Good pitching, bad pitching.

Good Hitting, bad hitting.

I made it through the whole game and I'll be up again tomorrow.

The fact that MLB won't lift the blackout restriction on MLB.TV for a 3 am Opening Day game in Japan is disgraceful.

I could have been asleep since 3, but I spent the night here. While the A's didn't make it worthwhile, you did! (And yes, Brown and Street should not be happy with themselves in any way. Or Cust...)

I woke up just before first pitch. Some impressions (not counting the poor play by Street and Brown):

Crosby's batting stance looks different, still not close to plate, and still has some holes in his swing. But he got some hits slishing up the middle, which I think will increase the number of hits he gets. Not a lot of pitchers are going to groove one down the middle for him at the major league level, so it looks like he's finally trying to adjust to the pitching.

the ESPN commentary was lousy to listen to...but by far the worst part was when Selig was in the booth. Several times I thought they were not going to catch the action on the field, as they were so intent on putting the cameras on him.

Cust has a loop in his swing that mlb pitchers are going to exploit even more this year. I wonder if he is able to work on that. Hannahan looked good at the plate; however, I think chavez makes that play that opened the top of the ninth, instead of putting Lugo on base.

Tomorrow is another game. Let's Go Oakland!!! (I heard the chant even through the ESPN babble.)

stock market down. Coincidence or correlation? Stat nerds?

Their gloating will know no bounds. :-(

went off at literally 3:05 a.m. I had my cell phone alarm set for 3:10 a.m., but my body knew when it was time for baseball.

I said this several times in the game threads, but the A's are not going to win very many games if Buck and Cust don't wake up. They both looked pretty lost at the plate today. It's a different game if either one of those two come through and Street isn't dealing with a one-run save.

Believe it or not, I actually thought the pitch that Moss hit out was a pretty good pitch. It had some good downward movement, but Moss put a Blalock-type upcut swing on it. The pitch to Manny, not such a good pitch.

As for Brown, there is literally no excuse for him, but perhaps the A's emphasizing taking that extra base over and over again led to him wanting to be overly aggressive in thinking the throw was going past the cutoff man? There is no excuse for that stupidity, especially when you're the tying run. But maybe that was what was going through that airhead of his at the time.

Baseballgirl, excellent job managing a ton of comments and a ton of threads.

I want some pancakes.

It's a different game if either one of those two come through and Street isn't dealing with a one-run save.

Aren't one-run saves what closers are paid for?

so it was nice to come back to a poppin' AN.

Because of that, and because we were in it till the almost end (and possibly also because of sleep depravation), I don't feel to bad.

Tommorrow's another day and chance to split.

See you tommorrow.

GO A'S!!

He must feel like a fool.

started this season the same way he ended last season, with a blown save. For his career he has 76 saves in 97 chances; 78% is not closer material. I know it's the first game, but maybe it's time to start grooming another closer and trade Street while he has some value.

Not a good start for a guy most A's fans never wanted on the team anyway.

I got to see the game until the top of the 10th, as I had to go to work. So I missed his baserunning. Could someone describe it in more detail? I haven't seen anyone do so yet.

Not to mention stating that this game in Japan was also a homecoming for Kurt Suzuki. Nice way of connecting the dots with ill-prepared assumptions.

I was stuck in the Transbay tube after Street walked Ortiz. And GOD it was a long trip to get back above ground, only of course to find Lenny DiNardo pitching a now 6-4 game. Argh! But we all knew the A's would make it interesting in the end.

Tomorrow Harden takes the mound for one of his 5 starts this year. Let's enjoy this rare occurence with a win! Go A's!

I know the A's lost, and I know they lost to Boston, but on the mlb.com game summary, maybe we could get ONE video highlight of something the A's did? Ellis' homer? Jack's? Hell, even Brown's baserunning? Something not encompassed under "Dice-K's outing"?

at least we can compete against good teams with the roster the a's have

DirecTV won't even take my call.

That's what that game was for me. I'll take a competitive Season to go along w/ 78 wins...thank you very much. And it looks like CarGo will be our *Real* Opening Day CF. Here's to the future.

Street 53 for last 70 in save ops.; 75%....check please

F' the extension!

I would start my Cust bashing, but I'll be banned from the site.

Prediction: Cust breaks all-time K record..not much of a prediction

It had me getting up in some un-godly early morning hour to watch what was a special extra game of the 2007 season.

XM and Sirius cleared to merge.

I am more pissed about the DirecTV fiasco. This team has shortcomings; no one should be shocked. And against a team like Boston, that's a death wish.

However, I enjoy beating the Sox as much as the next guy or gal, so I'll see you all bright and early tomorrow morning, and we'll go after them again.

Great job by bbg and ANG today. Fun experience.

