It's A New A's Record! (And Another A's Loss)

by louismg on Sep 11, 2008 10:04 PM PDT

As the 2008 season draws to a close, weeknight contests at the Coliseum are seemingly less attended than Oakland City Council Meetings. The few fanatics who chose to spend their Thursday evening with the A's, hoping to see the team extend their recent hot streak, instead saw more of the same. So much "more of the same", you'd think they were watching Biden's speech at the DNC. More bad pitching from an A's starting pitcher. More zeroes from the A's hitters, and three more strikeouts by Jack Cust, giving him the most K's of any Oakland A - ever - grabbing the title away from Jose Canseco, who will likely be better known in later decades for his writing prowess than his 40/40 season and MVP trophy.

After a 2007 that was largely forgettable for Dallas Braden, 2008 has actually shown signs of hope. But tonight was not that night. The Rangers racked up hits and run after run that sped Braden to an early exit. Saarloos, Foulke and Jeff Gray (no relation) combined to deliver five shutout innings to end the game, but the damage had already been done.

The A's managed only four hits tonight with two singles and a pair of doubles. In nine innings, that simply couldn't get it done. This was an unfortunate display of the game being over from almost the very beginning, as the Rangers' crooked numbers in innings 2 and 3 were something the A's have shown little capability of doing all year. It shows even the youngest players have been watching the A's closely and learning in their footsteps.

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I'm not optimistic for 2009

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 11, 2008 10:07 PM PDT reply actions

What'chu talkin' 'bout??

HOPE MOTHER FU***RS!
Yeah! Go A’s! Go Schlitz! Go to bed, Iowa! OK, good idea. Damn, I’m wasted.

A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.

by IowaA'sFan on Sep 11, 2008 10:10 PM PDT up reply actions

Schlitz... the brew of optimists

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 11, 2008 10:11 PM PDT up reply actions

PBR > Schlitz

Especially chasing a nice slug of Jameson

by mikev on Sep 11, 2008 10:13 PM PDT up reply actions

No way man.

Schlitz is like, 60 cents cheaper! Go A’s! BAAARRRRFFFF! Schlitz rules.

A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.

by IowaA'sFan on Sep 11, 2008 10:14 PM PDT up reply actions

the only thing pbr is better than

is steel reserve 211. and mayyyybe icehouse. or molson ice.

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Sep 11, 2008 11:30 PM PDT up reply actions

lucky lager

Even the codes on the bottle cap can’t remove it from the bottom (top?) of the bad beer list.

"Camelot sure fell apart, didn't it?"-Steve McCatty

by 5Aces on Sep 12, 2008 9:20 AM PDT up reply actions

A's got nearly shut out by Dustin Nippert?

Man, that’s depressing. Dustin Nippert is f***ing horrible.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Sep 11, 2008 10:29 PM PDT reply actions

lest you forget...

the ~~A’s~~ Rivercats are pretty f***ing horrible, too. But, that is depressing, considering they’re the future.

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 11, 2008 10:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Nah they're the past now. The Ports are the future.

[Crosby] "Guy that has driven in some big runs for the A's over the years" - Vince Cotroneo

by WaddellCanseco on Sep 11, 2008 10:37 PM PDT up reply actions

Hope for the Future?? Where?

You know often times when you are a fan of a very bad sports team (A’s) and your team is supposedly rebuilding you see a glimmer of hope for the future. I don’t really see that with this team. I remember back in 1999 thinking man I think we have a bright future and I felt good about coming back the following year. I have none of those same feelings about this team. I am not sure how we can expect this team as it is built to ever compete. We have shown that they don’t hit, don’t score (even with the bases loaded and no outs) and don’t pitch consistently.

We have a lot of hope for R Sweeney, and I have liked what I have seen from him at times, but what is with the injuries. He is a young taleneted guy but it seems like everytime I turn around he is hurt again, that to me does not seem like a good sign for his future. Daric barton does not seem to be talented enough to be a consistent major league hitter.

I understand that all of these guys are young and they may get much better, but it just seems to me that the great ones, heck even the good ones, are good or show signs of being very good right away. When I see players who are going into their 2nd and 3rd years on the team and they are not getting better or only showing marginal improvement how can I think that they will ever be better. The going back and forth between AAA and the Majors makes me believe that they are just glorified AAA players filling in temporarily. I keep thinking that maybe this is 1994 and these are just replacement players and that the real players will be back soon.

I love baseball and I especially love the A’s and I know that I am being hard on them during hard times but let’s face it this team is pretty much unwatchable. I still go to games but not as much as i used to and that is saying a lot as I am a guy who went to every single A’s home game in 1997 and 1998 (Bad baseball), I even went on three road trips during those years. I have seen some awful baseball over the years and I am putting the second half of this year right up with the worst. I just want a glimmer of hope! Is there a reason to buy tickets to see thois team next year or will it just more of the same of this year. If we are truly rebuilding, then where is the light at the end of the tunnel. When will I have that feeling back that my team actaully has a chance to win when they take the field. When I go to the Coliseum these days it kind of feels like spring training or pre season football, the results don’t seem to matter. There is no suspense and win or lose you leave kind of feeling the same.

