Kendalls Home Run Kountdown

End of the Road - More Ways than One

2005-10-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

The season is over, and the A's missed out by 7 games. At one point of the season 7 games out would have been decent enough, at another point 7 games out would have been a car-crash season end. But in all fairness, through injuries, major pitcher changes, rookies, and general rebuilding, we had a great season. All we can do now is sit back, feet up and hope that the Angels take a beating in the post season. Today is also the end of the road for Oakland Manager Ken Macha, who will leave the A's after 7 seasons in charge. He had some good years here at Oakland but most fans thought he had outstayed his welcome and all eyes will be on who Billy Beane appoints as the new Manager of the A's. Fans seem to want Ron Washington, but will Beane agree? Either way, 1 whole year without a HR for Kendall means we can get another year out of this mule, lets just hope not too long, eh Jason?

A-ha!

2005-08-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

A's beat Angels. I need to get this blog sorted out ASAP

One Hell of a Year

2005-07-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

The A's won one hell of a game today in Extra innings. I had written them off at 4-1 but the A's 9th inning rally took it to extra innings and Marco Scuataro drove in the winning run. The Major story is Jason Kendall, who is now without a homer for 1 entire year. This ones for you Jason.

Streaky Bacon

2005-07-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

During the 1st game vs the Indians I fell asleep at around the 4th inning and missed a spectacular win. I guess the Baseball Gods were punishing me for that, as I stayed awake and watched lasts night match which was quite a contrast from the game before with only 2 runs. The A's streak of 7 in a row has come to the end, but belief is still strong in the Bay Area. Danny Haren, tonights starter hasnt lost in 2 months, and the A's have a fantastic home record. I've been playing World of Warcraft so much lately i've not been updating every game but i'll try and get some down for the anniversary game today. "Huh?" I hear you cry! Anniversary? Thats right, if Jason Kendall doesnt hit a Home Run tonight it will have been 1 whole year since his last one. Thats 364 days. Jason got his 500th Career RBI in the 1st of 3 Indians Game. Congratulations Jason, lets hope you can break your HR dry spell on the verge of history.

Born to be Wild!

2005-07-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

The A's swept the Rangers today and are now 8 games over .500 which is pretty amazing considering it wasnt too long ago we are 15 games UNDER. Whats even better is, thanks to the Twins losing, the A's moved into joint 1st place in the American League Wild Card. Kendall took a days rest, Barry Bonds turned 41, Jason Giambi ate 5 footlong Subs back to back, and Joe Morgan cursed alot and threw his bow tie across the room when he saw the Wild Card standings.

Winning gets you no where

2005-07-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

The A's are winning, and winning with great excitement. After play of the millenium by our very own Jason Kendall, who grabbed a wild pitch and jumped to home plate to tag out the tyinh run, Mike Young, to end the game in the bottom of the 9th (which strangely MLB.com had no video of for their web gems.. conspiracy?) the A's have soared to a 5-Game win streak. Another 1-Run win over Texas that included 4 Solo HR shots from the A's boosted the A's win record, but we just cant seem to catch a break. When we win, the Angels win. When we lose, the Angels lose. We dont seem to gain ground no matter how well we play. In more important news, Police are on the lookout for a man in the New York (Bronx) Area. He goes by the name Kevin Brown (6ft2, 415lb) and is wanted for impersonating a Major League pitcher. He has been spotted many times this year at Yankee stadium, and his last sighting was earlier tonight in Anaheim (NOT Los Angeles) where he committed an act of indecent exposure (he was clearly seen in public fucking the Yankees, and the Athletics) Police are requesting that if you see the man (mugshot on the left) then please punch him square in the jaw, and they would look the other way if you were to drop your knee into his groin. There are already lynch mobs roaming the Streets of New York looking for this man, however certain parts of New York and Boston seem to be welcoming Mr. Brown and imbracing his heinous crimes against baseball. We'll keep you posted.

2005-07-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Since my last post after a loss to the Angels, Oakland beat the Halos in the next 2 games to win the series, and opened a 4-Game series last night with a win over the Rangers. The A's have a fantastic trait of suprising people, including me. After 2 Innings I was sure Joe Blanton wouldnt see 4 innings and that the game was over after the bottom of the 1st, but the A's rallied back to win 6-4. The night would have been perfect if it wasnt for Vlad Guerreros Grand Slam vs the Yankees, who otherwise would have lost their game and the A's would be that little bit closer to 1st place. As for Kendall, no Home Runs and in fact Jason was 0-for the entire Texas series and only broke the slump with a single last night. It must be said Jay Payton has been fantastic for the A's. 2HR in his first 2 games, a web gem 2 run saving catch last night as well as going 3-for-5 with a run and a RBI. He is hitting .391 in Green and Gold with 3 Runs, 2HR, 9 Hits and 5 RBI in his 5 games. Oakland are quick becoming a serious threat to the AL teams, long may it continue.

and then you go and spoil it all..