Blanton: good game, but he you could see he ran out of gas in the 6th.
Street: not worried. Least of our problems. The save % stuff is mostly bs.
Foulke: he is our set-up man? really? Pithed a good inning though...
Dale: had some great ABs. He is good.
Cust: that's what you'll get a lot of the time. Not the guy I want to see up late in games.
Brown: He looks very good at the plate. Baserunning doesn't get much worse. He also looked a bit shaky in the field.
Crosby: 2-5, schmoo for schmive. Terrible swing, terrible hitter. He hit the first four balls straight into the ground. Should we be playing Murphy? I'm not sure...
R. Sweeney: Did better than his 0-4, but his hitting will be very poor.

Geren:
Walking Ortiz was dumb. Street's stuff is good against LHs. That second run often is (and was this morning) important, so it's dumb to let that run on unless there is a big difference between the two hitters you are contemplating facing. Walking the bases loaded would have been dumbest of all. You bring in the possibility of a BB, WP, and a larger class of hits bringing in the run, plus you put the insurance run in scoring position. Mike Lowell hit .324 last year. That would have been incredibly stupid.
And again: Foulke? He has a bad year, then retires for a year, then sucks in the spring, and suddenly he's the setup man?

I used to have DirecTV and I absolutely hate it. It's by far the worst television provider I have ever had the misfortune of using. Stack sub-standard satellite connectivity with simply horrible customer service and you've got yourself an all around crappy television provider.

I made the move to Dish Network years ago and it has always been great. I was in total disgust that DirecTV gained the exclusivity of MLB Extra Innings, but to be quite honest... the total crapfest that is DirecTV isn't worth paying for to get MLB:EI.

I had a great time with The Dogfather, Poppy, Englishmajor, MikeA and Rudy, along with all the local TV news stations, at Ricky's in San Leandro. It was so nice to have people with whom to rip the ESPN announcers for their proclamations regarding "Dale Barton" and "Jack Hanrahan."

I thought the team played a really good game, aside from the mental errors. I was impressed with their ability to fight back after giving up the lead. The mental errors can be fixed. Brown should learn from the base-running gaffe and Geren will hopefully learn that to walk Ortiz to get to Manny is just stupid, especially when there is another open base. Just pitch to Papi! AHHH!!!
But what really concerns me about this team is the amount of base-runners left on-base. This is my biggest problem with this team, same as last year. Man, I really hope they figure out how to produce some runs. (sending positive vibes to Japan)

started just like it ended they need to rethink Street he was said to be hurt last year and says he is healthy now and still blows saves. Blanton looked ok but not great and how many runners did they leave on base the first 4 innings come on A's !!!!

... I only caught innings 2-6.

Only items I'd add that haven't been addressed are:
1. That wasn't the OF lineup I was expecting (or wanting)
2. Buck looked terrible in the field -- not only the catchable-by-Cust "double," but his dying-quail throw home on the next hit
3. Cust wasn't controlling the zone at all, and the switching speeds really messed him up, He was swinging at stuff he usually lets alone.
4. Crosby's ever-changing swing/stance is like a ratty old quilt: you can move it around and squish it up all you want, but there are still going to be massive holes in it.
5. I actually disagree about the A's failing to put Matsuzaka away: he was so wild in 1&2 that there simply weren't many decent pitches for the A's to hit. Then, after he got the favorable K call on Cust, he got the confidence to start hitting his spots ... and there weren't many decent pitches for the A's to hit.

That was a Byrnesian -- nay, a Tejadan -- no, a SlideJeremySlideGiambian blunder of epic proportions. CarGo's stock just went up.

That said, Street and Geren blew chunks, as well. Walking the consecutively ineffective Papi to pitch to Manny who had already doubled was a total gaffe, and also cost us a run or both.

Are you all saying it was blacked out on MLBTV? WHY! Hopefully it will be on ESPN? We will win tomorrow! Don't lose hope!

Live in the PNW. No probs. this morning. But have had issues in the past.

How painful to watch Emil out there. Let's put this one behind us and get tomorrow mornings game. After all a healthy Rich is goin'.

It was frustrating at the time. He made a stupid play. But I think he thought the throw was going home and wouldn't hit a cutoff man. He should have realized that the first run didn't matter as much as the second run, and held up at second. But I have a hard time blaming Brown for running into an out after knocking in a run when Street blew the save. To me, this game falls on Street for not closing the door and Geren for walking so many people intentionally.

:-(

Save for the late inning gaffes that cost the A's a victory, it was a pretty entertaining game. Hopefully Street will finish the job if called on tomorrow, Geren will intentionally walk only when really necessary and Ramirez will think his hotel closet is the entrance to the Green Monster and get stuck there.

