We Must Believe

Still have faith boys....skipping work tomorrow to go show it @ the park.

Now is not the time to give up on the A's!

Send our boys positive vibes!

See you at the Coliseum all weekend!

Cheer extra loud for us fans on the east coast!!

No, its definitely not over ~ 4 games to go and only 1 behind!!!

It's just a game behind, larger deficits have been made up, and here's to the Big Three refinding themselves just in time to shock the Angels!

Let me tell you what I saw from my seat at the Coliseum tonight:

Only Kotsay, Harden, and Byrnes seem interested in postseason play right now.

Remember a couple years ago when the A's could be down by 2 or 3 runs going into the 8th and 9th innings... and the A's dugout was out on the rail smiling and wearing their rally caps? Well, that doesn't happen anymore. Not this year.

I don't blame Kotsay for his throwing error. He knows that if the A's get down by a few runs it's over. And tonight it surely was. At least he tried to get the runner at 3rd.

Harden pitched well again (pitching MVP of the year for the A's). And I applaud Byrnes' hustle to make a couple doubles tonight.

LET"S GO OAKLAND! They can still do it this weekend against the Devils this weekend!

I AM AN ATHLETICS FAN THROUGH AND THROUGH AND I BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM!  We still have 4 games to kick some Angel butt!  Honestly - what a waste to send the Angel's who have a bunch of injuries to represent the AL West!  GO A'S!

go back to old AN? This new one is so so unlucky. Seriously, it's beyond a silly superstition now.

That was wonderful.  It was so wonderful that I almost left in the 8th inning, but I dragged myself back to my seat.

I think what happens is this:  The A's come out thinking they can shake off their poor performance.  Then when things don't go their way, they get anxious and depressed and they choke.  For the first four or five innings tonight they were doing well at the plate and making contact, but just getting unlucky in that they would hit the ball right at people.  But later I saw some really awful at-bats.

I like Kotsay as much as everyone else, but he really had his head up his ass tonight.  Twice he made throws to the lead runner for no reason at all, except maybe that he had a desire to participate in the play.  That's admirable behavior coming from my officemate's dog, but a bad idea when you hit the runner and he is awarded home plate, or when the run scores by a mile and a single turns into two bases.

Mecir kind of sucked, but three runs allowed is a good pitching performance.  The A's cannot expect to win games by scoring twice.

I have come to the conclusion that Macha has to go.  Not because he's definitely a hindrance, but because he's not definitely a help.  That's kind of harsh, but it comes with the territory.  

The downside of a new manager does not appear to be that large ... but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  Anyone calling for Macha's head should provide a list of proposed alternates.  "Anyone" is not an answer.  "Jimy Williams" is an answer, and rather surprisingly contains the correct number of m's, but is not the right answer.

Art Howe. Ron Washington. Neither have M's, but both would do better than Macha.

I would take 80% of the posters on this board as manager over Macha. The stuff he does during that costs us wins is obscene. Ans who cares if I couldn't really talk to players about hitting or pitching, that's why they have hitting coaches and pitching coaches. I know enough to not put Mecir in the game. That puts me one rung up the ladder over Macha.

I think the season ended tonight.  The Angels pulled a rabbit out of a hat tonight with a key hit from a guy I didn't realize was even on the team.

And then Harden goes out and pitches as good as we could possibly hope, but our offense comes up lame (remember, the A's got their second run on an error) and the bullpen can't hold them off.

I feel badly for Mecir, booed off the field in what may be his last week in the big leagues after months of good pitching.  He's not the only one who failed to perform.

With Redman and Mulder pitching the next two days, there's a good chance the season ends Friday night.  I'm certainly not counting on any help from the Rangers.  I hope we get a pleasant surprise.  We could certainly use one.

I actually delayed starting a new job by a day so I could watch the game on TV tomorrow, but I'm sorry, Blez, with the exception of Harden, the effort that team put forward on the field tonight was the antithesis of resilient.

As I said before, this is my team and I am not turning my back, walking away, or giving up. I grew up as a Washington Senators fan. Being loyal to this team is nowhere near as tough. I'll be there on Friday night cheering the A's whether there is a chance to win the West or not.

It would take a miracle to win the West at this point, my friends. There are tired arms and tired minds. Ken Macha is an odd duck, but do you really think that genius, T-Long (such a waste), was right about him? Billy wanted a butt kicker to motivate the team past the first round. The guys seemed to love Ken. Billy would not let him go to manage anywhere else because he was the heir apparent right here. Be careful what you wish for.

One of my co-workers made the point this morning that Rick Petersen's departure is the reason the pitching staff has fallen apart. Maybe. But Mulder was Cy Young for the first half of the season. Apart from his strained oblique, Tim Hudson only had a zillion blown saves keeping him from being Cy Young. Harden centered and came on strong. They found a slot for the head case Redman to contribute to the greater good. Only Barry has totally resisted whatever Curt was peddling. Young even found a way to get the bullpen to return to form for the heart of the season. I agree with Mark Mulder. It isn't Curt Young who has to make the pitches.

Who knows why these guys have stopped dominating? Who knows why they have stopped hanging out on the rail? Floyd hit on a characteristic of this team that has been true for years. When they feel that their backs are against the wall they press too hard. Then they get depressed, frantic, and choke. Witness the ALDS of the past four years.

There was a time when David Justice, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Tim Hudson moved this team from depression to being gung ho Jedi warriors. They grabbed this team by the shoulders and jerked them into achievement. Someone somehow must do that tonight and tomorrow morning. They don't need to think positive, believe in themselves and all that crap. All they have to do is play baseball like they know how. They are the Oakland A's! Everyone else knows they can do it. They just have to go out and fucking play ball!

did everyone see how pissed harden was when the lead was lost???  everyone needs to show that same passion soon or in a week they will be at home wondering what went wrong.  Personally, i would like to see harden pitching exactly like he did tonight (lights out) NEXT WEEK.  This team has to start getting pissed that they are not winning and kick some ass before it is too late.  HIT SOMETHING IF YOU HAVE TO...RICH HARDEN DOES  

The team has control of its own destiny on the last Friday of the season. You can't really even ask for more than that. But there are too many people here on unlucky new AN talking about how the A's are doomed. I can't take it any more. I'm done reading here until at least after Friday's game.

Peace

And trys to give you home runs. Let's take a couple of his FIRST pitch fastballs out of the park.
Let's try to pull the ball for a change; this always being careful and looking to go the other way ain't working.
I'm getting my Tejada jersey out of storage for good luck.
I'll be at work with no communication.
PLEASE Go - A's

If the A's hire Ron Washington as their manager, I'll cancel my season tickets. The only upside of hiring him would be that his incompetent coaching of third, infielders and baserunners would at least stop.

More depression: My father's side of the family is from Montreal, and I'm sick about what that bastard Selig did to that city.

You know, I'm having a hard time twisting my neck around so I can see what's coming out of my mouth, artie. So I guess you're right. Shucks.

We've debated Washington's coaching chops before, but for the record: Tejada grew slowly at SS, and it looked to me like his improvement was mostly a consequence of playing every single day for years. Chavez is brilliant, but technically unsound when he got to Oakland and remains that way. Crosby arrived slick, without Washington's help, and so did Ellis and Scutaro. Hatteberg is a bad reference to use for Washington. While he's certainly improved, perhaps to the limits of his ability, he's no Mike Hegan over there.  

OK, I admit it, I thought your medication needed adjustment, Jennifer. But of course I followed the link you provided, and there it was. That is one of the strangest stories I've ever seen. That guy is unbelievably lucky.

If Billy Beane is considering dumping Macha for next season, he may just want to do it now.  That would be the ultimate shakeup.  Many managers have been let go simply because their teams needed an attitude adjustment; even though it wasn't the manager's fault.

Or, as the old saying goes "You can't fire the whole team, but...."

But back to reality.  As Billy has said before(including his interview with Blez); Ken Macha has had to deal with things this year that Art Howe never did (ie: injuries).  When teams dump managers, it's usually at the quarter or half way point, and that was when the injury factor was pretty strong.

Art Howe's strength was his ability to work with younger players, which was why Sandy Alderson hired him.  But how does Macha work with rookies?  That may be the key in predicting what his future is, particularly if we look to promoting a lot of guys from Sacramento next year.

Bottom line:  Beane likes the job Macha is doing.  He aint getting canned unless something is going on under the radar we don't know about.

However, I can't get into this "keep a positive attitude" business.  It's one thing if the team was giving its all, and just being outplayed or hit with bad breaks and bad calls.  Or hit with some key injuries.

Since a plurality of us seem to think Mulder's problem is not an injury, what's left?  I could accept that the team is in a slump, but for the whole friggin month of September?

This team simply does not believe it can do it, period.  And it may go back to the early season Yankees and Red Sox series where they got beat badly.  There was a glimmer of hope going into September that things would be different, but the last Red Sox sweep confirmed otherwise.

We are good fans, and we love and support our team no matter what.  But that doesn't mean that we bury our heads in the sand and say "they'll make it, they always do."

The only reason that we were in first so long was that the Angels were dealing with their own issues, namely Jose Guillen. Now that they dealt with it, they're free to concentrate on winning, and that's what they're doing.

And yet, the A's can still pull this off.  That's what is so maddening!

Things doesn't look good. We need to win 3 out of 4. Offense seems to go dormant after the Boston series. Redman is pitching at home...era at 6 or 7? Mulder has lost his magic wand. Hudson was beat up pretty badly last outing. Zito has been doing better, but is not going to win with only 2-run support. Bullpen has not been that bad, but man, did they pick the worst time to yield! So looks like the team will need some help to go even 1-3.

ok ok ok

Now remember the Yankees what, two weeks ago? Yankees were having all sorts of trouble. Boston has total momentum coming in. Even snatching away a game-in-the-bag with Mariano pitching the ninth.

Then Yankees came back with 2 impressive win and never look back! Now they don't look any easier than the Sox.

Some one please call up Yankees - how they can turn around so quickly?

So perhaps ...

Redman discovers his pitching road-magic,
Mulder finds his magic wand,
Zito pitches 6 shutout inning and bullpen does their job,
Hudson regains his dominant form and pitches a complete game.
And we win 3 out of 4!

Baseball is great! Until the fat lady sings, we can all dream on...

Go A's!

I believe.

In the face of all common sense.

We need to win three out of four. We have two games coming up that don't look good (started by Mark can't-win-in-Oakland Redman and Mark anybody-seen-my-fastball-it-was-right-here-two-months-ago Mulder) and two that look pretty good (Zito and Hudson). So common sense says we should win two out of four.

But you know, if I cared about common sense, I wouldn't really care if we win the division, because common sense also says we have no chance of beating the Red Sox or the Yankees in the playoffs even if we make it.

We don't have the most talented team in the league. And we never have, since maybe 1990. I don't care. This is baseball, and the most talented team doesn't always win every game or every series.

We're going to win it all.

I, like many of the great A's fans on this page, would love to be positive during this stretch. However, seeing how the team reacted last nights hits you with the reality that this team has no fire left. Without Miggy, there is absoultely no one in that dugout pushing for a better performance. I was hoping the Mariner rookie would plunk someone in the 9th, maybe waking some people up.Instead, Madritch gave a Pedro like stare into the A's dugout, punk'd them out, and left them cowering in the corner of the dugout. If Billy Beane is such a firey guy with a short fuse, why isn't he in the dugout? It couldn't hurt

   This is my first post and I am proud to no be a part of this website.  This site is dedicated to fans who truly care and as one of those I think we all have a right to have players who do the same.  I will be there Friday and Sunday but that being said...
   Despite the A's recent struggles the most frustrating part of this late season crash has been Eric Chavez's lack of enthusiasm.  We made a 66 million dollar commitment to a guy who we all knew had questionable leadership skills.  Yes his talent is otherwordly and he can compare to Barry Bonds in many statistical categories being of the same age.  However, Barry Bonds, always represented as a horrible "chemistry" guy is a great leader.  He leads by example taking every at-bat as if it is the last at-bat he will have even if he hasn't seen a pitch to hit in weeks.  Other examples of this are guys like Derek Jeter, Scott Rolen and Miguel Tejada.  They make big money but are not overpaid at all because they are worth at least a few million to their clubs by making the other overpaid millionaires on their teams give maximum effort every night out.  
     For the last three weeks Chavez's at-bats look like prior seasons against lefties where he just gave up two pitches into the at-bat.  Sure Chavez may not be vocal, that is ok, but your superstar must at least lead by example.  What happened to being a "badass". This affects the rest of the team when you are the big money player and you don't have the heart.  It has even affected Tim Hudson who came out with no fire agaist the Mariners a few nights ago.
    The A's philosophy has always been to not pay for overrated statistics and chemistry can hardly be quantified but I think in Eric Chavez we have shown that even they A's can under value things and that thing is leadership.  Eric Chavez will always be a perfect second fiddle but unless we find someone to play the Simon to his Garfunkel I only hope I don't end up regretting the only long-term signing we were able to make.  
   I still love Chavez and the fact that he made a commitment to the fans for the long haul. I have all faith in Billy Beane to make off-season acquisitions if we do or don't make postseason but the last few weeks have been a test to any true fans and it is not because of clutch hits, a starting pitching swoon or an ineffective middle relief.  All those can be understood, but lack of heart by the players, whether precieved or real, is inexcusable.
   

Was it necessary? No.

But I can't say I feel bad about it, and I'll do it again if I feel like it. I was reacting to your post, in which you said I, "spew venom," that I "claim" to be a fan, and that the people of AN shouldn't be "pigeon-holed" as being like me.

So, really, a lecture about decorum coming from you lands a little flat, Mike. You were rude, nasty and unnecessarily personal.

Which is -- being personal, I mean -- something I don't do in my posts. I have things I like, and things I don't like, but except in response to some insanely personal remarks by a couple of "misfits" here, I have never initiated a discussion about the intelligence, temperament or competence of anyone here at AN, and I've shown more patience than some people deserved.

I confine my remarks to public figures and their public behavior. That is a standard to which you would do well to adhere.

Please delete my login, diary, and all my posts immediately.

I spent an hour crafting a long, well-thought out response before realizing what I was doing.

Some people can only see things one way - their own. So I was simply wasting my time. I have far better things to do with my time then that.

I actually used to be like that too, but I'm much happier now. :-)

Best of luck to everyone.....

~Mike