athletics Page 20 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Idiot Runs On Field In San Francisco, Tries To Scale Outfield Wall, Fails Miserably
It's time once again to feature the mentally challenged and/or substance-abuse-impaired knuckleheads who jump over the fence and run around on the field of play at sporting events. Today we find ourselves in lovely San Francisco as fans take in the Athletics-Giants game....
Editor's Note: Jonny Gomes Is Awesome
Over the weekend, our own Sean Newell asked if Jonny Gomes, the Oakland A's outfielder and designated Rob Deer, was "the biggest douchebag in baseball." Gomes's apparent crime was admiring a go-ahead home run. Here are some things to know about Jonny Gomes: He was occasionally homeless as a kid. He ...
Is Jonny Gomes The Biggest Douchebag In Baseball?
The scene: May 5, 2012. The 13-14 Oakland Athletics and the 19-8 Tampa Bay Rays are all tied up in the 10th 12th inning in Tampa when Jonny Gomes steps to the plate. Gomes would give the Athletics the lead when he hit a baseball the smallest distance possible for a ball to be hit and still be consi...
I Have A Confession: I Don't Know How To Pronounce Yoenis Cespedes
So I thought I'd get this out in the open now, before the season starts and I'm forced to embarrass myself publicly: I don't know how to pronounce A's outfielder Yoenis Cespedes's name....
Miguel Tejada Wants To Return To Oakland: "Tell Billy To Give Me A Call"
Oh boy, the strangest team offseason in recent memory might be getting even weirder. Miguel Tejada—the 5-9, 220 lb. shortstop who hit 156 home runs in his seven years in Oakland—wants to come back to play for the A's....
It Only Took A Few Hours At A's Camp For Manny To Mistake A Starter For A Video Assistant
Tweeted Brett Anderson, "Manny just asked if I was the video coordinator...our relationship can only go up from here." This will be Anderson's fourth major league season. This Manny experiment is gonna go so, so well....
Manny Ramirez Has Signed With The A's
After Yoenis Cespedes signed in Oakland, we told you that the A's had one of the strangest offseasons in recent memory, in part because of their extended flirtation with Manny Ramirez, who, facing a PED suspension, retired from baseball last year after a forgettable short stint in Tampa. But we didn...
After Signing Cuban Defector With Weird Workout Video, Have The A's Had The Strangest Offseason Ever?
What is going on Oakland? (No, not this.) Billy Beane's done some things. He traded two young All-Star starters, Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill, to the Nationals and Diamondbacks. He traded away his closer, Andrew Bailey, and Craig Breslow, another reliable reliever. Then he traded away two more sta...
The A's Are Very Interested In Manny Ramirez
Per ESPN Deportes: "The Oakland Athletics are 'very interested' in making Manny Ramirez their designated hitter next season," a source said. (The source, we'd assume, is a baseball insider named "Bott Scoras," but we digress.) Ramirez appeared in a supremely forgettable 17 at-bats for the Rays last ...
Oakland A's Trade All-Star Pitcher Not Named Gio Gonzalez, Twitter Is Validated
Oakland pulled off a trade yesterday, sending Trevor Cahill, Craig Breslow and some cash to the Diamondbacks. In return, Oakland received "one of the Diamondbacks' top young pitching prospects, right-hander Jarrod Parker, plus outfielder Collin Cowgill and reliever Ryan Cook, a pair of rookies."...
Billy Bean, Openly Gay Former MLB Player, Has Much In Common With His Former Minors Teammate, Billy Beane, The Guy From <em>Moneyball</em>
We've heard from many of the figures on the periphery of Moneyball since the movie hit theaters two weeks ago, but one we hadn't heard from was Billy Bean, the former Tigers, Dodgers, and Padres outfielder who came out of the closet in 1999. Bean, because of that slight difference in names, has ofte...
The Undervaluing Of <em>Moneyball</em>; Or, What You Can Learn By Watching With A Bunch Of Old People
Although advanced baseball analysis had been around for years, Michael Lewis's 2003 book Moneyball, about the Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's using it to build their roster, helped to start an online industry of carping about player evaluation and team structure. The release of the 2011 fi...
Deadspin's Guide To <em>Moneyball</em>
The much-delayed Moneyball film finally pops into your area cinemaplex today, marking one of nerds' few victories in a September filled with Red Sox defeats. We take particular interest in this film, and not just because we've long yearned to see someone portraying Chad Bradford dance across the scr...
Billy Beane On His Pet Names For Brian Sabean
Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: "Sabey Sabes" was a Hollywood invention. The real one was much worse....
Kobe Bryant Makes A Cameo In UC Irvine Athletics's Horrendous "Love Shack" Video
When Ray Lewis worried about the societal ramifications of an NFL lockout, he said evil would result. While he didn't say so, it's not much of a stretch to think it similarly applies to an NBA lockout....
Your Field Guide To The Assorted Kerfuffles Over <em>Moneyball</em>, The Movie
Moneyball, the long-delayed film adaptation of Michael Lewis's book about Paul DePodesta's TI-89 and Jeremy Brown's love handles, hits theaters next week. It's a big thing for baseball folks, because Moneyball helped bring a statistically inclined subculture to the mainstream. You'll notice this in ...
When Pole Vaulting Goes Wrong
In pole vaulting, the eponymous pole is designed to bend, not break. Sometimes it does both. At the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Russian pole vaulter Dmitry Starodubtsev was attempting 5.75 meters — roughly six inches off the eventual winning height — when his pole snapped like ...
MLB Won't Let Us Show You Video Of Justin Verlander's Amusing Balk, So Here's A Fucking Drawing I Did Instead
Justin Verlander had a weird little blooper against the A's on Saturday wherein he stepped off the rubber as if to throw to first but wound up going home anyway, nearly plunking David DeJesus in the process. It was funny. We'd show you the video, but if we did Major League Baseball would get its cri...
The Oakland A's Serve The Most Expensive Ounce Of Beer In The World
But only if you get the large. In a tempest-in-a-plastic-cup reminiscent of the Seahawks' scandal, an $8 domestic draft only gets you a wee bit more than a $5 small....
MLB Will Meddle In Local Politics, Pay City Government To Get What They Want
Baseball wants to get a referendum on an Athletics' San Jose stadium off of the November ballot, because it might not pass. To do so, they're willing to pay the city to hold a special election in the spring. Shady business, Bud....