(Photo: Dinur/Flickr)

I really can’t say much more than what has already been said by my fellow A’s bloggers, so I will make this quick.

I actually didn’t get to watch today’s game because of adult responsibilities and stuff, but I did keep a pretty close eye on it through my phone. I will admit I was pretty annoyed with the offense, yet again, going into the ninth inning. Unlike yesterday, the A’s did score three runs, but only had five hits and they had stranded five baserunners up that point. But, thanks to a botched call by umpire Angel Hernandez, I was able to direct my frustrations in an entirely different direction.

Yes, the A’s probably should have hit more or scored more and Adam Rosales should have not made a throwing error that caused 2 runs to score, and then maybe one bad call would have not been the difference maker in tonight’s game, but unfortunately it was.  There is plenty of evidence and screen shots to show that the so-called “double” was a home run, so why wasn’t the right called made by the “professionals”?  It’s absolutely asinine that the umpiring got it wrong, given that they have instant replay now and the equipment to make the right calls. I am not one to blame umpires for losses, especially over something like a poor strike zone, but this is all on Angel Hernandez tonight.

The A’s continued to rally, even after the call was made, with two outs and Rosales on second, Eric Sogard was hit by a pitch and John Jaso walked to load the bases. Seth Smith then came up to bat and grounded out to closer, Chris Perez, to end the game.

AJ Griffin wasn’t bad today, he allowed six hits, four runs (three earned), walked two and struck out four. Two of the four runs that scored were on solo home runs, one by Nick Swisher and one by Carlos Santana.  Sean Doolittle finished the sixth inning, getting the one batter he faced to line out. Ryan Cook pitched a clean eighth inning, retiring all three batters he faced, striking out two.

The three runs the A’s scored all came in the fourth inning, Brandon Moss singled in the first run and Daric Barton followed two batters later with a single of his own, which scored two more.  Speaking of Daric Barton, he made his 2013 debut by going 1-3 with a walk and two RBI.

Instead of looking for a possible split tomorrow, the A’s are just hoping to avoid a sweep. Bartolo Colon will take the mound for the A’s and let’s all hope the umpires aren’t in a rush to get home tomorrow.

Photo: Keith Allison

With today’s 13-5 win over the Los Angels Angels of Anaheim the A’s are sitting on a 5-5 record this spring. This is the first time since game two that the A’s are at .500 and they have also won three in a row for the first time in ten games. These numbers don’t really mean a lot until the real season starts, but a win is always nice even when it’s “only” spring training.

The five runs scored by the Angels today were only allowed by two pitchers; with Dan Straily allowing two and Ryan Cook allowing the other three. Straily started today’s game and went 2.1 innings while allowing four hits, two earned runs, no walks and striking out two. Over 3.2 innings this spring he has allowed six hits, four runs, one walk and struck out three. Chris Resop relieved Straily in the third and struck out both batters he faced. Sean Doolittle pitched a clean fourth inning while striking out the side. Ryan Cook allowed his three runs in one inning, allowing four hits and a walk while also striking out one. Jordan Norberto also pitched in today’s game and allowed only a hit.

The offense was what really won the game for the team today. They combined for fifteen hits, five walks, four doubles and two triples while going 9-14 with runners in scoring position. The biggest hit came from John Jaso in the fourth when he hit a bases clearing triple. He finished the game going 1-2 with a walk and three RBI.

• Adam Rosales started at second base today and went 0-2 with a walk. He is 4-11 this spring with four walks and two RBI.
• Josh Reddick started in right field today and went 1-3 with a double and an RBI.
• Yoenis Cespedes collected his first hit of the spring today and finished the day going 1-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
• Jed Lowrie was the starting shortstop today and went 1-3 with an RBI. He is now 4-14 with three walks and three RBI this spring.
• Josh Donaldson was the starting third baseman in today’s game and he went 0-2 with a walk. This spring he is 1-17 with four walks.
• Michael Choice stated in center today and went 0-2 with a strikeout. Shane Peterson replaced him in the sixth and he went 1-2 with a triple and an RBI.

Tomorrow is the first split-squad for the team; Bartolo Colon will face the undefeated Kansas City Royals while Brett Anderson takes on team Italy.

Yesterday I said that the A’s had an off day today and that their next scheduled day wasn’t until Sunday. It turns out that today IS Sunday so a game was played (Imagine how surprised I was when I woke up this morning and saw the lineup card posted on Twitter for today’s game). For the second day in a row the A’s defeated the Colorado Rockies, today’s final score was 7-2.

AJ Griffin started today’s game and went three innings, allowed three hits, one run (on a solo home run from Nolan Arenado), walked none and struck out one. Griffin has allowed four hits over five innings this spring, while allowing one run, no walks and striking out four.  Pat Neshek relieved Griffin in the fourth inning and pitched one clean inning, striking out one. Lefties Pedro Figueroa and Hideki Okajima both pitched an inning a piece; Figueroa allowed a hit and struck out one, while Okajima did not allow a baserunner and struck out one. The other run allowed was off of Justin Thomas, who pitched two innings today, allowed three hits and struck out one.

Most of the runs scored today did not come off of hits, the first run scored was off of a bases loaded hit by pitch in the first inning. The second run scored in the third after Daric Barton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded,  then two batters later, Adam Rosales walked with the bases loaded to score the third run of the game and Scott Sizemore followed up with a bases loaded hit by pitch to score the fourth run. That’s five batters hit by pitches in the last two innings for those counting.

• Scott Sizemore did start at second base today, but had to be pulled for precautionary reasons in the fifth because of a bruised hand due to the hit by pitch. Before he left the game he was 2-2 with an RBI. He is now 3-12 this spring with three walks and two RBI. Grant Green replaced Scott Sizemore and went 2-2 with a run scored.
• Chris Young started in center field today and went 1-4 with an RBI and two strikeouts.
• Josh Donaldson was the starting third baseman for the team today and he went 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
• Michael Choice started in right field today (he replaced Chris Young in center in the sixth) he went 1-3 with an RBI, a run scored and a HBP.
• Hiro Nakajima started at shortstop today and went 1-3 with a run scored and a strikeout. He is now 3-14 this spring with eight strikeouts.
• Daric Barton started at first base today and went 0-1 with a HBP and walk.
• Addison Russell was the designated hitter today and he went 1-5 with an RBI and a strikeout. In four games this spring Russell is 4-11 with two RBI and one walk.

The A’s WILL play a game tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Dan Straily will be making his second start for team.

The A’s closed out the month by making a few moves today, nothing too significant, but definitely noteworthy.

Two days ago I referred to Daric Barton as a non-tender candidate and the A’s proved me wrong by signing him to a one-year contract today. The $1.1 million contract (with $250,000 in incentives) is not guaranteed and he could still be cut before the season starts. Barton played in 46 games for the A’s last season and over 136 plate appearances he had a .204/.338/.292 slash line with a .294 wOBA and 86 wRC+.

The A’s also agreed on a one-year deal with non-tender candidate Adam Rosales. Rosales played in 42 games for the A’s last season and over 111 plate appearances hit .222/.297/.333 with a .278 wOBA and 75 wRC+. This actually comes to a surprise to me, especially with the acquisition of Andy Parrino and Scott Moore (more on moore later…see what I did there?).

The A’s also non-tendered outfielder Jermaine Mitchell today, who was DFA’d on Tuesday.

Yesterday the A’s also signed infielder Scott Moore to a minor league contract. Moore played in 72 games for the Astros last season and over 228 plate appearances had a .259/.330/.448 slash line with a .335 wOBA and 110 wRC+. He also hit 9 HR and took 16 walks while striking out 56 times. Scott Moore was a first round pick in 2002, eighth overall, by the Detroit Tigers.

In other A’s related news, the New York Yankees claimed relief pitcher Jim Miller off of waivers. Miller pitched in 33 games for the A’s last season and over 48.2 innings he had a 2.59 ERA, 4.74 FIP and .252 BABIP. He also had a 8.14 SO/9, 4.99 BB/9 and 1.11 HR/9 rate.

Sadly, one month from today the regular season will be coming to an end.  The last time I checked in with the A’s we had just reached the All-Star break and the A’s were at .500 and were 9 games back from Texas.  My prediction was far off stating:

At this point in the season the A’s are expected to be sellers rather than buyers and if this is true, I don’t see the A’s being able to maintain a .500 record let alone a winning one.

Looks like I was wrong again.

Where They Are Right Now:

The A’s have a 33-15 record since returning from the All-Star break.  They are back in second place and 3 games behind the Texas Rangers,  5 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and 12 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.

Rather than sell the A’s added to the team, acquiring RHP Pat Neshek, C George Kottaras and SS Stephen Drew.

They are currently the lone holders of the first wild card spot, 2 games ahead of Baltimore and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.  For the first time since 2006 the Oakland Athletics are playing meaningful baseball in the month of September.

» Continue reading “Checking In With The A’s: One Month Left”

Athletics:  4  Twins:  1

The first inning started off a little bit shaky for the A’s.  Ben Revere lead off the game with a single, but Brett Anderson struck out the following batter, Darin Mastroianni.  With Joe Mauer batting Ben Revere stole second and Mauer then grounded out and Revere moved over to third.  Then with Josh Willingham batting Brett Anderson threw a wild pitch and Revere scored.  Willingham then singled, but the inning ended when he was picked off and thrown out at 2nd.

The A’s tied the game in the second when Seth Smith lead off the inning with a walk and Josh Donaldson doubled him in.

It was pretty quiet from both teams until the fifth inning when the Twins lead off the inning with two singles by Justin Morneau and Ryan Doumit.  Then with two on and no outs Trevor Plouffe came up to bat, grounded out to Josh Donaldson who stepped on third to record the first out, threw to Adam Rosales  who recorded the second out and he threw to Chris Carter to complete the triple play.  It was the first triple play the A’s turned in Oakland since 1983.

The A’s took the lead in the sixth inning.  After Yoenis Cespedes popped up to short and Chris Carter struck out looking, Seth Smith reached base on a single.  Josh Donaldson singled and Derek Norris came up to bat and singled in Seth Smith.  They would score two more runs in the seventh off of an RBI single by Josh Reddick and an RBI double by Chris Carter.

Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect eighth, recording two strike outs and Grant Balfour pitched a perfect ninth and collected his twelfth save of the season.

Lines of the Day:

•  Brett Anderson: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 6 SO.  Anderson was fantastic in his return tonight.  He threw 86 pitches, 62 for strikes, and won his first game since May 26 of last year.  His only four hits allowed were in the first inning and in the fifth, allowing two hits in both.
• Seth Smith: 2 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB.  Seth Smith, who also returned from the DL, reached base in all four of his plate appearances.

A’s Extras:

• Stephen Drew made his Oakland debut tonight and went 0-4 with one strike out.
• Josh Donaldson collected two more hits in tonight’s game.  He has a .419/.455/.645 slash line since he has returned to the team (8 games).

White Sox: 7  Athletics: 3

There is not a lot to say about this afternoon’s game except it was ugly.

Bartolo Colon was strong through the first five innings, only allowing one unearned run off of a bad throw by Cliff Pennington.  Jonny Gomes tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth when he hit his fourteenth home run of the season.

Colon retired the first batter in the sixth, but allowed a single to Alex Rios and the following batter, A.J. Pierzynski, hit a 2-run home run off of him and the White Sox regained the lead.  He then got Alexei Ramirez to ground out, but with two outs the White Sox rallied to score 3 more runs off of Colon.  The last time Bartolo Colon allowed five runs or more was June 12th against the Colorado Rockies.  This is also the first time he has allowed an earned run since July 22nd against the New York Yankees.

The A’s would go on to score two more runs in the game, both off of solo home runs, but it wasn’t enough to rally back and win.

There were three errors committed in today’s game, two by Cliff Pennington and one by Yoenis Cespedes, but technically, only one of of those errors cost the A’s a run.

Line of the Day:

• Adam Rosales: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 RBI, 1 HR.  Adam Rosales was one of the two players who had a multi-hit game, one of those hits was a home run (his second of the season).

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon: 5.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (5 Earned), 2 BB, 2 SO.  Colon has been good for the A’s this season, so it’s hard to be mad about today’s game.  A pitcher is bound to have a bad day eventually, today was his.
• A’s Offense: 35 AB, 8 H, 3 RBI, 13 SO.  The only three runs that the A’s scored were off of solo home runs.  To be fair, Chris Sale is one of the best left-handed pitchers in the game right now, so again, hard to be mad.

A’s Extras:

• Derek Norris hit his fifth home run of the season in the ninth.
• After having a big day yesterday, Chris Carter went 0-4 today with two strikeouts.
• Brandon Inge was not in the lineup today after dislocating his shoulder in last night’s game.  The injury is more serious than originally thought and he will head to Oakland tomorrow for a MRI and a DL trip is possible.

 For more on the Chicago White Sox, visit South Side Hit Girl. 

I can even play with a dislocated shoulder!

Athletics:  9  White Sox: 7

This was not a pretty game by any means, but a win is a win and I’ll take it.

After struggling twice against Francisco Lirano earlier this season, the A’s finally found a way to score runs off of the left-hander.  The first inning did not look good for the Green and Gold as the first three batters that faced Lirano struck out.  In the second he struck out two more Athletics.

