Open Game Thread: Game 78 - A's at Cleveland

Good morning everyone!!!!  The sun is up, the sky is clear, it's a beautiful day to sit and be unproductive at work. :)

almost no one is browsing AN this morning. not even a DLD.

Is it some crazy form of masochism that we KEEP playing Kendall? Come on! He's literally the worst offensive player in baseball with a regular job.

What a joke.

Almost forgot about this starting so early.  Should make the rest of my day at work far more enjoyable.  Let's see if Cust can get another HR today.  Hope the players slept well.

GO A's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go A's!

Never doubted him for a second... <looks around>

Cupcakes. Doesn't bode well for later on when he starts to get a little tired.

Did Blanton pitch the bottom of the first, or did Indians give him a pass?

earned his paycheck today.

I like this roll. Let's keep it up.

seems to rejuvinate Croz

And, like, people scoring runs and stuff. This isn't the A's at all.

....it'll be even harder for Kendall to hit into a double play. That's I guess that's nice.

than they think.

for Kots--swing at the second pitch

What hitting problems?

Hope they enjoy it enough to keep playing this way for a LONG time.

12 is entirely unacceptable.  Let's see 9 this time.

is what he used to call Paul Byrd when he was in LAA.

pitches is essential for every pitcher, not just Byrd.

instead of  being able to see the game.

like a moist blueberry muffin.

I feel old.  :-(

Nice play on the ball by Swisher.

from my office had a brief experiment with adult coffee beverages.  I remember trying the mocha with peppermint schnapps.....disgusting.  They quickly decided the liquor license and bartender weren't paying for themselves and became a normal Starbucks.

After yesterday's long innings and marathon.

Angels and Mariners are both idle today.

might take note of his batting average.

and we have nobody in the pen.

So dangerous.

the second coming of Ben Grieve.

Now do you pull him here, for fear of burning out his arm? I don't have any confidence in the pen, so I'd be tempted to leave him in.

Wish I'd seen that catch.

so those of us tied to desks and the radio feed can see it.

and we are having to play frigging catch up.

Pull this clown.  BP at best.

everybody was saying Flores > Rincon?

Yeah.

Score Early... Let other team back in game... Lose game.  Ridiculous.

game. Michaels versus lefties is great, why not play batter by batter. And why would you bring in a guy with a 13+ era  in a one run game?

has been lit up his last three outings.  Time to go back to Sacramento.  

how more people comment when something bad happens than when something good happens?

Or DFA him?  I don't care.  

Killed yet another rally

Time to go back to Sacramento.

Lunging at the ball, way out on his front foot, and rolls over a hittable pitch as a result.  Is this guy just clueless or totally unwilling to stick with an adjustment?

That with Kendall, Crosby, and Kotsay back in the lineup the A's are back to scoring only 3 runs?

You raise that trade value!

anything about Swish's hand on the A's broadcast?

YOU SUCK, PH for Kendall!!!!

is extremely nerve-wracking.

Please do the right thing here: you're a veteran, and with one out and a guy on third, you have ONE JOB TO DO.

DO IT.

Actually, that's not true.  It's completely believable.  In fact all too familiar.  How frustrating..

Same old story, different day.

Here's to hoping for the annual summer lightning-in-a-bottle charge ...

This game had everything this season has been about...

• Very Good Starting Pitching
• Good Defense
• Croz & Chavvy sucking ass
• Horrid Bullpen due to injuries
• Failure to bring guys in from 3rd w/ Less than 2 outs

Very, very tough loss.  Very tough.

But with Duke, Calero and Street out, we have no bullpen. They will be back post all star break and then we don't lose this game. It's as simple as that. HANG IN THERE, AN!

We hit. and that was an improvement. If Beane coud find us some relievers we'd be in business.

But instead, the A's won ONE of seven. Not good AT ALL. Especially considering the Angels' mini-swoon right now, the A's just blew a major opportunity to climb back into the AL West race.

I, for one, cannot sit and pretend the A's didn't just damage their postseason hopes considerably in the last seven games.

I really thought he'd come through.