Game Day Diary – Orioles @ Athletics, 9/14/12

Pregame: Friday night and complete exhaustion equals a game day diary in an effort to stay up through the conclusion of tonight’s big game against the O’s.  I doubt anyone reading this is living in a cave, so you know that these are the biggest surprise success stories in MLB this season.  The O’s come in a half game behind the A’s record wise and to state the obvious, this is another huge series for this franchise.  Tonight’s matchup pits Tommy Milone against Joe Saunders.  To be honest, I have way too much confidence in the A’s winning tonight. 

Again, we’ll be keeping an eye on the out of town scoreboard.  At around 9:45, the Angels and Rangers both have 1 run leads about half way through each game.  In the AL East, the Yankees are down 5-2 against the Rays and I don’t have any feeling one way or the other on who to root for in that series.  Ultimately, I would prefer to play Baltimore in the play in game vs. either NY or TB.  There’s way too much baseball left to start thinking about this. 

Finally, two quick updates on the A’s injuries mentioned last weekend.  The A’s twitter feed announced that Brandon Inge had successful surgery on his right shoulder and there isn’t a timetable for his return, which is obviously not this season.  Second, from Mrs. McCarthy, the McCarthy’s are at the stadium tonight!  A little extra inspiration never hurt anyone, right? 

10:01pm US EST – We’re live for Glen Kuiper’s opening montage!  Kuiper and Hatteberg sitting with the crowd for tonight’s game.  Fosse is still in the radio booth and will be there until Tuesday?  Come on!  We want Fosse!  Nothing against Hatteberg, he’s been good, it is just … just … Fosse!  Who doesn’t want this …

10:09 – The Orioles starting lineup has just as strong of an average as the A’s.  That’s not a compliment and they don’t play in this albatross of a stadium.  What a bizarre year of baseball. 

10:12 – After two quick outs, Adam Jones breaks up Milone’s no hitter with a double to the corner. 

10:15 – Josh Donaldson with a nice play at third to end the inning without any damage.  At the same time, scoreboard alert – The Royals put up a few runs on the Angels and take the lead in the bottom of the 6^th!

10:18 – An early “Bernie Lean” with Coco leading off the game for the A’s!

10:21 – A’s go down pretty quickly and in order and we’re scoreless after one. 

10:27 – Milone gets through the second without any noise at all.  A quick game would be nice here. 

10:31 – Cespedes is back in the lineup but gets called out on strikes.  If the prior pitch wasn’t a strike, I have no idea how that one was.  See: make up call. 

10:32 – Chris Carter is back in the lineup and flies out on the first pitch.  It’s good to see Carter back in the lineup though. 

10:33 – Donaldson breaks up the no hitter with a single.

10:34 – Derek Norris flies out to end the inning though and we’re scoreless through two. 

10:40 – Teams are now openly tagging up from first base against Coco’s arm.  Ugh

10:46 – Hardy hits a ball to Donaldson that ricochets off of him and to Drew.  However, the play at first isn’t in time and the Orioles are able to take the lead, 1-0 on the error. 

10:47 – The inning ends there with another fly ball to Coco.  Scoreboard watching – KC is up 7-5 on the Angels, while Texas still leads Seattle 2-1. 

10:53 – Again, CSN must do more to show the outfield bleachers when Coco is coming up to the plate.  As I finish that complaint, Coco lines out to end the inning.  1-0 O’s through 3 innings. 

10:59 – After a walk, Carter makes a nice over the shoulder catch for the first out. 

11:00 – Donaldson makes a potential low-ranking web gem (does ESPN still do that, I feel like I haven’t watched ESPN in seven years) to start the inning ending double play.  Nice play!

11:06 – After Gomes leads off the inning with a single, Glen sends it to the studio.  Is it just me or does MLB.TV never show this? 

11:07 – After a terrible Reddick at bat, Cespedes hits a HR to left field!!  Yes!!  2-1 Oakland

11:08 – Carter walks on four pitches.  Let’s go Oakland!

11:14 – After Donaldson flies out and Carter doesn’t tag up on it, Norris gets an infield hit so we have 1^st and 3^rd with 2 outs. 

11:17 – Stephen Drew strikes out for the second time tonight, leaving the score 2-1 at the end of the 4^th inning. 

11:20 – Milone gives up the lead quickly, with Davis hitting a leadoff HR to tie the game.  Joy.

11:21 – Machado quickly follows the HR up with a single to RF.  Let’s get someone up in the bullpen. 

11:23 – Thankfully, Milone gets the 6-4-3 double play to clean this inning up a bit. 

11:25 – Milone gets his first strikeout in the game to end the top of the 5^th. 

11:27 – First: Rosales leads off the inning with a double.  Second: The “2” key on my keyboard is misbehaving and I have to pound on it to get it to work.  #Firstworldproblems 

11:30 – Coco gets a single putting runners on 1^st and 3^rd with no one out and the heart of the lineup coming up!  Let’s go Oakland!

11:33 – Gomes comes through with another single, and the A’s retake the lead 3-2!  (Annoying key)

11:35 – Reddick can’t catch a break right now.  He crushes a ball and it’s grabbed by the first baseman.  That had two runs written all over it.  Instead, runner on seconds with two outs and they are intentionally walking Cespedes. 

11:36 – Glen makes a “Cespedes for the restivus” joke and I immediately hate that I didn’t think of that first.  Meanwhile, Carter grounds out to end the inning.  That rally was short lived. 

11:45 – Milone is not doing a good job of producing ‘shut down innings’ after the A’s give him the lead.

11:47 – Donaldson starts another double play and CSN cuts to someone in the crowd banging a bell almost the size of the Liberty Bell.  How and why did he bring that into the stadium?

11:54 – Scoreboard alert: Angels and Rangers both won tonight, making tonight’s game that much more important. 

11:57 – It might be a good time to give Drew a couple days off and put Weeks back at second base.  Drew strikes out for the third time tonight.

12:05 – Melvin comes and pulls the hook on Milone after 6.1 innings of pretty solid pitching.  Nice job Tommy!  Neshek is on his way to the mound. 

12:11 – Another double play turned by the A’s defense and we go to the bottom of the 7^th with the A’s still up 3-2!

12:15 – Pinch hitting with Cliff Pennington isn’t necessarily what I would call a strong game plan.  Rosales is out of tonight’s game and Pennington strikes out.

12:16 – Ask and you shall receive apparently, as CSN shows the right field bleachers as Coco comes to the plate. 

12:26 – Ryan Cook has a nice, quick top of the 8^th with two strikeouts and a real nice bare handed play from Donaldson.  Can you say insurance run?

12:30 – Reddick leads off with a single.  Let’s go Oakland!!

12:34 – Cespedes strikes out and then the catcher hits his arm on Cespedes’ bat and helmet, so Reddick is also out at second base.  Rally … killer.

12:35 – I think Angel Hernandez wants this game to end more than I do.  A very high strike is called on Carter to expedite the inning.

12:36 – Similar comment from directly above, two pitches later.  We’re going to the top of the 9^th with the A’s up one and turning it over to Balfour. 

12:44 – After a quick hit to lead off the inning, Balfour gets Chavez on a strikeout .

12:45 – Reynolds just missed a HR and it sounded like it had a chance on the TV.  2 outs. 

12:46 – Crowd has risen to its feet (good crowd tonight!). 

12:47 – I love when Buck Showalter does dumb things!  The O’s try to steal second base and Norris throws the runner out to end the game!  Yes!!

The player of the game is tonight’s starting pitcher, Tommy Milone!  Let’s go Oakland!!

Game Day Diary - Oakland @ Baltimore, 7/28/12

We’re live again from the exact same location as last night, as I have absolutely nothing better to do on this fine Saturday evening.  The wife remains on the DL and I feel like I might be heading there too.  Not good times.  At the same time, NBC is replaying Olympic events that have already happened and are leaving a lot to be desired with their coverage. 

For those taking the time to read these updates please let me know what you think.  If you like them, correct any errors I might make, etc.  Any and all feedback is appreciated.  I want to come up with some type of regular frequency for these game day diaries for August and September.  Should I drop in a picture of who I would vote for as ‘player of the game’ vs. just using the A’s starting pitcher on that night? 

7:08pm US EST – Jemile Weeks is back near the top of the lineup, batting second this evening, which means batters 7-9 in tonight’s lineup will be a combined 1-12 at best.  In the middle of that insult, Weeks breaks up Tommy Hunter’s bid for a no hitter with a single to left field.

7:13 – Just checked Twitter and it looks like Oakland is making some moves with C Kottaras coming over from Milwaukee, but they are waiting for the A’s to make another move (per @Haudricourt).  I fear that Suzuki’s days are essentially done in Oakland.  Damnit.  (By the way, Seth Smith grounded into a double play to end the top of the first.)

7:19 – Markakis breaks up Colon’s no hitter and leads off the bottom of the 1^st with a hit. 

7:25 – Colon walks Davis to put men on first and second.  Colon doesn’t look good right now and his pitch count is already over 20.  Tonight might not be the A’s night. 

7:30 – Colon gets out of it with a fly out.  I really hope this game speeds up.

7:34 – I have no idea how Cespedes didn’t get called out on strikes there … and on the next pitch he swings and misses anyway, so that’s a moot point. 

7:37 – After Carter strikes out it dawned on me how quiet the crowd is this evening in Baltimore.  There are a lot of empty seats tonight as well.  Moss walks during those random thoughts. 

7:40 – Brandon Inge misses a double off the wall by about a foot and strikes out on the next pitch.  Of course he does. 

7:43 – I missed the first out of the bottom of the second getting a “water”.

7:45 – Someone named Quintanella doubled down the right field line, which reminded me that the A’s kept Reddick out of the lineup tonight after last night’s game ending catch and crash into the wall.  Thankfully, he’s apparently OK and should be ready to go tomorrow. 

7:48 – Colon gets out of it again to end the inning and, thankfully, the 2^nd goes by a bit quicker than the 1^st inning. 

7:54 – The bottom of the A’s lineup is living up to the hype mentioned above.  Coco Crisp then gets robbed by the O’s second basemen and we’re into the bottom of the third before 8pm. 

8:03 – Colon sends the O’s down in order for the first time tonight.  Adam Jones looks like a good player, but every time I watch him (when the O’s play the A’s is the only time I watch him actually) it just feels like he’s a guy that doesn’t meet his potential. 

8:08 – After Weeks gets another single to lead off the inning, he steals second and the A’s are in business! 

8:10 – Seth Smith dribbles the ball down the first base line to move Weeks to third and Fosse steals my thunder by calling out that the pitcher flipped the ball with his glove and the first baseman caught it with his bare hand.  It was funny before Fosse ruined it.  OK, maybe it isn’t that funny at all. 

8:13 – It’s Business Time!  Cespedes with a bomb to left field and the A’s go up 2-0.  The crowd gets a little rowdy which I believe means the ball was thrown back into the field.  As an added bonus, the CSN cameras pick up Cespedes yelling as he goes into the dugout tunnel. 

8:16 – Carter and Moss go down quietly to end the top of the 4^th. 

8:21 – The clouds are apparently rolling in and there’s a rain delay in the future.  Let’s get through the 5^th quickly please. 

8:26 – Colon gets out of trouble again leaving runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  Even Colon looked a little surprised at the called third strike.  We’ll take it. 

8:30 – Fill in the blank: Brandon Inge _____ out again.

8:32 – Suzuki doubles and Sogard follows that up with a hit to right field, scoring Suzuki!  A’s go up 3-0 and the bottom of the lineup has already exceeded expectations for the night.  Well done!

8:44 – One more out in the bottom of the 5^th and this game can be deemed official if the rain starts coming down.  Let’s go Bartolo! 

8:47 – Three up, three down for Colon and this game is now through five innings.  Nice!

8:53 – Chris Carter goes deep and the A’s go up 5-0.  Absurd confidence level continues to rise! 

8:59 – I’m running out of jokes, so just note that Inge struck out again.  I would say he’s not taking the trade rumors very well, but this has been going on for weeks. 

9:07 – Colon is in trouble again and this time Melvin’s music is cued and he pulls the hook on Colon’s night.  Nice outing from Colon again.  Norberto is coming in. 

9:12 – Norberto strikes out Quintanilla to end the inning and the O’s remain scoreless!

9:16 – I’m not rooting against the A’s or anything, but the top of the 7^th was perfectly short in length and it is time for the seventh inning refill, I mean stretch. 

9:19 – Inge boots a groundball to third and I think I see Billy Beane running on the field to let Inge know that his talents can be taken to Miami and that Beane will finish the game for him.  Good lord.  To be “fair”, it was going to be tough to get the runner at first, but he’s given an error. 

9:26 – Now Norberto gets into and out of trouble with no runs coming in, with Adam Jones (noted above) grounding out to end the inning.

9:35 – This just in, Cespedes is good.  He triples to right center field, which scores Weeks.  6-0 A’s. 

9:39 – The A’s leave Cespedes stranded on third and we go to the bottom of the 8^th. 

9:49 – Hey, there’s a rumor out there that Cespedes is a five tool player.  Well, he just flashed some leather to end the 8^th inning in style.  Note that he moved to CF to replace Crisp and I don’t see anyone reporting the specifics on Coco yet online.  Please, let’s stay healthy and see this through. 

9:53 – Again, to be fair, Inge gets off the shnide (sp?) with a base hit to left field. 

9:55 – Browsing the Internet as this game continues on and I see that Toronto took care of Detroit tonight, so that helps the A’s out as well with the Wild Card.  The A’s don’t play Detroit until mid-September, so that’s a team that we will have to watch from afar. 

10:00 – Gomes and Weeks strike out and we head to the bottom of the 9^th with the A’s up 6-0.  Don’t blow this.

10:04 – Balfour just threw a beautiful breaking ball and follows it up with a fastball on the outside corner to strike out Teagarden.  That was a nice job of pitching.  (That’s the type of intense analysis you deserve.)

10:06 – It is amazing what little compliments (above) will do.  Balfour just gave up a home run and the shutout is no more.  6-1 A’s.  Let’s get this game over with. 

10:09 – Balfour throws one right down the middle for a called strike three and the A’s win another one!  This is becoming way too much fun!

Let’s go Oakland!!

Game Day Diary - Oakland @ Baltimore, 7/27/12

7:02PM (US EST) – We’re live with the Roku after making a quick pit stop at Happy Hour.  The wife was put on the 15 day DL earlier this week with mono and that means we have a quick turnaround to the second game day thread.  The A’s begin a weekend series in Baltimore and hopefully put the first nail in their coffin while continuing their own ascent in the AL. 

7:09 – A’s lineup just presented and I have a love/hate relationship with Weeks at the bottom of the lineup.  This is working, so I need to deal with it and be quiet. 

7:11 – Coco Crisp with a pretty terrible at bat to start off the game, which brings up Jonny Gomes.  Remember when I made fun of him batting 2^nd last time?  I don’t either. 

7:14 – After Gomes walks, we see one of the most bizarre triples I’ve seen in quite some time, a high chopper into the right field corner from Reddick.  That’s Reddick’s 50^th RBI of the season (according to Glen). 

7:16 – Wild pitch and Reddick scores, A’s go up 2-0.  I’m absurdly confident in the A’s going into this weekend.  For the record; this isn’t a good sign. 

7:18 – Chris Carter sends a bomb to left field and the A’s go up 4-0.  This write-up may not last the full 9 innings.  Again, way too much confidence for this weekend; if Inge gets a hit …

7:20 – Never mind, Inge strikes out for the 747^th time this season, despite Glen and Ray’s pregame verbiage. 

7:22 – Norris grounds out to end the top of the 1^st.  Baltimore will send the SP out for the 2^nd to not waste the middle relievers arm for the rest of the A’s bottom of the lineup. 

7:23 – I took a quick look at Twitter and see that Rosenthal is reporting that Greinke is going to the Angels.  Thanks KC!  (Sarcasm)

7:25 – Chris Carter with a nice defensive play to start the bottom of the 1^st.  I hope to repeat that sentence through September and into October.

7:29 – Parker with an easy bottom of the first. 

7:32 – The Mayans may have been right, Brandon Hicks sends one over the fence on the first pitch of the inning.  5-0 A’s. 

7:39 – Reddick flies out to end the inning.  There are way too many fly ball outs for the A’s to not keep this going, right? 

7:43 – Chris Davis destroys a pitch to right-center field and the lead is cut to 5-1. 

7:45 – There may or may not have been a double play there, but it was a beautiful play from Inge.  On a quick replay, it doesn’t look close at first, with Carter coming off the bag.  Thankfully, MLB is still in the 20^th century and doesn’t use replay for virtually anything.  (When this happens against the A’s, naturally, my opinion wildly shifts in the other direction.)

7:49 – Cespedes flies out, but CSN shows a replay and convinces me that Carter stayed on first for that double play.  Either way, Carter just grounded out for the second out of the inning. 

7:59 – A’s just miss throwing out the runner at home and the A’s are now up 5-2 with a near home run bouncing off the top of the wall from Hardy.  This inning started with two strikeouts and is starting to fall apart a bit. 

8:01 – Parker gets out of it with some noise in the middle of the inning and it remains 5-2 A’s. 

8:07 – The bottom of the A’s lineup goes down in order.  I wasn’t holding my breath to bet against that.

8:17 – After a wild pitch that moves a runner to third, Parker strikes out Reynolds to end the inning.  All three O’s down on strikes in the inning.  Parker continues to impress me.  (That’s ESPN-like analysis there, I know)

8:24 – Reddick just hit a ball that bounced off the very top of the wall and bounces right into the center fielder’s glove and we have a double.  However, Bob Melvin’s music is cued and he comes out to ask for a review.  Naturally, I mention MLB’s review system earlier tonight and now this happens.  You really can’t make this stuff up.  Have I mentioned that I love MLB’s instant replay?

8:29 – I listened to Glen and Ray explain Reddick’s double and came away just as confused.  What just happened?  Either way, Reddick remains on second for Cespedes.  By the way, that’s approximately 5 minutes for the final call on replay.  MLB might want to expedite that a bit. 

8:35 – Carter grounds out to end the inning and the A’s still have the lead 5-2.  If it were not for Reddick’s HR / not HR, this game was coming to a screeching halt in excitement.  Actually, it still is. 

8:37 – MLB.TV comes back a few seconds early and I get to see that there is a Scott Hatterberg bobblehead day coming up.  Nice!

8:41 – Orioles causing some havoc with another run in and runners on 1^st and 2^nd.  I’d love to blame Inge’s height on that hit, but I’m fair and balanced.  (Sarcasm?)

8:45 – Jim Thome strikes out on his 63^rd birthday.  OK, I made that up. (The birthday part)

8:46 – Sarcasm bites me right in the face like a zombie, as Adam Jones hits a HR and the Orioles take the lead, 6-5.  I just jumped off the confidence pedestal. 

8:47 – Parker’s 8^th strikeout comes a few batters too late and we go to the 6^th inning with the A’s now down 6-5.  Uh-oh. 

8:56 – After two quick outs, Brandon Hicks walks for the first time this season (not really) and Buck Schowalter couldn’t run out to the mound to pull his starting pitcher faster. 

9:05 – We now have three two out walks and Seth Smith comes in to hit for Gomes.  Let’s get this right back. 

9:08 – After taking five straight pitches, Seth Smith strokes a ball to left-center field and clears the bases.  Hey now, 8-6, A’s back on top!  As an added bonus, CSN shows Gomes rooting for Smith.  I love the chemistry on this team right now!

9:11 – Reddick pops out to end the inning but it looked like he didn’t miss that by much.  That last sentence is exactly why I didn’t want to write a midseason review during/after this streak.  If that happened a month ago, I would have been all over Reddick.  Moving on…

9:19 – Noberto gets through the bottom of the 6^th relatively easily.  As an aside, I would like Noberto to shave his beard.  We don’t want or need the coverage that James Harden got for the OKC Thunder (not that we would, but still).  Thanks in advance. 

9:27 – Brandon Inge slows down the inning with an infield hit.  CSN shows the standings for the wild card and I feel reinvigorated. 

9:29 – Derek Norris doesn’t feel the same and strikes out looking to end the top half of the 7^th. 

9:33 – Grant Balfour comes in to pitch for the A’s.  He was my favorite player on the team last year.  This year, I still love him, but a little more consistency is desired. 

9:50 – Seventeen minutes of silence means complete frustration on my part.  Balfour walks the bases loaded and has two outs.  Sean Doolittle is coming in to clean up this mess. 

9:54 – Doolittle strikes out Betemit to end the inning on three pitches.  Kudos to Doolittle there, and yes, I just enjoy typing his name.  (Phew)

9:57 – Hicks has another hit to lead off the inning.  He must have heard a few trade rumors.

10:00 – Someone close to a camera is cheering “You ain’t Rickie” while Jemile Weeks is batting.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Baltimore fans don’t have much to hang on to since Ripken retired, so I’ll let it go.  (For those that don’t know, Rickie Weeks is Jemile’s older brother)

10:07 – Glen announces that the Blue Jays beat the Tigers and Josh Reddick takes strike three with runners in scoring position.  That was the bittersweet moment of the evening.  A’s lead 8-6 still

10:16 – Melvin comes to the mound to call in Ryan Cook (All Star) to close out the 8^th, after Doolittle gets into a little bit of trouble.  2 outs, 2 on for Cook post the blue screen for MLB.TV.  (I’m very glad they don’t, but wouldn’t you sell ad space here if you were MLB.TV?  You know what, never mind, I didn’t say anything.)

10:20 – Cook gives up a hit to Hardy and the A’s are now up by one run, 8-7.  Not good times. 

10:22 – Fosse makes fun of Norris for not dropping his mask on a pitch in the dirt for the 10^th time this week.  Glen enjoys the joke, I do too.  This is going to cost the A’s something, somewhere.  You can feel it.  As I typed that, Thome comes through and just tied the game vs. a shift.  If you aren’t going to pitch inside, don’t put your fielders in a shift.  The VP of common sense is checking in for duty too late. 

10:29 – Cook hits Jones and this game has turned into a potential disaster.  Bases loaded for the O’s. 

10:30 – Orioles take the lead on a hit to left field, but the A’s get “a break” with Thome trying to score from second, as he’s thrown out by about 85 feet.  Again, not good times.  It’s on to the 9^th with Cespedes leading off, and the A’s down 9-8.   

10:35 – Cespedes hits a cue shot that gets scooped up by the first baseman.  One out and it comes down to Carter … because Inge is up next.  (Reverse jinx effort)

10:36 – Carter singles up the middle to bring up Inge.  (Gulp)

10:38 – Inge singles to left and here we go!  Sadly, we have run into the bottom of the A’s lineup.  (Reverse jinx squared)

10:41 – The second ridiculous chopper goes over the first baseman’s head and this game is tied!  This game is not good for the heart.  Brandon Moss is hitting for Hicks = Upgrade

10:44 – Moss walks to load the bases and Weeks comes up.  “You’re not Rickie!!!”  Chant it, I dare you.

10:46 – Yes!  Jemile Weeks, not Rickie, comes through with a single to left field. 

10:47 – Coco Crisp comes through again and the A’s go up 12-9.  Who are these guys?! 

10:52 – Seth Smith crushes a ball off the right field wall and we now have a 14-9 lead.  I’m relatively positive that this is the craziest game of the A’s season, and that is saying A LOT. 

10:54 – Reddick “just misses” another one and I think we are looking at a slump forthcoming, with the team masking it (hopefully).  End of the inning as that was typed and we go to the bottom of the 9^th. 

10:58 – Jerry Blevins is pitching the 9^th and that makes me uncomfortable. 

10:59 – Blevins gets a strike three called and I think the umpire is looking forward to the fireworks in Baltimore this evening. 1 out. 

11:00 – Brandon Inge chokes on a ground ball hit right at him and we have a man on first.  For some (home town scoring) reason, that is called a hit.  It wasn’t. 

11:02 – Jerry Blevins now has men on 1^st and 2^nd.  Have I mentioned that I can’t stand Blevins?  Where is Ricardo Rincon?

11:09 – Reddick catches the ball against the wall and is still down 30 seconds later.  Maybe he wants a good seat for the fireworks?  Let’s hope so.  This isn’t the best way to end another nice win by the A’s.

As always… Let’s go Oakland!!