Our Name in Print

Catherine Howard was nice enough to include our response to her query on the A’s. Which means our name gets on the SF Gate page.

Cool.

Here’s what Catherine asked and how we responded:

Elephants in Oakland: How do you feel about the A’s record coming out of division play? It stinks. There were several situations where the A's played as if the games didn't matter. As if the mantra, "it's only April" were a truism. The games do matter, that's why they keep score and they go in the win/loss column. Comments from veterans like Ron Gant after the A's lost the getaway game in Texas on April 10th are suspect, "We should have won the game, but we won two of three against a very good hitting team at their park," Gant said. "If we continue to do that, we'll be right where we want to be at the end of the season..." Yah, sort of like winning three out of five in a series is good. But the A's haven't done that the last three years in the playoffs. The A's need to pick up every game they can against their division rivals. If the season comes down to a tie-breaker situations, the Wild Card may very well depend on interdivison play. Further, if the A's win more games now, they don't have to worry about September if they are 15 up going into the month. It's not as if the team philosophy is, "hey, it's a day game and we played last night, let's go out and give it a 60% effort and let the chips fall where they may." It's going to take individuals being selfish. Making sure each at bat is taken seriously. Putting batters away instead of trying to nibble the strike zone for a called third strike. Example, a certain gold glove third baseman has a tendency to give at bats away in lopsided games rather than taking pitches on the outer half and sending them to left field. Or, better, laying off of sliders in the dirt and working the count. As far as the bench and bullpen...those are issues that will take time to work out. Ken Macha hasn't done a very good job of dictating his procedure and has made some bad decisions based on arbitrary numbers. For instance, pulling Ted Lilly on April 20 for Chad Bradford because he liked the match up with Michael Young better. Fine, but Michael Young hadn't hit the whole weekend so why bother? As it turns out, Bradford got Young to strike out on three pitches but gave up a solo homerun to Everett on a 3-2 pitch for the go ahead run for the Rangers in the next inning. Everett hit a homerun off Bradford the week before and Everett had hit a homerun in the last four games he played. Hey, first base was open. The little three of Ron Gant, Adam Piatt and Eric Byrnes may not be together the rest of the year and it would be a shame to lose any of them to another team. But all three deserve playing time. While Terrence Long has several home runs he still is swinging at pitches that are off the plate and inside. Terrence broke several bats last week on pitches that made contact on the handle.

Well, she asked.

We have put the Jermaine Dye surgery on the back burner to let everyone take a breather.

You’re break is over.

Lets talk cartilage, shall we?

If you don’t have Baseball Prospectus Premium you are missing out. Whereas you might get a listing of injuries from a media source, Will Carroll’s Under the Knife provides information and insight that illustrate the injury and its repercussions. Will describes medical procedures and practices as if he were a physician (he isn’t) and if he’s had sports related injuries before (he has). We would say Will makes sports injury fun and interesting, but every time we read Under the Knife we get a dull numbing feeling somewhere.

It never fails. If we read about a shoulder injury, the shoulder gets a little numb. If we read about a knee injury the knee starts to feel a little dull and clicky.

If there is such a thing as injury compassion pains, we have them.

We sent an email to Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus about Jermaine Dye to get an idea of how he felt about the injury.

Jermaine was put on the 15 day Disabled List, but the A’s project he will be out 3-5 weeks. That doesn’t jive.

So, we posed the questions to Will and he responded faster than, something that, is, ugh, moderately fast.

Here’s are Will’s comments from Monday:

Jermaine Dye will undergo knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus. Some of the comments surrounding this surgery indicate it may be more removal of the meniscus that repair, so Dye may come back quicker, but could have more problems long term. There's a lot of interesting research being done on meniscal replacement or lubrication, but for now, Dye will simply have to suck it up.

Sacramento seems to be a necessity rather than an option that will be used, although the DH thing poses some problems. What to do with Scott Hatteberg and Erubiel Durazo? How can you take those guys out of the lineup? Sure they could have a day off, but not too many.

Dye should be able to play the outfield for several years to come with only simple procedures now and again to clean things up in the knee. But, long term, it might not be a bad idea to get Jermaine to learn how to play 1st base. It could prolong his career. Dye’s 6'5" and has a monster’s reach. His footwork is decent. He’s not much of a conversationalist, though. That might hinder him chatting away when a guy gets on the bag.

We’d rather see Jermaine finish his career playing in the field somewhere than being a DH. He’s too good of an athlete not to have on the field. Guys like Andre Dawson, Ellis Burks and Darren Daulton come to mind.

The whole procedure on Dye’s knee took 20 minutes and they completely removed the cartilage which had torn away.

Anyone for calamari?

There apparently wasn’t any major structural damage and everything else was okay.

