help from people that have the time.  Poppy has offered to bring the completed signs with her to SoCal AN Day in her shiny Accord, (provided they actually fit).  Here's what I propose...

This Saturday morning, September 23rd, we'll have a get-together at my house in Oakland.  The earliest we get started the better, so if you're planning on coming, try to get there by 10am .  We'll make the tiles, and if folks who aren't attending the game in person would like to stay over to watch on TV, that's welcomed.  

Some bullet points.

• My place is in West Oakland, directions upon confirmation.
• We have dogs, two large german shepherd mix's and a puppy.  If you're afraid of dogs, I would recommend you skipped participating as the shepherds can be a little rambunctious.  For that reason, I'd have to strongly discourage anyone bring over small children.  But trust me, they won't hurt anyone.
• I'll have the BBQ going for the game, so please feel free to bring over anything you'd like burned to a crisp.  Ditto for drinks, please feel free to bring whatever you like.
• I'll need to confirm you by e-mail, so if you'd like to attend, please e-mail me:  weshouldplaymoreshows@yahoo.com
• Check back here for updates, as there might be some financial assistance needed for supplies, I'll know more once we price out the materials.

Go A's!

Beat writers and bloggers often grab on to some event or milestone and make it the story line of the season.  Last year it was Crosby's return, this year, Kendall's home run.  There's another popular story line this year, and to borrow from bat-girl; it's how Thomas got his groove back.  Many will point to his return to Chicago, completing the emotional circle of changing allegiances after 16 years.  To wit, Thomas was quoted:

"That series was so important to give me closure," he said. "I left on bad terms. ... I really think I was kind of going through the motions when the season started, still trying to get things sorted out in my mind. ... I did a lot for that team for 16 years. I deserved to have it end well. That was a nice ending, and now I have moved on. Some great players have changed teams and moved on. Looking back on it, that series in Chicago was what it took for me to move on."

Good for him.  Ozzie, OTOH, had this to say:

''I don't care about Frank right now,'' Guillen said. ''If Frank gets a base hit, it takes five hits to score him.

Yeah, we don't care about you either Ozzie, have a beer and STFU.  

Today, Z against Vázquez on FOX.  Sunday, Cupcakes against The Count (Contreras).

This day in Baseball History

1995 Cal Ripken breaks Lou Gehrig's consecutive game record playing in his 2,131st straight game. When the game becomes official in the middle of the fifth inning, the new 'Iron Man' takes a victory lap around Camden Yards during the 22-minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd, including President Bill Clinton.

2000 After reaching an agreement with Morgan, Lewis and Bockis LLP, Major League Baseball can now use the URL www.mlb.com. The law firm registered the mlb.com in 1994 and refused to release the domain name making it necessary for the sport to use www.majorleaguebaseball.com.

2002 For the first time in 11 years, the Homer Hanky makes its return to the Metrodome in Minneapolis in hopes of halting the A' record-setting 20-game winning streak, blanking Oakland, 6-0.

Rich Harden (strained elbow) threw 40 pitches in the bullpen, in what trainer Larry Davis called Harden's "best session yet, by far." Chron Notebook

Today's matchup in the West:

A's and Rangers, first pitch: 12:35pm PDT

                   

----------                    ----------

Blanton (14-10, 4.51)          The Devil (13-9, 4.35)

Whitey can rest easy, as his mark for best AL start remained tied with little weaver, as the BoSox won last night, 2-1 at the little a.  Beckett pitched great and was actually throwing his curve ball a lot more than I've seen him this year, and what do you know, he cuts his middle finger on his pitching hand and had to come out in the 7th.  If you missed the game, you didn't really miss much, Ortiz homered, little weaver looked basically unhittable against everyone else not named Ortiz (Manny didn't play), and the Halos made the first out at home plate down by a run.  That's bad, like, really bad (at least that's what Cindi tells me).

The Mariners won their series against New York last night, Washburn over Johnson, and the M's are now 58-69.  Yankees travel to Anaheim to play the Mighty Ducks over the weekend, RedSox fly to Seattle.  As for the Muppets, we're playing Texas in what could be a statement series ("GO AWAY TEXAS"), or, like a total bummer on my GOG score dude.

About tonight/this weekend.  First off, it seems like guys have been getting hurt at Texas this year (Harden, Milton), so can we please try and stay healthy this time around?  The pitching matchup for tonight:

First game of the series, Friday night, first pitch: 5:35pm PDT

                   

----------                    ----------

Zito (13-8, 3.76)          Volquez (1-2, 4.02)

Zito has a great record against the 'angers, hopefully he shakes off that last start against Texas at the Coliseum, I know I'm trying to.

This day in Baseball History

1952 Bob Elliot of the Giants is tossed from the Cardinal game for protesting a strike two call and his replacement, Bobby Hoffman, is also thrown out for arguing the third strike of the same at-bat.

1980 A's owner Charlie Finley sells the club for $12.7 million to the Haas family of San Francisco, owners of the Levi Strauss clothing empire, thus keeping the team in Oakland.

1989 Cincinnati manger Pete Rose agrees to a lifetime
suspension from baseball due to allegations of betting on baseball.

"Around the League in 90 seconds, I'm Lamont Germany"

Angels gain a game on our loveable muppets against a very tired Boston club.  Panther in the Laundry Basket (whatever that means).

The BIG STIX of the West Come up empty, again and fail to gain any ground.

The Mariners lost again, oh wait, no, they won?   Maybe, I don't really believe it, but I guess they are now 57-68.  Speaking of the Mariners, Jamie Moyer's debut went very well for the Fightins - debut at Wrigley.

Today's matchup at the Rogers Centre:

A's and Jays, first pitch: 4:07pm PDT

                   

----------                    ----------

Loiaza (6-7, 5.58)          Chacin (6-2, 5.61)

The idea of home whites/road gray or green tops has caught my attention of late.  I went ahead and organized the past game's into a "uniform log" and pulled some data from it. For your off-day pleasure:

The spreadsheet that I created for the uniform data can be found here.  The data headings include the date, home or away, opponent, uniform the A's wore and winning & losing pitchers (with W-L record at the time of that decision).  It was created using M$ Office, so not sure if you can open it on your PDA/Linux/OSX or whatever, sorry in advance...

Overall record as of 8/9/2006:  62-52 .544

Home whites:  48 total W/L 27-21 .562
Road gray:  22 total W/L 13-9 .590
Home whites/road gray:  70 total W/L 40-30 .571
Green tops:  43 total W/L 21-22 .488
Retro green:  1 total W/L 1-0

OK, we know already, but what about that strange supersticion about swithching jerseys after a loss, how about after a win?

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Nod Apricot/OnTheDL. The Loiaza V Escobar matchup yesterday was well, frightening.  But as someone valiantly pointed out in yesterdays GT, "we won this matchup earlier this month".  True, but Juan "I found my power in this catalogue" Rivera touched him up for two solos, Vlad hit one out about as hard as I've ever seen a ball hit in person (thanks again Skwid!), and The Big Hurt won it for us off us Shields.  The only thing alike about these two games was that K-Shields lost it for em' in the end.  You know where the recaps are, so I'll point you to the home-team reaction to Payton's little tirade.   "Last time we played here, he was showing off like he's the toughest guy on the field," Kelvim Escobar said of Payton. "I wasn't surprised at all with what he did today." We don't play these jokers again until late September, so we'll revisit the issue then.  

M*A*S*H update.  Crosby likely to the DL (Rouse likely to get the nod), Payton to get X-rays on his temper tantrum (possible Hiram or DJ to get recalled), Milton's temp back up & Sourkraut threw a bullpen session.  source.

The only AL West contest today is TEX(54-54) V LAAOA(55-52).  Millwood against The Good Weaver.  Watch out for Vlad:  

Veteran outfielder Vladimir Guerrero also will try to keep his impressive hitting streak against the Rangers alive. Guerrero has hit safely in all 42 games he has played versus Texas, batting .440 (73-for-166) with 14 homers, 33 RBIs and 35 runs.

<Ken Korach>:  Well hi again everybody...  ...Ehh-STAY-Bon Loiaza with his 3 and 5 record and ERA in the SIX's will be taking on The Red Sox Rookie SOUTH-PAW, Jon Lester, who coincidentally, is not an East Bay product...

From Ian Browne's preview on the BoSox page:   "I think we have a great ballclub put together here," said Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. "There's no doubt about it. The way the entire club is put together from top to bottom, from A to Z, I think we have a great club and can definitely make a World Series run."  OK wait a second kid.  You can't use the top-to-bottom cliche in the same sentence as the A-Z one can you?  Also it's fun to read the above quote in your best New England accent, wicked pissah!

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Maybe not. [Tigers bite back...] With Kenny Rogers on the mound for Detroit, any possibility of an A's sweep was greatly diminished Wednesday.  It was extinguished entirely when Kirk Saarloos allowed a career-high eight earned runs, and the Tigers proceeded to pummel Oakland 10-4 while Rogers improved his lifetime record at the Coliseum to 25-4.

Still, the A's felt good about taking two of three from the team with baseball's best record, and now they have another interesting series in store. The Angels, the two-time defending division champs, come into town tonight for the final four games before the All-Star break. They are in last place but are only four games behind AL West-leading Oakland.

