his call at third base. His decision in a close game could be the difference between W and L.

combined 29 runs

Sac up 4-0…Gio 4 IP, 0 ER, 4 k, 1 BB

A’s own the Sox!!

I just got home and watched the game, as I recorded it. I know this is nothing new but man the Sox announcers really suck and they made two total mistakes when talking about the A’s tonight. They started the game off by saying that the A’s are 5 games behind the Dodgers and then they promplty gave the score of the Dodgers-Giants games saying something like, “Speaking of those Dodgers.” Seriously do they think that the A’s play in the NL West? later in the broadcast the said that Emil Brown has been producing for the A’s for the past couple of years. HUH?? I must have been watching a different A’s team the past coupke of years because I do not remember Emil Brown playing for the A’s before this year…LOL….

I can’t emphasize enough how bad those guys are in the announcing booth. Go A’s!!!

I laughed pretty hard at the commentating during the replay of the hot dog eating contest. It was pretty damn funny cuz it went to a “dog off” after being tied at 58. Of course the downfall of ESPN is that they cover hot dog eating contests and way too much Yankees/Red Sox crap.

and the Youkilis drive to the wall. The ball actually sat on top of the wall, as Damon crashed to the ground. Then, it rolled back into play! The cameras caught the play perfectly from four different angles. If the A’s had that kind of camerawork, they’d get faaaar more “shares” in their rating.

As per my morning post, I really didn’t like the use of Ziggy in the 8th today. I would sooner see Brown and Casilla, even Embree, handle these innings so Ziggy can work in higher leverage situations right now. I know the White Sox have a potent offense, but a 6-1 lead should be safe to turn over to Brown or Casilla or they shouldn’t be on the roster.

Just wanted to get that out there

It’s like he’s barely paying attention to the game over at 3rd. I thought only umpires were allowed to pay no attention to the task at hand.

ESPN Thread

Poopsicles for everyone. God I hope this does not happen

Last time I posted numbers on Blanton there was some confusion, so let me try to be more clear this time: When looking up these numbers I was not seeking to prove anything, and I certainly wasn’t seeking to prove anyone right or wrong.

In one of the earlier Blanton threads someone suggested that whenever he throws a lot of pitches, he’s terrible in the following start. I’ve noticed a few instances where that seems to hold true, but not enough to be sure of a pattern. I was curious if this pattern is real or illusory, so I looked up the numbers for all his starts.

I did not decide ahead of time whether I want the theory to be true or false, and thus look for the right numbers to make my case. I really wanted to know. (Sorry to belabor the point, but some people seem to have trouble with this concept.)

OK, so here’s what I find. The first number is the number of pitches Blanton threw. The second number is his ERA not in that game, but in his following start. I sorted the list by pitch count, to more easily see the pattern. The date is the date of the pitch-count game, not the ERA game.

# p    ERA     date

 75 -  1.29 - Jun 18
 78 -  1.29 - Jun 29
 94 -  3.00 - Mar 25
 95 -  2.58 - May 31
 99 -  2.70 - Apr 01
 99 -  2.58 - Apr 27
100 -  4.50 - May 19
101 -  4.70 - Apr 16
101 -  3.18 - May 02
101 -  2.58 - May 07
101 -  6.00 - May 14
105 -  5.40 - Jun 06
107 -  6.14 - Apr 06
107 -  9.00 - May 25
109 -  2.58 - Apr 22
111 -  4.50 - Apr 11
118 - 10.29 - Jun 12
119 - 15.75 - Jun 24
119 -  ???? - Jul 04

There are exceptions, but it sure does look like his worst games are after throwing a lot of pitches and his best games are after throwing not so many. Coincidence or meaningful connection? I report, you decide.

Blanton threw 119 pitches today, so if you think the pattern is for real, he’s due for a stinker next week.

...Chitren’s record after some research found that Chitren did, in fact, start his career with 16 1/3 scoreless innings instead of 15 1/3 as every media outlet and bit of information I found sourced online claimed.

The confusion was in a game against Texas where he threw 2 scoreless innings and then allowed 3 baserunners without recording an out in his third inning. Two of them scored so I think when people keeping track of this glanced at the stats they assumed he gave those runs up in his second inning. Hence, 15 1/3 instead.

Hopefully Brad gets the record for real his next time out. Still, this is what happens when the information out there is incorrect. Even the newspapers were wrong but today’s paper has it right.

Cahill has twice as many strikeouts (121) as hits allowed (60) in 106 1/3 innings between Single-A Stockton and Midland this season.

“Trevor, you’re a year too early!”

Our pitcher has a better ERA, 3.45 to 3.44.

Although I’d want their pitcher to be captain if I happened to be aboard the Love Boat.

If we have a lead in the 7th and 8th. Bring in Ziggy. Leave in until 9th. No Foulke (well can’t anymore) and no embree.

Go ZIggy you’ve been a treat to watch.

Gotta say our young guys are stepping up. R Sweeney, Zook, Cargon all playing great. Ellis has been solid as a rock as usual. Cust, well Cust…just go on one of your patented hot streaks

Go A’s

well the end of it any way, the last I saw of a score was 6-1 so I didn’t miss much. What stood out to me was a couple things Cust hit another bomb even with a stiff back, maybe he should lift weights more often. Emil "I’m not your scapegoat any more" Brown had a great game going 3 for 5 but the most important thing was that he was on base ahead of Cust so that he was hitting more than a meanings one run shots. Bankston has started to hit which could be bad for Barton but I still think it will be more of a platoon situation unless Bankston crushes LHP’s. Another thing was the Good Blanton showing up tonight maybe he will stick around for a while and I almost forgot trade him now before his value drops, sorry just had to get out of my system. Finally, the announcers for the game last night had to be one of the worst I have ever heard and that’s saying something since all I heard was the calls on the highlights from gamecast. First off what the sam hell is a "duck snort"? Secondly they showed their inability to count after the A’s went up 5-1 as they called it a six run lead. And on the last run scored by Davis, one of them said a good throw will get him but Davis was already across before the throw even got to the catcher and the throw was good. Just horrible, but that’s just me.