Dye will be looking at a few days of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) and crutches. By Monday he should be working on strength with weights and by the end of the weeks some plodding. He should be in the cage by then taking hacks. The following week would be a good chance to see if there’s any major swelling after running. Some plyometrics and facing live pitching will follow the week after.

It can be hoped that Dye turns his time off into a positive. He was due for a big year and was having problems mentally at the plate. His swing looked like he was using someone else’s body and pitchers ate him up the first few weeks.

Dye is one of those talented baseball players who showed glimpses of being great early and then got mired in mediocrity. Dye needs a transformation and who the hell knows what will provide the spark.

Don’t think about trades involving Jermaine Dye because they won’t happen. Dye is making $11 million this year with an increase set for next year. With his injuries and struggles, he’s the A’s problem or the A’s answer at this point.

Pale Hose and No Doze

The A's wander into the Park that used to be Comiskey until a bunch of drunken idiots made it US Cellular Field for a three game set this week.

Here's the preview from MLB.com.

The Sox are skittish.

Plus, Billy Koch is hanging onto his closer role by the tail end of that rooster tail on is chin.

The A's were able to summon enough force to put away the Indians on Sunday. Hopefully, they can harness that and put the White Sox away for three games before heading off to the Bronx.

Pitchforks and Everything

Down on the farm; Billy McMillon is making a case to take the role as resident professional hitter for the A's. Actually, he and Dave McCarty are. Jason Grabowski just go to Oakland before those two because he offered to fix the sink in Billy Beane's EXECUTIVE WASHROOM. The sink now dispereses Monoxodil via tap with a special mirror that makes his teeth sparkle when he smiles.

Billy McMillion's numbers were a little skewed as he was out for about a week. But .386/5/13 with an OBPS of 1.337 is "good" for a two-week stretch.

Dave McCarty is "only" hitting .284/7/24 with an OBPS of .988.

Jason Grabowski, beyond playing 47 different positions, was hitting .377/4/17 with an OBPS of .991.

Bobby Crosby is not doing very well. But, it was expected that he was going to spend at least a season and a half in AAA. His batting average and on-base percentage are both well under .300, and that has to make a lot of the A's front office (all four of them) a little concerned. His five homeruns are pretty much all that is keeping him from being knocked back down to AA Midland.

"If he kills them when he sees them he just needs to see them more. Or better. Or both. Yah, more better."-Fictitious Quote made up on the spot

Rich Harden was placed on the DL, making the rotation flip for Oakland a little more reasonable. It was a hush-hush rumor that the A's flip-flopped their rotation to move Lilly into the 5th starter spot and John Halama into the 4th starter spot because Rich Harden was going to take Halama's place in a few days.

Harden's injury is a sprained ankle, so it should just be a two-week period of Harden getting some time charting pitches and wondering if Piece's Pizza on 21st and Broadway is the best pizza in Sacramento. Or is Zelda's a few blocks down 21st better? Piece's is open later...

Sweeps and Cleanings

The A's got the sweep they were looking for and Jermaine Dye went to the 15 day DL for a cleaning.

Dye's injury is not as serious as it sounds, but it is a concern.

We're not going to get Will Carroll on you, sign up for Baseball Prospectus Premium and get the Under the Knife details with more injury updates than a FOX News anchor covering a Jerry Lewis impersonator training seminar at the same hotel as an Andy Dick detox weekend.

Anyway.

From personal experience the injury is really a reoccurrence of a previous injury and a possible precursor to more injuries.

Once you have a knee surgery, you're more likely to have another. Floating debris and moving cartilage can cause stiffness and difficulties. It's just a fact. Doctors can do a lot in a scope, but they just can't seem to be able to shake the loose debris out six months in advance.

The only way to go is via arthroscopic surgery and the old surgery sucker.

Dye should be moving around fairly well in a week or two. With just a few tiny "X's" on his knee as proof.

If the arthroscopic surgery has any drawbacks, it's that it no longer leaves full leg scars anymore. Even drastic ACL surgeries leave only an occasional cresent and a few inches of cut flesh.

Chicks dig scars, so it would be nice if a ragged knee could make up for a crappy personality.

As far as Dye; after his horrible start and his injury 18 months ago, he's got some serious physical therapy and muscle reconditioning to go through. It's rehab, but it will be on a different level. Dye's knees are going to be Ellis Burkish in a few years we propose. That has serious consequences for a guy who was a Gold Glove winner.

If Thad Bosley has time, he should tinker with Dye's swing-really just his stance and hands. His hands were way out in front and the flow of power from his legs (lower trunk) was wasted effort by the time the ball (if the ball) hit the bat head.

By sending Dye down, Eric Byrnes moves into a semi-full time role. Byrnes has made the most of the experience and it will be interesting to see if the knowledge he will be in the lineup tomorrow will allow him to be more selective at the plate.

We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s very difficult to be a reserve outfielder and not swing at everything close to the plate when each pitch might be the last pitch you see for a week…or even in your career at the major league level.