2005-07-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

For the first time since I have been a baseball fan I turned off an A's game mid-way through. After the A's had gone ahead of the Angels I was overjoyed, screaming the runners home all the way. Needless to say the Anaheim A-Holes had quickly taken the lead and I knew it was over. I hate the Angels with such a passion that words cannot describe the venom that spills through my veins when they are at-bat. A good way to summarise the game would just to be "one to forget" Please Harden, this time get a perfect game. We need to beat the Angels tonight.

Believe in the 'Fro!

2005-07-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

The game was long, in the bottom of the 14th inning before Bobby Kietly hit his 2nd Career Walk-Off Home Run and 25,000 people at the Coliseum erupted. The game was dictated by Texas Rangers solo home runs and few people could have predicted it would be an A's solo home run to win the game, and the series 3-to-1. The box score could easily be mistaken for a chunky of binary code, with 14 lines of 1's and 0's. Jason Kendall went 1-for-4 and was Hit by a Pitch. Paytons 2 HR in 2 Days were put behind him as he went 0-for-6, and new boy Kennedy got his 5th win of the season, and 1st for the A's. My back is aching beyond belief, and theres a "as-live" tape of the Yankees/BoSox game starting on TV in 20 minutes. Time to watch some baseball without being on edge of seat before the A's take on the AL West leaders, the Los Angeles Anaheim Angels of Anaheim in Los Angeles (of Anaheim)

Payback's a Bitch

2005-07-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

After the 2 games in which we squashed the Rangers, it was bound to come back and bite us on the ass. A win away from leapfrogging Texas and heading into 2nd place in the AL West, the A's were smacked around for a 10-8 loss. Only a 9th inning rally stopped the score being more embarrising. The A's went through pitchers like David Ortiz goes through Tacos, using Blanton, Calero, Kennedy (making his Oakland debut giving up 2 Hits, 2 Runs and a Walk for just 2 outs), Duchscherer, Yabu and Street. The only real positive from the game was Jay Payton, making just his 2nd start for the A's hit his 2nd Home Run. So far the trade is looking good. Kendall was 2-for-4, with a Run, a RBI and a Walk. By the way, if you are wondering about the pictures in the top right of each game report, the picture shows the winning team from that game.

Deja Vu all over again

2005-07-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Rich Harden is perfect though 8.1 innings until he gives up his first hit. Today Zito has a no hitter through 8.1 innings until he gives up his first hit. These two games have probably been the closest I will ever see to a perfect game, or even a no-hitter, and I am proud to be an A's fan. As for Payton, making his Oakland debut, he took his first pitch as a strike. The second pitch Payton sent deep into the stands for a 2-Run shot. Welcome to Oakland. Payton was robbed of a walk thanks to the home plate umpire who called the 3-2 pitch the wrong way, and was robbed of extra bases by a fantastic catch at the wall in the 8th. Jay Witasick was brought in for the 9th inning for his first game in green and gold since 1998, and it wasnt hard to see why he has the nickname "Jay Witasuck". He gave up a walk, a single, a double and a run without getting an out before being boo'ed off to be replaced by Rincon, who got a force out before Calero got the two final outs to wrap up a 7-2 win. Kendall was 2-for-4 with no Homer and closing in on 1 entire year without one. To finish I would would just like to say how good the Rangers TV coverage was, very friendly, un-biased and informative, however they must have shown the advert for "The Sports List" about 50 f*cking times!! I now officially hate Summer Sanders!!

No Perfecto was Hard-on Hard-en

2005-07-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Rich Harden was just 5 outs away from a perfect game when Soriano hit him for a single in the 8th inning. Every single out made me feel more an more nervous, by the time Soriano was at the plate I had gone from nervous, to a quivering mess. Harden went on to pitch an incredible 81 Pitch, 2 Hitter, Shutout, Complete game. It was only his 2nd Complete game in the Majors, and they both came against the Rangers. Unlike the 3-2 loss, this time Hardens incredible pitching was repaid with 6 Oakland runs and Rich got his 6th season win. Kendall was 1-for-3 with an RBI. In other news ive given the blog over to be run by a guy named painey as im too busy, he's written some of the posts before so he will carry the site on. Rock On.

Buy, Buy, Buy! Sell, Sell, Sell!

2005-07-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

I was pretty ataken back to find news of trades from the A's on MLB.com minutes ago. Eric Byrnes and Minor League player Omar Quintanilla went to the Colarado Rockies for 2 Bullpen pitchers, Joe Kennedy, (Career 31-46 4.95 ERA) and Jay Witasick (Career 29-40 4.60 ERA) who actually started his MLB career with the A's in 1996. Needless to say they don't have the best stats, but relief pitchers dont normally benefit from the harshness of pitching stats. The other trade, which quite frankly made my stomach sink, sent sub-mariner, and personal favourite of mine, Chad Bradford to the Boston Redsox for OF Jay Payton. The deal had emerged in the media last week but looked dead in the water when Paytons agent reportedly said no deal could be agreed, but now a deal has been agreed and Payton will be wearing Green and Gold. For how long though? While Payton may be in his 30's with only 4 seasons in the majors with 100+ games, most people don't expect him to stay around in the Bay Area as it is widely touted Payton was aquired simply to trade off as soon as possible. A Swap with the Yankees for rookies; Wang, or Robinson Cano have been mentioned but we will have to wait and see.

Argh!!!

2005-07-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

I decided today I would try and finish off my old Final Fantasy 8 game (I think I was on CD 3 of 4) because I was thinking about how I never got around to finishing it. After around 30 minutes of searching for the game, and then (due to my lazy man habits of putting the wrong CD in the CD cases) the actual discs, I could only find one of my old PS1 memory cards, which typically didn't contain my FF8 save. Now i've gotta turn my room upside down looking for this damn memory card!!

Venezuela must be Proud

2005-07-12T04:32:00.000-07:00

Bobby Abreu is the first representitive from Venezuela to win anything since the Earth began (don't quote me on that) It seems even a player who no one cares about, or who wouldn't be in the Derby if Selig didn't get his cocaine smuggled in via his country, can win the Home Run Derby as long as he is pitched to by a Little-Leaguer. It also has to be said, if Jason Bay is the best guy to represent the entire nation of Canada, its not hard to understand why they prefer Hockey up there. Anyway, if you survived Abreu's 30-Minute long 1st round, and if you have woken up from your Coma by now, you will more than likely be watching the All-Star game tonight. I can't help but feel we wont see Duke throw more than a couple of pitches but I will be cheering on our guys in Detroit.

Home Run Farce

2005-07-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

Jason Kendall could do alot worse than to watch tonights Home Run Derby for inspiration, despite it becoming more of a farce than ever. The All-Star game is often the butt of many jokes or rants due to it being a popularity contest rather than literally being All-Stars of the season, and now the Home Run Derby seems to be heading down the route of a "Joke". This year there will be Representatives of 8 different countries (wouldnt it make more sense to have Andruw Jones representing Europe rather than Holland?) including some players who wouldnt even be in the top 20 choices if it was for the whole of MLB. Either way, it will be something different and I will be rooting on Jones.

Gimme a Break!

2005-07-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Its the All-Star break in Baseball, and Oakland finished their last game with a tense extra-innings 9-8 victory over the Chicago White Sox, to complete the series Sweep. Huston Street gave up his first Home Run in almost 40 innings of Baseball but pitched 3.1 innings to be awarded with the win. Kendall was 3-for-6 with a Run and a RBI. I am starting to add the sidebar information, and as you can currently see Kendall is now 135 games without a Home Run.

Best Team in Baseball?

2005-07-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mark Kotsay signed a 3 Year Extension today, and Celebrated with a 3-Run Homer in the 7th. A's really got back to series winning ways after beating the Best Team in Baseball 10-1. Kendall was packing lumber and went 3-for-5 with a Run and a RBI and *VERY* nearly leadoff the game with a Home Run, but alas it fell short 2 or 3 feet and he had to settle with a leadoff Double.

Safe as Houses

2005-07-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

There is something beautiful about Huston Street coming into the game with a lead. When you see Street coming in to get the save you can almost put your hands behind your head, lead back and grin. Thanks to Streets 5th A's save, Oakland got back to winning ways vs. The White Sox. Kendall went 2-for-5 with a RBI but no Homer. Interesting Fact: Ken Macha is now 229-180 as A's manager. Not too shabby eh?

