Athletics: 4  Tigers:  3

I have been absolutely speechless for the past hour.  How do you put into words what just happened?  Just when I was ready to say good-bye to the 2012 Oakland Athletics, they manage to do what the 2012 A’s do and come from behind and walk-off for the fifteenth time this season.

A.J. Griffin had his struggles today, but in the long run was able to “tame” the Tigers enough for the A’s to make their comeback. He allowed seven hits and two runs over five innings while walking none and striking out only one.

For the first time in the series, the Tigers were the first to score.  In the third inning, Alex Avila doubled to lead off the inning and Omar Infante sacrificed him over to third.  Austin Jackson followed with a single and Avila scored.  Griffin got Quintin Berry to fly out and Miguel Cabrera to ground out to end the inning.  The only other run scored off of Griffin was a solo home run by Price Fielder that lead off the fourth inning.

Griffin came out to pitch the sixth, but after Miguel Cabrera lead off the inning with a pop up that nobody caught for a single, he was replaced Jerry Belvins. Blevins did what Blevins does and got Prince Fielder to ground into a double play and then got Delmon Young to ground out to end the inning.

Runs did not come easy for the team today, but caught a break in the bottom of the sixth.  Coco Crisp grounded out to Prince Fielder, but an error by the first baseman allowed Crisp to reach second.  Stephen Drew then followed with a double, scoring Crisp.  Drew tried to stretch his double into a triple and was thrown out at third.  The inning was pretty uneventful after Drew’s TOOTBLAN; Yoenis Cespedes struck out, Brandon Moss walked and Josh Reddick recorded the final out by flying out to center field.

Jerry Blevins pitched a clean seventh, getting all three batters he faced to ground out.  Sean Doolittle replaced Blevins in the eighth, but struggled a bit.  Omar Infante lead off the inning with a single and Austin Jackson sacrificed him over to second base.  Then with one out Avisail Garcia singled, scoring Infante. Miguel Cabrera popped up, but Prince Fielder followed with a single and that was it for Sean Doolittle. Ryan Cook came in and recorded the last out by getting Delmon Young to ground out.

The A’s did threaten in the eighth inning, with two outs Stephen Drew singled and Yoenis Cespedes walked, but Brandon Moss struck out swinging to end it.  Ryan Cook pitched a clean top of the ninth, retiring all three batters he faced.

With Jose Valverde on the mound and down by two runs, the bats came alive.  Josh Reddick lead off the inning with a single, Josh Donaldson doubled and with runners on second and third with no outs, Seth Smith smacked a double to center, scoring both runners and tying up the game.  George Kottaras popped up and Cliff Pennington struck out looking before Coco Crisp became the second hero of the inning.  Crisp swung at the first pitch he saw, singled and Smith scored from second.

It’s up to Jarrod Parker tomorrow to save the A’s season.  No pressure, right?  He last faced the Tigers on Saturday and allowed seven hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out five over 6.1 innings.

Athletics:  2  Tigers:  0

The last time Brett Anderson took the mound for the A’s was on September 19, also against the Tigers.  Tonight Anderson did not look like a pitcher who hasn’t pitched in a Major League game in almost 3 weeks.  He only needed eight pitches in the first inning, striking out Austin Jackson and Omar Infante and then getting Miguel Cabrera to ground out on just one pitch. He allowed only two hits over six innings, both coming in the second inning.  It would have been three hits, but thanks to a play by Coco Crisp, he was able to rob Prince Fielder of a home run to lead off the inning. He also matched his hits with two walks and struck out six. He was a little erratic today, throwing 80 pitches and only 45 for strikes.

The A’s offense was almost as equally as quiet as the Tigers, but the two runs they scored was more than enough for a win. They looked like they might do a lot against Anabel Sanchez in the first inning, Coco Crisp singled to lead off the inning, Stephen Drew walked and Yoenis Cespedes singled, scoring Crisp.  Brandon Moss struck out looking to record the first out of the inning and Josh Reddick grounded out into a double play to end the inning. The only other run the A’s scored was in the fifth, off of a solo home run by Seth Smith.

The team combined for only five hits and two runs, all coming off of Anibal Sanchez.  They walked three times and struck out only four times.

Ryan Cook came in relief for Anderson in the seventh inning, he allowed a two out single, but got Andy Dirks to fly out to end the inning.  Sean Doolittle came in to pitch the eighth, striking out all three batters he faced (Avisail Garcia, Gerald Laird and Austin Jackson).  Grant Balfour closed the game, recording his first save of the post season, he lead off the inning striking out Omar Infante, allowed a single to Miguel Cabrera, but then on a 1-2 pitch he got Prince Fielder to ground out in to a double play to end the game.

Tomorrow the A’s look to A.J. Griffin to keep their playoff hopes alive, he faced the Tigers once this season and allowed eight hits, five runs over 4.2 innings, walked one and struck out three.

(Photo Courtesy of Francine)

Athletics:  12  Rangers: 5

It seems like just yesterday we were all up at 2 AM watching game two of the season.  The A’s won that game behind three home runs, tying the Mariners for first place of the AL West. The A’s would never see sole possession of first place until today, the last game of the season and the day when it really mattered.

I can lie to you and tell you I knew this was going to happen back on March 29, but if you have been reading my blog since then you know that I never saw this coming.  I have not been the most optimistic fan at times, I can’t count how many times I have hit the panic button and I know I have said over and over again that their run would eventually come to an end.  This team has indeed, “shocked the world”.

The A’s found themselves in a really tough position after the top of the third inning. The A’s took the lead in the first off of an RBI double by Brandon Moss, but they would soon find themselves in a four run deficit after A.J. Griffin allowed five runs to the Rangers in the third. He allowed a single to lead off the inning, recorded an out on a ground out by Elvis Andrus, but then gave up back-to-back singles allowing the Rangers to tie it up at 1-1. Nelson Cruz then hit into a force out, but Michael Young followed with an RBI single. David Murphy then singled and Cruz and Young scored. Mike Napoli reached on a fielding error by George Kottaras and Geovany Soto followed up with a single, which scored Murphy. That was it for Griffin, who allowed seven hits, five runs (four earned), and two walks over 2.2 innings.  Evan Scribner would come in and record the last out of that nightmarish inning.

The A’s would fight their way back into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, leading the inning off with a walk by Brandon Moss and an RBI double by Josh Reddick. Josh Donaldson then singled and Seth Smith followed with an RBI single. Derek Holland came in to replace Ryan Dempster and he immediately recorded the first two outs of the inning, but then Coco Crisp doubled and Donaldson and Smith scored tying the game up 5-5.  Stephen Drew then drew a walk and Yoenis Cespedes hit, what should have been the final out of the inning, a fly ball that Josh Hamilton missed and both Crisp and Drew were able to score. The A’s scored six runs total in the inning, giving them their final lead of the game.

» Continue reading “A’s Sweep Rangers, Win The West”

After a disappointing loss today and a 4-6 road trip, the A’s head home to finish up their final home stand of the season.  The A’s are still very much in the playoff race, still two games ahead of the Anaheim Angels for the second wildcard and one game behind the Baltimore Orioles.  The A’s will begin their final six of games of the season tomorrow, starting with a 3-game series against the Seattle Mariners (73-83).

Friday 7:05 PM PST: (RHP) Blake Beavan (10-10) Vs (RHP) A.J. Griffin (6-1)

• Blake Beavan is coming off of a very strong start against the Texas Rangers.  Over 7 innings he allowed 8 hits, 1 walk and stuck out 2. He faced the A’s once this season (back on April 15) and allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and no walks while striking out 4.
• A.J. Griffin is looking to bounce back from two back-to-back poor starts. In his last outing against the New York Yankees he only lasted 4.1 innings allowing 4 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks while striking out 1. Over his last two starts he has allowed 4 home runs, in his previous 11 starts he allowed 5 total. Griffin faced the Mariners earlier this month and lasted  5.1 innings and allowed 6 hits, 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 7.

Saturday 1:05 PM PST: (LHP) Jason Vargas (14-11) Vs (RHP) Dan Straily (2-1)

• Jason Vargas faced the Texas Rangers in his start and allowed 8 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and struck out 3 over six innings.  When he last pitched in Oakland (July 7) he threw a complete game, allowing only 1 run on 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6.
• Dan Straily did well in his last start against the New York Yankees.  He allowed only 2 runs (1 earned) over 6.2 innings while only allowing 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8.  This will be his first career start against the Seattle Mariners.

Sunday 1:05 PM PST: (RHP) Erasmo Ramirez (1-3) Vs (LHP) Tom Milone (13-10)

• In his last start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Erasmo Ramirez lasted 6 innings and allowed 5 runs (3 earned), walked none and struck out 3.  He last started against the A’s in June and threw 8 innings, only allowed 3 hits and 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 10.
• Tom Milone pitched 6 innings against the Texas Rangers in his last start and only allowed 6 hits and 2 runs while walking none and striking out 3. He faced the Mariners earlier this month and allowed 8 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and struck out 10 over 6 innings.

