Okay, I'm not going to lie. While I will miss very little about this season (Willingham, McCarthy and the Mrs, and Moscoso, I'm looking at you), I have to admit I did get a little choked up looking at the game thread queue. Our next game is April 6th, against Seattle (OF COURSE), and that seems like a very long time away. You can ask me again in January, and my answer might be different, but for now, I'm just as happy to leave 2011 behind. I really hated this season; it's one of my worst as an A's fan, and if it wasn't for you wonderful people, I never would have held it together for six months of twice-a-week gamethreads for this team.

We get to start at .500 next year, and that sounds pretty great right now. The very best the A's can do with a win tonight is 74-88. They will not be playing in October; again, yet some more. But we will see Gio one more time tonight, and he will try for his career-high 16th win. He'll be facing some rookie for Seattle, and I'm certain that Vasquez will pitch well against the A's offense.

And it must be said: As a baseball fan, you HAVE to love the playoffs this year. Right now, we're in the middle of two games that will decide it all; Boston is playing Baltimore, and Tampa Bay is playing the Yankees. Boston and Tampa Bay are neck-and-neck for the Wild Card. If that wasn't wacky enough, Atlanta and the Cardinals are in the same exact position; playing the Phillies and Houston respectively. Currently, Tampa Bay is being SMOKED by the Yankees. Their only chance at the playoffs is for Boston to blow the 3-2 lead they have going on. St. Louis is smoking the Astros; the Braves are clinging to a 1-run lead. Weird how all of those games have the same current score.

And this October? The playoffs are going to be good. And if nothing else, go root for Ziggy.

Game starting at 7:00 PM. I love you all!

Here are your lineups: (Thanks, Baseballpress.com, for being there for us ALL YEAR!)

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

It hasn't been a great season, but there have been some positives.

Like Brandon McCarthy (9-8, 3.26 ERA, -∞.19 FIP). He's awesome. And he's starting tonight, in a bid for his tenth win. Also starting tonight is Jason Vargas (9-13, 4.38 ERA). He's not very awesome.

And neither are the Mariners, really. They'll avoid another 100-loss season (last year was 61-101), but at 66-93, they're not exactly a force of power. Neither are the A's, really, but oh well.

And so begins the last series of the worst season in a long while.

Continue reading this post »

Bob Melvin and the A's continue to insist on playing their starters (Sogard and Powell being exceptions) and do so again today (lineups below) as Rich Harden faces Joel Pineiro at Angels Stadium. The A's hope to win a series against their rivals in what could be Harden's final start as a member of the club. It seems there is mutual interest in bringing him back in 2012 but you never know. Harden's strikeout numbers have been very impressive, (10.1 K/9) but his gaudy HR/9 of 1.8 really has hurt him. Overall on the year he has a 5.17 ERA, which hopefully ought to keep him relatively cheap if the A's hope to resign him - his 3.66 xFIP is far more indicative of how he has pitched, as I don't think most A's fans would feel he has been 5.17 ERA territory bad this year.

Big news today is the Willingham extension news, OaklandSi has a good write-up here. My big wonder is if there is actually an imminent decision to be made given the moves in the front office in San Francisco, the new CBA coming up, etc. I really will not get too worked up over anything until that happens and I am not really anticipating anything happening either, we all have been down this road so many times. I don't think Willingham is a necessary sign either, I have gone back and forth on whether or not the A's ought to re-sign him and I admittedly lean towards re-signing him but I want it to only be for two years ideally, not the three that keeps being bandied about. We shall see.

For today we just need to beat the San Clemente Angels of Santa Ana. The lineups:

Well, at least we've hit 70 wins.

The A's are mathematically guaranteed to fall short of their 81 win season last year, and they're virtually guaranteed to put up the worst season in Oakland since 1997. To equal 2008 and 2009, they'd have to go 5-1 in these last two series, and to equal 1998, they'd have to go 4-2. Yikes.

Either way, the A's are sending Gio Gonzalez (14-12, 3.33 ERA) to the mound tonight to face Jered Weaver (18-7, 2.41 ERA). He's good. Very good. I'm worried.

First pitch is at 7:05.

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Well, on the bright side, the bar is not set very high for tonight's game, following the debacle that was last night's. And it must be said; the A's have sucked against Texas this year. It's mildly embarrassing. Tonight matches up no better on paper; the Rangers have hit McCarthy hard. So Brandon McCarthy will face off against C.J. Wilson (oh good!) for tonight's contest. According to MLB.com today, Bob Melvin thinks it's important to finish strong at home, and the A's have two more games to win.

Let's see the lineups again:

It's just not fair. (stomps foot)

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to another night of A's baseball. I'll be your sub, baseballgirl, and I'm really glad to be here. The lights are taking effect, there's a hint of Fall in the air, and the postseason is just around the corner. Unfortunately, we will not be attending that party, but we do play a major role in deciding who does. We play both the Rangers and the Angels this week, and should the A's sweep the Rangers, the door would be cracked open, ever so slightly, for the Angels. Do we want that?

I'll be honest; yeah, totally. I'm going to the series this weekend in Anaheim, and I'd like it to still count. So I look to Rich Harden as he faces off against the admittedly awesome Derek Holland. And I look to the following lineup.

Don't those lineups match up well? Good grief. All that's missing is a ">" sign in between all of the names.

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

We're on national teeveeeee!!!!!! I guess the rest of the nation wants to see some of that special "movie-worthy" moneyball ackshun! So let's show them some today, and then we'll just pretend it happened 20 times.

Gio Gonzalez gets the ball for Oakland against Rich Porcello, whose velocity has reportedly mushroomed lately. The red hot Tigers have won 13 of 14, but they don't make movies for that. Not that Jim Leyland isn't right out of central casting, coughing up a lung as he comes out to the mound to whip some "old school" back into his corner-nibbling pitcher.

Cherish baseball, because as painful as this season has been at times it has still been better than no baseball. This is kind of like saying that a root canal is preferable to having no teeth, but that's probably true. Something to chew on, anyway.

Welcome back, Kotter Carter! Chris returns to the big league roster along with Graham Godfrey. Do Carter, Allen, and Taylor comprise the sit-com "Two And A Half Beasts"? Or is it one slugger and a bunch of amateurs in "Porks & Recreation"?

Today's "fun fact": The A's enter play today in a 3-way tie (with Florida and Pittsburgh) for the #8 draft position.

The lineups, courtesy of Baseball Press, featuring Michael Taylor and Chris Carter presumably on each end of the bench with pom-poms: