by Elaine Thompson - AP

"OK, when did someone put a wall there?"

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Dang -- it's only the National Anthem and the Angels are already into the A's bullpen. Meanwhile, Joe Saunders makes his final tuneup of the regular season, next to be seen if there's a Game 4 in the ALDS with Boston.

I remember Game 162 four years ago, when I decided not to bother to listen to the post-game wrap-up with all its "blah blah blah tell me stuff I already knew because I watched the whole season blah blah blah thanks to our engineers and the guy who runs the press box elevator blah blah blah," not realizing that I would never again hear Bill King on the air. So perhaps today is a day to cherish -- cherish the fact that there is still A's baseball one more time, and cherish anything that might be unknowingly cherishable for the last time.

Sorry I can't post the lineups, but I'm at my school's annual "Let's make Nico miss part of the last A's game of the season" picnic, always scheduled for the first Sunday in October. I'll give you a hint, though, about the lineups: The A's have really bad hitters 5-9. And 1-4 ain't too hot, neither.

(Edit by Flashfire: here are the lineups)

by Steve Nesius - AP

To the surprise of many fans, Scott Kazmir reveals that the Dibs actually ended up under Joe Saunders' cap.

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This game doesn't have quite the drama of Game 161 5 years ago, when the A's hopes for catching the Angels in the season's final weekend banged off the wall Erstad vs. Rincon style and Oakland had to watch the Angels celebrate the end of the Oakland "regular season dynasty."

7 or the 8 playoff teams are confirmed, and everyone else is either playing out the string, setting up their playoff rotation, fighting for best record, or in the Dodgers' case seeing if they can almost historically choke away the division they led by 6 with 7 to play -- but still limp into the playoffs as the wild card.

Dana Eveland. What can be said that hasn't already be said? The guy has a WHIP of 2.24 and there's just no way to spin that. The Land of Big Mice-urizturis counter with Scott Kazmir, thought to be the likely Game 3 starter in the ALDS, making his first start against the A's since he was traded to the Angels.

They sold their souls for rock-n-roll first-to-third.

Hello again, RISP-lets of the GDParadigm, and welcome one and all to the final homestand of 2009, as the Athletics, fresh from getting their asses kicked through the goalposts of Hell in Seattle, return home for One More Red Nightmare against the AL West Champion (getting sick of saying that yet? I know I am. I hope Billy Beane and David Forst are.) Angels.  The A's send Gio Gonzalez (6-6//5.73) up against Jered Weaver (15-8//3.84) in a rematch of last Friday's boogie-down, which saw Gio prevail 3-0, striking out 7 and walking merely one in 6 1/3 innings of sparkly quicktoss.  If Oakland can sweep 3 this weekend they will take the season series from the Halos, who currently hold a 9-7 advantage.

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Man, time goes way too fast.  Was it really eight months ago that I attended my first AN function?  And let me tell you, I have no idea why I was so apprehensive.  What's the worst that could have happened?  It's not like I was meeting up with perfect strangers in a lonely warehouse in downtown Oakland.  Oh, wait.

And now here it is my last game thread of the season.  Sigh.

But I have surely enjoyed the ride.  It didn't take me long to get over my fear of hanging out with random internet people.  One month after fANfest, I was on a plane with a group of AN'ers, headed to Arizona for Spring Training, where we took pictures with Ken Korach and fought over Nico's banana.  Somehow we found some time to watch baseball.

Near the end of March, a bunch of us got together for a little soul-cleansing community service before heading to the ball yard for beers and dogs and more beers.  It was there I fell in love with Brett Anderson, not so much for his pitching prowess, but for his spring uniform digits (67, duh).

(Wait, this is starting to sound like an essay on "How I spent my summer vacation."  Oh.)

After that, it seemed I couldn't go anywhere without bumping into bloggers.  AN (Opening) Night (where I was introduced to mikev's Big Ass Grill ^TM) was followed by a Saturday ball game with She Who Shall Not Be Named (gotta protect the innocent), and on the way to say hi to LongTimeFan, we stopped to chat with the DogParents.

It was on a cool May evening that I attended a contest between the A's and Mariners with OaklandSi, lynnzgal, pam5981, gigglingone, and wes7 (if I am forgetting anyone, shoot me), who all helped shake the 67M jinx (at the time I was 0-6) with a come-from-behind 4-3 win.

As the season turned sour, the threads took a different kind of turn, while OAH turned heads (bloggy-style).  Meanwhile the DLD lacked for links, and ultimately the first "D" was no longer for "daily" (more like "discontinued"). 

Who can forget when Rated-R and Lexi were all the rage?  Or more to the point, when Rated-R wasn't so, well, R-Rated?

The team would teaA'se, and the Gilmore Girls would rally the troops.  And when we won, fireworks!!  As the season wore on it became easier to keep score of Leopold Bloom's comment count (love ya, babe) than it was to follow the actual game.

So why do we call them "Game" Threads, again?

I caught up with a few AN'ers in Cooperstown (including Mr. Staturday, aka, devo) and in August, attended my first AN Day!  Lynnzgal wowed us with her shrimp and Gigglingone whipped up a batch of personalized cupcakes.  There was also a pretty awesome cake, a very large sign, and I got a picture with my fellow front-page pals: baseballgirl, Flashfire, Nico, and some cool guy named Tyler.

Hey, did you know you can comment on Athletics Nation from your phone or PDA? SB Nation has launched mobile commenting. Check it out next time you're at the game or bar and have something to say.  It's true; my niece did it from DFA's phone. 

Last month I saw a Thursday night game with the aforementioned nameless lady (killer seats), and we won!  The next night I went again- same result.  So what the hell, I decided to take my nephews on Saturday, and the G&G made it three in a row! 

