Athletics:  6  Red Sox:  2

The A’s outscored the Red Sox 33-5 this weekend and not one of their three starting pitchers made it through 4 innings.  Today, the A’s knocked Daisuke Matsuzaka out of the game after only 3.2 innings.  He coughed up 7 hits, 6 runs, 4 walks and 2 home runs.

Coco Crisp walked to lead off the first and Seth Smith followed with a 2-run home run, putting the A’s up 2-0.  The following inning Stephen Drew hit his first home run as an Athletic, it was a solo to right field.  The third inning they scored two more runs, Coco lead off with a walk and stole second, Seth Smith  singled,  Coco reached third and Josh Reddick hit a sacrifice fly to score Crisp.  After Yoenis Cespedes flew out, Brandon Moss singled and Josh Donaldson walked.  With the bases loaded Stephen Drew singled and Smith scored.

The A’s scored their final run of the game in the fourth, Cliff Pennington lead the inning off with a walk and stole second.  Coco Crisp flew out, Seth Smith walked and Josh Reddick singled to load the bases again.  Yoenis Cespedes grounded out to the second baseman and Pennington scored.  Matsuzaka was replaced by Andrew Miller after that and the A’s wouldn’t do a much against the Boston bullpen after that, only collecting a hit and a walk for the rest of the game.

Brett Anderson had another good game for the A’s today, only allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run through six while striking out 4 and only walking 1.  Anderson’s only trouble came in the sixth inning, when he walked the lead off batter and then gave up back-to-back singles with only one out.  With the bases loaded Cody Ross came in and hit a single to left fielder Yoenis Cespedes, one run scored, but Cespedes gunned down Scott Podsednik at home to record the second out of the inning.  Anderson then got Mauro Gomez to strike out swinging to end the inning.

Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle would pitch the seventh and the eighth inning, neither pitcher allowed a baserunner and both recorded a strike out each.  Grant Balfour pitched the ninth inning and Dustin Pedroia lead off the inning with a double.  Cody Ross followed with a ground out which moved Pedroia over to third, Mauro Gomez flew out to right and Pedroia scored and Ryan Lavarnway struck out swinging to end the game.

Stephen Drew had a big day for the A’s, going 3-4 with a home run, a double, and 2 RBI.  Since joining the club he has a .262/.347/.405 slash line over 11 games with a .752 OPS.  Seth Smith also had a good day for the team, going 2-3 with a walk, a home run and 2 RBI.

A’s Extras:

• Tyson Ross will be recalled from Sacramento and expected to be added to the the bullpen tomorrow.  Dan Straily, who recorded his 202nd strike out of the season today, is expected to stay with the Rivercats until the end of their postseason.

Thanks for everything, Inge!

Athletics:  7  Red Sox:  1

The A’s began September exactly the same way the ended August; with a win.

It was a bitter sweet night for A’s fans, we began by celebrating the Bernie and ended by saying good-bye to the man who brought the Bernie to the Oakland Coliseum.

To begin with the good news, the A’s looked good again tonight at the plate.  They combined for 11 hits, 7 runs, 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 5 walks.  Coco Crisp had a huge night for the team, going 3-4 with a walk, a double and a home run (his 10th of the season).  Chris Carter, who went 1-4 tonight, hit his 13th home run of the season and Derek Norris went 2-4 tonight with 2 RBI.

The pitching was just as impressive as the offense, A.J. Griffin, who made his first start for Oakland since August 4, lasted 7 innings tonight and only allowed 3 hits, 1 run, walked none and struck out 5.  Pat Neshek pitched a clean eighth and the ninth and allowed only one hit while striking out 2.

Unfortunately, Brandon Inge, who returned from the DL today, had to leave the game in the fourth inning after he re-injured his shoulder.  Inge is expected to have surgery next week to repair his shoulder and is expected to miss the rest of the season.  Before leaving the game today Inge went 1-2 with a 2 run double in the third.  It’s sad to see Brandon Inge’s time end in Oakland, he played a big part in this run and he will definitely be missed by the A’s players and the fans.

A’s Extras:

• The A’s recalled OF Collin Cowgill and INF Brandon Hicks from Sacramento today.  Hicks was in the lineup tonight and played at shortstop, he was 0-3 with a walk and 2 strikeouts.
• Cliff Pennington replaced Brandon Inge tonight in the lineup and went 2-2 with a run.

Athletics:  20  Red Sox:  2

I think the score speaks for itself tonight.

The A’s combined for 19 hits, 20 runs, 5 home runs, 4 doubles,  2 walks, and 4 strikeouts tonight.  They faced seven Red Sox pitchers and only one of the seven did not give up a run to them (Junichi Tazawa).