If you missed the first half of the day you can see it here.

The second half of the day we got to talk with Farhan Zaidi (the A’s director of baseball operations).

The first question asked was one that most fans have wondered, what does the future look like for former first round draft pick Grant Green?

“The reason we drafted Grant and one of the reasons we still feel great about him is a prospect of his hitting ability.  I mean you have guys, as somebody that does a lot of our analysis, I know you look a lot at how a guy’s minor league stats translate to the major league level, major league equivalence, which you guys are all familiar with and I’m sure. You know there are some guys who talent kind of just exceeds or projects past what you get on those MLEs.  If you look at what Grand did in Triple-A this year versus what he did in Double-A, he cut his strikeouts down a lot, his numbers were up accross the board and I think that was more in line from what, more in line which what we were expecting out of him then what we saw out of him in last year’s Double-A.  So you know he can hit and we are just trying to figure out defensively A. Where he would be an asset to the team and B. How to fit him into our needs. 

There’s sort of two different levels of prospects, there’s guys in A-ball and below where you just want them to be where they’re most comfortable or where their value is maximized and then you have guys that are in Double-A, Triple-A when you really have to start looking at your big league depth chart and say “where is this guy going to play from?”. And you know with Grant, we’re sort of trying to answer the latter set of questions.  I mean it’s becoming more immediate and he’s the guy that can go to camp with us next year and have the chance to make the team so right now I couldn’t tell you what position he is going to play or how he fits in, but the fact that he’s moved around this year has really given us a lot of options, which is always a good thing.”

When asked about whether or not it was a strategy to pick up former top prospects:

“I wouldn’t say it’s a strategy with guys like that. When there’s a guy that we liked at some point, whatever that point was, we try to evaluate why we like them, how they might look different now and how they might do with a big league opportunity if they got it.”

Regarding Brandon Moss he goes on to say:

“Then he came in to big league camp and was and was our best hitter and we started saying this may just be a case where something just clicks with guy.  That’s sort of where, as an analyst, you sort of have to throw whatever 2012 projections you have made for Brandon Moss out the window because guys do change, something clicks for the guys.  At that point you sort of need to update your priors about a guy, there’s no one formula for how to do that.

» Continue reading “A’s Blog Day: Part II”

Athletics:  5  Yankees:  4

The previous two games in Yankee Stadium were each determined by one run and today was no different, except this time the A’s were on the winning side of things.

The A’s scored their first run in the first inning off of a wild pitch from Hiroki Kuroda.  They scored two more runs in the second inning after Cliff Pennington launched a 2-run home run to right field.

This was the second start in a row that A.J. Griffin could not make it through five innings.  Over 4.1 innings he allowed 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks and struck out 4.  He threw 103 pitches before he was replaced by Jerry Blevins in the fifth.  All four runs scored by the Yankees came in the fourth inning, Griffin struck out Alex Rodriguez before allowing a single to Robinson Cano and Cano moved to second on a throwing error by Seth Smith.  Nick Swisher then hit a 2-run home run and reduced the the A’s lead by 1.  A.J. Griffin then allowed back-to-back singles before giving up a RBI double to Raul Ibanez. Then the Yankees took the lead off of a RBI ground out from Eduardo Nunez.  Derek Jeter grounded out to end the inning.

The A’s tied the game in the fifth off of an RBI single from Yoenis Cespedes.  The A’s took the final lead of the game in the sixth off of an RBI single by Cliff Pennington.

The bullpen was the unsung heroes of the game, throwing 4.2 innings while only allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and striking out 5.  Today it was Jerry Blevins, Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour that kept the Yankees from scoring.  Grant Balfour was credited with his 20th save of the season while Jerry Blevins received the win.

Cliff Pennington had a big day for the A’s today, going 3-4 with a home run and 3 RBI.  Josh Donaldson also had multi-hit day going 2-4 and scoring twice.

This season I was lucky enough to represent Aerys Sports at A’s Blog Day.  Myself and 10 (or so) other A’s bloggers got to sit down with with Bob Melvin, Farhan Zaidi, A.J. Griffin and Brett Anderson in a “blogger” press conference.