I am tired of the Angels and I want us to be back in a position to be on top again and I am hoping that it is sooner or later. Please Oakland spare me form having to see one more damn rally monkey on TV in a playoff series. So please all I am asking for is a positive glimpse into the future a glimmer of hope. Maybe I am completely off base and am just watching the wrong thing. Maybe I am just a fan who doesn’t understand and am missing something. I feel that I am watching a franchise that is just lost and struggling to find answers.

I love the A’s and always will, please Oakland, help me get my passion back.

There is no A in OFFENSE!!

by wacchampions on Sep 11, 2008 11:59 PM PDT reply actions

yes, I agree...

but, I thought I put it much more succinclty in the post above.

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 12, 2008 12:11 AM PDT up reply actions

LOL

There is no A in OFFENSE!!

by wacchampions on Sep 12, 2008 12:13 AM PDT up reply actions

If it helps any, the Rangers are likely to be better than the Angels pretty soon.

[Crosby] "Guy that has driven in some big runs for the A's over the years" - Vince Cotroneo

by WaddellCanseco on Sep 12, 2008 12:27 AM PDT up reply actions

A Putrid Time at the Park

Let’s see. The game was boring, it was long, the A’s were horrible. It was cold. I guess I could go on. Eric Patterson is a really terrible player. Not only can’t he hit, but he can’t field second base for shit. Oh, he also can’t hit. Oh, I said that already. Even the Star Spangled Banner was sung by a guy who sounded like he was auditioning for American Idol.

Someone got the brilliant idea to fly a couple of red helicopters over the field in honor of 9/11, I guess, but they screwed up the timing, so they flew one way, slowly, late, and then quickly the other way. Blue Angels, Red Copters - what difference does it make when the match-up is Braden vs. Nippert.

It was obvious from the opening of the game that Braden was going to be awful. The Texas Rangers, sans Milton Bradley for one (I think Miley Cyrus was playing second base) were pounding him from the start. And Nippert wasn’t much better. He was on his 61st pitch in the third inning. By the fourth inning, I’d bitten my tongue and was rummaging through tonight’s giveaway medical kit looking for something to staunch the bleeding. It made for a pleasant time, as Dr. Pez watched me spit out blood red kleenex every ten minutes or so. There was a point when it was 5-0 when the Doctor predicted a final score of 11-2. He was clearly picking up on the Giants game, which wound up 11-3 San Diego.

By the seventh inning, with half of the unannounced crowd having left or died, we began thinking up absurd new rules like the Obligatory Base Runner (OBR), a guy who gets on base, usually with a walk and two outs, on the losing team in the ninth inning of a blowout, a completely pointless baserunner (No OBR tonight, though), and Courtesy Run (CR), the scoring equivalent of defensive indifference, wherein a losing team in a blowout is basically handed a run by the opposition so they won’t feel bad (like in tonight’s Giants game). We spent way too many seconds trying to figure out a way in which one’s On Base Percentage can be lower than one’s Batting Average.

We had trouble getting out of the stadium because of the huge crowds. Yeah, right.

by richwol1 on Sep 12, 2008 12:34 AM PDT reply actions

Oh Also...

There was one point when the two pitchers were named Gray and White, and we were really hoping that Brown would pinch-hit.

by richwol1 on Sep 12, 2008 12:37 AM PDT up reply actions

That it didn't happen makes me blue.

More than just ANtics: http://www.louisgray.com/live/

by louismg on Sep 12, 2008 12:39 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm confused.

What exactly is the new record the headline refers to?

"Dispatch knuckleheadedness with Bond-like aplomb." –74mk

by iglew on Sep 12, 2008 1:46 AM PDT reply actions

Jack Cust set the record for strikeouts...

for the Oakland A’s at 176, I believe. Don’t think that’s an Athletics’ franchise record, otherwise, they would have said that. And, I’m not sure who holds the franchise record for strikeouts… too lazy to look it up.

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 12, 2008 3:30 AM PDT up reply actions

STRIIKOUTS!!!1

"are you like some sort of argumentative robot?"

by notsellingjeans on Sep 12, 2008 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

If the A's win and there is noboday in the stands to see it does it still count in the standings....LOL

There is no A in OFFENSE!!

by wacchampions on Sep 12, 2008 1:57 AM PDT reply actions

that question is better asked in the reverse...

if the A’s lose and there is nobody in the stands to see it, does it count? If not, I think we’re in 1st place.

Foolsh, the most insane regular poster on AN since oaktoon left - salb

by FoolshGame22 on Sep 12, 2008 3:31 AM PDT up reply actions

what a snore

When the highlight is seeing the shortstop play to the right of the second baseman (the Ranger’s interesting Custal shift), then you’ve been to a boring game.

Patterson’s slugging percentage is flirting with the Mendoza line. A’s management please note: there is a single A in Patterson.

by Brian in 317 on Sep 12, 2008 6:58 AM PDT reply actions