The Stockton Ports are coming to town (well, moreso for some of us than others) to take on the San Jose Giants this weekend!  And, I'm selling tickets that benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Poll

Should I sing "...home of the A's?"

26%

Yes

7 votes

23%

No

6 votes

3%

Are you suggesting that the A's should move to San Jose?

1 votes

3%

You're insane.

1 votes

7%

This fanpost is worthless and pushes down better, more worthy fanposts.

2 votes

34%

Woo! Awesome win last night!

9 votes

26 votes | Poll has closed

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I've decided to toss my hat into the popular song relyricization ring. But, there's a twist -- this time I've actually recorded the song, so, clearly, even more apologies are due.

• I apologize to Whitfield and Strong for messing with their excellent song, I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
• I apologize to Marvin Gaye for messing with his awesome rendition of said song.
• I apologize to karaoke-version.com, from where I purchased the karaoke track.
• I apologize for the stupid trade proposals, but submit this work as evidence that rhyme structure is not an optimal measure of minor league talent.
• And most of all, I apologize to you, the listener, for not finding a track without background vocals and therefore having to sing over them, but not being able to drown them out completely due to the resulting cacophony (which I apparently didn't manage to avoid anyway); for the terrible recording quality of my built-in Macbook mic; and, last but not least, for subjecting you to this whole thing in the first place.
• EDITOR'S NOTE: I apologize to nobody for putting this on the front page. You rock, oblique. Literally. -Nico.

Removed. You know where you can find me.

As we transition from May to June, let's dwell upon Mays past for a moment.

AAAAAHHHHH!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!

AAH! AAH!! AAAH!!

Alright, so May has not been the kindest month to us A's fans of late, so perhaps we should be grateful for a 2008 May that, though sub-.500, was punctuated with a six-game winning streak. Those were the days. The Mays of the A's. Yay.

The A's lost yesterday but the good news was that Carlos Gonzalez hit two doubles in his major league debut.

Gonzalez said he was excited before the game but tried to keep things in perspective.

"It's baseball, it's nothing new," he said with a smile. "It's not like I'm going to play basketball or something. When I got to second base (after his first double), Michael Young and those guys congratulated me. That's something I'm not going to forget."

This WLD has something for everyone. For example, I know we have a lot of spelling sticklers out there. Heck, I'm one of them. It's in my blood. Typo-negative. Anyway, this kid has a future on AN for sure -- one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

For those of you wondering what the A's medical staff has been doing to allow so many injuries to occur all at once, well, they've been busy. It seems NASA called them in, wanting to learn about their experiences with Rich Harden's famous "alarm clock" injury, after the Mars Phoenix Lander had a similar ailment.

As an aging single Indian man, I can't really comment on this, except to point out that the punch line was brought up years ago by Russell Peters (start at about 2:50, up to 3:30).

And for those of you unaware of the historically geeky side of baseball, check out the Bay Area Vintage Base Ball league. I'm a rookie with the San Jose Dukes this season; unfortunately we're off to an 0-6 start, but hopefully we can score our first win when we take on the San Francisco Pacifics this Sunday at 1:00. Some interesting tidbits about the league:

• 43 oz wooden bats
• Baggy wool (blend) uniforms
• Hurlers (pitchers) throw from 50 feet
• No helmets
• Gloves that look (and feel) like gardening gloves, no webbing
• 7 balls, 3 strikes; fouls are not strikes, and getting hit by a pitch is just a ball

That's all I have. Oh, and if you happen to be going to the Black And White Ball tonight, my vocal group will be sitting in for a song with Dick Bright's SRO in the Veteran's Building Lobby around 11pm.

Dump away!

We all know what happened yesterday, and if you really want to wallow in it, you can click on all three.  Or, you could just read what Billy has to say, which is a pretty good indicator of what changes we can expect in July (none):

General manager Billy Beane suggested any answers for his team's lack of production should be found within the current roster, rather than from bringing in new personnel.