That focus now falls to Jason Grabowski.

The jack-of-all-trades was tearing the cover off the ball in Sacramento, hitting .377 in more than 20 games. That’s good.

Grabowski is one of those players in MLB you wonder why he hasn’t caught on.

He needs a gimmick.

Playing five different positions isn’t enough. He needs more.

A snappy haircut (you tell him he’s borderline mullet’ish) or an awkward batting stance might do the trick.

Or get his agent to book him on some late night TV shows.

Hey, worked for Turk Wendell.

CLEVELAND

The Indians have some bats. Don't be fooled by their 7 and 15 record. They match up well with a right handed heavy line-up against the A's lefty pitching.

Their team ERA is 4.08, so it's not like they can't pitch.

It should be a fun weekend series.

Jermaine Dye will most likely not be in the outfield with the wet weather. Look for Eric Byrnes to get a start and Adam Piatt to get a few at-bats over the weekend.

Here's the link to the MLB preview and here's the link to the press pass.

It's raining in Sacramento.

The forecast for the weekend is a 50% chance of rain with partly cloudy skies and a 30% of rain tomorrow.

Sorry, did you want to talk about the weather or were you just making chit-chat?

FEATURING

We've added a new feature.

On the right hand side of the page if you run your cursor over the player's name on the 25 Man Roster it will display the player's salary for 2003 (depending on your browser, check the tab at the bottom of the screen or your cursor may highlight the salary).

We've been getting lots of Email about what happens now that Jim Mecir is back and who will Billy Beane trade.

Well, it's difficult to say for ceratin.

But hopefully when you take a look at the salaries it's not too hard to determine who the A's expect big things from and when they don't deliver...

By the way, you only have 5 days left to say, "it's only April".

We'll be back after lunchtime to link you to the Cleveland series report.

Line-up

The A's designated Micah Bowie for assignement after Jim Mecir came off the 15 day DL yesterday.

Bowie has to clear waivers, if he does, he may or may not decide to re-sign with the A's. There are a lot of jobs available out there for a left hander...including the A's bullpen. Ricardo Rincon is now the lone left-hander on the 25 man roster in the pen.

We're not suprised by the move, but it still doesn't make a lot of sense.

Ron Gant, Adam Piatt and Eric Byrnes still rot on the bench next to the skeleton of Mark Johnson.

What's the point of carrying six outfielders if only three of them are going to see significant playing time? Further, when the other three do get a chance to play, at best they get 3 AB's per start.

Ken Macha routinely brings in a pinch runner or pinch hitter.

Nothing like trying to prove your worth in 90 seconds of accumulated at-bat time duirng your one day of work per week.

With Terrence Long failing to get up for Dimitri Young's 3 run homer on Tuesday (if the damn thing didn't actually go over, why couldn't Terrence Long leap and get it?) and his penchant for bad play in left (he made a routine catch into near blooper reel fodder and couldn't stop laughing for three innnings), it's not too far of a lean to suggest he needs a day off. Perhaps several. If only just to figure out what to do with the little three.

If the A's are goign to act like April doesn't matter then they should adjust the line-up to reflect that thought.

If not, they should try to win every game they can. The A's should take each pitch of each at bat seriosuly. Pitchers should put batters away when they go up two strikes.

You know, all professional-like and stuff?

Ear Plugs! Get Yer Ear Plugs, Here!

Who do you think yells louder?

Ken Macha or Billy Beane?

Who yells more effectively?

Billy Beane, who controls the roster, or Ken Macha who controls the lineup?

Somebody better start yelling, and soon.

Two hits off a guy through six innings who came in with an ERA over 10. That's so pathetic. That's bush league, Jone Jr. High bullshit.

That stupid argument, "I'd like to see you do better".

Give us a jeresy and tell us what batting practice group we're hitting with. We could do a lot better than what the A's have doen the last several games.

So, could you, but we hit to all fields and with power to the gaps.

To Chew

Here are some items to chew. First and then second Rob Morse has an article on the cell phone issue and in a recent column on the plight of Oakland and the budget.

If you hear someone with a bad rug on his head mention that Oakland needs a baseball only facility, think of how much that costs.

In some local areas schools are laying off teachers.

Not reigning in spending. Laying off teachers.

Baseball stadiums are so not relevant.

Oakland A's owners Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman have done a decent Public Relations job (no, seriously) by not making their voices public. They have kept to the shadows and let the boulder try to push itself up the hill. Rather than demand or be seen trying to slice up community funds, the owners have realized that silence is the best policy.

LAST NIGHT

This isn't the official run down, but we needed to comment on something. ESPN's headline for the game last night was "Tejada ends slump with HR to doom Tigers in 11th".

Not so fast, Sparky.

You have to be hitting above the Mendoza line (.200) to be out of a slump.

