MARCO!

for a while....heck, heading down to local market to tell the only other A's fan in town that i know of, the butcher's assistant, about this game.

Marco DANCED around the bases.  Freakin' DANCED!

More Marco Magic!

And making the Yanks limp out of town with their bullpen heroes suddenly looking touchable, AND a sub .500 record makes it all the sweeter.

fucking Scutaro! The man is our savior and it is even sweeter because the Warriors won next door earlier and the Clippers lost to Sacramento. Basketball playoff fever in the air and playoff type excitement against the Yankees. Walk off from Super Marco just makes my whole entire week!

And, yes..............Bobby Crosby might need a trip to the minors very, very soon. Not impressed at all my our 2004 ROY. I love my baseball team folks!

"Let's go Oakland!"

...and I'm wearing my Scutaro shirt to work tomorrow.

the A's should insert Kennedy into Harden's spot, give Harden 10 days off, and go from there. I'm loving this win, and also believe that the A's just cannot compete with the Angels without Harden making 25+ starts. Please. Be. OK.

I have been trying to be patient with Crosby not just the first few weeks of the season but for the last two years and counting. He just is not getting it done, period.

I don't think it would be the end of the world if Billy Beane sent Crosby dowm to the minors for a few weeks or even longer. He just looks, quite simply, like dog shit.

(No offense to dogs around the area!)

The sun is hot, you need air to breathe, Crosby sucks. We know all these things to be fact. I love how he twice ruined some momentum that Chavez provided (triple, then a SB) instantaneously. It's no big fucking mystery why we don't put big innings together. There are some serious black holes in the lineup. After the Chavvy triple and subsequent Crosby "weak rollover I tried to pull" (TM), I thought we were going to lose. And we were leading 2-0.....Good teams seem to have a knack for piling it on (how's that for Baseball Almanac analysis?)

That being said, when I got home and was able to see the game, I was not surprised to see us down 4-2. I was surprised to see that Scooty HR. What a great moment, good for him.

(Who was it that said Scutaro had lost his spark?!)

Just got back from the game. Right up to the last strike, there were some very loud yankee fans ragging on us A's fans in Section 227...and when Marco hit that sweet shot (I never doubted it was fair) they mysteriously disappeared.

Lots of us were jumping, shouting, hugging, and High-fiving for quite a few minutes in the stands!

Harden's shoulder was already tightening up before they took him out. I think he kept insisting he was fine. I hope it's nothing serious.

Today was Bradley's birthday. You know he was dying to be out there (he usually homers on his birthday), plus he was due to wear #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. So the fact that he wasn't playing is worrisome.

Great game, but ESPN must be living in the pre-Rodriguez trade past:

Scutaro hits walk-off to lift A's past Soriano, Yanks

much of the game...
does anybody have any hard knowledge of what's happened to Harden? is it all conjecture at this point?

What a series, first of all! We were at all three games for all 33 innings. Not a blowout or lopsided time among them. But damn, today, with one swing, Marco turned around what would have been a melancholy "I hate the Yankees" 2-1 lost series into an "In your grill, Yankees!" 2-1 victory.

Today, I met new ANers. Today, we all agreed Crosby deserves time in Sacramento or purgatory, whichever is further away from Oakland. Today, we saw just how much better Harden is than Joe Kennedy. But, regardless, today, we won. We may not be able to score 15 runs a game, like the Mariners, but we can sure score more than the other team, when we have to.

Keep it up, A's!

during a "travel day from hell" - the Marco walk-off is the one thing that is keeping me in good spirits.  Go A's!

I'm just thinking it's too bad some of you aren't on the payroll.  You seem to have every pitcher's ailment figured out.  Haren's hip is degenerative, and Harden's shoulder is now broken.  Could he have possibly just strained it? (Like, what he's saying??)
I realize that injuries have dampened our spirits in the past (mine, too) -- but do you actually think the training staff is that clueless?  If our organization is that inept -- meaning we have trainers and doctors who allow players to play hurt in order to further damage themselves -- then we are the worst run, most unprofessional club in the history of sports.  
I find that hard to believe.

just called the giants "the enemy."  awesome.

1 for 20 before the Homerun, a .050 average.  Sure I'm glad he it the homerun, but he is having a DJ type start to the season.

I've grown to really respect you and your baseball opinions ... but I gotta tell ya "there are reasons (why a team would hire an incompetent training staff) that you might figure out but I'm not at liberty to discuss" ...??!!
Either you have reached Oliver Stone-like "there's a conspiracy behind every corner," or you have completely lost any objectivity on this matter.  
Do tell, my friend, what deep, dark secret have you become privy to as a result of your work on AN??!!

and Geren insisting that pulling Harden was"precautionary" more than anything.  Let's all take a deep breath and 5 or 6 valiums and we'll get through this thing -- together. Oh yeah, and Scutaro is over-rated!  HA ha ha HA HA HA!

