Curt Young and Dallas Braden go over hitters before the Braden's start against the Twins. This is something that happens before every game. The pitching coach, the pitcher and the catcher usually go over the starting lineup of the opposing team, player by player, and talk about how to pitch to them. 

Aaron Cunningham arrived in the 3rd inning of the same game against the Twins. He's dressing to go to the dugout for his first major league game as the clubhouse manager, Steve Vucinich, looms behind him. 

Gio Gonzalez had come into the clubhouse when he heard that Cunningham just arrived and welcomed his teammate from the Rivercats, escorting him into the dugout.

Dana Eveland and Gio Gonzalez form a convoy, escorting Aaron Cunningham down the tunnel steps to the dugout. 

Rob Bowen hoists A's batboy Tim Sommer and carries him around the clubhouse in some pregame hijinx. 

Aaron Cunningham poses for a photo moments before his first big league start, and moments after he was told to pose, following through with his swing..."looking to the future " ...for THAT is where the Oakland Athletics' fortunes lie... 

Two sons of Stockton, California -- Dallas Braden from Stang High and Easy Eddie Guardado from Edison High -- reunite and share stories from their Port City childhood. 

The A's relax by playing S-C-A-T-T-E-G-O-R-I-E-S before the game....Daric Barton, Greg Smith, Ryan Sweeney, Dallas Braden and Justin Duchscherer intently study the board, pondering their word-choice, while Keith Foulke and Dan Meyer look on. 

Rajai Davis, the best team barber since Rickey Henderson, administers a bootcamp haircut to Brad Ziegler before the game. 

Mark Ellis and "Soup" Sayles reminisce and discuss Elly's looming surgery and what may be ahead for him professionally in this coming off season.

Elly has been such an integral part of our ballclub....and here he sits in the training room in a contemplative mood during the days leading up to his surgery, possibly thinking about the choices that he'll face in an off-season of free agency.

The modern ball player. Sitting before their lockers pre-game: Dallas Braden checks his email on his laptop, while in the locker next to him, Daric Barton frantically texts a friend on his cellphone. 

A half hour before game time, umpires Bill Miller, Chris Tiller, Jim Joyce and Tim Tschita, check over the major league baseball playoff assignments for umpires. 

While Dana Eveland looks on, Greg Smith packs up his locker in the waning days of the season...Both men looking forward to recharging their batteries this fall with a look ahead to the spring of 2009. 

___________________

After the All Star Game, our dropping out of contention and proliferation of losses was very disappointing, and missing the playoffs again was also disheartening. But let's all take a deep breath, exhale and know that our future as a ball club is bright indeed. With the core of talented young players we have, their continuing maturation, and a possible off-season acquisition or two, next year we could be right back in the hunt. The great thing about a talent laden young team is the freshness, the excitement, the enthusiasm. As the old adage goes... "hope springs eternal" ... and for me, Spring Training can't come soon enough... Hopefully we'll all hook up in the Cactus league in mid February...

The future begins now. On this particular afternoon, Jemille Weeks showed up at the coliseum with his mom, dad and sister in tow. He had just signed a contract as our number one draft choice. He took a little batting practice and a few balls in the infield. He had a great career at Miami and everything points to him being on the fast track to coming up to Oakland in the next year or two years.
Rickey Henderson clowns with Carlos, Bob Geren and Tye Waller shortly before the first pitch. It seems like old times again. Ricky always bringing his random hijinx to any situation he's in.

In the A's dugout literally moments before the first pitch, Rickey veered to his right and ended up in the Mariners dugout as Ichiro Suzuki stepped into the batters box. Here he is clowning in the dugout with Adrian Beltre, Raul Ibañez, Miguel Cairo, and Richie Sexson. Ricky is a great raconteur, comedian, future hall-of-famer, all rolled into one. The moment Ricky arrives, the curtain goes up...the movie begins.
Lew Wolff, taking a page from the Bill Veeck...as in Wreck, enjoying the first few innings of the evening game on a very warm night, with fans in the left field bleachers. I reminded him how Veeck used to sit shirtless and drink with the fans in the bleachers on many hot humid days at old Comiskey Park, even going so far as to having a shower with a pull chain on the aisle above the top row just below the exploding scoreboard...so one could cool off on a particularly sultry summer's day. Lew smiled...and I thought I detected a mischievous twinkle in his eye...

A departure - something we rarely do...but these are changing times. On that same evening, Sean Gallagher made his Oakland Athletics debut. Throwing a fastball to Vlad Guerrero. He had a very impressive outing, went seven innings, threw hard and can only bring hope, anticipation and growing optimism for the future of Oakland A's baseball with their young, up and coming prospects.

In the clubhouse pre-game, Carlos Gonzalez goes to Greg's Smith's locker to borrow a pair of Oakleys. Greg has this huge stash of Oakleys in his locker. In the first shot Greg's suggesting a pair, "How bout these?" and Carlos is checking them out.

Carlos sporting them,  "Yeah! How do I look now?!"   Totally uptown, dog!!!
 
Brad Zeigler delivering the pitch that broke the ML Record for starting a career without giving up any earned runs.  This is pretty amazing when you think about it. He's pitched since the end of May and has YET to give up a run, albeit he's a reliever, it's simply incredible.

Two former A's, Ron Washington and Art Howe, in deep discussion during the one game the A's salvaged in the three game series from the Rangers. Gone...but definitely not forgotten...permanent residents in THE COUNTRY of BASEBALL
 

A major theme of this blog is the emerging star in his infancy with the ballclub, and that is Carlos Gonzalez.

Carlos staring out onto the field moments before gametime, seated next to Chavy, who symbolizes the old guard, leadership, and eight gold gloves. Flanking him are up and coming stars: Gregorio Petit and Daric Barton.

Cust, the traveled veteran, with the two young guys. This image says so much about where our team is right now: youth anchored by a few savvy veterans.

Carlos and Gregorio. The body language says it all: teammates, countrymen (fellow Venezuelans), good friends...sharing the first month in "the show" together.

This action sequence is a departure for me. The blog has mainly dealt with images behind the scenes. I've thrown this in to illustrate what a special player Carlos is. The natural, fluid swing, the grace, the power...the promise of the future.

In the clubhouse, moments before gametime. Billy Beane, though he's the GM, is informal and involved. He relates to Jack with ease....and Jack to him. There is a great reparté between Billy and the players that is very rare.

A little tribute to the past here...because although the past is prologue, it's often intertwined with the present...and the future. Rich Harden, Andrew Brown and Zebulon stand at attention for the national anthem.

Elly waiting in the dugout with batting coach Ty Van Burkleo before heading to the plate in the bottom of the 12th inning. Moments before, at the bat rack as he selected his bat, I said "God, I'm tired and hungry, let's end this." Elly replied, "Yeah, really...no kidding."

The players close around Elly. No matter how many times a walk-off home run may occur, it never gets old. You can feel the jubilation as the players converge around him.

With a third of the season gone, you can sense a different feel to these guys. Theres a warmth and a togetherness. It feels positive. It feels like something you can build on... Both as the season progresses and in the seasons to come...if we can keep the nucleus of this team together.

Z & S

Why this shot? What do we say? What's the caption? I don't know, this is right out of Boogie Nights! This could be Disco King (or Richard Simmons). I think the photo, the stance, the attitude, they say it all. I mean... talk about "turn back the clock"!

Here sitting in the video room where people come and go, you've got Alan Embree and Frank Thomas--two of the oldest veterans in terms of major league service, studying video and discussing opposing players and tendencies.

Everybody prepares for a game in their own way on different days. The hour before game time, some players are watching TV, some players are in the spread room having a protein shake, or at their locker contemplating, other players might be talking and horsing around. Here Emil Brown is taking a cap nap in his locker, catching 40 winks.


