1.  Ah, Kenny Rogers: my old nemesis. We meet again -- only this time the advantage is mine!

Well, not really, but it sounds better the way I just said.

Plus, it would be really swell if the A's were to take two of three in Detroit, so as not to render my Game 6 tickets worthless.

2.  I know it gets chilly in the Bay Area, but are the As prepared for the Detroit weather?

3.  Well, as I said in my last post, Rich Harden is from Canada, so this weather is like home for him. And Kenny Rogers isn't gonna throw 97mph, so I'm not really worried about the weather slowing down the A's bats.

4.  OK, here comes Kotsay...

5.  The MLB.com radio feed is about four pitches behind TV.

6.  Man, nice play by Inge. The world didn't end.

7.  What's happened to Frank Thomas' strike zone judgement? He's swinging at pitches like he did back in April.

Well, at least he didn't swing at the HBP.

8.  Ugh. Jay Payton vs. Rogers is not a good matchup.

9.  I think a bat flexes more when hitting a ball than Thomas' leg.

10.  All right, let's see what Harden's got today...

11.  Yuck. Not even close to the strike zone on any of those pitches.

12.  10 Not very much, if one at-bat is anything to go by.

13.  Get Blanton up. Now. Harden's got zippo.

14.  Listening to the radio for this game to try and change things up. Also, it's lot harder to get irritated at Fox this way.

15.  And here comes Placido Polanco, Destroyer of Worlds.

16.  There goes the season.

17.  Fox isn't hip to the balaclava.

18.  ugh. this is going to be a long game. i'm up early and everything too.

19.  13 Ken Korach and Ray Fosse agree with you, Ken. If that's any consolation.

20.  Well, he got an out, at least.

21.  Harden finally threw a changeup for a strike. Maybe he can settle down now.

22.  Another good changeup, double play.

Now the question is, can the A's score two runs off Rogers?

23.  Well, here's to hoping that's all they'll get.

And here's to hoping that it won't be all they need.

24.  My local radio station which carries ESPN broadcasts is talking about football rather than giving me this game. What the heck?

Rogers may not be a cold-weather pitcher, so I wouldn't throw in the towel just yet.

25.  two runners to third base, two runs. how come i feel like it doesn't work that way for the A's? everything seems harder for us.

26.  rogers is throwing strikes.

27.  Too late for a fast?

28.  [27]at this point, it'd be winter-long.

29.  what happened to the supposedly free-swinging tigers?? or is harden not even close to the zone when he misses.

30.  I'm getting close to starting one.

31.  It is a mystery to me why Rich Harden is still in the ballgame. After that first inning, you have to be ready to pull him at the first sign of trouble.

32.  Harden got squeezed against Santiago. He wasn't even close on Granderson.

33.  phew.

34.  nice pitch by Harden

35.  I am doing an audio fast now.

36.  i hate umpires. generally it seems that you get borderline calls if you're in the zone, but if you're a little wild then you're screwed on the close ones. the fact that you need the close ones more when you're wild aside, a strike should be a strike.

37.  Holy cow. I didn't expect that to end as with the small amount of pain (pitch count) that it did.

Rally the A's?

38.  is it weird to root for a traditional team, but wonder/kind of root for a saber team?

39.  We're due for something clutch...

40.  35. You call that a sacrifice. I praise the lord and the glory of the mute button at the start of every Fox telecast.

41.  40 I was listening to the A's radio broadcast.

42.  [38] i think you just root for who you root for. i don't root for teams because of their philosophy. on the other hand, watching say, the angels play is really annoying.

43.  Maybe I should be fasting Mark Kotsay, too. I'm on a Kotsay fast!

44.  if anything i'm use to Steve "spycho" Lyons

45.  No more Kotsay until he gets an RBI.

46.  You know, it's pretty sad when Buck/McCarver/Gonzalez is the easier crew to listen to.

Also, who is this guy, and what has he done with Kenny Rogers? Seriously. Kenny Rogers?!?

47.  ugh, how is kenny rogers striking our guys out with his crappy stuff?

48.  42

i've said it on DT i'm rooting for Detriot no doubt but i'm aldo wondering how far the A's can go.

49.  I'm sorry to say this, but it seems like Kenny Rogers will not feel true defeat until the Mets pay him back.

But honestly, for the sake of Ken, I'll sacrifice our revenge for a beat-down by the A's here.

50.  I hate say this, but next time Polanco is up, he needs to be drilled in the ribs. He's way tog comfortable against A's pitching.

51.  45 I think I'm going to fast Placido Polanco.

I won't watch him until he stops pummelling the A's.

52.  Tog=too. Anything else he hate to say?

53.  47

if anything look at his delivery it does not change if it's a curve or a fastball that's the difference.IMO.

54.  I guess that's what happens when you keep your ears warm. Polanco looks like he should be a Knight of the Round Table.

55.  he=we. I need to fast my keyboard.

56.  Why is Harden still pitching? It's time for Blanton.

57.  50

I thought saber guys don't think that way Ken??

58.  When does it become silly to keep referring to the now-boney Ivan Rodriguez as "Pudge?"

59.  They're not really hitting Harden. The hits they've gotten have been well-placed softly hit balls. The only problem has been the walks.

60.  Only 14 pitches for Harden that inning, I think. Face on me.

61.  57 Saber guys favor thrusts and parries and scoring touches even with the edge of the blade.

62.  57 I'm not a saber guy.

63.  62 I favor the foil myself.

64.  Another thing I hate to say: Rogers is painting another masterpiece today. This is brilliant pitching.

Man, I hate that dude.

65.  Jay Pay's not doing a good job of working the count today.

66.  65 That's never his strong suit -- Payton's a pretty aggressive batter, and most of the time, it works out pretty well for him.

67.  62

do you question the A's not doing the basics?

68.  That was a perfect pitch sequence to Chavez. The Tigers have been outsmarting the A's all series long.

69.  67 What do you mean by "the basics"?

70.  69
hit & run, bunt the guy over & so forth

71.  The "little things," like cleanly fielding grounders, covering first base...

72.  Well, it appears the A's were saving up all their postseason blunders for this series.

73.  71

& covering 2nd base on a stolen base

74.  WOW how long has the Oakland SS been wearing that ski hat over his cap? Is that allowed??

75.  Let's turn that Kotsay catch into a momentum shifter.

76.  Or that Kotsay catch. Either one will work really.

77.  76

nice catch.

78.  That stuff doesn't bother me so much. The A's don't have the personnel to make that sort of thing a successful strategy.

The sabermetric thing that bothers me the most is when there's a runner on third and less than two outs, and the batter takes a "let's get a walk" approach to the plate, when what you need is for them to put the ball in play.

That's been less of a problem in the last couple years with Kendall, Kotsay, and Payton. Those guys can put a ball in play. Now if only that would rub off on Crosby and Swisher, we'd be really golden.

79.  Hahaha "he probably hates strawberries too!", nice!

80.  78 Well, the problem with Swisher's approach in that situation isn't that he has the "let's get a walk" mentality -- it's the "I must swing from my heels" attitude that's problematic.

But your point is well taken.

81.  So much for momentum.

82.  78 Did you read Three Nights in August? LaRussa would agree with you; he emphasized swinging at the first good pitch to hit when you have an RBI opp.

83.  Jimenez is... not going to put the fear of God in most pitchers. Bummer.

C'mon A's! Dagnabbit, I wanted a series out of this one.

84.  Darn it, did Rogers only make 6 pitches that inning? I'm beginning to see why the Reds waived Jimenez.

85.  61 "Ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!" {{Whack}}

86.  All right, I'm done. I got work to do. No sense wasting any more time on this.

87.  78 The A's don't have the personnel to make that sort of thing a successful strategy.

do you guys have a guy like LoDuca short swing puts the ball in play to all fields? & does not strike out alot?

88.  All right, I'm done. I got work to do. No sense wasting any more time on this.

shame on you Ken!!

ps i feel like Tommy Lasorda saying that.

89.  the A's "do the little things" just fine on defense, anyway.

it doesn't matter how many runs harden gives up if we don't score any.

90.  89

they haven't shown it so far.

91.  We are seeing far too much of Chad Gaudin in this series.

92.  91

you say it like it's a bad thing

93.  92 It suggests that the starters are not working late into the game and -- given Macha's usage patterns -- that there isn't much a lead to protect.

So yes, it is a bad thing.

94.  93

if anything you don't have Tomko to give up a bomb in the 7th. or do you?

95.  It's a bad thing because it often means the A's are losing, which is a bad thing because, well, they need to win.

Speaking of which, the bottom of the lineup, wow, it isn't good.

96.  Only having one backup infielder in the series can't be helping much either. Maybe Jimenez will prove me wrong here.

97.  Sweet, that kid is actually making his debut in this game, awesome!

98.  Kind of hard to get excited about foregone conclusions.

99.  my paisano's from Detriot are happy as birds.

100.  Wake me up when the World Series starts. Actually, nah, not even then.

101.  Old bear would be proud?