So, every year I name my fantasy baseball team something I deem to be clever (not necessarily to everyone else) and sometimes "punny". Usually I like to keep it to a player I have on my team, although last year that came back to bite me... thanks Sheets.

Past names include:

poop the sheets
cust in time
urine troubles ... (steroid joke)
brb cupcakes
kendall's krew
parker brothers ... (milton bradley)
oakland ehs ... (also my username here - i'm canadian. get it yet?)
skeet skeet street
bash brothers
rollie's fingers
big mac's left cheek ... (i just didn't quit with the steroid jokes did i?)

Anyways, my keeper A's players going into this year are Anderson and Cahill, but the name doesn't have to be kept to those two.

Ideas? Toss em out.

Name my squad for 2011!

So I know a lot of you have no use for Twitter, don't want anything to do with it, hope it falls of the face of the internet, etc.

But I know there's a lot of us that are the opposite - myself included - who think that Twitter at least has its place.

I'm not big on Twitter being the first place for the news, or people who treat it like a Facebook status and tell me everything that is mundane and uninteresting about themselves, but I do find it to be an interesting source of insight on some topics.

One of the biggest, for me, being sports.

I follow a few of the A's writers... Jane, Susan, John Shea... there's things I would like to change about the way they tweet sometimes, but for the most part, they give me what I want - tidbits about the game, which is nice when I don't have a chance to watch it, I can just check Twitter on my phone.

I'm starting to get more into following opinions, or at least trying to.

I'm looking for A's fans who tweet. Thoughts, opinions on the game, different ways to fire Bob Geren and not ground into double plays.

Are you out there? Sure I could just search #Athletics and see what happens... but that's no fun. I love reading the posts and comments on the site... you're the kind of people I want to follow.

So, do you tweet? Link us to your feeds! Let's see what you've got!

Here's me: http://twitter.com/mikemckinnon

Susan Slusser: http://twitter.com/susanslusser

Jane Lee: http://twitter.com/janemlb

John Shea: http://twitter.com/johnsheahey

Brad Ziegler: http://twitter.com/bradziegler

Brett Anderson: http://twitter.com/BrettAnderson49

I don't tweet all the time about the A's, but I throw out a comment or two once in awhile when something is on my mind.

If you're not up for sharing your own feed, are there any baseball tweeters (A's or non-A's) that you follow, or are worth following? I'm always looking for people with interesting opinions!

Fly tweetie bird, fly!

As some of you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a photo nerd. I like to look at hi-res photos from games, especially when I am unable to see them - which is far too often.

Trouble is, it's freaking hard to find hi-res photos. CBS sportsline used to be good for it, because you could just change the size by editing part of the URL, but they have hardly any photos anymore, especially for the A's.

(eg: this becomes this, and there's only 5 photos from the game tonight - all of the Red Sox)

Yahoo is great for photos, but unfortunately, I just can't find them big enough for my liking, or big enough for desktop backgrounds, which is what I'd really like to do.

A long time ago I found a photo site that seemed to have all kinds of AP/Getty images in high resolution, but I can't remember what it was at all, Google isn't saving me, and who knows, it could be gone know anyways.

So my question to you is - do you know of some great site out there for exactly what I'm looking for?

Or, do you have some great photos you've taken yourself that you'd like to share? I know someone posted a great one last year of the Coliseum as the sun was setting, I used it as my background for quite awhile.

And finally, as an example of a photo I'd really like to find in a high resolution, this one here:

via d.yimg.com

So if anyone has any hints or photos of their own to share, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Well folks, a family vacation to the Bay Area this past week (I'm still here until Tuesday actually) which means I finally got to see my first A's home games at the Coliseum.

Unfortunately, because it is a family vacation, I could only see two games, Thursday's extra inning loss to the Rays, and today's snoozer against the White Sox.

Still, it was a great experience. I got to talk to a few diehards who sat around me and kind of got to experience what it truly is to be a diehard A's fan myself, which is kind of hard sometimes living in Edmonton, Alberta and having to put in quite a bit of effort online to read up on the team and see highlights.