Here we have three of the big hitters on the club and they're all veterans, and at one time or another, also DHs. You can see the confidence and the camaraderie they're exuding there, while sporting those GREAT throwback uniforms...You've gotta love those socks.

The A's have always been known for having a very open clubhouse, with a very warm, fun feel to it.

Every clubhouse is unique, but the A's, for any number of reasons, have always have one of the better clubhouse environments in baseball--and this year is no exception.
In the midst of that looseness, people have their own rituals and their own preparations. We start with Crosby: 10 minutes before the game, he's going to select the bats that he wants to bring down to the dugout to play with that day. Every player has got his own feel for something like that. It's a real gut thing. It's a cross between feel and superstition and what bat feels right for me today...what bat has hits in it, things like that.

In the training room, getting ready for the game. And yet, they are going through--what for this club is typical pre-game hijinx--and it keeps people loose, and it shows that we've really got good chemistry. Who says atomic bomb taken orally can't help shin splints?

Friends and players marveling that Ludacris has skills not just in the recording studio and on the stage, but on the diamond.

Ludacris hanging out with his posse, Jack Cust and Travis Buck before the game. I don't know who's more excited about it: them, or our guys. Cust looks like he's definitely down and he's from their hood, and they're all rolling to a hip-hop club in Jersey.

Travis Buck, showing he's human: he does put his pants on one leg at a time. You can really see its almost like big brother, little brother, here with Keith Foulke's son. He's in the clubhouse all the time with his dad, but its sort of an extended family of his dad and 24 older brothers.
This is a ritual that the A's have been doing for years: when we win a game, the clubbies put on a special tune that we play throughout the year (at concert intensity) and anybody who played in the game (in this case, Andrew Brown, Keith Foulke) and a number of other clubhouse players and attendants all wait and greet everyone who comes in with high-fives, and the celebration begins...
The pitchers' meeting is something that happens the first game of every new series. It usually takes place in Manager Bob Geren's office. The entire pitching staff comes in and Pitching Coach Curt Young goes over the opposing team's roster player by player, in this case, the Minnesota Twins. They talk about what the player has done, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. What I like about this picture is you have varying degrees of attention. Embree kind of paying attention...Gaudin having his drink...Eveland looking at Curt like, "Yeah!"
Frank Thomas had joined the A's that morning, come into the clubhouse, got his uniform, gone out and taken batting practice. Now Frank has come back in and we're going out onto the field to play the game in 30 minutes and he's in the lineup, so Tony DeFrancesco is sitting at his locker with him going over the signs. Frank is hitting the ground running and so have the A's as they end the most successful April in years.
 

We've departed the opening series in Tokyo and now we're back home.

While every day is different at the ballpark, there's a certain sameness to some of it...
Here we have Huston Street and Andrew Brown. This chess game has been going on ever since the first day of Spring Training. It's a daily thing. Who knows who's ahead or what the score is, but we've definitely got a real Bobby Fisher/Boris Spassky duel going on here. This game really defines clubhouse life: that while every day is different, some things remain the same.
Emil Brown, testing Rich Harden's new Samurai sword, which he purchased on their recent trip to Japan.... Finding out that it fits him to a T.


Every night before the starting pitcher takes the mound, there is a regular meeting. And tonight it's Curt Young, our pitching coach, with Kurt Suzuki, our catcher, and our starting pitcher, Rich Harden...except, there's usually three people in this meeting, and tonight there are four: Zebulon is an alter-ego, and he counsels Rich on the bench in between innings...so he's silent, but he's taking everything in.