The interviews began around 4:00 when Bob Melvin entered the room for the first interview of the day. Bob Melvin was my favorite of the three, he was very professional and treated each question as if we were the media.  I, unfortunately, did not get in my question for him, but there were plenty of other great questions for Melvin.  (I actually didn’t get any questions in that day). Ultimately, I found the question answered regarding Jemile Weeks to be the most interesting from Melvin:

“As far as Jemile, you know I think it’s not unlike, you talk about Sophmore slumps and so forth and you know he’s a tough kid who can be hard on himself, but I think he just got into a little bit of a slump where he couldn’t quite get out of it.  You know you look up there and you have some pride and you look at your average after hitting .300 for basically a full season and then not being able to repeat that, you try a little bit too hard some times as opposed to trying a little easier and letting your ability take over and I think it was just a little bit of change of scenery he went down there and instantly hit and I don’t think this is going to affect where his career is going forward.”

And regarding any adjustments Weeks needs to make:

“I think maybe just keep the ball out of the air a little bit.  I mean this year he probably… I think he hit a couple of home runs early on and he will tell you that that has nothing to do with, you know, swinging a little bigger.  I think he just felt more comfortable with his swing and that he can drive some balls and last year he just wasn’t trying to do too much, he was just putting it in play, putting it in play on the ground and so it’s a matter of finding a happy medium for him and he will do that.”

The question I had for Melvin was regarding the difference between working with veterans and rookies and Frank from The Bay Area Sports Report asked him a similar question in which Melvin had this to say:

“Well I think, you know,  based where we are in the season we try to keep the distractions to a minimum and just, I know it’s very cliche, but keep it to all our efforts and focus on a particular day.  I think we are playing some match ups in the second half, you know whether it’s a Moss/Carter type of thing. And I think keeping them aware of when they’re playing is important so they know and can visualize and do some homework on some potential pitchers that they’re going to face.  You know, whether it’s Kottaras and Norris and we’ve run a little platoon Pennington/Rosales at second, so I think they benefit by knowing which and what days they’re playing.  And then I think with younger players you try to be consistent in giving them good feedback. Because you know one thing about being a younger player coming to the big league level that you always have to get over is that ‘awe factor’ and ‘do I belong here in the big leagues?’.  And we’ve not only as an organization put a lot of stock in our younger players and getting them to the big leagues, we put them in prominent roles and I think we have done that across the board this year, whether it’s the pitching end of it, whether it’s position player end of it and we’ve been rewarded with good performances.”

» Continue reading “Oakland A’s 2012 Blog Day: Part 1″

Yankees:  10   Athletics:  9

I never enjoy when the A’s lose, in fact if it were up to me I would have them win every game of the season, but today has had to be the biggest heartbreaking loss of the season.  This is a game the A’s should have won.  There were many missed opportunities for the team today, three costly errors, a bad call by the second plate umpire and a four run lead that could not be held onto.

It started off good for the A’s, the lead off the game with back-to-back-to-back doubles, immediately putting themselves up 2-0.  Then with Cespedes on third and only one out, Chris Carter struck out swinging and Josh Reddick flew out to end the inning.  Travis Blackley, who was in to replace Brett Anderson, struggled in the bottom of the inning, after getting Derek Jeter to fly out he allowed a solo home run to Ichiro Suzuki and then walked Alex Rodriguez.  With Robinson Cano batting he was able to pick off Rodriguez at first, but the umpire called the pick off a balk (which it wasn’t) and Rodriguez moved over to second.  Cano then hit a double, scoring Rodriguez and the game was tied 2-2.  Nick Swisher then walked, Casey McGehee struck out and a routine ground ball to Josh Donaldson, which would have been the third out of the game, turned into an error and the bases were loaded.  With the bases loaded Andruw Jones walked and the Yankees took the 3-2 lead.  Blackley was able to collect the final out of the inning by getting Chris Stewart to ground out.

The Yankees scored another run in the second inning, an unearned run, this time coming off of an error by Cliff Pennington.  It was the last inning Blackley saw, only lasting two innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 runs (2 earned), walking 3 and striking out only 1.  Blackley needed 59 pitches to get through the first 2 innings of the game and only threw 30 strikes.  The A’s scored two runs, one in the third and one in the fourth, tying the game up to 4-4.  The Yankees retook the lead in the fifth off of a solo home run by Raul Ibanez and the A’s tied it up again in the seventh off of a sacrifice fly from Chris Carter.