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... Scutaro!

via static.flickr.com

 I know, I know. He would have commanded too much money for his contributions to the team, Donnie Murphy does the same thing for the league minimum, blah blah blah.

And yes, I know we are the Oakland A's and not the Boston Red Sox, where they will overpay for a role player just because he is who he is in the clubhouse, to the fans, and on the field.

But let's take a look at Marco's body of work so far this season with the Blue Jays, albeit a small sample size.

He's started all 4 games at 3B, including a 5th today.

3/11, 2 R, 1 RBI, 3 SB, .273/.429/.273

3 stolen bases? And this is a team run by JP Riccardi?

But wow, Scooter can run, and he's run on a catcher with a pretty good arm in Jose Molina, and a decent one in Kevin Cash. Makes you wonder what would have been produced if the A's had been a little more free on the base paths last season like they plan to be this year.

He is on pace for 122 by the way.

Not only has Scutaro been running rampant on the basepaths, but he's had a few beautiful defensive stops at third, and his arm hasn't been too much of a detriment over there either.

I'm not trying to take away from Murphy or Jack Hannahan, but I just wanted to say I miss Scooter and it's nice to see he's having a great start in Toronto.

I only get to see a handful of A's games televised a year, but at least I can see Scutaro's Jays over 100 times... if I choose to.

I'm one of those dorks that tries to think of something semi-funny when I put together my fantasy baseball teams. I usually like to tie it into the A's as best as I can too, but this year I'm kind of stumped. Any ideas?

Plays on words, shots at current or players, racy ones even (not racial, RACY) are all welcome.

Some examples from past years...

Big Mac's Left Cheek (I'm not here to talk about the past)
Skeet Skeet Street (self explanatory. probably moreso to the women of AN)
Parker Brothers (Milton Bradley anyone?)

One of my teams is named the Oakland AAA's this year, but beyond that I'm stuck - and I've got 3 more to field.

Throw em at me folks. 

Love the new AN. Thought I'd lose my fanpost virginity with a bit of an odd request...

Does anybody know where I could find an MLB logo patch that is used on the back of the uniforms? Of course I'd be looking for one in A's colors, to match the uniform.

Basically, I have a replica green jersey and I'm trying to make it a bit more authentic. I found a shoulder patch on eBay, but I could only find one MLB patch on there, and it was in the red, white, and blue. As for the rest of the web, any google search brings up useless results.

So if anyone has any ideas, or knows a place, or for some odd reason has an authentic jersey that they would have no problem taking scissors to and cutting out the MLB logo (hey figured I'd try), then please share.

Thanks in advance.

I remember last season hearing some rumblings about the A's getting a new black alternate jersey for this season... while I'm not looking forward to another black uniform disaster, am still curious to see it, as much as I think it's not going to look good.

Anyone hear anything about it? Think it will be released at fanfest?

Or perhaps it's been scrapped?

Sooo I'm going to order my new A's jersey soon. I'm going white, authentic, and I think I'm going to go with a CoolBase jersey just because they're kind of cool (unless anyone has had a problem with them?)

The question is... who do I want on the back? And I do want someone on the back, I just don't know what direction to go in.

From a list of 6 players, which I then whittled down to 3, which I then whittled down to 2, I am left with a choice between Rich Harden and Daric Barton.

Continue reading this post »

Well I recently got back from a weeklong road trip with a friend and two weeks of family vacation, and I know I posted a diary earlier on this with just the Seattle part, but I messed up with the links and before I really noticed, it was off the front page and nobody saw it. Also, I threw in the rest of the non-baseball stuff as well. Enjoy.

