The Official Oakland Athletics 2014 Season Thread

[Green & Gold Heart]

Doubt it considering the even the Orioles passed.

[mirrf]

Put it this way, he has more of a chance to be good than Dan Uggla. But to be honest, a minor league contract has no downside for a team.

[Green & Gold Heart]

COCO is back in the lineup leading off tonight.

[Green & Gold Heart]

I want no part of the Royals in the playoffs. With that bullpen, it's basically a six-inning game. The A's M.O. has been to work the starters' pitch counts to get to the bullpen and then beat them late. Seems like just an awful matchup if the A's have to face K.C.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Can we pull our heads up out of the sand now? Ugh, this has been a brutal stretch but good that they started off the homestand with a win. Gotta get Coco going because the A's go when he goes. This is going to be a stressful weekend coming up.

[mirrf]

Whew. We really did need to win the first one.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Whew. We really did need to win the first one.

The second one is nice, too. Although now I'm worried about Doolittle.

[Green & Gold Heart]

Well 2 out of 3 is not bad.

[Bluemoon]

I'm a Brit who never really "got" baseball, even after living in the States for seven years and going to MLB games in Boston and Seattle. I guess I've always thought that baseball was a poor relation to cricket (and I don't much like cricket either!).

Then my wife suggested going to a game at the Coliseum when on holiday this summer. I can't really explain it, but despite the horrible stadium, somehow something clicked and we almost instantly fell in love with the A's (and baseball in general). Hard to explain why this happened at the Coliseum rather than Fenway, but it probably has something to do with the hospitality and the fans. I've never felt more welcome at any stadium for any sport.

Anyway, we're now making up for lost time. We subscribe to MLB.tv and try to watch every A's game that we can (a bit difficult with an eight hour time difference). OOTP15 has also been very useful for learning about the game. Football (i.e., soccer) has always been my sport but it looks like baseball might quickly be replacing it.

It would just be perfect for me if the A's could win it all this year, but I'm getting a bit worried in the last couple of weeks that we might be heading for the wildcard. Seems crazy to me that the playoff is just one game!

[Green & Gold Heart]

Welcome aboard! Glad to hear the Coliseum was a great experience for you. It gets a bad rap because it's old & attendance can be low but for my money it's the absolute best baseball experience but I might be a little biased.

MLB.tv is nice with the archived games if you're not able to watch live. I am only two hours time difference from Oakland but I get up super early so I watch a lot of games in the morning. The challenge is just not looking at my phone/internet until I've finished the game to not be spoiled by the score.

The past few weeks are definitely concerning but I keep telling myself it's still just August. There's a lot of time to make up a one game deficit in the standings. I would much rather see them go through a bad stretch in August then in September or October. Rosters expand in September too and that will only help them with a lot of players hurting and a few players like Lowrie ready to come off the DL.

[John Madden]

Originally Posted by Bluemoon

I'm a Brit who never really "got" baseball, even after living in the States for seven years and going to MLB games in Boston and Seattle. I guess I've always thought that baseball was a poor relation to cricket (and I don't much like cricket either!).

Then my wife suggested going to a game at the Coliseum when on holiday this summer. I can't really explain it, but despite the horrible stadium, somehow something clicked and we almost instantly fell in love with the A's (and baseball in general). Hard to explain why this happened at the Coliseum rather than Fenway, but it probably has something to do with the hospitality and the fans. I've never felt more welcome at any stadium for any sport.

Anyway, we're now making up for lost time. We subscribe to MLB.tv and try to watch every A's game that we can (a bit difficult with an eight hour time difference). OOTP15 has also been very useful for learning about the game. Football (i.e., soccer) has always been my sport but it looks like baseball might quickly be replacing it.

It would just be perfect for me if the A's could win it all this year, but I'm getting a bit worried in the last couple of weeks that we might be heading for the wildcard. Seems crazy to me that the playoff is just one game!

Interesting how this works. I love and play OOTP, but Football Manager (well, Champion Manager then) got me to fall in love with association football to the point it's largely taken over baseball for me.

[John Madden]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Welcome aboard! Glad to hear the Coliseum was a great experience for you. It gets a bad rap because it's old & attendance can be low but for my money it's the absolute best baseball experience but I might be a little biased.

I know this is bias talking, because I know you've been to Target Field!

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by John Madden

I know this is bias talking, because I know you've been to Target Field!

Target Field is my favorite new stadium but even in a dump I love being in Oakland surrounded by A's fans.

[Bluemoon]

Originally Posted by John Madden

Interesting how this works. I love and play OOTP, but Football Manager (well, Champion Manager then) got me to fall in love with association football to the point it's largely taken over baseball for me.

I used to play Football Manager (and previously Championship Manager too). However, I think that baseball is much better suited to a computer simulation because it's far more obviously based around stats and numbers. What started to frustrate me about Football Manager is that, every year, there seems to be an increasing number of variables in the game, but it's difficult to see how they all effect your team. Then again, it could just be because I'm not very good at it!

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by John Madden

I know this is bias talking, because I know you've been to Target Field!

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Target Field is my favorite new stadium but even in a dump I love being in Oakland surrounded by A's fans.

Or maybe I'm not quite so cray cray - https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/stat...98639412539392

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

Welcome aboard! Glad to hear the Coliseum was a great experience for you. It gets a bad rap because it's old & attendance can be low but for my money it's the absolute best baseball experience but I might be a little biased.

I like it because I can always get good seats and the fans who do go want to watch baseball.

Speaking of stadiums, watching the A's game last night, Minute Maid Park was empty by the end of the game. EMPTY You could hear individual audience members clearly yell at the players.... From across the stadium.... Through the announcer's microphone....

Foul balls were being taken by people 3-4 sections away.

Jeez.

[Green & Gold Heart]

I remember being at A's games like that in the mid-90s.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I remember being at A's games like that in the mid-90s.

I do too.

But Minute Maid Park last night was worse somehow. Of maybe my memory of 15 years ago is fading. Either way,

I..
Um...
What was I typing? Where am I?

[Green & Gold Heart]

Originally Posted by mirrf

I do too.

But Minute Maid Park last night was worse somehow. Of maybe my memory of 15 years ago is fading. Either way,

I..
Um...
What was I typing? Where am I?

I bet the indoor stadium makes it sound worse.

[Bluemoon]

Originally Posted by Green & Gold Heart

I bet the indoor stadium makes it sound worse.

Talking of indoor stadiums, the only other game that I've been to (apart from the Coliseum and Fenway) was at the Seattle Kingdome (in 1990 I think). That was just awful, and I think more than half empty. Maybe that's what put me off baseball for all those years!