» Continue reading “A’s Blow 4-Run Lead in 13th Inning, Lose In 14″

Tigers:  12  Athletics:  2

It was going to happen eventually, we all knew this day would come.  A.J. Griffin had his first poor outing of his Major League career and also took his first career loss.

With Max Scherzer on the hill today for the Detroit Tigers it was expected that this win would not come easy to the A’s. They did get on the board in the first after Brandon Moss hit a two out single to score Josh Reddick in the first. The Tigers would tie the game in the bottom of the inning off of a sacrifice fly by Miguel Cabrera.  The A’s did not do much in the second inning, Cliff Pennington took a two out walk, but Coco Crisp lined out to end the “threat”.

The Tigers took the lead in the second inning off of a solo home run by Jhonny Peralta.  Darin Downs came in replace Max Scherzer in the third inning after he was pulled from the game with shoulder fatigue, at the time it seemed like the A’s might have an opportunity to get back in it, but we were very wrong.  Seth Smith lead the inning off with a ground out, but Josh Reddick walked, Yoenis Cespedes then popped up and Brandon Moss singled.  Then with two on and two outs Stephen Drew struck out to record the final out.  The rest of the game was about the same as the third inning, they would threaten, but nothing would come of it.  Their final run scored was in the seventh inning off of an RBI single by Yoenis Cespedes.

A.J. Griffin only lasted 4.2 innings tonight, he allowed 8 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk and 3 home runs.  It was the shortest outing of his Major League career and tonight’s game broke his 11-game streak of allowing less than 3 runs and 3 walks in a game.  The bullpen was not able to hold down the Tigers either, Pedro Figueroa successfully recorded the last out of the fifth, but Evan Scribner struggled in the eighth.  Scribner walked Peralta to start the inning and got Omar Infante to ground out into a force out to record the first out of the inning, unfortunately Infante moved to second on a throwing error by Stephen Drew.  He then walked Gerald Laird and gave up an RBI double to Austin Jackson.  Following Jackson’s double was a 2-run double by Quintin Berry, putting the Tigers up 8-1.  He got Miguel Cabrera to fly out before walking Prince Fielder, but got Delmon Young to ground out to end the inning.

Jesse Chavez came in to replace Scribner in the seventh inning and set the batters down in order.  The eighth inning was a different story for him.  He gave up back-to-back-to-back singles up to first three batters and with no outs and three on Miguel Cabrera hit a grand slam, it was also his second home run of the game.  He then hit Prince Fielder with a pitch (still no outs) before being ejected from the game by the home plate umpire.  Jerry Blevins came in to replace Chavez and got Delmon Young to ground out into a double play and Andy Dirks to fly out to end the nightmarish inning.  Jesse Chavez has been terrible since coming up to Oakland, over 2.1 innings he has allowed 9 hits and 7 earned runs.  He simply cannot be depended on and I hope that we see less of him moving forward.

It wasn’t all bad tonight for Oakland, Josh Reddick went 2-3 with a walk, a double and two runs and Yoenis Cespedes went 1-2 with two walks and an RBI.

Athletics:  4  Angels:  1

For the first time since 2006 the Oakland A’s will finish the season with a winning record.  This is a big step for the A’s, who were once thought to be a 90 game (or more) losing team.

Last night’s win against the Angels marked their 12th win in a row on the road, tying a franchise record for consecutive road wins.

A.J. Griffin was the story of the night, throwing 8 shutout innings against the Angels.  He allowed only 6 hits, walked none and struck out 6 and improved his record to 6-0.  In last night’s game, Griffin became the first pitcher, since at least 1918, to allow 3 runs or less and walk 2 or less over his first 11 starts.

The A’s scored in the first inning off of an Erick Aybar error, scoring Josh Reddick, who reached base off a double.  They would not score again until the sixth inning, when Yoenis Cespedes lead off the inning with a home run, it was his second in two days.  After blowing their chance to extend their lead in the seventh, they would go on to score 2 more in the eighth.  Josh Donaldson lead off the inning with a double and scored after a double by Derek Norris. Norris would score off of an RBI single by Coco Crisp.

Sean Doolittle came in to replace A.J. Griffin in the ninth inning and the shut out was immediately broken by a lead off home run from Albert Pujols.  He then got Kendrys Morales and Howard Kendrick to ground out, but was replaced by Ryan Cook after he gave up a double to Erick Aybar.  Ryan Cook recorded the last out by getting Vernon Wells to ground out, officially making the A’s a winning team.