Continue reading this post »

EDIT: THE LINKS WORK NOW. SORRY!

well, ive returned home from my road trip to seattle with a buddy. other than nearly forgetting tickets entirely (twice), and coming down with a cold today, it was a pretty awesome trip, and will have to be done again soon.

the road down

game one, highlighted by:

i also lent him some arm ligaments so he will make 2 starts before the end of the year.

safeco field tour

game two, which the a's won again

game 3 pics are AWOL because i semi-dropped my labtop from 3 inches off the ground, which makes it not start. but the a's lost, so they're not important.

if the links dont work, just find the main album (oaklandehs) and find the sub albums from there.

oh, and i'll be at fenway park to see the a's on the 24th and 25th :D

oh look, that canadian guy is posting about hockey. what a surprise.

anyways, i've started up a fantasy hockey league on yahoo. i'm looking for a few people who are interested in playing that know their stuff and would be committed for the whole season... nobody likes a guy who plays for a month and then never comes back.

if you're interested, fire me an email i'll send you the league information.

northpaw37 [at] gmail.com

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/M...

TORONTO (CP) - The Toronto Blue Jays signed left-hander Joe Kennedy to a minor-league contract Tuesday and assigned him to triple-A Syracuse.

Kennedy began the season with the Oakland Athletics and was later claimed on waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks, who recently released him. He may be called up to the Blue Jays when rosters expand Sept. 1.

The 28-year-old went 3-9 with a 4.37 earned-run average in 101 innings for Oakland before Arizona picked him up Aug. 4. He appeared in only three games for the Diamondbacks, allowing six earned runs in 2 2-3 innings before he was designated for assignment Aug. 15.

The six-foot-four, 252-pound Denver native has played for Tampa Bay, Colorado, Oakland and Arizona over parts of seven seasons, going 42-61 with a 4.79 ERA in 213 games, 139 starts.

a shame he won't get a chance to pitch against the a's tonight or tommorow. we could use his fastballs right down mainstreet.

for awhile i've really wanted to see it, and i guess i'll throw it out there now as a suggestion for the front page bloggers.

for me personally, and i'm guessing a lot of people on here, AN is the first place i check when i want to see the score and read about how the game went. i'm a major NRAF way up in edmonton, alberta and i hardly get to see games on TV, don't get any on the radio, and have to watch nightly highlight packages for awhile to see the brief a's highlights. so basically everything i get about the a's is from AN and reading the online feeds of the bay area papers.

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Any A's fans on here in or around Seattle?

Myself and a buddy are planning a trip to Seattle, September 10-12, to see the A's and Mariners, and wouldn't mind seeing one of the games with a group of other A's fans.

I'll wait for some replies to see about the interest first to pinpoint a specific game and such, but if you're interested then reply because we're starting to book our trip and tickets soon.

The Sacramento River Cats unveiled their new logo on Wednesday evening at an event that united the seemingly disparate worlds of fashion and Minor League Baseball.

I think its a nice change, although I liked seeing the bridge in the old logo, this one looks pretty good, and didn't change rapidly. Here's some GIANT versions of the logos from the cats site...

Primary Logo
Cats BP Cap
RC Cat (and I assume the home cap?)
RC... also possibly home cap?
Road Hat

sadly it wasn't the a's... but i went to the mariners vs. yankees game on august 23 in seattle, and it was the first game i've seen in my 17 years.

the stadium was just awesome as was the whole experience. i'm kind of still in awe of it all.

the fans in seattle were at a surprisingly high level of... being there because they like baseball. i was expecting what i hear about san francisco and people on their cell phones and showing up because they have money and its the thing to do at the new stadium, but the people there generally seemed to be there for the game.

we sat in section 141, row 33, about the edge of the infield on the 3rd baseline. the game itself... well it stunk. was hoping to see a gem from felix hernandez but got a stinker, and as much as wang is good... he's not that entertaining besides his windup which is kind of addicting to watch for 5 minutes in the bullpen. like i cared though, because it was quite the experience to be there for the first time.

for the photos... a lot more yankees than mariners. a) because the yankees have a lot more interesting players despite hating them, and b) because the gates don't open until seattle is nearly done BP.

here's the pictures

feel free to comment on them

I loved seeing the A's wearing the patch for Bill King on opening night with the HOLY TOLEDO on top of the mic... but last night it wasn't on the alternates.

Does anyone know if it was just an opening night thing, or the equipment managers were just didnt have time to sew the patches onto the alternates before the 2nd game, and this will be an all season thing?

PS someone buy me MLB.tv

So has anyone got any cool A's stuff for Christmas or did you give anyone something neat?

