25 Years Ago: The World Series Got Really Unimportant

((HT: ABC Sports/News 10/KGO-TV/ESPN))

It was one of those moments where you remember where you were as a sports fan...

And we agree with Al Michaels when a simple pre-game took a big turn...


Then, sports guys turned news guys in a hurry...and did an amazing job


And they went for a while...


And kept going


And kept going...


Okay, faithful reader/watcher...

What do you remember about this day 25 years ago...???

Just want to have you share your thoughts here...

ICYMI: Royals Win Best New MLB Wildcard Game Ever

((ht: mlb.com))

This was a great baseball game with some odd decisions....

The Kansas City Royals won their first playoff game in nearly 30 years Tuesday night in one of the most improbably ways ever.

The Royals beat the Oakland A's 9-8 in 12 innings. The game was won by Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez. His single was a walk-off winner.

Part of the 40,000 plus fans at a sold-out Kaufman Stadium are probably still there celebrating as the Royals will move on to the Division Playoffs to fact the Los Angeles Angels.

The game featured the A's going up 7-3 as late as the 6th inning. And they took a 8-7 lead in the 11th inning, but Kansas City fought back.

The other feature of the game was a highly questionable decision by Royals manager Ned Yost.

When staring pitcher James Shields began to wear down and struggle in the 6th, Yost skipped his strong relief corps and brought in starting pitcher Yordani Ventura to face Brandon Moss who'd already hit a homer during the game.

Ventura threw a straight fastball that Moss parked over the outfield wall.

But the resilient Royals kept fighting and got the win. And that's all that matters.

Here's your walk off from Perez:

Possible Very Tannned, Naked Guy Interrupts A's-Braves Saturday

((HT: Jeff Shapiro's Youtube/Deadspin))

The HQ knew people who attended this game at Turner Field Saturday night and wondered two things:

1) How long it would take for this to surface and,
2) Just how much liquid courage was involved...

Judge for yourself...


Whiteguy Productions has the look from behind home plate- and it appears the guy was REALLY NAKED!


No word on any ID on the streaker and what he has been officially charged with- public trespass and indecent exposure would be a good start...

A Different Kind Of Rally Mascot In Oakland

((HT: MLB.com))

A rally possum...???

Apparently...

The HQ did the story on the "Rally Monkey" during the 2003 World Series between the Angels and Giants. The effect of showing a capucin monkey on the video board in Anaheim had a disproportionate amount of success for the team in the year. Troy Percival and John Lackey really didn't have a sense of humor about it. Rex Hudler did...

And the HQ appreciated his taking the story with a grain of salt and running with it...

Now, we may have a suitable mascot for the nasty stadium in Oakland
This happened last night before the A's extra inning win over Tampa


A's starter Jeff Samardzija thinks the possum would be a good mascot:

"We're going to have to give him a name, get him a jersey," Samardzija said after the game. "We've got to keep feeding him."

You! You Got What I Need!!!

((HT: MLB.com))

By way of a first pitch...

Get your head out of the gutter...
The MLB Network broadcast the Oakland A's game with Biz Markie throwing out the first pitch...

Which caused the appropriate response...

Walk Off Winner: A's Donaldson Hits 3-Run HR For the Win and Gets Pied

Oh, those wacky Major League Baseball players....

And if you are the Oakland A's, well, there's lots to celebrate. The A's hit the All-Star break with the best record in baseball and had a ton of guys play in the All-Star game.

Including 3B Josh Donaldson, who got the proverbial 2nd half of the season off to a rousing start.

Donaldson smacked a first pitch, bottom of the 9th inning, 3 run homer off Zach Britton to give the A's a comeback 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

The shot to dead centerfield set off the fireworks and celebrations all through the Oakland area....
But what followed during the post game interview with CSN Bay Area might have been better....

Could The Athletics Finally Move...???

((HT: KPIX-TV))

When MLB Commissioner Bud Selig jumps in and actually tells the Oakland Athletics that they can get up and move if there's no new deal put together with the Oakland Coliseum board- that's huge news...

And, of course, it's put in the headlines at the same time as the A's made a great deal for starting pitching and are off to one of the best starts in the season for all of Major League Baseball.

If a new 10-year deal isn't put on the table and agreed to, could the A's go to San Antonio or Montreal...???

That's the question posed by SFGate's Matier and Ross quoting City Council President Larry Reid as saying the A's "have options."

Here's the analysis for now as everyone wonders if the City Council are ready to play chicken with a major tenant...


If Oakland moved to Montreal, it would cause upheaval in the American League Division structure. It would make more sense, for preservation sake, if Tampa was the team to go after years of failing (and flailing) support.

Warren Cromartie and the Montreal Baseball Project have been shouting from the rooftops about a downtown, retractable roof stadium that would give the city a more tenable place to watch a sport and team the city could wrap themselves around- as they did with the Expos.

San Antonio is mentioned, but the Alamodome is only 280-feet down the right field line. Optimistically, the right field foul pole at Fenway is listed at one distance, but may be really 297 feet.

Vegas...??? Too hot... and the gambling influence may be too much.
Sacramento and Portland are both top-25 markets, but the stadium sizes may not meet MLB spec.

So, all that does is drop you out of top-35 market sizes for a new barn that is ready for play immediately.

And a 16-14 split if the A's were to move to the National League...

This is an official headache...

How About A Grand Slam Game-Winner...???

((HT: MLB.com))

Yes, please...

The A's closer Sean Doolittle met the Tigers Rajai Davis

How About An Inside-The-Park Grand Slam...???

((HT: MiLB.com))

Yes, please...

Justin Higley obliges for the Vermont Lake Monsters when the game was tied at 6 in the 8th inning earlier Sunday.

A Good Craftsman Never Blames His Tools

((HT: MLB))

Unless, of course, you're a fan in Oakland


Yes, the fan lost the ball to the lower bowl and Stephen Vogt didn't comply with another foul the guy's way...

So there...

Cespedes Has An Arm, By The Way...

((HT: MLB.com))

In one of the funnier round-robin retributions in recent memory in Major League Baseball, the A's and Angels did it again last night...

Mike Trout robbed Yoenis Cespedes of a home run.
Coco Crisp robbed Josh Hamilton of a home run.
And Cespedes decided to remind us all of the gun he has in left...

Thanks to Albert Pujols


Lesson here... Don't mess with Cespedes...

Yeonis Cespedes Has An Arm

((HT: MLB/CSNBA))

Yeonis Cespedes has a powerful presence at the plate...

We all know this...

Now, we have evidence that he has an arm to go with the bat...

He threw out Howie Kendrick from 300 feet on the fly last night...


THAT is an arm...

Machado Suspended For Five Games For Bat Toss

((HT: MLB.com/MASN))

Major League Baseball announced that Orioles 3B Manny Machado got a five-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his bat toss in the team's 11-1 loss Sunday.

He felt that he had been thrown at on a previous pitch and tried to exact some kind of revenge on Oakland reliever Fernando Abad.

Gary Thorne's analysis was pretty spot on...


Abad got a fine and no suspension...

Manny Machado Misses In Alleged Intentional Bat Toss

((HT: MLB/MASN))

The Baltimore Orioles Manny Machado thought he was thrown at by the Oakland A's Fernando Abad IN A 10-0 GAME THEY WERE LOSING IN...

So, on the next pitch Machado decided to work the hammer throw...


Machado and Abad both got tossed and Oakland won 11-1

No word on if there will be any more discipline from the league...

This comes on the heels of Machado prompting the benches to clear Friday night. He took offense to a swipe tag by the A's Josh Donaldson, threw his helmet down, said lots of angry words which was enough for the dugouts to empty before Machado was steered away.

The two incidents combined, yeah, that might the attention of the powers that be...

Astros Video Bomb Each Other With Bobbleheads

((HT: CSN Houston))

The Astros ratings are in the neighborhood of a Blutarski GPA these days...