The third inning was much different.  Jemile Weeks lead off the inning with a fly out, Coco Crisp then singled and then Jonny Gomes walked.  Josh Reddick then grounded out into a force out and Jonny Gomes was thrown out at second.  Yoenis Cespedes was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Chris Carter, who singled and drove in two runs.  Brandon Inge then walked and with the bases loaded and two outs Derek Norris hit a ground-rule double and both Cespedes and Carter scored.  Adam Rosales then singled in the final run before Jemile Weeks flew out, again, to end the inning.

Travis Blackley, having allowed two runs the previous inning, now had a 5-2 lead.  The A’s would add on another run in the fouth when Josh Reddick singled in Coco Crisp.  Blackley saw his lead shrink when he allowed a RBI single to Tyler Flowers in the 4th and then a 2-run home run to Kevin Youkilis in the fifth.

Jordan Norberto replaced Blackley in the sixth inning and after retiring the first two batters on strikeouts he gave up a home run to Tyler Flowers and the game was tied.  Norberto would start the seventh inning as well, allowing a lead off single to Kevin Youkilis and striking out Adam Dunn before Ryan Cook came in to replace him.

Bob Melvin had announced earlier in the day that Ryan Cook was being removed from the closer spot for a couple of days and will only be put into games with less high-pressure situations.  So I question why Ryan Cook was placed into a tied game in the seventh.  That being said, Ryan Cook immediately allowed back-to-back singles to Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynsky and the White Sox took the lead.  He then got Alexei Ramirez to ground out into a double play to end the inning.

» Continue reading “A’s Fight Hard to Even Up Series”

Athletics:  10  Angels:  4

After being shut out by Jered Weaver yesterday, the A’s came back with vengeance tonight.  They were able to knock C.J. “Lawyerball” Wilson out of the game after only 5 innings, scoring 6 runs (3 earned) off the left hander.

The A’s had the longball going again tonight with Jonny Gomes, Derek Norris, Adam Rosales and Josh Reddick each hitting one a piece.  (Derek Norris and Adam Rosales went back-to-back in the sixth).  Along with the 4 home runs, every player in the starting lineup collected a hit and they were able to take 5 walks against Wilson.

Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 SO.  It was another strong outing for Colon tonight.  He did see his scoreless streak come to an end at 22.1 innings, which is a career high for him, but the one run he allowed was unearned.
• Chris Carter: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB.  Chris Carter had a nice day at the plate, collecting 2 hits, including a double and walking once.  It was his first multi-hit game since July 27th.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Travis Blackley: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 SO.  Blackley only allowed 3 home runs in his previous 71 innings, tonight he allowed 2 (a solo to Mike Trout in the 8th and a 2-run shot to Erick Aybar in the 9th).  He would have allowed 3 had Coco not made an excellent catch to rob Kendrys Morales.

Athletics:  4  Blue Jays:  1

Everyone can now breathe, with tonight’s win, the A’s losing streak ends at 2 games.

It was the pitching that essentially won the game tonight for the A’s tonight.  The team did struggle a bit offensively again, going 3-13 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 players on base, but the 4 runs they scored were enough to bring them their 57th win of the season.

With an A’s win and an Angels loss, Oakland is now back in second place in the division and currently hold rights to the first wild card.

Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon: 8 IP, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 SO.  Colon threw a nice game today, only needing 96 pitches to make it through 8 innings (68 for strikes).
• Josh Reddick: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR.  Reddick broke his 0-21 slump in his first at-bat when he singled to right field.  In his following at-bat he hit a 2-run home run to right field.
• Eric Sogard: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 2B.  Besides Josh Reddick, Eric Sogard was the only other player to have a multi-hit night.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp: 5 AB, 0 H.  The good news for Crisp is he returned to the lineup tonight after missing 5 games with hamstring tightness.  The bad news is he went 0-5 and left 4 on base.

A’s Extras:

• After being recalled from Sacramento today, Adam Rosales started at shortstop today and went 0-3 with 1 walk.
• Yoenis Cespedes went 0-1 today with 3 walks.  The 3 walks are a good sign for Cespedes who sometimes struggles being patient at the plate.
• Seth Smith left today’s game with a strained hamstring.   It is not known how serious the issue is right now, but he plans on having an MRI in the morning.
• Ryan Cook collected his 11th save of the season today.  Sean Doolittle started the inning with a 4-0 lead, he immediately allowed back-to-back singles, but got Yan Gomes to strike out before he was replaced by Cook.  The lone run that scored in the inning was on an RBI ground out.