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It’s only fitting that the New York Yankees sent off the Oakland Athletics with a clean series sweep. As the franchise that’s delivered the Oakland fanbase more heartbreak than any other over the last 25 years, through regular season and postseason dominance, something about it just felt right.
The Moneyball narrative has dominated Oakland baseball history in that time, but that story could not have been told without the juxtaposition of our bargain-bin franchise competing head-to-head against the fat-pocketed Yankees. As painful as it’s been to lose to them time and time again, such is the life of an Oakland A’s fan and I’ll remember every moment of it.
given that the good HR hitting was clearly steroid tainted, my enduring memories of the good baseball teams was the amazing pitching staff in the late 80s.
The Giants managed only three hits in the series finale against the Royals on Sunday.
If this was May or June or July…or just any month this season, those three hits would have served as a reminder of the lineup’s ineptitude, their eager capitulation to opposing arms, a desperate paddling up-stream. But in September, specifically late September, specifically after being officially eliminated from postseason play when none of these games “matter”, these three hits became the best kind of hits: the ones that come in the same inning and score runs (plural) and were, in the words of base ball’s famous enunciator William Keeler, hit where the people are not.
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers did not lead at all in Saturday’s loss to the last-place Rockies, and they entered the seventh inning on Sunday down by four runs. Entering the ninth in the series finale, the Dodgers had trailed all game to that point.
Then Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts happened, hitting back-to-back home runs to stun Colorado in a 6-5 walk-off win at Dodger Stadium.
A's lose to Yankees in last afternoon home game at Coliseum. i only mention it because i was there. there were a decent number of fans, maybe 1/3 were Yankees fans, the A's wore uniforms that said Oakland across the front.
figured it would be fun to see them one last time.
the last 3 game series of the season is this week, Tue-Thu vs the Rangers.
Giants plays the spoiler now that they are eliminated, sweep the Royals by beating them 2-0 thanks to all three of their three hits coming in the same inning. Royals are now tied for a wildcard spot with the Tigers. Meanwhile, the Tigers won 4-3 over the Os
Predictable Shanahan coached outcome. This game encapsulates (most of) the complaints I have about Kyle Shanahan as a head coach and is an Exhibit in my ongoing assertion that he will never win a Super Bowl as long as he coaches the 49ers.
Oh, also this: I am experiencing much schadenfreude towards the York family today. Piss off, Jed.
Predictable outcome given the number of key injuries to the offense. Same thing happened last year, but it was closer to midseason. Very few teams at any level are built to lose the offensive firepower the 49ers are missing and still generate enough offense all game every game.
Might be time to deep dive into the injury situation to see if something should be done differently.
That misses the most salient point about yesterday's collapse: the 49ers had a 14-point lead in the 2nd half (7:01 remaining in the 3rd quarter) and a 10-point lead in the 4th quarter (11:57 remaining).
The 49ers also failed to make an attempted FG while burning 3:32 on 7 plays. But that isn't the worst part. It's that the 49ers defense gave up 10 points in 5 plays that burned 92 seconds. The defense folded at the most critical point in the game.
The defense was shockingly bad in this game. Just needed one stop in the 4th quarter to basically ice it and instead gave up a big play immediately, every time.
Utah's road win with the backup QB was the most impressive of the bunch.
The Cougs & Spartans over 4 hour Pullman late night was the most remarkable, and totally on brand for the Cougs. Except this Coug team can Coug it multiple times and still pull out a win.
I'd say the issue with SC was they suddenly forgot how to stop the run, terrible to see short term memory issues with 2 minutes to go in the game - or so I hear, I wasn't watching it
Gave up one big run with the game on the line. A goal line stand would have helped, but those can be hard to pull off for anyone under the best of conditions. And the Trojans nearly did. But field flipping single plays on the last drive of the game, with the game on the line, can't happen. 1 play negated all the work done all afternoon.
it's not ideal - I gather the Michigan students and alumni were booing their team for portions of the second half. Curious to see how many more of these goofs Riley has left before it's a problem.