Failed my driving test, and came in to watch the A's lose.

I woke up a few minutes ago to the sound of our fire alarms going off (my mom was warming the iron up under the smoke detector... whoops! but no fire thankfully) so I decided to come on to AN because I'm a sucker for spoilers.

I taped the game so I'm going to watch it in a few (for once I'm actually thankful for Dish Network) but I plan on turning the game off when Huston comes in the game.

Sucks to hear about Brown's base running mistake. Guys not executing obvious and easy things is one of my hugest pet peeves. If I'm feeling better tonight I plan on being up to chat with AN.

LETS GO A's!!!!!!

Well I was (am) severly jetlagged and was going to try to wake up for this game but only got up instead to catch the bottom of the 9th on...That was painful.

It was horrendous having to listen to the ESPN broadcast however. I nearly died when they said that the As must have been tired of the Red Sox getting all the attention in Japan...uh YEAH whose fault is that morons?!!?

Anyway, bummed to have missed the night owl AN game thread but hoping to catch up on enough sleep today to celebrate our first win of the season with y'all tomorrow morning.

stirke out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

I was about ready to put my foot through the TV, but I found the mute button in time. I actually enjoyed the game until the 9th inning.

But, my god will ESPN ever get off Boston's nut sack. Even with no sound you could tell who their favorite was, I actually expected to see another replay of the bloody sock. AND Holy Crap - News Flash - NOBODY wants to see Bud "combover" Selig in the middle of a Game. Fuck, put the cameras back on the field you idiots.

Did anyone else see Emil Brown fall over catching a routine fly out? Man, bad baserunning, average minus fielding and mediocre offense, what was the reason we signed him?

Where are the bat boys? Those kids in the Helmits give me the creeps. Jeez - is there a bad si-fi movie with too many extras?

WOW - got up too early & had too much coffee already. Can you tell?

I've watched Emil Brown in Kansas City for a couple of years and not only is he just not a very talented player but he's also a complete knucklehead. I was appalled when he made the roster and knew it was only a matter of time before he made a soul-killing play that would cost us a game. I'm kind of pissed that play was in the very first game of the year watched in lieu of sleep.

This guy is a throwaway and it's shameful that he's a starter. That tells me a lot about the quality of team Billy Beane is throwing out there this year. But I'm still getting up early to watch again tomorrow.

He was trying to get to third with one out and figure if the throw was relayed home he had a great chance to make it.

Problem is, since Barton's run meant less than Brown's (though his out at the plate would have meant something) the Red Sox would have to have made a bone-headed play to relay the ball home if they didn't have Barton dead to rights. Brown's blunder was in committing BEFORE he saw the ball being relayed - Pedroia just had to catch the one hop feed, turn and get Brown in a rundown.

Had the throw gone home, too late to get Barton, and Brown sneaked into third, it would have looked great. But the odds weren't there because there was no reason to think the throw was going to be made in the first place.

Not surprised about Brown. He's terrible. I saw enough of him in KC to know that. As for Street, the stat on the front page says he's blown 17 of 70 save chances? That is flat out not getting it done. Something needs to be addressed in that department.

But really, in a game where several of the guys expected to be main contributors of the offense combine for an 0-9 day and you're STILL in a position to win the game, letting it slip away is a killer.

1) Glad this game was during spring break so I could actually watch it.

2) Glad my friend with HDTV was out of town so we could steal his key and sneak into his apartment to watch the A's play (we cleaned, it's not that bad of a deal).

3) I have rarely yelled and made a scene to the degree I did when Hannahan hit what should have been the winning home run. Expletives and smack talk spoken 3 inches away from the TV screen galore.

4) I knew there was trouble as soon as Street had to pitch consecutive innings-- have we learned nothing from Macha?

5) I have rarely yelled and made a scene to the degree I did when Emil Brown totally blew it by trying to push for a triple on an obvious double. I don't want to hate on the guy too much, because at some point this season, he'll make us love him with some ridiculous play. But for now, I still struggle to see why he's hoarding a roster spot.

6) The entire game, I was thinking about how badly and how obviously ESPN-- maybe the entire nation, sans Athletics Nation-- wanted the Red Sox to win. And the whole time the A's were winning, I was so happy that they were ruining everyone's expectations. And after the loss, I became despondent over the fact that the box score, the recap, the pictures, nothing could relate to the discriminating baseball fan (who was smart enough to not stay up until 3 to watch the game, then stay awake all the way through the last out) just how well the A's played against the "Defending and Future World Champion Red Sox."

Well done Blanton, well done Hannahan, well done... woah, Crosby? That was a crazy game.

a little of those playoff heartbreaks earlier in the decade (maybe due to a hyped opening day against a favored opponent in a crazy environment).
We're like the challenger who is better prepared and scrappy, get the champion on the ropes, but can't put him (them) away, lose confidence, focus...and eventually the game.