Zebulon has been pictured mainly with Rich Harden up until this point, but he's also made inroads to many other members of the team...
Here, Kurt Suzuki is getting ready to go down to the bullpen. He's waiting for Rich Harden. The three of them are going to prepare to face the Boston Red Sox. You can tell Kurt is focused. You can tell Zebulon is focused. Rich Harden was feeling very good knowing that the three of them were going to the pen.
Rich Harden, in between innings, asking Zebulon if his mechanics are okay. And actually, his mechanics were okay, he threw a few less pitches that he threw in the opening game, but when he left the game he had not given up a run. So it was a successful outing at this point in time.

As far as Zebulon goes, some people think he could be an ongoing theme. Honestly, I don't know. Zebulon is a person that came to me on our last day in Japan. And just as the way things shook down, he immediately integrated himself into the clubhouse, much like Bemular did into the locker room of the 49ers in 1984. I know, that like any player, Zebulon could be with us all season, or he could disappear at anytime...


Each homestand has it's own feel, it's own texture, and that's really what we hope to bring out in this blog. We hope to chronicle the feel and the changes as well as the sameness in the clubhouse and on the team as the season progresses from game to game, series to series and week to week.

Z & S

So, we've got a reoccurring theme in this early blog and it's Zebulon.
The Japanese have always been very big into animation and into monsters, starting with Godzilla. Godzilla spawned Bemular, his son, who spent the entire 1984 season with the 49ers, both at home and on the road, on the buses, in the locker room.

I found Zebulon, a distant cousin of Bemular and Godzilla, in a toy store in Japan on our last day there, brought him into the clubhouse, introduced him to the players, receiving varying ranges of enthusiasm and curiosity. Rich Harden immediately took to him and wanted to know if Zebulon could eat with him.
And Zebulon watched as Rich got down on some noodles and then he wanted to know if he could actually come to the bullpen with him. I said, "You know, that'd be ok...I've gotta take him over to the other clubhouse, familiarize him with the Red Sox and the stadium." So Zebulon hung out over there where he was immediately both laughed at and looked at with curiosity by most of the Red Sox and then he came out for their stretching and Dice-k and Okajima immediately came over and their curiosity was infused with much more of a reverence. "Oooo ... Oh yes... !"
And from there, he went down to the bullpen and Rich requested that he be able to sit in the dugout with him during the game. He and Lenny DiNardo went and got a breathe-right strip for his nose (his horn), put a baseball in front of him, and at the end of each inning, Harden would come back and sit next to him in the dugout...
....and I think we all know the rest, Rich Harden pitched lights-out, striking-out nine over six innings as the A's beat the Red Sox 5-1.
 Zebulon isn't an "I" guy so he's not taking any credit...and so I thought it was appropriate, actually important, to have something like this show up in our blog because this is truly "behind the scenes"... "the story behind the story."
Jack Cust, Mike Sweeney, "Puddin" (Adam Rhoden, video coordinator).

We have video monitors set up and they record everything: every pitch, every at-bat, etc. What you often see during a game, certainly with a DH and sometimes our position players, is after an at-bat, if they have time, they'll run back into the clubhouse and they'll look at their at-bat on the video monitors to see what pitches were thrown and how their swing was.
Now this shot of Bobby Crosby and his wife was taken in the Harujuko section of Tokyo, which is sort of a cross between the Haight-Ashbury in SF and the Village  in NYC with a particularly Japanese spin on it. It's mainly young people between the ages of 15-35. High fashion, and when I say high fashion, I don't mean the Champs-Elysees, it's more of a punk-new wave look. A lot of color, a lot of attitude, a lot of flash.
The A's front office traveling party: our two owners (Jon Fisher and Lew Wolff), PR (Kristy Fick), announcers (Ken Korac, Vince Cotroneo), GM (Billy Beane), Asst. GM (David Forst), David Rinetti, Jim Wilson, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, Huston Street, Bob Geren, Alan Embree, Travis Buck, Mike Crowley, Ken Pries. Everybody who's anybody in the A's front office in the room where General Maccarthur met the emperor Hirohito for the 1st time at the end of WWII which is now the main conference room in the US Embassy.