"These guys are all capable of hitting better than they are," Beane said. "They know it. Hitting's contagious and sometimes when one struggles, they all struggle."

Translation:  "I've got nothing anyone else wants."

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Because my friends are somewhat flakier than I'd planned...

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I have an extra ticket to tonight's game that I'm giving away. It is next to the one that I will be using for myself.  

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Last night was amazing; we had our way with the visiting San Francisco Giants, including two three home runs.  I need a cigarette.

Ooh, they just called, and we're seeing them again tonight!!

Continue reading this post »

It's a long story, so I'm not going to go into it.  Basically my response to randomness and unpredictability is to inject more randomness and unpredictability into the system.  Life has been kind of random and unpredictable lately, and as a result, I just randomly, unpredictably purchased a ticket to go to Baltimore from May 25 to May 28.

So...before I buy my one ticket for the game, are there any NRAFs in the area that might want to join me at the game on May 26?  (update...AND/OR May 27!!)

Poll

What is my deal?

50%

You're not Mexican enough.

5 votes

0%

You're crazy.

0 votes

30%

You're a whiny douchebag.

3 votes

10%

You're creepy.

1 votes

0%

You should stop eating puppies.

0 votes

0%

You're nuts.

0 votes

10%

Mmm...puppies.

1 votes

0%

You're injured.

0 votes

10 votes | Poll has closed

As we muddle through another hazy February day, waiting for it to either frickin' get sunny or go into a downpour (come on, weather, have some heart!  Be more Mexican!), we have much to celebrate.  Yay.

Babe Ruth was born on this day in 1895.

More from Wikipedia:
Axl Rose and Rick Astley, who I'd never have imagined in the same sentence, both share February 6 as a birthday.  And Singapore and New Zealand were both founded on February 6.

Former A Aaron Harang, who once had the potential to be a part of the most laughable pitching rotation in history (Harden, Haren, Harang, Halama....), got his self a new contract today.

The San Jose Mercury is not particularly positive about the A's offseason.

Here we go, and as they say, the ALCS is more than just a mountain range in Switzerland!

No link in the world could possibly distract us from the first game of the ALCS.  However:  I was flipping radio stations last night in the car, and happened upon KNBR just as they said something about "the A's" so I stopped and listened.  It was the Damon Bruce show (IIRC, I don't actually know anything about their programming) and he was going on about how A's fans are not passionate, and never "show up."  "I'm getting no love from the A's fans tonight!  Here I've opened up my radio show to talk about the A's, and...where are they?  They don't show up, just like they don't show up in their own stadium!"

In the interest of education, I'd like to educate Mr. Bruce and his listeners who feel similarly on how this new-fangled contraption called "radio" actually works.  See, while you are broadcasting your voice and various noises over the air, these noises can only be heard by people who tune a "radio receiver" to a particular frequency.  A listener would thus have to be motivated, independently of your immediate content, to tune a "radio receiver" to your frequency in order to even be aware that you are talking about subject matter relevant to them.  In other words, they cannot hear you unless they tune to your frequency first.

Earth to KNBR:  A's FANS DO NOT LISTEN TO YOU!!

Anyway, random rant over, and the annoyance really only lasted about 12 seconds because THE ALCS STARTS TONIGHT!!

Oh, and I almost forgot:  MARCO!!!

After having leaned heavily on AN through a season of ups and downs, I'm finally posting my first DLD, taking advantage of the fact that a huge portion of AN is in Anaheim this weekend getting ready for some serious card stunts tonight!

Speaking of stunted Cards, the St. Louis Cardinals are once again the favorites to win the NL Central after rallying from being down 2-0 with three runs in the bottom of the eighth (on a Spiezio 3-run triple, of all things).  In our own Central division, the Twins are afraid of the A's, and today resorted to throwing a game against a Chicago White Sox team that attempted to exclude from the line up anyone capable of hitting a home run.  The Tigers, meanwhile, would rather feel like the rest of the division, Twins included, is just standing in their shadows.