But that doesn't mean that, when they win, they won't be having fun...

Jason Castro was part of the big 8th inning that gave the Astros a 7-6 win over Oakland on Saturday. All that meant was that Carlos Corporan drops in with a prop for the Castro interview...

Here's your evidence of jockularity


Ah, you wacky Astros...

A 2 RBI Sac Fly... The Guy On Second Is Fast...

((HT: milb.com))

Oakland prospect Billy Burns was on second base for the Midland RockHounds as they were going against NW Arkansas last night...

And this happened showcasing his speed all over again...


Not bad for being fast, eh...???

A's Rookie's Team Up To Down Detroit

((ht: mlb.com))

For those of us on the east coast, it's tough, even on a Saturday night to stay up and watch west coast sporting events.

And it appears for those of us sleepyheads, we missed a lot.

The Oakland A's evened up their best of 5 ALDS series with the Detroit Tigers late Saturday night after rookie Stephen Vogt's single in the bottom of the 9th off Rick Porcello scored Seth Smith.

The hit sort of overshadowed an amazing pitching performance by the Tigers Justin Verlander and A's rookie Sonny Gray. Verlander did what he does, only giving up 4 hits, striking out 11 in 7 innings.

But Gray was better, 8 innings, 4 hits before giving way to Grant Balfour to finish the 9th inning.

Your game winner from Vogt (thanks MLB.com):

Sewage Backs Up In Oakland Coliseum Again

((HT: KGO-TV))

Remember, this happened back in June of this year and caused some creative dressing situations for the Oakland A's and their opponents...


For the second time this summer, raw sewage has backed up into the team's facilities inside the Coliseum. The first time, it required clean-up and new carpeting. It happened again in the dugout during the team's 2-1 win over the Angels yesterday.

Stadium maintenance is looking for the cause.
Of course, they are...

And if this doesn't reinforce the A's and the Raiders wanting to look for a new home- in locations the teams already have scouted and are ready to build in- the HQ won't know what will...

Wednesday morning, two plumbers were in the guilty bathroom, taking out water that had overflowed from a toilet because automatic sensors were not functioning- according to VP of Stadium Operations Dave Rinetti.

It was, apparently, an easy clean up. But someone has started a new Twitter account - @ColiseumSewage

The tag line being "overflowing with love for the Oakland A's."

Amen...

Walk - Off Home Run DENIED!!!!!

Oakland's Chris Young thought he had won the game for the Athletics with a walk-off home run.  Robbie Grossman denied Young the mosh pit at home plate.






"He asked me to show him the ball when I got to second base,” Grossman said. “I just showed him the ball.”

Damn right Groosman did.

Here's more with Grossman and  Carlos Corporan whose RBI double in the 11th won it for the Houston Astros 2-1

DEVELOPING: San Jose Suing MLB Over A's Move

Or, to be more accurate, a lack of a move...

The San Jose city council is suing Major League Baseball and taking them to court over the perception that MLB is dragging their feet over the team's proposed move to San Jose- and this weekend's sewer issue at the Oakland Coliseum can't be sitting well with the A's or MLB at present, either...

San Jose is maintaining that MLB is "conspiring to limit competition" by not allowing the team to move...

From KGO-TV:

Peninsula attorney Joe Cotchett to file a lawsuit. "This is all about economics. And, you have a city like San Jose, the tenth largest city in the United States, cannot get a baseball club. I can name you other cities that are pulling for San Jose for the same reason. They want the right and the chance to bring a baseball team to their city, their county, whatever it might be," he said.

The city has always wanted a team, knows that having a team will pump in nine figures of income, and will build a new ballpark to suit the A's. But San Jose has always deferred to A's owner Lew Wolff- a frat brother of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.

The only other issue is that San Jose is considered part of the geographic footprint of the San Francisco Giants...

Here's what the A's have been up to recently... when the sewage pipes worked...
((HT: MLB/YES))