That was about it for the "recap", as Slusser spends the rest of the article getting quotes about the Slingblade - Kendall showdown this weekend.  The funny thing (someone on AN mentioned this after it happened) is, what's Lackey going to do?  Hit Kendall with a pitch?!  <shakes head>.  Putting the Tigers series to bed for now:  Trib: [Geoff lepper].  Merc: [Chace Bryson].  MLBdotCOM:  [Ryann Quinn]  
Everything's GREAT! [Sinking feeling...] This pic pretty much sums up the collective feeling about Loiaza Vs. Escobar tonight.  It would be a minor victory to me if "O-Cab" is held off the base-paths for the first time since forever - I hate that guy.  Anyway, the pitching match-ups appear to favor the Angels, and if this Weaver kid is for real, we're in hot water until we see him a few times. I'm running out of time to handle the injury updates, I'll just assume everybody whose hurt or on the DL will be better/activated for tonight's game (see above pic), unless people point out otherwise.  Until then.  -eamb.

Higgins!  Where's the offense? The current level of concern of the offense, is high, and no offense, there's no OFFense!  Let's see if the players/gum chewers/paid pontificators are freaking out along with us.  Amanda Branam, Urbans current baby-sitter, quotes The Gum Chewer... We got into Interleague and dropped Frank out of the lineup. Taking your No. 4 hitter out of the line up is like taking your No. 1 starter out of the lineup

Dan Haren's Blog has been suspiciously quiet on the subject.  Huston Street remains absent from the ESPN contributors page (maybe he's gone INsiDerZ!).  Payton quote?  Nowhere to be found.  Chavez appears to be happy kickin' back with his Diego peeps.  Josh Suchon however, prods the following from The Gum Chewer...

Frank says he's ready to play on Friday," Macha said. "We can't force him to go to Sacramento (on a rehab assignment). But right now, we have several guys struggling. Inserting one won't help the problem.

And from the Internets, we bring you the following randomness:  TrueHoop did an excellent job again this year LiveBlogging the NBADraft.  Definitely worth reading through.  Man Calls 911 To Report 'Being Cut In Two'.  Ouch!  Hard-to-find pictures of North Korea.  CopyRanter follow-up on the Sen. Jarrett Barrios crusade to deprive children (CHILDREN!) of fluffernutter.

What? I guess the Giants can thank their lucky stars, after first base umpire Tom Hallion called Mark Texerias bases loaded would-be double in the bottom of the ninth a foul ball, chalk and all.  [Recap].  [pics].

Gammons update from the Boston Globe.  Catcher prospects:  Overvalued?  I thought Hendrickson would have commanded more booty than this.  DRays Bay has an excellent write-up on the transaction.  I do like that the D-Rays are making some moves, I just hope for their sake they make the right ones.    

Injury updates

The Hurt did some running yesterday, that's good right?  He also takes some time defending the Greatness that is Ozzie, no idea why.  Speaking of Ozzie, is anyone else considering what outrageous outfit to wear to the game for the occasion?  I'm thinking pink bunny suit ala Brazil/World Cup, but I'm open to suggestions.  Speaking of me, I finally got a picture of myself up, it's on my profile page.  Ahhhhh, the Internets.

In that same A's Notebook, Shea notes that Ellis went 0-2 with 2 BB's, Harden is still DOA, and Kiko's wife wasn't feeling well last night.  How that affects Caleros arm I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions.

Blog recap

One would be remiss not to keep an eye for Stuff On My Cat, always amusing.  Jeff and the good folks over at LL are feeling pretty good about .500, and they should.  

I just ran out of steam.  Posting in 3...2...

Photo:  BCG [The Weekender] When all else fails, appeal to the other side(s) of sports, you know, sex appeal.  Now that I have your attention away from the thousands of stranded A's baserunners, let's do some link'in, weekend style.

Good news for the Rangers, Brad "Not Vlad" Wilkerson will be back in the line-up soon.  This will appease OalandSi greatly, as he(?) never tempts the fate of the injury bug.  Let's see, besides the Rays winning last night (on fumes and airlines food), the Royals(!) won another baseball game.  Gotta root for those guys...

Link away, and remember, we can use the weekender for both days of the weekend, if you care to.

Padres shoulders are sore [Ex- Seinfield guest star apologizes] ""Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?" Hernandez said during the broadcast. "What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout."

"I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout," Hernandez said.

Hernandez laughed and added: "You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have.""

Oh boy.  In other news, AN is full of GiRlZZ!!!1! Booya.

They're Back ...Today is the day...  The Athletics visit the Cubbies at 12pm PT.  I'm not sure about regular radio coverage, but someone will be saying something into a microphone on XM channel 188.  There are quite a few (baseball) games on the schedule today, and even though they don't mean anything, I was still excited that the Defending Champs opened up their season with a loss to the Rockies.
Can I have an autograph? Manny's being Manny beings Manny.  Wittle Theo can't trade him, he just can't!  The kids LOVE him!  Think of their future.  Anyway, in the world of Baseball yesterday, the top stories were:  Pedro Martinez (toe), Barry Bonds (drag) & Manny (dragging [into camp]).  Greg Ginske, Manny's agent, spins some new tales into (supposedly) newsworthy fodder, and RSN checks in the latest chapter of their slugging (outfielder) over at SawxBlog.