Further, you can't average 3 errors a week in the field.

If anyone else noticed, Miguel isn't talkng to himself. He looks lost and he doesn't seem that concerend.

Last year Miguel would have four conversations in three different languages all at the same time if he swung at a slider low and away.

The conversation would last until his next at-bat.

Last night Miguel just blinked and a hollow look showered his face. He stared off into left field as he struck out with the bases loaded in the 8th.

He preceded to throw a ball in the dirt that would have ended the game in the top of the ninth. Clearly, Miggi is taking his struggles to the plate, the field and maybe even home.

We're not Ken Macha or Billy Beane. Maybe it's time to move Miggi in the batting order or give him a day off. His consecutive games played streak is not as important as costing the A's back to back games...

But, boy, he crushed that pitch in the 11th.

Hey, That Makes Too Much Sense...Stop it!

Can anyone recall the commercial last year where a fan ran onto the field with a banner to display his company's logo?

The tagline being something about 'there are better ways to get people's attention'.

Does anyone recall a NIKE commercial where a naked fan runs through a soccer game eluding police at every turn?

Has anyone not seen the attack on Laz Diaz last week in Chicago? Does anyone forget the footage of Tom Gamboa being attacked?

If not, do not fret.

MLB and the major media outlets will continue to shoe, sorry show, these clips ad naseum.

Why?

We really don't know.

You would think MLB would have a little sense to try and control the media shark rather than have it devour them at every, ugh, buoy.

Hey, did anyone see Sammy Sosa get plunked in the helmet? Did anyone see the bench-clearing brawl instigated by Miguel Batista and Tino Martinez? Does anyone need to see more of Mike Piazza on TV...not counting beaning incidents with AAA pitchers?

MLB is creating a rinse/spin cycle of behavior. By allowing players to treat violence as a means of the game and to intimidate your opponent MLB sends the message: it is acceptable behavior.

At worst, you get a few days off.

Commercials are another ball of wax (This commentary is brought to you by SexWax, it won't crease or crinkle...).

Both the commercials were humorous, though, the humor was not essential to the product. Therefore the commercials should not have been run as long-term ads. Especially after the incident last year in Chicago.

The same commercials could have been made involving a man running through a movie theater prior to a showing waving a banner with his compaany's logo. Or a nude man running from mall security in his NIKE shoes.

Same concept.

Actually a man running with scissors and 25 school teachers chasing him would be hilarious.

Hey, BUDDY! You SUCK!

It's a very concerning issue in MLB.

We sit in the rightfield bleachers when we go to Oakland A's games.
Apparently every single rightfielder in MLB sucks. It's true. The fans in rightfield have mentioned it many times.

Magglio Ordonez sucks.
So does Bobby Kielty.
ICHIRO apparently sucks Godzilla.
Tim Salmon sucks.

It's a very disturbing trend.

Where did all the great outfielders of our time go? Apparently, to the A's. Because the fans in rightfield root for Terrence Long, Eric Byrnes and Jermaine Dye when they play in rightfield.

It's very peculiar, since Jermaine Dye sucked severely when he was with Kansas City. Now, he does not suck very much, if not at all (JD - keep you hands back and quit trying to hurry your swing through the zone).

Maybe it's like a stand up comedian who introduces himself to the crowd, "It's great to be here!"

The GREAT Bill Hicks went further by mentioning, "it's great to be here; wherever the hell I'm at".

This rightfielder sucking issue comes to a head tonight when the Motor City Kitties come to play a three game set.

Now, empirically, the Tigers suck. So what will the fans yell to the rightfielder? The rightfielder must know that he is basically in MLB's Witness Relocation Program by playing rightfield for Detroit. Sort of like valedictorian of a GED graduating class.

What to do?

Maybe try suggesting different batting stances to the rightfielder. Perhaps a few suggestions on positioning for different batters. Suggesting the rightfielder take a called strike in his next at-bat and waiting for a good pitch to hit might help.

Or, the fans could just read the name off the player’s jersey and remind him that he sucks.

It’s amazing how much a guy has to suck to play MLB. Especially if his laundry is different colors from the team you root for.

Oh well, the fans paid their $8. They have a right to display their genetic disposition to idiocy.

FALLOUT BOY

Now that the weekend has subsided we can all get back to normal. Well, as normal as can be after this weekend. Carl Everett is beginning to sound like the Carl Everett of old. Carl nails fans on the head , literally and figuratively.

"This crowd has always been surly," Everett said of the Coliseum fans. "They're worse here than in (winter ball) in Venezuela and Puerto Rico. They're being obnoxious just to be obnoxious."

We submit that Everett is a word that starts with a ‘p’ ends with a ‘y’ and sounds like pushy.

The fans in Oakland are stupid. As stupid as they are anywhere in the United States or anywhere else in the world. You are taking a small percentage of a population from a select group. Sports fans.