...9th inning because, as most of us so eloquently professed upon these very pages, "It is over", and headed to play some pool with the Mrs.

I am sure the peep's in the cars around us thought I hit the lotto because I came unglued, celebratory, ecstatic, high five-ing my wife and resuming our last year's tandem chant of "Marco" "Scutaro".

The little Utility Player who could...did.

Bobby Crosby, as BaseballGirl also eloquently stated through the ever-present Nico....SUCKS!

Whatever talent he had that first year is gone, disappeared like the East Bay early morning fog.

As I said in my diary, this year is the year of the "HeartAttack Kids"...prepare for a bumpy ride!

Don't get me wrong, Marco Scutaro's HR might be the biggest of his career, considering the competition and the count! What a hit! What a moment! This one will be talked about for a LONG TIME!

But aside from that, MAN, what a day.

• First of all, it was an incredibly bad decision to let both the playoff-bound Warriors and the A's--WHO SHARE A PARKING LOT--keep their games at basically the same starting time. It was a parking nightmare the likes of which I've NEVER seen.
• No one, NO ONE, wants to see Harden go down in a game OR catch balls with his bare hand. OR be pulled long, long after he should.
• Our offense has been awful. Terrible to sit through TWO games where your team scores in the first, and then can't even come close to scoring for a few innings (try twelve!) afterwards. Just maddening.
• Why does Kielty hit against anyone except lefties? I guess you have to start him sometimes, but Buck should be pinch-hitting in every other situation.  
• Bobby Crosby is a JOKE. I've accepted that he can't hit, but that was on the premise that he could at least play a passable shortstop. Three plays today he botched for Harden, none more important than blowing a routine double-play bringing A-rod to the plate unnessesarily.
• Marshall > Kennedy. He should have replaced Harden.

But that hit just can't be replicated. Just ridiculous. Man, Marco, you deserved every bit of your glory there.

ESPN is doing an excellent job with this broadcast.

what a freaking game!  my voice is nearly gone from yelling "You Gotta Be Kidding Me!!" nearly 1000 times.  Oh, i may have snuck in a few Yankees sucks along the way.  and to the wench sitting behind me, SUCK is not a bad word and i'll yell it as loud as i please.

a couple of thoughts on the game.

scutaro = this is the 3rd game winner i've seen from him in person.  2 off of rivera and one off of k-fraud.  he's simply a winner.  scutaro is not a great player, i'm not confused.  i'd rather lose with scutaro, then watch that hack crosby.  he may have been 1 for 20 coming into the game, but he's been hitting hard line drives that you knew were bound to fall in.

crosby = if he never plays for the a's again, i'll be happy.  his defense will improve but his bat won't.  the a's think he's got a high ceiling.  when has he shown skills at the major league level?  he's got a 2 cent head if he can't tolerate a stint at AAA to get it together.  on a team of gamers, crosby is a prima donna that doesn't get results.  if marco = winner, then crosby = loser.

swisher = the guy does it all.  he plays all 3 OF positions well and plays a stellar 1B.  that catch of the a-rod drive late in the game was simply amazing.  guy always has a good attitude, isn't afraid to laugh at himself and consistently puts up great at bats.

kielty = garbage.  he's supposed to kill lefties.  ummm.  how many hits this series?  right.  plus he almost killed swisher on a drive in right center when swisher clearly called him off.  luckily, swisher made the catch.

walker = defense makes me shudder.  if the ball from a fellow infielder bounces before it gets to you (probably from crosby), your job is to scoop it up.  that being said, the guy generally gives a high quality at bat.  another low pop guy, but he's servicable till DJ gets back.

kendall = playing great defense.  chasing down the harden wild pitch to get mientkiwicz at the plate was great.  kendall owns the throw to second base on steal attempts.  almost makes up for his punch and judy offense.  almost.

yankees fans = i don't care how many rings your team has.  most were won before your parents were born. the line means nothing to me.

with pitchers.  Escobar for LAAAAAAA missed a start because of shoulder tightness and now he's on the DL.  It's also hard to be optimistic with Harden given his injury track record.  I would guess the team finds something wrong in the MRI and he misses significant time.  It's unfortunate, but you have to be realistic and carve through the PR dance that every team does.  He'll miss one start as a precautionary measure, and pretty soon, before you know it, he'll be on the DL.  It's just the way these things go.  I would say it's less than 50% that he makes his next start without any issues.

Yanks will probably have to circle JFK for two to four hours to land in the storm over NY tonight. Give them the chance to review the film of M. Rivera, no saves this year, pitching to Mr Clutch Scutaro.
Send Crosby to Midland.