What are you looking at? Deadspin reports a heated exchange between Mike Dunleavy Jr. and  a radio reporter after their loss to the Grizzlies, Mike Dunleavy Jr. Will Destroy You All

McEnroe taking a page from the Ageless Wonder steals a doubles win a the City To Be Named Later yesterday, minutes before turning 47.

L

Dude, where's the rosin bag?!  The elder Weaver joins his brother in the LAOAOAOAOOOA system proving once again, the A's have one fine looking pitching staff.  Personally, if I have to look at Slingblade's ridiculous mouth for any period of time, I'm like going to totally hurl.  Gross.

Heading South, in an attempt to add some badly needed offense, the Rangers are interested in Durazo, as a backup (of all things) to a nancy boy named <Yiddish accent> Phil Nevin.  Staying in the Texas rumor mill excluding all references to hunting and/or accidents, The Rangers seem less and less likely to land "The Really Fast Pitcher Dude".

D

Talk amongst yourselves...

First and foremost, check out the status of capper3's season ticket charity idea.  There is a poll that could use your input.

For those of you that missed the latest AN Bored (sic) meeting, it was decided (By the CEO of AN) that the weekend DLD will become the WLD, and will stand for both days of the weekend.  Well, at least this weekends LD anyway, talk amongst yourselves...  

As reported by jlaff in a DLD to be named later, MARCO!!!

Scutaro, an infielder for Oakland, hit a grand slam in the second inning to propel Venezuela to a 6-1 victory against Puerto Rico and secure a spot in Caribbean Series lore.  SCUTARO!!

Deadspin reports Sheryl Crow No Longer Obligated To Wear Plastic Yellow Bracelet

In some parts of the world, there are people excited over an American football game, some brutes playing some other brutes, whatever, but one of the brutes fans has a special theory as to his brutes success thus far:

"I was thinking about getting a Steelers tattoo," Gray said, "but I was like, I need a new leg anyway, so why not get a Steeler leg? That'll kill two birds. I'll have a tattoo and a leg -- and I won't have to worry about the pain of the tattoo."

In a bizarre twist on the alarm clock, why not have A-Rod do the honors of getting you up for work Monday morning...  Yes, you can have A-Rod and others courtesy of Nike 360's "Athlete Wake-Up Call" service.  Won't that be nice?

As the title implies, feel free to use this DLD for both today and tomorrow (1/12/06).

To get things started in a positive light, Mr. Morris at LoneStarBall reflects on our collective Homerism.

Forst announced agreements with MB and KC.

"Two more done, three to go," Forst said. "I think we're making good progress. We're happy with the timing on both Kiko and Milton."

Mission1929 wrote an interesting Diary, Judging Billy Beane.  

For a group that has the reputation of relying upon statistical analysis rather than mushy subjective reasoning, it's surprising that Billy Beane and his record as general manager are revered to such an extent by A's fans.

No word yet on whether charges of "Inciting a Riot" will be filed with SBNation.

Today's professional athlete cited at a bar/nightclub story comes to us from Miguel Cabrera.  Marlins' Cabrera cited in scuffle at club

With all of today's discussion about the importance of World Series Rings, how are the 2004 BoSux rings getting around so much...

RSN Reaction To Johnny Damon Signing: WasWatching.com.  Laconic commentary from a Yankeeland zealot.

Apparently Johan Santana has been keeping busy this off-season in freezing Minnesota.  Brace yourselves (and clear the next hour from your schedule) for "Santana Claus vs. The Mallgoers"  a Christmas game filled with Yankee/RedSox hate to keep you warm inside all day long.

Breaking news from RotoWire, 4 a.m. EST... Pedro Feliz:  Will start at Third Base.  Giants fans remain strangely preoccupied with all things Dodgers.

Susan Slusser weighs on recent Stadium developments with a heavy hand.  A's park: dressed down, decked out.

Must report to a meeting, take it away.

Having got inspired by http://plunkbiggio.blogspot.com/, I decided to attempt to figure Kendall out a little bit.  

Jason Kendall was hit by 20 pitches this year, but he also GIDP 26 times.  This is first year he has hit more than 20 double plays in a season, and only the second time he has GIDP more times that he was HBP.  The only other season where he hit more DP's than was he plunked was in 2002, an off-year for him in these categories, only 9 baseballs hit him (next to 11 GIDP).

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Keith Ginter, RBI machine (in the making).  #6 for the team in RBI's with 22 in 112 AB's.  I did a little reading and found his scouting report, here's an excerpt:

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