We’ve written on the fans in Oakland for some time. There are fervent. They spend as much money on their A’s gear and attention items (flags, drums, banners) as some people spend on season tickets in other cities.

They get kicked and kicked again. And again and again.

Let’s take a brief sample of some things that A’s fans have gone through over the years;

Jose Canseco
Rickey Henderson
Tony LaRussa

That would be enough to drive crazy people sane.

A few more;

Kirk Gibson
Earthquake
The Nasty Boys

Ask an older A’s fan and they will tell you they never got to celebrate the 1989 World Series. Not only did the A’s win, but also they swept the Giants. Their cross-town rivals and Bay Area favorites. Still. There was no joy in the victory and it is a burning issue with anyone over the age of 20.

Just for good measure;

Al Davis then,
Al Davis Again
Stadium renovations
Reluctant ownership
Super Bowl blowout

Al Davis has done more to hurt the A’s than the Yankees. Yet, you won’t find it too easy for some A’s fans cannibalize themselves and hate the Raiders’ owner and Managing General Partner while rooting for the team on the field. It’s like getting permanently brilliant straight, white teeth and not being able to chew with them...ever again.

Oh, then there is;

Yankees, Game 5
Yankees, Game 5
Jason Giambi
Jason Isringhausen
Johnny Damon
Twins, Game 5
Miguel Tejada

That’s enough frustration for any fan for a lifetime and that has all transpired in the last three years.

Ask a fan who ponied up $35 for a seat to the divisional playoff game, a seat that normally sells for $7.

However, the fans in Oakland are smart, and contentious and kind. Name another team that has fans that bring out banners for players hitting under .200 and cheer them as if their last breath depended on the player getting on base. How many other teams can boast that their Fan Fest drew 20,000 plus – each paying $5 a head to get in?

Sure the fans boo the opposing home team when they are announced, a token boo. They yell at the opposing player closest to them. Just like home fans do at every other ballpark in the western hemisphere to opposing players.

The fans yell at older fans who catch balls in batting practice and don’t hand them over to the younger fans. That’s natural. The fans yell at players in batting practice to throw a few balls up. When they don’t, the player gets booed relentlessly during the game. Quid pro quo.

Has it gone too far?

No.

The language is seldom blue.

The comments are often relevant, if not totally inane.

Quite possibly some MLB outfielders just aren’t used to hearing fans in other ballparks. We seriously doubt that, though.

Let’s remember who Carl Everett is and take his comments with the mountain of salt they deserve.

If a bird crapped on Everett’s cap Saturday he would be after the Audubon Society to press charges.

Reading ESPN’s article it is clear that they are more interesting in keeping a non-story alive rather than actually doing any real investigation into the matter. They have yet to mention exactly how far away the fan was and that you can not see the right fielder from where he threw the phone.

The disturbing nature of this incident is that the fan will most likely be able to beat the rap. He is now being charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

A prosecutor will have to prove intent. How many District Attorneys do you know want to alienate 150 million cell phone users in North America by having their favorite electronic communication device being declared a ‘deadly weapon’?

The fan will be encouraged to take a plea bargain for a lesser charge. So, there will be an uproar that more needs to be done.

More can’t be done.

It was an impossible to one shot, if the fan was aiming, and an occurence that is just impossible if he was not aiming.

The fans were booing last night, and will continue to boo Carl Everett, because he nailed an employee in the head with the cell phone and he is not being held responsible (that, and Carl Everett is one of the strangest people to ever play MLB, and that’s a statement).

The media seems oblivious to this and the stance that MLB is taking is quite hypocritical. While he is pressing charges against a fan, an employee has a quarter size gash on his forehead.

This SF GATE article actually makes mention of how far away the phone had to be thrown and the more information that comes out, the more it sounds like he wasn’t trying to hit anyone at all. We can all see an argument between two people getting out of hand or just an angry cell phone user in general toss the thing into the brezze.

Does this forgive his actions.

Absolutely not.

You throw and object in the air and you bare the burden when it comes down and strikes someone…which brings the Carl Everett “free to injure as he pleases” issue full circle. Even if Everett didn't mean to hit the employee, he still did.

The defense is going to have that in its back, front and side pockets.

Imagine a red car hits a blue car. The blue car driver, upset over the incident, drives the blue car into an orange car.

The bar examine is now over; close your test booklets and stare staright ahead, dreaming of freeing guilty criminals and jailing innocent citizens.

Sorry, had to throw that in.

Elsewhere in the article there are generalized comments that are used to make it sound like the A’s don’t appreciate their fans.

Far from it.

A few times every year there will be idiots who just need to blow off steam and yelling at a baseball game is a lot better than road rage.

These are isolated incidents. The trick is to look at the frequency of these outbursts. If it happens once a series, that’s probably too much.
Still, it’s up to the fans in the stands to police their own area.