I'll be getting a hat and shirt off the web under the tree tommorow, but I didn't get anything for others because there aren't any fans around here or in the family/friends.

Hmm... that's not 300 characters. I guess I also bought my mom slippers and earrings, my dad some hockey tickets, and the girl a CD plus gift card and a stuffed animal.

Merry X-mas folks...

Here's the story... I'm in a fantasy baseball keeper league. We must choose 10 players from our team and then have it down to 6 by a certain date later on. Right now I'm having trouble picking my last two spots, and I want your input.

The team right now...

1B - Todd Helton
SS - Derek Jeter
3B - Eric Chavez
SP - Barry Zito
SP - Rich Harden
SP -
SP -
RP - Mariano Rivera
RP - Billy Wagner
RP - Huston Street

Those 2 SP spots? It's down to Jake Peavy, Ben Sheets, or Andy Pettitte. I have numerous reasons for picking all three of them, but can only take two, so please advise me.

Is anyone else kind of disappointed that Hatteberg didn't play today? I would have given him the start at first, because it could possibly be his last game in the majors, and is most likely (and hopefully) his last game as an Athletic.

Even if this season was disappointing, considering the A's weren't playing for a whole lot today, Hatte should have been given a chance to take the field one last time.

That's just my opinion. Hopefully this becomes a Hatteberg tribute thread as opposed to a bashing thread.

http://www.juiceenewsdaily.com/0605/sports/positive.html

That's the first news article I've read about it, but I've been reading rumours of it all day from more than one source on various sports forums.

"Michael Kay reported on his radio show that two more big-name players, one from the American League and one from the National League, have tested positive for steroids, have appealed the test, and have lost their appeals.

The rumor mill is churning out talk that the culprits are Houston's Roger Clemens and Boston's Johnny Damon. Kay says one of the players is expected to be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer (Clemens), and that the other is completely unexpected (Damon).

This news is hitting just a few weeks after the country saw former MSU star and one time Hall of Fame lock Rafael Palmeiro crushed by the national media for similar charges."

Pretty shocking. Many of you may say "good, I hate Roger/Jesus", but I think things like this just make baseball look bad. Maybe Palmeiro's revealing is good because it shows that the testing is working, but instead of Damon or Clemens, it would be better if it were Sammy Sosa or someone like that.

A real shame about Clemens. I don't agree with some of the things he's done, but he's been an amazing pitcher, one of the best all time. Although the roids explain a few things about his longevity, and having the best years of his career at 42.

Can someone link me up to a place that I can listen to A's games online that isn't MLB gameday audio?

I'm thinking the A's flagship station online if they have it.

I can't see games on TV and I don't live in the area to pick them up on radio either.

Thanks.

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anyone see him as a possibility to trade for? he seems like he would slide in well at the back end of the rotation. his time is up with the natspos and a change of scenery would do him well. he's young, but has been around longer than haren and blanton and would take some of the load off of them for the time being.

what do we speculate the 1B situation to be for the next little while (this series against the giants, and then later on against the phillies, braves, mets, and again the giants)?

hatteberg is playing 1B tonight, leaving durazo on the bench. will they basically platoon these games, getting about the same number of at bats, or will macha ride the slight upgrade on defense over a better bat in ruby? (though it hasnt exactly shown so far)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?page=05expertpicks

Neyer and Caple say the A's win the West, but then again Neyer said the Phillies will go to the World Series so how seriously can we take his picks?

Stark and Gomez say Huston Street wins ROY, while Phillips and Engel say it's Nick Swisher.

Interesting.

From the last diary on this (http://www.athleticsnation.com/story/2005/2/20/181419/881)

I've set up a league that I hope will challenge you to think about your drafting, trading and lineups.

There's 20 teams, live draft in mid to late March, and please don't join if you don't plan to be active for the ENTIRE season.

To register, go to http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1. Sign up, join custom league. ID is 42168 and password is zito.

Hope to see you there.

W, L, SV, K, ERA, WHIP
HR, RBI, R, SB, OBP, SLG

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util
SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P
BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL