Idiots Write About The Athletics
"The Athletics" archive
Sunday 24 September
- A View to a Kill (23:40) - Look, everyone! It's a shot of the A's not clinching at home. Just like Eric Chavez hoped they wouldn't....
Sunday 6 August
Thursday 3 August
Tuesday 1 August
Sunday 30 July
- Why Are You Bunting? (09:10) - What? The A's played a game Saturday? I thought the only thing that happened at the Coliseum was unpleasant interactions...
- Hell Is Other People (08:59) - Saturday's game against the Blue Jays marked my first visit to the Coliseum since the All-Star Break. The A's, of...
Tuesday 25 July
Monday 24 July
- One Man's Trash (22:44) - So on my way to watch a Cal League baseball game being contested on the surface of Mercury -- that...
Sunday 23 July
- Hold on to Your Hats (09:26) - "What are you chewing over?" "A dream I had once. I was walking in the woods, I don't know why....
Saturday 22 July
- Pitch Around! Pitch Around! (10:39) - You know what I really hate? The indignities of daily life? Other people? Yourself? Yes, yes, I hate all of...
Sunday 16 July
- Avert Your Eyes! (10:14) - Because any East Coast-based A's games get underway while I am still at work, I have set up a modest...
Wednesday 12 July
- Bays-Ball (22:02) - As you may or may not know, we are wrapping up a massive renovation of our bathroom, replacing the old...
Sunday 9 July
Saturday 8 July
Friday 7 July
- You Have to Wonder... (21:07) - ... why the A's even bothered to bring bats to the plate during tonight's game against the Angels. I mean...
Thursday 6 July
Sunday 2 July
Saturday 1 July
- Snakes in the Coliseum (22:08) - After the events of the past two days, I have begun to feel the same way about seeing the Arizona...
Monday 26 June
- Feast or Famine (20:40) - Here's a little post-Bay Bridge Series fun fact. On the afternoon of June 16, the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game...
- There Is an "A" in Brainlock (19:52) - So I'm watching the A's-Giants game on Saturday. It's the bottom of the ninth inning, and the A's are trying...
Tuesday 20 June
- In Search Of... Milton Bradley (21:00) - Sports stadiums throughout the country are a source of myth and legend. Yankee fans speak in hushed tones about the...
Monday 19 June
Thursday 15 June
- Everyone Hates Esteban (21:33) - If you are ever looking to achieve subterranean levels of popularity, follow this simple three-point plan: 1) Sign a contract...
Thursday 1 June
Monday 29 May
- A's Homestand Notes (20:39) - The A's return from a successful road trip in which they defeated the first-place Texas Rangers in one of the...
Sunday 28 May
- Where's the Fire? (11:54) - Something struck me in the game report from one of the debacles suffered by the A's on the current road...
Tuesday 23 May
Sunday 21 May
- Get Yer Tickets Here (09:48) - My tickets for today's Giants-A's games seem to be The Tickets of the Damned -- at least three people have...
Saturday 20 May
Friday 12 May
- The Hurtin' A's (16:15) - Here is your up-to-the-minute injury report on the Oakland Athletics' active roster: Harden, Rich: Back strain, 15-Day DL Bradley, Milton:...
Wednesday 10 May
- Kendall Angry! Kendall Smash! (15:35) - Took in Sunday's Athletics game via the generosity of Ken Arneson of the Catfish Stew Arnesons. The game featured noted...
Friday 5 May
Thursday 4 May
- Fun with A's Radio Commercials (20:55) - We're a one-TV family. This wasn't one of those decisions that came out of some sort of we're-too-good-for-TV fit of...
- Free John Lackey! (16:34) - One comment stood out amid all the argle-bargle over Jason Kendall charging the mound in Wednesday's thrashing of the Angels,...
Monday 1 May
- Este-banned (16:34) - So apparently, after Ken Macha and Billy Beane had their promised meeting to talk about the pitching, they decided that...
Sunday 30 April
- Pick Your Pitcher (14:42) - As I write this, Kirk Saarloos has been brought in to mop up a rare A's blowout win. As this...
Thursday 27 April
Tuesday 18 April
- Phony Stat Management (15:49) - So last October, when the A's rehired Ken Macha, I had this to say: I will have more on this,...
Thursday 30 March
Friday 3 March
Thursday 2 March
Wednesday 22 February
Thursday 15 December
- Games People Play (17:05) - Over at Catfish Stew, Ken Arneson declares a moratorium on board game-related plays off of Milton Bradley's name after reading...
Tuesday 13 December
Wednesday 7 December
- King Me (10:23) - Thanks in no small part to the ballot box-stuffing abilities of this reporter, Bill King is among the finalists for...
Tuesday 1 November
- King for a Day (09:14) - Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame have opened up fan balloting for the Ford Frick Award, which honors...
Wednesday 19 October
Tuesday 18 October
- In Memoriam: Bill King (13:45) - I miss you already, Bill. Update: OK, I've had some time to gather my thoughts into something that is hopefully...
Saturday 15 October
- Look on the Bright Side (09:51) - You could do a lot worse, I suppose, than drag the corporeal remains of Ken Macha out of the deep...
Friday 14 October
Tuesday 4 October
- Belated Props (17:10) - This photo gallery over at Catfish Stew? Unbelievably cool. And kind of depressing. Really depressing, actually. I'm going to need...
Wednesday 28 September
- Alien Planet Baseball Standings (16:22) - The comments to my Baseball Fever - Inoculate Against It! post made me think once again about what would happen...
Wednesday 14 September
- Q & A(nger) (21:42) - The theory came to me Tuesday night, just as Ben Broussard put a Jay Witasick pitch over the center field...
Monday 29 August
- Let It Byrnes (22:00) - From the accounts and descriptions of Friday night's A's-O's game: Kendall dashed to third safely, taking advantage of former teammate...
Thursday 25 August
- That's Telekinesis, Homes! (16:27) - So apparently, the mere threat of me writing mean things about the A's has inspired Oakland to snap out of...
Wednesday 24 August
Tuesday 23 August
Sunday 21 August
- You Are Not Helping, Boston (12:17) - Dear Boston Red Sox: I realize we have never really been on the best of terms. In fact, I think...
- Why Can't We Be Enemies? (04:15) - I'm a big fan of the MLB on XM Satellite Radio ad that airs nearly continuously during Major League Baseball...
Monday 15 August
- Rex Accepts What He Cannot Change (23:00) - Let us turn our attention away from the dark clouds gathering around the A's and back toward happier times --...
- Ken Macha Mystifies Phil, 335 in a Series (20:59) - Let us say you are Oakland A's manager Ken Macha. Let us further suppose your team is clinging to a...
- ...Or Else (10:09) - At long last, new A's owner Lew Wolff has unveiled his plans for a new stadium just north of the...
Thursday 11 August
- Cram It, Clown (11:00) - How to explain the A's gripping win over the Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles last night? Some would say it...
Thursday 4 August
Friday 22 July
Thursday 21 July
Thursday 14 July
- A Farewell to Spazzy (10:25) - A few weeks back David Schoenfield, one of the few remaining bright lights over at ESPN.com, did a bit on...
Wednesday 13 July
- Player Laundering (16:44) - The A's have sent submarining reliever Chad Bradford to Boston in exchange for the galactically unexciting Jay Payton. The trade,...
Monday 4 July
Sunday 3 July
Thursday 30 June
- Kenny Chesney, Molder of Men (10:26) - I am probably the last person in the world to stumble across this item that appeared in USA Today Sports...
Sunday 26 June
Wednesday 22 June
Tuesday 21 June
- The Long and Winding Road (10:45) - If you live on the West Coast, at some point in time, you will find yourself driving up and/or down...
Friday 3 June
- Glynn? G'wan... (19:27) - There is perhaps no more disconcerting feeling than flipping on the telecast of the team whom you follow in lieu...
Thursday 2 June
- D'oh!-Tel (18:39) - Hey, remember that agrument I made about trading Octavio Dotel to a contender. Guess that plan's off the table. Athletics...
Tuesday 31 May
Monday 30 May
- Loser Connection (10:54) - From the Notes section of this wire story recording the A's latest bout with ineptitude for posterity: Oakland has not...
- What to Root For (10:13) - I go into each season with a simple hope -- that the A's will play meaningful ballgames deep into September....
Sunday 29 May
- What Did I Just Say? (09:44) - I write: Ken Macha needs to pick a lineup and stick with it. No more of this istart Kielty on...
Saturday 28 May
- CrummyBall (16:38) - Actual iChat transcripts from A's-Injuns game: Oakland begins the game with a Kendall single, a Kotsay walk, and a Kielty...
Friday 20 May
- A Friendly Wager (14:38) - With the A's and the Giants meeting in pitched battle this weekend, Jason and I will be setting aside our...
Thursday 19 May
- Should Have Kept the 'Stache, David (17:13) - As you may have noticed during yesterday's trouncing of the World Champions by the usually overmatched Oakland Athletics, David Wells...
Friday 13 May
- You Can't Go Home Again (14:12) - Thanks to my work schedule, I find myself spending time in the Bay Area for the second time in three...
Tuesday 10 May
- Timing Is Everything (18:57) - Just got home from a cross-country flight from Dulles. It's about 6:50. "Hey, the A's-Red Sox game is probably still...
Monday 9 May
Friday 29 April
Wednesday 27 April
Monday 25 April
- Triumph of the Small Ball (00:18) - It is foolish, perhaps, to cast a single baseball game as a battle between organizational philosophies. Then again, the past...
Saturday 23 April
- The Forecast Tonight? Rain and Irritation (15:46) - One of the nice side effects of being a California-based baseball fan is that in two-plus decades of attending ballgames...
- Ups and Downs (08:27) - I did not see Rich Harden's ascension into Ace-i-tude on Thursday. It was my wife's birthday, and so I got...
Thursday 21 April
- Billy's Goats Gruff (10:34) - So many goats in last night's game against the Mariners, so little time. Ah, but who is the king of...
Wednesday 20 April
- Say It Ain't So, Joe (16:42) - For those who've missed the latest chapter in Joe Morgan's brave public battle against common sense, the grumpy, old "in-my-day-we-always-bunted-in-runs-and-we-liked-it"...
- Tempted by the Fruit of Another (03:16) - While we are on the subject of my fantasy baseball team -- Wait! No! Come back, damnit! -- let me...
Monday 18 April
- Not It! (17:39) - Dear Oakland A's, The other day, I fretted in public that one of the reasons for your less-than-optimal start was...
Sunday 17 April
- Off to the Fortress of Solitude (10:27) - What an A's-Angels game yesterday. Two stellar pitching performances! A taut, thrilling game! A shocking A's bunt! A game-deciding error...
Saturday 16 April
- Halo to Last Place (10:50) - I don't know why, but I found Friday's loss to the Angels profoundly dispiriting. Maybe it's the fact that another...
Monday 11 April
- A Weekend Without Baseball (20:57) - The only A's game from Tampa to find its way to my television this weekend was the Friday night extra-innings...
Friday 8 April
- Faster, A's... Kill! Kill! (16:15) - Boy, the A's looked fast in Thursday night's game against the Orioles. They swung fast, they ran fast, they took...
Wednesday 6 April
- Now That's More Like It (23:01) - Everything that went wrong Monday? It sure went well tonight. The A's worked the counts (six walks!), got runners on...
Tuesday 5 April
- The 12th Man (22:59) - And on the second day, the A's rested. Well, they pretty much rested on the first day of the season,...
Monday 4 April
- So Much for Going 162-0 (23:01) - You see a lot of posts on assorted baseball blogs about the sense of promise and spirit of unfettered optimism...
Monday 7 March
Wednesday 16 February
- Oh, Come On... (10:28) - The wait continues for an Oakland Athletics-themed illustration from our mad, Korea-based genius. And it looks like the wait will...
Tuesday 15 February
- Ramon Hernandez: Like Wall? (15:00) - ESPN.com's Phil Rogers -- whom Jason thinks is just a wee bit insane -- looks at the cavalcade of catchers...
Sunday 13 February
Saturday 12 February
Sunday 6 February
Tuesday 25 January
- My Stare-Down with Stew (23:01) - It's been nearly 18 months since I was exiled from my ancestral homeland in the East Bay to Southern California....
Monday 17 January
Friday 17 December
- Folding an Ace: The Aftermath (10:54) - Reactions to the Tim Hudson-for-Three-Who's-He? trade are beginning to pour in. They're understandibly giddy about the deal over at Braves...
Thursday 16 December
- Goodbye, Huddy (15:32) - Well, Tim Hudson won't need to travel so far from his Florida home for spring training next year. I don't...
Wednesday 15 December
- You Better You Better You Bet (23:17) - This thread here, where Steve-O takes me to school on the finer points of sports books and vigs, reminded me...
Sunday 12 December
- Is That All There Is? (09:33) - The New York Post, in its typically self-assured fashion, reports that a Tim Hudson-to-the-Dodgers deal is all but complete. Oakland's...
Wednesday 24 November
- Crummy Pitchers, Begone (18:27) - Word around the campfire is that Jason Kendall is this close to becoming an Oakland Athletic, once the A's and...
Monday 15 November
- Arr, Matey (21:59) - I haven't had much to say about Bobby Crosby winning the Rookie of the Year award. Maybe it's because things...
Tuesday 5 October
- Requiem (10:15) - I have this bad habit when watching A's games on television that has only gotten more pronounced this season. When...
Friday 1 October
- Radio Silence (19:45) - You know, if the A's have to lose to the Angels tonight, then that's what's going to happen. Disappointing, yes,...