Yeah, I don’t really mind if Stanford wins every game except ours. They stuck with us in realignment, and if both programs are strong it probably helps us in the next stage.
I cannot believe this. Absolutely shocking. Always want the Furd to lose. Always. They're our freaking rivals. Cal football, Cal sports, the rivalry with Furd as I know them appear to be dead.
THOUSAND OAKS – Four members of the California men's tennis team concluded play in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup on Sunday, with sophomores Alex Aney and Ethan Schiffman winning in singles at the Sherwood Country Club.
Aney defeated USC's Tristan Bradley 6-3, 6-2, while Schiffman beat UCLA's Leo van Bismarck 6-0, 6-3. Also in singles, Cal's 123rd-ranked senior Alex Chang fell to USC's Niels Hoffmann 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and Jonathan Irwanto lost to Pepperdine's Linus Carlsson Halldin 6-2, 7-6(5).
BERKELEY – The No. 6 California men's water polo team closed out the Overnght MPSF Invitational on Sunday, falling to No. 2 Stanford 15-10 in the third-place game.
Junior William Kelly led the Golden Bears (7-3) with three goals, while senior Max Casabella added two. Goalkeepers Kai Seed and Riley Clansen finished with four and three saves, respectively.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Despite trailing by two with under 11 minutes to go, the California women's soccer team battled back to tie No. 13 Wake Forest 2-2 on the road Sunday afternoon. Senior defender Courtney Boone scored her first goal since 2022 in the 79th minute, and freshman Campbell Carroll found the net for the first time in her career in the 85th to earn the Golden Bears a point in the ACC standings.
That will teach me. Living in the mid-Atlantic I get the ACC network and this game was shown. I had it on in the background as I read the Sunday paper. I was going out for a walk and time was running out in the game. so I left. I didn’t check the score when I got home so this is the first I see they came back to tie. My bad.
[FH] Bears Notch First Road Win Of The Seasonhttps://calbears.com/news/2024/9/22/field-hockey-bears-notch-first-road-win-of-the-season.aspx
HARRISONBURG, Va – The California field hockey team secured its first win on the road this season against James Madison, 3-0, on Sunday at JMU Field Hockey Complex in Harrisonburg, Va.
"We are happy to split the weekend verus two very strong teams," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said. "We understand the standard now and our training effort going forward will reflect that. Thank you to the alumni for the good wishes. I am happy people are drawn to watch us."
TULSA, Okla. – The California men's tennis team began play in the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday, with Derrick Chen winning but Timofey Stepanov losing in pre-qualifying singles at the Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
BERKELEY – Gaku Nishimura scored his first goal as a Golden Bear to help lead the California men's soccer team to a 1-1 tie with Virginia on Saturday at Edwards Stadium and earn the Bears their first point in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
BERKELEY – The Michael Wilson era of California men's golf gets underway Monday when the Golden Bears tee off at The Tindall at Aldarra Golf Club in Sammamish, Washington. Cal's 2024-25 season debut will start with 36 holes played on Monday, followed by 18 on Tuesday.
I have decades worth of scars from watching Cal football and too many have been added by Justin Wilcox-coached teams, Saturday's being the latest. He's a nice guy, runs a clean program, players like him but the man's not up to the job. Two winning seasons in seven (7-6, 8-5) never a winning conference record and so damn many winnable games lost. And how it is he hasn't managed to build a decent offensive line? He's had eight years. Now he's got an OC doubling as OLine coach. Come on! We'll probably manage eight wins this season and they'll reward him with a lifetime contract. Sorry for the rant.....Actually I'm not sorry at all.
It's become clear that just changing the OC isn't going to fix the offense. This is the offense that Wilcox wants: predictable and conservative. It puts a ceiling on his results.
Reoccurring special teams fiascos play a big part in this. Some of the other problems befall almost all other programs, especially on the road, but the good teams still pull out wins/evade losses with consistent special teams play.