In today's Chronicle, Susan Slusser admits having been opposed to the trade for Milton Bradley, but thinks it looks better now that she's seen him naked.

"I want to be in a position...where I can have an impact..." Bradley said. "I wasn't swinging...like I was capable of doing...I started swinging it.  I've always been able to adapt and...have some speed..., do all those...things."

In Hollister, they feel that the A's have a compelling story.

Joe Morgan hearts someone named Ken Mocha.

And we are all lemur conkers.

Who's gonna be at the A's vs. Rangers series this weekend?

I will be singing the national anthem (with my quartet Corner Table) at Saturday's game!  So come early!  And if you're trying to decide which game would be best to go to, consider this a plug for Saturday.

According to oaklandathletics.com, Blanton is starting on Saturday.  He started and won the last two games I attended!  And, I don't think they've ever lost a game I've sung the anthem at, though maybe a few years ago.  So, all good signs!

I wanted to do this earlier, before we passed the Mariners and certainly before we were equidistant to the Mariners and Rangers (which we are!!).  But better late than never (even if you're playing this game), so here's the game:

Predict That Date!!

We like predicting things, right?  And we like being positive, right?  So here's a prediction pool game -- guess the dates for the events below.  Scoring will be as follows:

5 points for the exact date
4 points for being within a day
3 points for being within 3 days
2 points for being within a week
1 point for being within a month

Easy, right?  Points are good, right?  I'm spotting you 10 of them!

Here are the events:

1.  The A's reach .500 for the first time
   
2.  The A's go above .500 to stay (i.e. are greater than .500 and never go down to .500 again)
   
3.  All 5 A's starters are at or above .500 for the first time
   
4.  We go ahead of Texas to stay
   
5.  The next time we make a trade
   
6.  The next time we call up/send down to Sacramento
   
7.  Charles Thomas is back in the green and gold
   
8.  Chavvy hits his 20th home run
   
9.  Another A's player hits his 20th home run
   
10.  The A's are equidistant (in #games) between the Angels and Rangers

...and...GO!

From CNN/SI, of all places:

The A's are done, too: No, no, they're not, either. Just about everyone who counts -- Joe Blanton, Danny Haren, Barry Zito -- is pitching pretty well. Justin Duchscherer, a fill-in closer, has been perfect. They're 13-8 this month, and they have the second-best staff ERA in baseball in June at a little better than 3.43. Their comatose offense is coming around, too, led by Eric Chavez (.360, seven homers in June). Maybe the best thing they have going for them -- besides a general manager who's plenty willing to get down and dirty in the trade game -- is that they play in the American League West. Though the Angels are starting to play a lot better, with another hitter at the trade deadline or another starter, the A's can make a move on them.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/john_donovan/06/24/three.teams/index.html

As a Peninsula resident, I'm surrounded pretty much constantly by Giants fans.  I've heard some pretty amazingly stupid things, such as:

* "The A's can't even fill their stadium.  Even when they call it a sellout, there are thousands of empty seats!"  Um...the point at which we call it a "sellout" is 15,000 more people than SBC Park will even hold!

* "Miguel Tejada is the most overrated player in the game."  Yeah...OK.

* "I'd be really scared to go to the Coliseum."  Wearing that hat?  <YODA>You should be!</YODA>

* (when the BALCO story hit) "So it's looking pretty bad for your boy Giambi..."  Followed soon after by a "You know, everyone really just needs to lay off of Bonds."  Are you aware that (a) Giambi plays for the Yankees??  and (b) um...BONDS??

* (After random Giants pitcher drills Mulder in his injury prone hip, in "retaliation" for Mulder unintentionally hitting a batter in his half of the inning) "That was the right thing to do" (and this was the announcer!  Kook or Kite, not sure which)

I'm sure we'll hear some really amazingly insipid stuff this weekend.  Put it all here, and afterwards I'll print it out and burn it!