cuz I look forward to baseball all night but now I don't want anything to do with baseball but as a result I have nothing else to do.  How depressing.

is still well liked I think - it's just a sign of HOW GOOD our bullpen is.  

Everyone else is on fire - and I don't recall him doing any evil either.  And Yabu hasn't pitched bad.  Beane's theory at the start of the year that we needed a great bullpen has come true - in spades.

I think it's mainly that the trade has turned out better than anyone hoped.

Wisasckicif and Kenneday have been very solid arms - and Rincon was never above Duke, Street, or Kiko.

hate losing to the most annoying team in baseball.  And for some reason they've had our number quite a few times.  Just so aggravating.

that Vlad doesn't actually "slump" like normal human beings. He's just all around amazing.

Sometimes the young guys will play young and the vets aren't that much better. Tomorrow's game is one that (on paper) the A's should win: Zito against their rookie Santana. Unfortunately, this rookie is much more stellar at night, so hopefully the A's make him work tomorrow.

I'm keeping my pinkies and toes and everything else crossed that today was the accumulation of all the negative karma we had coming our way and that it's all out of our system.

but didn't the A's lose the first game in Redondo Beach the last time they played them and came out winning 2 of 3.?
The only mistake the A's will make is if they start Blanton over Sarloos in game 3, give the guys an extra days rest, it is still a long season.
Tonight was a wake up call, the players have been reading too much about how good they are, needed a nice sound trouncing, good for the soul.

Throw a few outings where you don't give up a run, and I'll put you back in non-mop-up situations.  Rincon hasn't shown that recently.

i hate when angels fans sit near me and don't stop talking.  they don't even know any real information, just blah blah vlad, blah blah anderson.  we need to come back and win tommorrow and shut these red wearing jerks up.  

Our left-handed relief for the season:

Witasick: 0.82 WHIP .176 BAA - unreal

Rincon: 1.32 WHIP, .205 BAA - quite good

Kennedy: 1.90 WHIP, .332 BAA - LOUSY numbers, but partly compiled at Coors where he was pitching horridly.

My opinion: obviously Nico and I were mistaken on paper at least - Kennedy doesn't look like Loogy material.  The other two are both quite good at the role.

The Crosby and Swisher near home runs could have gone our way and changed the game.  

Regarding Rincon, do we know if Beane shopped him around at the deadline?  He's a free agent so a deal would have made sense unless Beane wants to save him and get the draft pick(s) at the end of the season.  Draft picks are great, but we all know how that worked out as far as Dotel and Durazo go though.

just got back from the game, my first one all year i got to see in person. the way these boys have been playing, a night like this was inevitable i guess, just wish it wasn't my first day back from vietnam. just unbelievable though the way all the breaks went against us. looked like they were a bit nervous in the first two innings as well, but i'm sure they will be coming out blazing the next two games. no worries, we will still take the series, and i'll be at both.

by the way, a special thanks to gdubb925 in section 218. a foul ball of ernsted glanced off his hands and into mine, got my first game ball since i caught a canseco bomb in 1988

lets go zito!!

one bad game.

Z goes tomorrow.

Life will be fine 24 hours from now

Extra Innings is talking to Swisher (as they do every week) - Swisher is just saying in response to a question that the four rookies haven't talked about boxing each other out for ROY at all, and that "regardless of who wins that reward...we'd be happy for the other guy...and just want to help the team"

He's always a great interview in my mind, and I really like this one.

Really hurt from the start. They came out and look flat-out awful the first two innings. But you just knew it was because they were so amped up.

Its just depressing to see them come out before such a big crowd and put up that kind of performance.

This one loss doesn't mean much, but the A's have to come out tomorrow and show that they can recover from it.

Its true that getting swept wouldn't drop them out of the race--we know they theoretically could make up three games---but what would it do for their morale?

about the attendance. 41,000 on a Tuesday night! Granted, it's a showdown versus a division leader in the middle of a pennant race, but if this is an indicator of attendance long-term, if we can get attendance up from 27k per game to, say, 32k per game, then -- dare I hope? -- maybe we'll have a Slegna-sized payroll one day.

Now DeeWayne will say I've had one too many bong hits. ;)

This was a disappointing loss, but I didn't find it too painful.  It was over quickly, so I didn't need to agonize.

Harden was simply too amped up early, the defense was poor, Vlad was Vlad, and we weren't hitting anyway.

The Angels did what they can do - put pressure on the defense with their speed, deliver the knockout blow with their superstar, and get excellent pitching.  They're a veteran team, and it showed tonight.

Unless the A's are swept, I think they will be fine.  The team probably needed a reminder that they need to mind their Ps and Qs.  

It was not a pretty sight tonight.

Ellis bobbles a ball, a sure double-play.

Harding bobbles a play at the plate.

Not a pretty sight.

The boys in green 'n gold did not look like golden boys, but they sure looked a little green.

Harding was throwing hard. Except for the grand salami, not very many of his pitches were hit all that hard.

The game just seemed to bobble along, lots of red crossing the plate; not my favorite all-time game, that's for sure.

I think the day game crowd, generally speaking, seems to be more into the game than the night game crowd. It's just an observation; one that annoyed me like around the fourth inning.

Most of these so-called fans seem more concerned about getting their hot dogs and beers than they are about watching the actual game.  From where I sat, most of them just sat there, stuffing their faces, chewing the fat, figuratively and literally.