The US House has drafted a bilateral six-month funding bill that appears to have enough votes to pass. This ends-around the 14 members of the House who are campaigning on outrage-bait like insisting that part of the bill bans illegals aliens from voting, which is already illegal and doesn't happen in any meaningful way. We'll see if this triggers the removal of Johnson
I wonder if putting a reference and quote from existing law in the introduction and calling that paragraph the 'save act' or whatever the horrid thing the fascists wanted would be enough? Since they clearly never actually read the bills.
I'm already taking time off at the beginning of next month so they can do what they like, but I'd prefer a 6 month budget tbh, not as good as a full fiscal year but better than what has become the norm.
PRO
Yankees sweep A’s in final Oakland faceoff
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/9/22/24251689/oakland-athletics-new-york-yankees-tyler-soderstrom
It’s only fitting that the New York Yankees sent off the Oakland Athletics with a clean series sweep. As the franchise that’s delivered the Oakland fanbase more heartbreak than any other over the last 25 years, through regular season and postseason dominance, something about it just felt right.
The Moneyball narrative has dominated Oakland baseball history in that time, but that story could not have been told without the juxtaposition of our bargain-bin franchise competing head-to-head against the fat-pocketed Yankees. As painful as it’s been to lose to them time and time again, such is the life of an Oakland A’s fan and I’ll remember every moment of it.
given that the good HR hitting was clearly steroid tainted, my enduring memories of the good baseball teams was the amazing pitching staff in the late 80s.
Stewart, Welch, Moore, Eck
aside from Gibson/Hershiser ruining a perfectly good WS, those were super fun times for A's fans.
Judge hit HR #55. it looked he got under it but the ball was a towering shot over the deepest part of center field that just cleared the fence.
*Spoiler alert* (Giants beat the Royals 2-0)
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/9/22/24251702/mlb-final-giants-royals-9-22-2024-recap-blake-snell-seth-lugo-spoiler-alert
The Giants managed only three hits in the series finale against the Royals on Sunday.
If this was May or June or July…or just any month this season, those three hits would have served as a reminder of the lineup’s ineptitude, their eager capitulation to opposing arms, a desperate paddling up-stream. But in September, specifically late September, specifically after being officially eliminated from postseason play when none of these games “matter”, these three hits became the best kind of hits: the ones that come in the same inning and score runs (plural) and were, in the words of base ball’s famous enunciator William Keeler, hit where the people are not.
Royals score 1 run in the series.
Dodgers stars play like stars, giving LA some breathing room
https://www.truebluela.com/2024/9/22/24251129/mookie-betts-shohei-ohtani-dodgers-comeback-yoshinobu-yamamoto-rockies
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers did not lead at all in Saturday’s loss to the last-place Rockies, and they entered the seventh inning on Sunday down by four runs. Entering the ninth in the series finale, the Dodgers had trailed all game to that point.
Then Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts happened, hitting back-to-back home runs to stun Colorado in a 6-5 walk-off win at Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani over his last 4 games. 14-18 with 5 HR, 31 Total Bases, and 6 SB. 2 HRs over these last 3 games with the Pads and he is 30-30 at home.
OPS went from .973 to 1.023
13 RBIs, 10 alone on the day he made 50-50. So I guess he's underachieving the last 3 games.
A's lose to Yankees in last afternoon home game at Coliseum. i only mention it because i was there. there were a decent number of fans, maybe 1/3 were Yankees fans, the A's wore uniforms that said Oakland across the front.
figured it would be fun to see them one last time.
the last 3 game series of the season is this week, Tue-Thu vs the Rangers.
photos i took ...
Farewell to Oakland A's - Sep 2024
https://photos.app.goo.gl/R5pg3obH4cm3SQ2dA
Sadly, you may have captured a contributory reason why the A's are moving: Mt. Davis.
That addition changed the Coliseum irrevocably. It should have been removed after the Raiders left for their own stadium in Slots Vegas..
I'm hoping that Sac falls through when the Players Association won't play there because of 120-130 degree heat on the turf.
That would be...amazing. Not counting on it, though. Might be too much effort for the MLBPA.
Doesn't stop Triple AAA ball.
i didnt appreciate how complicated that seating arrangement was until now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Davis_(Oakland)
Mt. Davis is a pox upon Alameda County and Oakland taxpayers. I have become hardcore anti-subsidy towards corporate sports as a consequence.
White Sox tie modern futility record by losing record 120th game
Reds fire David Bell
And so, it begins. I wonder how many end-of-season firings we'll see this year.
Bell needed to go. He’s the wrong guy for that crew.
Mets beat the Phils 2-1. DBacks fall 10-9 to the Brew Crew after giving up a eight run lead. Mets and Diamondbacks are tied for Wildcard spot
Giants plays the spoiler now that they are eliminated, sweep the Royals by beating them 2-0 thanks to all three of their three hits coming in the same inning. Royals are now tied for a wildcard spot with the Tigers. Meanwhile, the Tigers won 4-3 over the Os
https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap/_/gameId/401570808
49ers collapse/lose to the Rams 27-24
https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401671772/49ers-rams
Predictable Shanahan coached outcome. This game encapsulates (most of) the complaints I have about Kyle Shanahan as a head coach and is an Exhibit in my ongoing assertion that he will never win a Super Bowl as long as he coaches the 49ers.
Oh, also this: I am experiencing much schadenfreude towards the York family today. Piss off, Jed.
Until he reins in his ego, he is not winning a Super Bowl as a HC period.
Predictable outcome given the number of key injuries to the offense. Same thing happened last year, but it was closer to midseason. Very few teams at any level are built to lose the offensive firepower the 49ers are missing and still generate enough offense all game every game.
Might be time to deep dive into the injury situation to see if something should be done differently.
That misses the most salient point about yesterday's collapse: the 49ers had a 14-point lead in the 2nd half (7:01 remaining in the 3rd quarter) and a 10-point lead in the 4th quarter (11:57 remaining).
The 49ers also failed to make an attempted FG while burning 3:32 on 7 plays. But that isn't the worst part. It's that the 49ers defense gave up 10 points in 5 plays that burned 92 seconds. The defense folded at the most critical point in the game.
The defense was shockingly bad in this game. Just needed one stop in the 4th quarter to basically ice it and instead gave up a big play immediately, every time.
curse of the Golden Bears (?)
Chargers lose to the Steelers 20-10
https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401671632
Raiders lose to the Panthers 36-22 in painful fashion
https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401671658
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
[Ex-Pac12]
Oregon State beats Purdue 38-21
Wazzu beats SJSU 54-52 in OT
#12 Utah beats #14 OK State 22-19
Texas Tech beats ASU 30-22
Colorado beats Baylor 38-31 in OT in a Hail Mary
#11 USC loses to #18 Michigan 27-24 because they can't stop the run
UCLA loses to #16 LSU 34-17
Washington beats Northwestern [checks notes]... 24-5
Utah's road win with the backup QB was the most impressive of the bunch.
The Cougs & Spartans over 4 hour Pullman late night was the most remarkable, and totally on brand for the Cougs. Except this Coug team can Coug it multiple times and still pull out a win.
I'd say the issue with SC was they suddenly forgot how to stop the run, terrible to see short term memory issues with 2 minutes to go in the game - or so I hear, I wasn't watching it
Gave up one big run with the game on the line. A goal line stand would have helped, but those can be hard to pull off for anyone under the best of conditions. And the Trojans nearly did. But field flipping single plays on the last drive of the game, with the game on the line, can't happen. 1 play negated all the work done all afternoon.
it's not ideal - I gather the Michigan students and alumni were booing their team for portions of the second half. Curious to see how many more of these goofs Riley has left before it's a problem.
[ACC]
Stanfurd stuns Cuse 26-24
Miami pulls away to beat South Florida 50-15
#19 Lville beats GTech 31-19
#21 Clemson beats NC State 59-35 in a game that wasn't that close
UNC loses to James Madison [checks notes]... 70-50
UVA beats Coastal Carolina 43-24
Virginia Tech loses to Rutgers 26-23
Pitt beats Youngstown State 73-17
Duke beats MTSU 45-17
BC beats Michigan State 23-19
SMU beats TCU in a Sonny Dykes defensive special 66-42
That 'furd win hurt, especially after the Cal loss.
personally, i am rooting for Stanford (and any ex-Pac12 team) to beat everyone they play in new conferences.
Yeah, I don’t really mind if Stanford wins every game except ours. They stuck with us in realignment, and if both programs are strong it probably helps us in the next stage.
I cannot believe this. Absolutely shocking. Always want the Furd to lose. Always. They're our freaking rivals. Cal football, Cal sports, the rivalry with Furd as I know them appear to be dead.
my thinking is that you want to beat your rivals and it is better when you beat them and they are good, because it means more.
SMU had 35 fewer offensive yards than Cal on Saturday, but they scored 66 points
https://www.espn.com/college-football/matchup/_/gameId/401635557
Sonny also got tossed from the game
Wouldn't it be eerie if the "Sonny Dykes ref" was the one to throw him out?
The "Sonny Dykes ref" is, now, a Big 12 ref.
CAL
Met Nzyiah Hunter's uncle at the local pub. He and I are both unspeakably proud of Nziah.
He's not the only talent from Monterey County, but, this year, so far, he is the most impactful.
[MTEN] Bears Complete Play In Sherwood Collegiate Cup
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/22/mens-tennis-bears-complete-play-in-sherwood-collegiate-cup.aspx
THOUSAND OAKS – Four members of the California men's tennis team concluded play in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup on Sunday, with sophomores Alex Aney and Ethan Schiffman winning in singles at the Sherwood Country Club.
Aney defeated USC's Tristan Bradley 6-3, 6-2, while Schiffman beat UCLA's Leo van Bismarck 6-0, 6-3. Also in singles, Cal's 123rd-ranked senior Alex Chang fell to USC's Niels Hoffmann 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and Jonathan Irwanto lost to Pepperdine's Linus Carlsson Halldin 6-2, 7-6(5).
[MPOLO] Bears Fall In MPSF Invitational Finale
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/22/mens-water-polo-bears-fall-in-mpsf-invitational-finale.aspx
BERKELEY – The No. 6 California men's water polo team closed out the Overnght MPSF Invitational on Sunday, falling to No. 2 Stanford 15-10 in the third-place game.
Junior William Kelly led the Golden Bears (7-3) with three goals, while senior Max Casabella added two. Goalkeepers Kai Seed and Riley Clansen finished with four and three saves, respectively.
[WSOC] Bears Battle From 2 Down To Tie No. 13 Wake Forest
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/22/womens-soccer-bears-battle-from-2-down-to-tie-no-13-wake-forest.aspx
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Despite trailing by two with under 11 minutes to go, the California women's soccer team battled back to tie No. 13 Wake Forest 2-2 on the road Sunday afternoon. Senior defender Courtney Boone scored her first goal since 2022 in the 79th minute, and freshman Campbell Carroll found the net for the first time in her career in the 85th to earn the Golden Bears a point in the ACC standings.
That will teach me. Living in the mid-Atlantic I get the ACC network and this game was shown. I had it on in the background as I read the Sunday paper. I was going out for a walk and time was running out in the game. so I left. I didn’t check the score when I got home so this is the first I see they came back to tie. My bad.
[FH] Bears Notch First Road Win Of The Seasonhttps://calbears.com/news/2024/9/22/field-hockey-bears-notch-first-road-win-of-the-season.aspx
HARRISONBURG, Va – The California field hockey team secured its first win on the road this season against James Madison, 3-0, on Sunday at JMU Field Hockey Complex in Harrisonburg, Va.
"We are happy to split the weekend verus two very strong teams," Donna Fong Director of Field Hockey Shellie Onstead said. "We understand the standard now and our training effort going forward will reflect that. Thank you to the alumni for the good wishes. I am happy people are drawn to watch us."
[MTEN] Cal Opens Play At ITA All-American Championships
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/21/mens-tennis-cal-opens-play-at-ita-all-american-championships.aspx
TULSA, Okla. – The California men's tennis team began play in the ITA All-American Championships on Saturday, with Derrick Chen winning but Timofey Stepanov losing in pre-qualifying singles at the Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
[MSOC] Cal Earns First ACC Point In Tie With Virginia
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/21/mens-soccer-cal-earns-first-acc-point-in-tie-with-virginia.aspx
BERKELEY – Gaku Nishimura scored his first goal as a Golden Bear to help lead the California men's soccer team to a 1-1 tie with Virginia on Saturday at Edwards Stadium and earn the Bears their first point in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
[MGOLF] Bears Begin Fall Slate At The Tindall
https://calbears.com/news/2024/9/21/mens-golf-bears-begin-fall-slate-at-the-tindall.aspx
BERKELEY – The Michael Wilson era of California men's golf gets underway Monday when the Golden Bears tee off at The Tindall at Aldarra Golf Club in Sammamish, Washington. Cal's 2024-25 season debut will start with 36 holes played on Monday, followed by 18 on Tuesday.
I was hollering for the Bears until I started to worry that I was bringing bad exPac vibes so i tried changing the channel, but it didn't help.
Sometimes nothing can help when dealing with Cal rock fights.
exactly. Nothing helps except making sure you take your blood pressure medicine.
So much for “others receiving votes”. Maybe when we beat Miami.
I have decades worth of scars from watching Cal football and too many have been added by Justin Wilcox-coached teams, Saturday's being the latest. He's a nice guy, runs a clean program, players like him but the man's not up to the job. Two winning seasons in seven (7-6, 8-5) never a winning conference record and so damn many winnable games lost. And how it is he hasn't managed to build a decent offensive line? He's had eight years. Now he's got an OC doubling as OLine coach. Come on! We'll probably manage eight wins this season and they'll reward him with a lifetime contract. Sorry for the rant.....Actually I'm not sorry at all.
It's become clear that just changing the OC isn't going to fix the offense. This is the offense that Wilcox wants: predictable and conservative. It puts a ceiling on his results.
Reoccurring special teams fiascos play a big part in this. Some of the other problems befall almost all other programs, especially on the road, but the good teams still pull out wins/evade losses with consistent special teams play.
I wholeheartedly endorse your observations.
Go Bears!!!
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Apparently Ms Loomer has been banned from traveling with Trump.
https://twitter.com/ArmandDoma/status/1834802023990182260
boooo let their forbidden love blossom
I agree. Love is Love. and provided for some tremendous social media content.
The US House has drafted a bilateral six-month funding bill that appears to have enough votes to pass. This ends-around the 14 members of the House who are campaigning on outrage-bait like insisting that part of the bill bans illegals aliens from voting, which is already illegal and doesn't happen in any meaningful way. We'll see if this triggers the removal of Johnson
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/22/house-republicans-plan-avert-shutdown-00180415
I wonder if putting a reference and quote from existing law in the introduction and calling that paragraph the 'save act' or whatever the horrid thing the fascists wanted would be enough? Since they clearly never actually read the bills.
They won't bother to remove Johnson just now. That would mean taking time off from campaigning to do actual work. Oops. Did I say something mean?
Fuckwits.
I'm already taking time off at the beginning of next month so they can do what they like, but I'd prefer a 6 month budget tbh, not as good as a full fiscal year but better than what has become the norm.
DBD AV CLUB