We just couldn't close the deal (note to Huston).

It was frustrating giving the game away like we did, and having everything work out like it was "supposed to" (eg. Dice-K gets off the hook, the Boston Goliaths win again, and the media gives them all the expected love).

Harden better have a good showing tomorrow to try and even this up...or is that too much to hope for?

It's the manager's job, first and foremost, to put his players in the best possible position to win. As usual, Geren did the exact opposite with a relief pitcher.

There's no justifiable reason, despite what that idiot Steve Phillips said, to pitch Street a second inning. None.

He got lucky earlier in the game with Embree, but it bit him with Street. The A's are 0-0. Bob Geren is 0-1.

ESPN2 just skipped the bottom of the 3rd and the ENTIRE FOURTH INNING of the replay.

Un-fucking-real.

after the Red Sox went ahead the 1st time I turned of my computer in disgust and put the TV on mute. I stayed awke long enough to see JH hit his bomb but then I feel asleep on the couch. My wife woke me up when the game finished and told me the A's lost in extra frames. I went to bed and read the horrible details later. depressing.

I'm not sure if I will make it for the 2nd game. might not be worth it.

for all of you interested, go over to the Freakonomics Blog and ask Bill James a question...

1. The call against the Warriors last night
2. The base running by Emil Brown
3. The fact that this is somehow a HOME game for the A's

Interesting how this can't tell the whole story re Brown's double

after hearing all the horror stories.. makes me appreciate Comcast cable that much more. Guess they aren't as bad as I thought they were.

My two cents:

I thought Street's stuff was good, he just made the two costly mistakes. Even thought the pitch to Moss was decent, it was a mistake as Kurt was set up outside. Papelbon's stuff was straight and totally hittable. Even though Huston cost us the game I have faith that he can recover his focus and command and learn from his mistake. I'd rather have his problem than Papelbon's on any given day.

ESPN is pathetic. Between Thorne drooling over Varitek and being unprepared regarding the A's roster and Phillips pontification about how if he was the manager how he would do things this way and that. Didn't the Mets fire that guy after they sucked for 5 years with on of the highest payrolls in the game? And he and Selig are gonna hang out at 2 am? Gawwwdd. Justt shutttt uppppp!

K. Escobar Chavez'd

I got up this morning just after six, just in time to watch the bottom of the ninth (and hear that Street blew the save), then take a shower, then watch the bottom of the tenth, just in time to watch Brown shove his brain securely up his sphincty. Not a good way to start off the day. Oh, well, I guess we have another 161 of these to go. Apparently, LL had a game thread as well (good for them). I was going to post some like this, but now I don't have to. Also, it appears that LL will get upgraded tomorrow, which should be interesting to say the least.

at SFGate.

Featuring the tidbit:

Andrew Brown was unavailable in the A's bullpen Tuesday night because of abdominal discomfort. There was some concern the reliever might have appendicitis

NOOOOOOOO

because he'd been experiencing pain for two days, but he did not have a fever or any other symptoms and he was taken for a CT scan Tuesday afternoon and cleared to return to the ballpark. He played catch before the game, but felt tenderness when he threw, so he was held out of action.

I wouldn't be so harsh on the guy. He just nearly missed two homeruns, and was certainly robbed of having two doubles and a walk last night. It was a stupid running play, but at least he was going for a meaningful base.

That was horrid. I see what he was thinking when the ball was thrown, but wow, just can't happen in that spot.

Gotta say, nice AB by Hannahan vs the Paps though.

I know all hitters are streaky but Cust and Barton seem to have periods where very are red hot or ice cold. I know this is going to be a long year for us A's fans but I wouldnt mind seeing some periods during the season where we play well against some of the better teams in MLB.

Here's what they've got on their website right now:

In the case of the Red Sox game, any customers who have NESN or ESPN2 in HD were able to see the entire game. For customers who watch NESN in Standard Definition (SD), we were able to bring the channel back at the top of the seventh inning. For customers who watch ESPN2 in SD the channel came back on later, after the game was over. We deeply apologize, particularly to Red Sox fans, for any inconvenience this may have caused.

emphasis mine

I don't even know how to comment on this it is such BS. I'm on hold right now.

MVP of one game?

Ramirez was presented with an oversized check for 1,000,000 yen (about $10,000) for being MVP of the game and smiled as he held it up on a stage placed near the mound. He also gets a color laser printer.

A color laser printer? Did he also get a year's supply of Metamucil and a subscription to Newsweek?

no homerun though....

but my anger at Brown is fading a bit...he hit the ball hard twice, and that's more than a lot of A's did.