67M Curse, my ass.

Somewhere along the way, me and Stomper hooked up.

Pause.

And I would have re-posted all the pics from this magical, if not successful, season, but one photo-filled post per day is all I am allowed.  It's in the contract, trust me.

So before we get to the, um, game, I just have to say (oh no, he's getting sappy) that while life surely got in the way at times, it was nice to be able to escape with a very unique group of people.  If only for three hours.

And I thank you for it.

Last road game of the season.  Make it a good one.

Ladies and gentlemen, your lineups:

by Ben Margot - AP

GYMNASTICS!

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Clay Mortensen takes the mound tonight for another chance to prove that he belongs in the 2010 rotation. MLB.com describes him as "calm". Granted, I'd prefer "pitches really well" or "has a nasty curve/slider/fastball", but I guess "calm" will have to do.

The A's defense has not been particularly sharp behind him, so it was tough to tell how Mortensen pitched during his last start, but I'd say giving up seven runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings is not that great. Maybe "calm" though.

Mortensen will be facing off against Brandon Morrow, whose inconsistant performance leads to "head-scratching in the dugout". I can't make this stuff up!

The A's can't finish the season at .500 after last night's loss, so really, the only thing left to root for is Andrew Bailey. Tell everyone you know.

Tonight's lineup, helloooooooooooooooooooo Buck!

LET'S GO OAKLAND!

by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Felix Hernandez doesn't actually pitch like this. If he did he'd probably only be pretty good instead of great.

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As I sit here enjoying my first homemade smoothie (okay, at least I was when I wrote this around 4:30) after buying a blender in an effort to eat a little healthier, the A’s begin their final road series of the season in Seattle with a chance to finish at .500. With a record of 75-81 they’ll have to win their last six and it starts off with a tough one: Trevor Cahill vs. Felix Hernandez.

Unless the A’s use him on Sunday this will be Cahill’s final outing of the season and to his credit he’s had a strong finish. As rough a season as he did have while gaining valuable MLB experience, his last few starts are a positive to build from and take into 2010. Against Seattle Cahill is 0-2 in three starts but he’s only allowed four earned runs in 19 innings.

King Felix is arguably in the Cy Young hunt in the most dominant season of his young career so far. The only time he faced the A’s back in his second start of the season, he allowed five runs in five innings. He stands a good chance of finishing with 18 or 19 wins but his numbers have been great across the board and he passed 200 strikeouts for the first time in a season in his last start. In the month of September he’s 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA, as well.

That’s ending on a strong note, but my favorite for the Cy remains Zack Greinke. He’s been amazing all season but is having an even better September than Hernandez. Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia will get some votes and even though Sabathia’s the least deserving of those four, you never know how it’ll go when he plays for the Yankees.

Tonight is also the night when dead animals are being grilled up over at Chez Nico. If you’re not already there it’s probably too late.

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

"He says the pool seemed deeper when he dove."

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With the A's going for the sweep today -- it would be their second road sweep of a division rival in September -- Edgar Gonzalez is trying to break out of a recent slump in which he has sucked for the last seven years. He's opposed by lefty Joe Saunders, who has pitched well since coming off the DL with arm problems he said he first felt in spring training. So you could say that early in the season, Saunders was "meyered" in a slump.

Here are today's lineups, and lookie who's batting 2nd. (Don't look at who's batting 5th if you've eaten recently.)

by Tony Gutierrez - AP

"No, I said 'fly ball' -- like this, wheeeeeeeeeee."

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There aren't too many positive things an A's fan can say about the pitching matchup of Dana Eveland vs. John Lackey. Eveland actually isn't the ugliest starter going? Really there's not much else. Lackey isn't having one of his very most dominant seasons (11-8, 3.56 ERA), but put him on a mound against the A's and he's always a good bet to be mucho stingy. Lifetime against Oakland, Lackey is a rather gaudy 16-4, 2.54.

Put that up against Eveland's 6.50 ERA and his 57 hits (plus 22 BB) in 36 IP, and on paper it looks like a mismatch. But...The A's are 15-4 in their last 19 games, playing the best baseball they've played all year. Maybe the A's can get to Lackey luckey.

You can't lose the car if you park right next to this thing.

Salutations faithful parishioners of the Church of Latter-Day OPS, it's me!  Your host the emp of hemp, welcoming you to the opener of the final Athletics roadie of 2009, beginning deep in the heart of Orange County against those hated Halos of Helltown.  The A's (73-80) are among the hottest teams in MLB, having just completed a 6-2 homestand which was preceded by a 6-2 road trip.  The Angels (90-62) have all but bagged the AL West and if you could see the inner landscape of Mike Scioscia's mind right now, you'd hear him wondering how to keep his team in the playoffs for more than a week this time around.

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by Jeff Chiu - AP

You'll see this today, minus the hair, of course.

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Brett Anderson takes the mound for the A's in the final game of the season against the Rangers. Anderson is trying to get his W/L record above .500 to end the year; he is currently 10-10. He's had probably the best season of the A's pitchers, and looks to continue to build for next season with his last two starts.

According to MLB.com:

Anderson, who is 7-3 with a 3.10 ERA over his past 10 starts, credits the advanced workout environment of the Majors for keeping him strong throughout the grind of his longest professional season. He's thrown 164 2/3 innings, up from 105 in two Minor League stops last year.

Barring a pretty miraculous finish, the A's themselves won't get to .500, but Anderson has been a very bright spot in a very long season.

The usual crew is batting today (Powell for Suzuki)...except...wait for it...who's that?

IT"S BUCK! IT'S BUCK! IT'S BUCK!!!!

I hope he goes 4-4 with a couple of homeruns. 5-5 if the A's score a lot.

Lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!