Thursday 30 September
Tuesday 28 September
- My TiVo Concedes to Anaheim (21:38) - Not long after Erubiel Durazo popped up in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded to nip any...
Saturday 25 September
- Hud The Homer (14:32) - Your Fox broadcast team for this afternoon's A's-Angels tilt -- the very under-rated Mel Proctor and the unspeakably abysmal Rex...
Friday 24 September
Thursday 23 September
Saturday 4 September
- Good Natured G.M.-Ribbing (16:58) - From the Chronicle's account of last night's A's-Blue Jays contest: Not to be outdone, another A's outfielder, Bobby Kielty, put...
Friday 3 September
- Swish! (17:24) - As I write this, Nick Swisher, Oakland's first-round pick in the 2002 draft, is making his Major League debut in...
Monday 30 August
Thursday 19 August
- Taunting 101 (20:05) - The A's had just dispensed with the Baltimore Orioles, and I was sitting in Section 74 at Camden Yards, totalling...
- Durazo 5, Orioles 4 (07:24) - So the wife and I took in a game at Camden Yards last night to see if the A's could...
Thursday 5 August
- The Man With No Name (16:44) - So as a part of his weekly baseball column on ESPN.com's Page 2, Eric Neel is asking readers to choose...
Sunday 1 August
- A Farewell to Fabio (00:05) - I've been too busy -- or perhaps too indifferent -- to comment on Oakland sending Eric Karros on his way...
Saturday 31 July
Thursday 29 July
- Hammerin' Hank (23:09) - There are some A's fans who do not care for Hank Greenwald as the A's part-time TV announcer. Perhaps they...
Wednesday 28 July
- The Bad Old Days (09:50) - Last week, I mentioned in passing the A's truly horrible 1979 squad. Almost on cue, the San Francisco Chronicle ran...
Friday 23 July
Thursday 22 July
- Bush On Bush (13:08) - I am probably the only human being in the world amused by the fact that the San Francisco Chronicle's report...
Friday 9 July
Monday 5 July
- Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold (11:04) - Contretemps in yesterday's Giants-A's finale at Texas-Based Telecom Company Ballfield. Mark Mulder plunked Barry Bonds on the wrist to lead...
Thursday 1 July
Saturday 26 June
- Idiot Questions Answered by Other Idiots (20:21) - Yes, Jason, Phil saw the play of which you speak, and yes, it irritated him greatly, though not as much...
- Fielder's Brain Lock (18:49) - In last night's Giants-A's tilt, there was a particularly awful A's play in the first inning. I'm sure Phil was...
Friday 25 June
- Keep Away! (15:19) - I can't really add anything to the discussion over how Oakland fared in the Carlos Beltran deal that you won't...
Thursday 24 June
- How Great Thou Art Not (20:54) - "If you haven't seen this yet," trusty reader Vic writes after last week's angry rantings about Arthur Rhodes, "I suggest...
Thursday 17 June
- Arthur, Too, On the Rocks (16:22) - Got home from work last night, just in time to watch Arthur Rhodes -- proof positive that just because you've...
Tuesday 8 June
- We Heard It There First (21:39) - Me and The Other Guy who posts stuff here spent Sunday afternoon at Sabermetrics Day at the A's, a joint...
Wednesday 2 June
Friday 28 May
Thursday 20 May
- The Two Zitos (16:17) - Just so that my wife's comment in the preceding post doesn't cause any unnecessary confusion, perhaps it's time to point...
Wednesday 19 May
Thursday 6 May
- Black is White, Night is Day (23:16) - Curious happenings in Oakland tonight: the A's starting pitcher, Rich Harden, left the game with two on and two out...
Tuesday 4 May
- YES? No! (21:16) - I'm watching the A's-Yankees game on MLB Extra Innings tonight, which is coming to me courtesy of YES, the Greatest...
Wednesday 28 April
Tuesday 27 April
- Ken Macha Ruins Everything (23:37) - So I've got a little quiz for you folks out there. Let's say you've opened up an 8-4 lead over...
Sunday 25 April
Tuesday 20 April
- Things That Go Balk in the Night (17:18) - Boy, I tell you, nothing like devoting four-and-a-half, five hours to watching a baseball game when you should be spending...
Tuesday 6 April
- Marco! Scutaro! (00:04) - My wife has really turned into a baseball fan. Which is impressive, because when we met she was not interested...
Saturday 3 April
- Voice of the Home Team (19:59) - Last night's Giants-A's preseason tilt was broadcast live from XYZ Park by KICU (Slogan: "Action 36!" because "KTVU's Sloppy Seconds"...