Last night one of the Stadium workers sat down next to us for the bottom of the ninth and was yelling louder than some of the other fans.

STRANGERS

Well, it seems ESPN isn't about to start printing retractions.

So, we'll give you a few links to peruse.

First we want to state, again, that the fan who threw the cell phone is a moron. We don't condone what happened.

But, for the sake of posterity...it was a heck of a toss.

We're not going to get our 3-D graph paper and go through the physics equations. But, we'll show you a few angles of the 'Net and hope you can see for yourself that the odds of hitting Everett from that distance are just incredible.

This link has a view of the Coliseum before Al Davis came back to ruin a great place to see a game. This is when they Coliseum had metal bleachers and when standing to root on the team, pounding on the metal seating made a great sound that would echo throughout the stadium.

Looking closely at the first picture find the RED Office Depot sing in rightfield. Now take your pointer and look just above that sign, just above the scoreboard, just above the bleacher section and go up to the second deck. That's the Upper Reserved Bleacher section. Now, for a thumbnail example, take your pointer and measure from home plate to first base. Then look at where the rightfielder is standing in the picture. Then process the angle of the seating and that you can't even see the warning track.

This link has a little better view of rightfield. Again, go up to the second section in right field above the RED OFFICE DEPOT sign. There are no fans seated in this picture. There are two large double doors in the Upper Reserved section there. That's where the fan threw the phone from...can you get a general idea of what an incredible throw that was. If the idiot was even aiming?

Now that you have a physical idea, here's the schematic for seating. Find and Picture the BBQ Terrace in rightfield and look how far away it is from the field itself.

Wow.

Here are a few local accounts of what happened. First from Ray Ratto who amazingly was able to have this written within hours of the end of the game and still ESPN couldn’t get its facts straight at Midnight EST.

Here’s the game account from John Shea.
We’re on the road in 15 minutes to see tonight’s game.

We thought about getting a bag of those candy filled cell phones. Or an inflatable cell phone.

Maybe the next time the Rangers are in town…

The best part about the game tonight?

We don’t have to listen to Joe Morgan.

BECAUSE I USED TO SMELL UP A JOCKSTRAP

Wonders never cease.

On the Midnight EST BASEBALL TONIGHT on ESPN, Rob Dibble was asked his opinion on the Carl Everett/Cell Phone issue. First, he tries to defend Everett by saying he tossed it "kind of underhand". As if it really matters how he threw it. Then he mentions that Everett tossed something at a fan and that a fan retaliated.

...

Jackass, this isn't the Legend of Zelda. Items don't just show up when you get to a certain level. The cell phone didn't just appear glowing in rightfield and Everett threw it.

A fan threw the phone, it hit Everett, Everett picked it up, threw it and it clanked an A's employee.

Are you retarded or just a dumb jock?

It's A + B = C.

It's not C "because of some other stuff".

You would think that ESPN would prep someone before they went on the air.

Especially when you have Rob Dibble on your staff. A man of many, many talents. The greatest, being the only employed expert with all of 89 saves and 477 career innings in MLB. A lesser talent of Dibble's is being able to grow hair on that troglodyte eight-head is largely missed. By the way Rob, glad you joined the Hair Club for Men.

It looks real.

Dibble continued to explain that "it's never right to throw things at a player".

This, from the man who was suspended for 4 games in 1991 for hitting Meg Porter, a 27-year-old teacher, in the second deck with a ball after 'saving' a game. Of course Dibble served a 3 game suspension earlier in the month for throwing behind the powerful and intimidating Eric Yielding (all sub six feet and 165 lbs. of him).

Dibble threw at everybody in his five-year tenure in MLB. He threw at his own kid at a father-son game.

Or maybe Bob Uecker told us that.

Anyway.

Taking a cue from Rob Dibble on how to act, well, it's like taking acting lessons from Sylvester Stallone.

Rambo, was a favorite movie of Dibble's, so it's a multi-layered reference.

ESPN has its facts all screwed up. We're not sure if they had to use a hot dog and an inner tube to educate Dibble and they confused themselves in the process.

Either way, this is a non-story that was made a story by ESPN.

Had Everett not taunted fans after his homerun and taunting the fans going into the field in the 6th, this wouldn't have even made the highlights.

The fan, and let's make this clear; we have no idea who the fan was, if he was a fan of the A's, of the Rangers, of baseball or just another idiot with not enough sense to keep from throwing a cell phone onto a baseball field…this fan was immediately nabbed by security and led away.

BECAUSE HE WAS POINTED OUT BY OTHER FANS IN THAT SECTION.
By the time Everett went into the dugout at the end of the 5th Everett was met by two umpires and Buck Showalter who listened to Everett's side of the story and they then explained to Everett that the fan was already in custody.

UPDATE

Neil Everett (coincidence, we're positive) just reported on ESPN's 1:00 am SportsCenter that two innings earlier Everett threw a watch into the stands.