Blah blah blah, gulp gulp gulp, burp, burp, burp ...

Hey, there's a game going on down there on the field!

But no, everybody's either blabbering or adding more blubber.

Okay, Wednesday is Zito. The Halos don't have a prayer.

Especially if Hatteberg is back.

Maybe Kotsay, too? (Let's all bow our heads and pray.)

Time to kickass, A's.

And the ass I want you to kick is Angelic.

Win BIG!

left a game early ever for any reason...even when we were losing badly.... but there was something about tonight that was different and i left early.. im sorry... i pretty much used all the cuss words you can think of tonight.. and probably made my own... argh... but i still love this team and we can still take the series.. i hate losing to this team more than any other.. so we better damn take this series..

in which your mistakes led directly to defeat as opposed to being plain beat by your opponent are good learning experiences you can quickly build on.  Harden will be a stronger pitcher in crunch time because of today.  I will happily accept a nightmarish regular season game if our man Harden grows as a pitcher through the course of the game.  I think I saw that today with how he closed LAA out.  I will however, retract any positive comments I made in this post if I see Harden pickup another grounder barehanded or throw a hittable 0-2 pitch to Vlad.

  OK, so we lost 9-2, of course It bothered me.  However we cannot forget that we're still up several games in the Wild Card.  Of course to win the West is the goal, but sometimes I wonder if the Wild Card is the better option.  I kinda like the ChiSox in the first round.  They have just as many inexperienced players in terms of playoffs as we do, and a 7-2 record against them has got to count for something.
  Blez is right about the fact that certain media people are going to soak this game up and run their mouths.  It was just one game.  That's it, one game!
  I'd rather have lost this way than to see Street/bullpen blow a late lead.  
  I think we needed a game like this.  A game where we played our worst baseball in several months.  Tonight (thank God on ESPN) we'll see what this team is made of.  I think we'll bounce back tonight.  The hitters need to make Santana work, unlike the last time they faced him.
  Let the anti-A's media people bask in their glory for this one day.  For as quickly they will open their mouths, Z can close them after tonight!
  Remember everyone...it was just ONE game!

You guys were the only highlight last night. Truly awesome. Thank you!

Although an important one, but it doesn't end the season. Even if the A's lose the series (god forbid) it doesn't mean they're done. They need to learn from last night's debacle, especially the rookies.

About last night's game: besides the errors on the A's part, I don't think the ump calling looking strike-outs on the A's helped either. Suddenly they were out of their game because they couldn't take pitches and wear down Lackey. Instead the ump was calling all this crap strikes so they had to start swinging. Offensively I thought the UMP helped to take the A's out of their game.

Regardless of the slam, the O still was anemic. Looked like DJ and Swish were pressing; everybody was tight.

Regardless of how good our pitching may be, we can't assume that 2 runs will ever beat the other team.

Last night was just one game and I won't make too much of it. Don't forget that Harden is just a kid and as such, subject to succumbing to pressure as he did last night. He will learn from this and probably be lights out in his next high pressure situation.

There is still nearly a third of the season to go. So even losing two out of three here, putting us but one game back, is not the worst thing in the world. Even being swept would hardly eliminate the A's from fighting for the division--but it obviously would hurt.

I started a diary saying that the Indians had the best chance for the wildcard because they played 40% of their remaining games--20 games--vs the two worst teams in the league: KC and Tampa. And last night underscored why Cleveland was in the driver's seat. Going into the 9th inning, KC was ahead by five runs and Cleveland scored 11! KC contributed three errors in the inning and had two out when still ahead 7-4. I think KC is the worst team (even poorer than Detriot of two years ago who, at least, had some good young prospects) I have seen in a couple of decades and I believe the Indians will cut through the Royals like butter in the numerous games they have left with one another. Hence, it would be best for the A's to take their division and not count upon winning the wild card.

Finally, since I also have been on the receiving end of someone asking to "ban" me, in seeing another poster have to deal with this may I remind members of AN that Blez has set up a committee to enforce community standards. If that committee determines a poster is in violation, I'm certain that said poster will be delivered "a strike" as Blez outlined. Apparently, some posters believe they should take this function on themselves. They remind one of a little kid crying for his mother because he claimed he was being abused by his big brother.

In sum, would those not on the enforcement committee kindly stop playing Community Standards Cops on this board? Blez has already set in motion the appropriate apparatus to handle this issue...

Croz looks zoned in again at the plate.

I checked out what the four people that frequent the Halo's Heaven blog had to say about the game last night.

Now, I don't know if the person who posted this was even AT the game last night, but they had this to say:

"Bay Area

Their #1 industry is tourism - more of us there then them."

Now, am I on drugs or are they? While I saw some red, heard cheering after the GS, and saw copious amounts of those horrid thundersticks, I think A's fans (genuine and curious) far outstripped the Angels fans...

I was there last night; it was h@@@@ cold! And doesn't Harden have a woeful record at night, esp during those frigid Sept. eves? Correct me if I am wrong, but Harden was out of his element, the warm and sunny midweek day game, or the hot and humid midwestern midseason. His first innings were rough, but he settled down for the 3-4-5-6. Make the adjustment Rich, whatever that was, and remember last night so you don't go down the same road again.

The White Sox beat the Yankees in 10, pinning a loss on Mariano Rivera.

can anyone suggest a good (A's friendly) spot to catch tonight's game near downtown SF?