All good things come to an End

2005-07-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

A's ended their streak of series wins in Toronto, Canada tonight as they tumbled 4-2 to the Blue Jays. The A's had their chances but failed to capitalise as Rich Harden got his first loss since coming off the DL. Jason Kendall was 2-for-4 and had the chance to tie the game late on with 2 men in scoring position, but he couldn't do so. Kendall is 518 at bats without a Home Run and 132 Games. The All-Star break can't come soon enough as the A's face the hottest team in Baseball yet again, the Chicago White Sox tomorrow.

Scum of the Earth.

2005-07-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

London Underground Train and Buses bombed. People dead, many injured or in shock. What kind of sick world do we live in. This morning innocent people woke up to go about their daily lives. Many of them wont be going to sleep tonight.

Feels like April..

2005-07-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

How do you follow up a game like last nights? The answer is NOT like todays. The A's were on the wrong side of a 8-0 Shutout, and the A's were lucky to score 0. The Blue Jays Tied the series 1-1 with their win, and the A's will look to Canadian pitcher Dan Harden to continue their streak of series wins tomorrow at the Rogers Centre. As for Kendall, he went 2-for-4 with 2 singles. The streak is now 131 games without a Homer and 514 At-Bats. Im working on getting his HR dry spell stats on the right sidebar, but until tomorrow lets just hope Macha doesnt continue the idea of not letting the guys get batting practise, because Ken.. It didnt work.

.500 and Proud of it!

2005-07-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

In one of the most entertaining, and nerve wrecking games of the season the Oakland A's beat the Blue Jays 10-7 in Extra innings to go .500 for the first time since Early May when they were 13-13. An explosive game that saw more hits than a Stoners party on 4:20 and a massive 6 HR (4 from the A's) was nearly lost when Scutaro was taken down during a game-winning double play attempt and his wild throw blew Street's save, however the A's came back in the 11th inning to score 3 runs which was enough to win the game. Kendall, who was 0-for-5 with a walk and a Run, extended his game streak without a Homer to 130 games and is now 510 at bats without one (Leads the Majors)

Back to Winning Ways

2005-07-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

The A's beat the White Sox for the 4th time this season and Jason Kendall went 2-for-4 with a Walk and an RBI. No Home Run still, but Kendall is slowly becoming the Leadoff Hitter we all wanted in Oakland. American may be celebrating The 4th of July tomorrow, but Kendall wont be celebrating his first Homer in nearly a year, as the A's have a day off, before starting a series vs. the Blue Jays.

Back to Earth with a Thud

2005-07-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

The A's gave up 2 early runs in the first inning and never really looked like they could win it from then on. It certainly didnt help being forced to listen to the White Sox commentators who could make a Triple Play sound dull, but at the end of the day good pitching from the White Sox was enough to end Oaklands 8 game winning streak. Jason Kendall went 1-for-3 with 2 Runs and for one moment looked like he could be about to break the 128 game stretch without a Home Run, but his deep fly ball landed with a thud into the Right Fielder, Perez's glove.

Forgetting what its like to lose

2005-07-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Kendall went 1-for-4 with a walk last night as the A's stretched their win streak to 8 games. Kendall hit his 13th double of the season but still no sign of a Home Run. Jason has played in 127 games without a Homer, and very soon it will be an entire year since he last went deep. One things for sure, the majority of the A's faithfull would much rather see Jason throw out more base runners than hit them out of the park, as Kendall couldnt stop 2 White Sox stolen bases last night.

A's look for 8 on the Trot

2005-07-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

The A's 6-2 win last night stretched their winning streak to 7 games, Melhuse playing as catcher went 1-for-4 and there were 4 Homers in the game, 2 by each team. The A's start a 3 game series at home to the Hottest team in Baseball, the Chicago White Sox and Jason Kendall should be in the line up and looking for the elusive Home Run!

Not today Jason

2005-06-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Jason Kendall was dropped to the bench for a rare day off today, as the A's face the Mariners. Adam Melhuse will play as Catcher. So baring injury Jason Kendall will be no closer to hitting is first Major League Home Run since his 2-Run Shot in a Pirates Uniform, on 27th July 2004 when the Pirates defeated the Atlanta Braves 8-4.

Welcome to Kendall Kountdown

2005-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Kendall Kountdown, the Definitive Countdown until Jason Kendall hits his 1st Home Run for the Oakland Athletics!

126 Games without a Homer!