What the hell are you talking about?

Neil Everett is annoying. He looks like he is at least a foot shorter than any of his co-anchors based on his chair height. He pigeons his shoulders in and the copy he reads on the air sounds like it was copied from the mash note of a jilted lovelorn high school sophomore.

We were going to comment on some of the new crop of SportsCenter anchors, anyway, but haven’t really had time. We have a few minutes and the opportunity raised it’s head. So, there yah go.

ESPN is just trying to drive the current story of player safety into the ground. It doesn’t hurt that Texas plays Oakland tomorrow night on ESPN’s Sunday Night baseball.

Jeepers, you don’t think the non-story now-story has anything to do with that coincidence, do you?

We were going to get really JFK/Daly Plaza on you about a second cell phone thrower from the Jagged Edge, but we don’t feel like it.

But, as far as conspiracies go, is there any easier or weirder way to create a story than to irk Carl Everett?

That’s just too easy.

Who needs fiction when there’s MLB?

The iritating thing is that we were there, we saw how everything went down and a few hundred other people are calling the sports talk radio stations and flooding the online messge boards.

It's weird how, in a situation like this, only a few people are interviewed who know nothing about what happened and didn't see it.

Buck Showalter wasn't involved, though he plays a part becasue he has to sound like he is protecting the interests of his player's well being. But Buck's words are going to find a lot air time.

Rafael Palmeiro didn't see anything and the only thing he was in danger of is misplaying another batted or fielded ball at first base (he's been a butcher in the field the last two days). But, Raffy gets a soundbite in and it's going to be replayed over and over.

If Carl Everett wasn't the universe's best walking soundbite waiting to happen before, he is now.

``Luckily I was wearing a hat,'' Everett said. ``If it wasn't for the hat, I'd be cut back there. That fan should be ashamed of himself.''

Yes, a herculean throw that, if a fitted wool cap could sustain such a mighty blow.

Take a look at the cut on the head of the other guy, Carl.

And professional athletes wonder why the average fan harkens to question their merit and efforts when athletes can be so dillusional and so out of touch with normalcy so often.

Ponder such this slice of life and, yet, we all go without pie.

Or something like that.

The other twists in this game?

There were four hit batters.

Ramon Hernandez was hit twice!

Alex Rodriguez was clipped in the shin by Chad Bradford in the eigth. Alex Rodriguez was 0-3 at that point with three swinging K's against Mulder. One more for the beloved Golden Sombrerro.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

TROUBLE

Yup.

We were in rightfield today.

Yup.

Carl Everett might be the stupidest human being on the face of the earth.

But does he deserve to be nailed in the back of the head with a cell phone?



. . .


No, seriously, we're asking.

Somewhere after the start of the 5th inning someone chucked a cell phone from at least 75 feet up and a good 45-50 yards away and nailed Carl Everett in the back of the head. It came from the Upper Reserve Bleacher section that hosts the BBQ Terrace in rightfield.

Now, that might be an incredible toss.

But, Carl Everett picked up the phone taunted the fans, turned, and threw the phone over the fence in rightfield. The area where Everett threw the phone is the cement stairwell that is inaccessible to fans.

After the phone left Everett's hand it flew 25 yards and struck an Oakland Athletics' Stadium Operations employee square in the forehead and immediately drew blood.

Man, if we weren't there we wouldn't believe it.

The first toss was just sheer luck, the second was dumb luck. The kind Carl Everett seems to attract in truckloads.

Now, we've written a lot at how the idiots in rightfield can say some stupid things and chant ridiculous mantras.

This was not that group.

The phone did not come from any of those morons.

The fan that threw the phone was immediately pointed out and security took the person away.

Everett got to stay in the game.

Further, Everett says he want to press charges against the fan.

Excuse me?

You got clipped on the back of your thick skull (and it helped, Everett homered to lead off the next inning - making some sort of hand gesture as he rounded the bases) and you want to press charges? Hell, we know a few thousand people who would take a toffee hammer to the genitals before every at bat if it meant they hit a homerun.

Okay, sure, that is a joke.

The fan that threw the phone is an obvious imbecile and should serve a few days in the clink to think about it. However, as the old saying goes, "sign the kid".

Even if you were trying to get within 15 feet of Everett from that distance, let alone from the height, with any object; you'd be 30-40% successful. On a good day.

To nail a guy in the noggin with one shot? That has to be in the realm of unBELIEVEable.

For Everett to turn around and throw the same phone and nail someone else in the head from about 25 yards has to be a sign from above to go play every sigle one of the lotteries because they are all going to hit and then go hit Las Vegas.

We feel sorry for whoever is within tossing distance of that phone. Thankfully we're back in Sacramento. But, if there's a knock on the door followed by a ringing sound, we're running in the other direction.