We were in 233, so got an excellent view of Marco's HR.

Early in the game, I saw someone walk by with a "Fremont Athletics" hoodie.  Ick.

I gave in to temptation and browsed the YES Network message boards, and needless to say there's lots of whining and pissing taking place there tonight - including one demand that Scutaro be checked for steriods.  Hee hee hee.

Best of all, though, according to the board participants YES posted on their home page that the Yankees won the game 4-2 before the game was over.  Guess they thought they could take ol' Mo to the bank and post the final score in the 9th inning.  Typical Yankee arrogance and I'm glad it bit them in the ass today.

The rain, my car, and the curb of an exit ramp weren't on the best of terms today, and I was listening to the game between calls to AAA, my boss and my mom. It was shaping up to be one depressing evening. But thank you, Marco Scutaro, for making my freaking day.

Amazing.

Somehow, when Marco stepped up to the plate and I started to weigh the odds of what was "possible" in this situation, I started to actually vizualize him hitting one over the left field scoreboard and the pandemonium that would ensue.

Well, he did my imaginantion one better, that's for sure. And as I stood there in this surreal moment grasping the awesome explosion of the environment all around me, I could only think of one thing that brought tears to my eyes.

I'm finally home, and I'm getting my life back.

Thank you A's for all the great memories of the past, and the ones you will provide me in the future.

I just caught the 9th inning courtesy of MLBTV. Awesome! Kendalls at bat was killer, Todd Walker (what a great Billy Beane addition!) with the nice easy swinging single, and Marco's blast, punishing Mariano! I LOVE this! If anyone knows his body, it's got to be King Richard, who looked awesome and will have his week plus off and be fine and dandy, not to worry! Chavy is looking awesome, too. I say give Crosby more time and let's see how he's doing mid May. GO A'S! Punish the Halos!

Courtesy of mlb.com:

"Marco says no go to Mo with a walk-off blow."

Oft-injured, non-hitting, stumblin' bumblin' rumblin'...catches grounders like Edward Scissorhands and throws like he's afraid he might hit someone. His name strike fear in the hearts of....

A's fans!

Crosby!

Fear that he might actually be healthy, then we are going to have to put up with his league leading error totals and .235 batting average, 12 homes and 57 rbi.

Please, just trade him somewhere...anywhere...hell, a pack of gum and a trainer to be named later.
He will cost us a lot of games if he sticks around.

has gone from being able to play if needed to the disabled list maybe being a possibility.

Center fielder Milton Bradley remained sidelined with a hamstring strain, and manager Bob Geren said, "It gets to the point where you have to think about putting him on the disabled list. Our target date (for Bradley's return) is Tuesday. If he's not ready, we'll have to make a decision."

and smote down the evil behemoths from the East!

Keep in mind that I do not believe in sending Crosby to the minors, but if he does not turn things around.........

What about moving Ellis to SS and bringing up Mellilo to play 2B?  Ellis was originally a SS and I'm sure would still be able to play there (maybe not as well as at 2B, butcertainly better defensively than either SS we saw yesterday).  Mellilo is "on the verge" of being ready for the show.  It could be the answer.

As for the hitting (or the grotesque flailing and somnolent pitch-taking that passes for it), it isn't just Crosby, although he is rapidly ascending (descending?) to "worst-position-player-in-the-major-leagues" status.  Stewart cannot be as bad as he has looked (can he?).   Kendall, magnificently gutty 9th-inning AB Sunday notwithstanding, really seems like he swings roughly once a series, and it results in a grounder to 2nd on which even I, currently shamefully out of shape and overweight, could field and retire him on.  And as I've said, Swisher swings so hard you worry about tornado watches in the Greater East Bay Area.  If only he could hit the ball half as hard as he seems to be hitting the vaporizer.

That said, this appears to be another classic Athletics team of Beaney Babies, making the experts scratch their heads when they consider how it can be possible that we win games with what we have out there.  It's also semi-encouraging that we beat the Evil Empire in 2 of 3 (classic, fabulously entertaining, good-as-baseball-gets-in-April) games without our (arguably) best player (please get well Milton!) and one of our defensive anchors (well, for 2 of those 3 anyway in the latter case).  I know MB would be out there if he could and I think MaEl is slated to return Tuesday night, so we'll see if one or both of those men can provide some sort of spark, or at least some elevation for an offense that's been so downright, uh, offensive so far.

I'll be back out there Tuesday night in the same spot in RF, come visit and say hi and bang the drums (and the awesomely-percussive Coliseum railings) with us!  We were able to silence a lot of "Let's Go Yankees" bloviating out there on Sunday with our peculiar brand of concussion... uh, I mean percussion.