THIS Is How A’s Fans Menaced Justin Verlander?

Yep. This happened once.

Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander dominated the Oakland A’s on the road in the NLDS winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday night. In eight innings he allowed just two hits and a walk, striking out 10 in the process.

The Tigers won the game 3-0, despite a very creative and entertaining, but not terribly effective, attempt by some in the hometown crowd at the Coliseum to distract Verlander.

Scott Miller (@ScottMCBS) of CBS, Alex Espinoza (@AlexEspinozaIV) of MLB.com and Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattCSN) of CSN are among those who tweeted out fans armed with impressively large photos of two-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Kate Upton.

The connection to Verlander being that he and Upton were rumored to have been an item through most of 2012 before breaking up early this year. There was never any official confirmation of their coupling, but they were spotted together enough times to validate the rumors.

Why did they cut her off at the neck? It’s beautiful, but Upton’s face isn’t her most distracting asset.

A good idea in theory, perhaps, but reminding Verlander that he spent nine glorious months dating one of the most lusted after women in the world—how exactly does that help the A’s?

After all, that’s nine months longer than pretty much everyone in the world will get to date her. He probably just felt really smug about the whole thing, which could’ve boosted his confidence and his game.

Something like this would’ve made more sense with Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson back in the day. That relationship was a tabloid train wreck and we all know Romo isn’t the coolest under pressure.

Yeah. I’m not too distracted.

That being said, you have to give fans in Oakland credit for trying. Year-after-year it seems these A’s are getting unceremoniously bounced from the first round of the playoffs and fans keep coming back for more.

Not only that, but they’ve even taken it upon themselves to contribute in any way they can.

At least these guys are probably pretty pleased with the attention they’ve received.

Let’s just hope if the A’s make it back to the postseason next year, particularly if they face the Tigers in the first round for the third consecutive season, they’ve got something a little more distracting—and a little less ego-boosting—up their sleeves.

Maybe something like…Sammy Sosa in a bubble bath! That sounds jarring as hell. Or a photoshopped picture of Alex Rodriguez and Bud Selig in a passionate embrace.

How about Justin Verlander’s head photoshopped onto a nude body of some sort? That would definitely freak him out. Not to mention everyone else in the stadium.

::Shudder::