The ESPN.com article claims that Terrence Long threw something, he didn’t. Long threw Rafael Palmeiro’s 455th career homerun ball up into the stands. Twice. But that was in the 4th inning, not the 5th. The homerun slammed off the back wall and onto the field (shame, too, Mulder had him with two strike and was a hair from striking out the side).

Terrence then picked up the ball and threw it up into the stands. The fans scrambled for the ball and it went back onto the field. Terrence threw it back up and a young woman grabbed it.

Funny how things transpire.

The young woman gave the ball to her friend.

A few minutes later a Stadium Operations employee came by as Palmeiro wanted the ball. We all started shouting offers, “hold out for a jersey”, “get a few hundred bucks”, “demand a date with Eric Byrnes”.

The woman came back with two hats (one a Ranger’s hat) and an autographed ball.

Her friend who gave her the ball didn't get anything.

Some friend.

In the linked ESPN.com article also claims ICHIRO was hit with change. We can neither confirm, nor deny this. However, this is a long-standing tradition in Oakland. Outfielders regularly get change thrown at them. Dave Henderson used to come out to centerfield after hitting a homerun and find $4.00-5.00 in change. He pocketed the money, he's not dumb

ICHIRO got hit with coinery after nailing Terrence Long tried to go from first to third on a single. More on that later this week.

Some fans get over zealous and try to hit the player.

Hey, it takes skill to pay homage to thy enemy.

Which makes the Jose Canseco bidding for a lost weekend all the more surreal. Had Jose picked up any of the change (or managed any of the money he made as a baseball player) he wouldn't be in the mess he is in.

Today's Cell Phone dilemma is all the more mind-boggling because Carl Everett returned an action he was so upset about. A fan threw something at him, so he threw something at the fans. He nailed one of two Stadium Operations employees who were coming down to get the phone. It's like cracking a bat in the batter's box and chucking it at the batboy from 45 feet and crippling the kid.

Carl Everett calling anyone ignorant has to be in the Top 10 of all hypocritical mutterings since the beginning of time. Top 5 if you don't believe in dinosaurs and man landed on the moon.

What made matters worse is Everett came back in the bottom of the 6th inning and began jawing with fans. Taunting them.

Clearly he was heard and clearly he was seen urging fans to come on the field and take him on.

What was that Forrest Gump thing?

Stupid is as Carl does?

If the rightfiled bleachers were not 15 feet above the field a few fans would might have taken Carl up...yeah.

The fans Everett began taunting were the same group of dateless wonders who couldn't bench press their stainless stell travel mugs (free to the first 15,000 fans today - thanks, San Jose Mercury News).

After the warm-ups for the bottom of the 6th the umpires came to Buck Showalter and were basically telling Showalter that if Everett wanted to stay in the game he had better quit screwing with the fans in lower rightfield.

Carl didn’t. He was flipping off the fans and continually making chest-thumping gestures.

The phone came from upper rightfield, not lower rightfield and by the 6th inning Carl Everett had been told about it. They would not have let anyone back on the field had they not already grabbed the responsible individual.

Carl was just being Carl.

What do we expect?

Dunno.

Maybe that fans would do exactly what they did, immediately point out the guy.

Hell, in New York City or Boston the cell phone chucker might have ended up on the ticket for mayor. Of course the fans would have played their favorite game a few moments after the incidents, “we didn’t see anything, officer”.

What we’re happy about is the fans immediately turned the idiot over to authorities.

Fans throwing things on the field is not new. It happens a lot.

Everett is quoted as saying it happens all the time.

A lot more than it should, too.

It doesn’t mean Everett should press charges beyond what Alameda County is already going to prosecute the idiot for. If it were possible for a player to sue for being hit with debris Don Baylor would be a billionaire.

But, batteries, bottles, pocket knives, change, marbles, balls (beach and base), octopi, bras, food, drink and first 15,000 fans giveaway items end up on the field.

It’s a little out of the ordinary at an A’s game for the cell phone or any other serious object.

But the batteries are common favorites in Philadelphia.

Ask J.D. Drew.

The fans in Denver throw ice balls.

Yah, it’s stupid.

But do you think the stupid behavior is magnified due to alcohol?

Do you think that teams would stop selling alcohol, despite their continued assertions they provide a safe-family atmosphere?

Hell no.

They make too much cash off of booze and beer.

Coors Field.

Busch Stadium.

Miller Park.

Didn’t the Cubs sue to try to block the fans on the rooftops in rightfield? Didn’t the Cubs also paint one of the rooftops beyond the outfield with a gigantic Budweiser logo?

Do you know any other family places where they encourage alcohol?

Besides Church?

Oh, yah, Happy Passover/Easter to those who celebrate.

Psst. Rabbits and eggs are pagan symbols.

How did we get here from a baseball game?

Sun, happenstance and Carl Everett.

Baseball: you never know.