Every player reached base tonight via walk or hit.  The only player to not collect a hit was Coco Crisp, but he walked and scored in the seventh.

It was a big night for Brandon Moss, who went 4-5 with a home run, 2 doubles and 4 RBI against his former team. Josh Reddick, also a former Red Sox, went 2-5 with a double and a grand slam, his first of his career.  Keeping up with the former Red Sox theme, George Kottaras went 3-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI.

Josh Donaldson also had a home run in tonight’s game.  He was 1-4 with a home run before he was pulled from the game with a strained right hip flexor.  The injury does not sound serious and he is considered day-to-day.  Brandon Inge is expected to be called up tomorrow and should take his place at third base for now.

Brandon McCarthy lasted 6.1 inning tonight, he allowed 8 hits, 1 home run, 2 runs, no walks and struck out 1.  McCarthy seemed to struggle a bit tonight, needing 107 pitches to make it through a little over six innings.  Pedro Figueroa, who was recalled from Sacramento earlier today for Jim Miller, finished the seventh inning and also pitched the eighth inning, he allowed a hit and a walk.  Evan Scribner closed out the game and he did not allow a baserunner.

(Photo: michaelgoodin/flickr)

Athletics: 3  Red Sox:  2

Yesterday the A’s were able to complete their 3rd sweep of the season when they defeated the Red Sox 3-2.  The A’s pitching has been tremendous lately, lowing their team ERA to 3.43 which is good enough to rank third in the entire league.

It was Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks who won the game for the A’s yesterday.  Going into the bottom of the 7th the game was tied 2-2, Coco Crisp lead the inning off with a triple and Weeks came up and singled him in.

A.J. Griffin had another strong start, only allowing 3 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) and 2 walks over 6 innings.  Unfortunately, the A’s scored an inning too late and he was credited with the no decision again.

Grant Balfour and Jerry Blevins both shut the door on the Red Sox in the 7th and 8th while Ryan Cook had a clean 9th to complete his 8th save of the season.

A’s Extras:

• Brandon Moss hit his 10th home run of the season in the 2nd.  He went 6-8 over his former team and had 2 HR and 5 RBI in the series.
• Coco Crisp also fared well against his former team this series, going 4-11 with a HR, 3B, 2 R and 2 RBI.

Athletics:  3  Red Sox:  2

The A’s struck first tonight, scoring in the first inning off a lead off home run by Coco Crisp.  Unfortunately, the A’s weren’t able to do much after that.  Jon Lester only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk after the first inning.

The Red Sox tied the game on a solo home run in the 2nd and then took the lead in the 4th after a fielding error by Chris Carter.

It was pretty quiet until the A’s and Red Sox both threatened in the 8th, but both were unable to capitalize after getting 2 men on to lead off the top and bottom of the inning.

The Red Sox threatened again in the top of the 9th after Ryan Kalish singled to lead off the inning and Mike Aviles walked immediately after.  A would have been sacrifice bunt by Nick Punto turned into a double play and Ryan Kalish was caught stealing 3rd to end the threat.

Chris Carter lead off the 9th inning with a single.  Brandon Inge popped out to foul territory and it was beginning to look like the 8th all over again.  A single by Cliff Pennington kept the inning going and then Brandon Moss singled in Chris Carter to tie the game.  With a runner on second and third Coco Crisp hit a sac fly to win the game for the green and gold.

I am not going to lie, from the 2nd inning to the 8th inning this game felt hopeless for the A’s.  This A’s walk-off was their 6th of the season, last season they only had 3 in the entire year.

Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp:  4 AB, 2 H, 2 RBI.  It was a multi-hit game for Coco today, who was responsible for 2 of the 3 runs the A’s scored today.
• Chris Carter: 4 AB, 2 H.  Carter’s error in the 4th could have lost the game for the A’s, but it didn’t so he makes the cut.  It’s nice to see Carter collect a couple of hits for the team tonight, he has now played in 3 games for the A’s since being called up and has a hit in all of them.

Ugly lines of the Day:

• Yoenis Cespedes: 4 AB, 0 H, 3 SO.  That’s 2 days in a row Yoenis has gone o-fer.  Yesterday I commented on the fact he did not have a single strike out and today he was one short of wearing the golden sombrero.
• Brandon Inge:  4 AB, 0 H, 2 SO.  Brandon Inge has not looked great recently, in his last 10 games he only has 5 hits in 36 ABs, has only walked once and struck out 13 times.

Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon, who returned from the DL today, did well tonight.  He pitched 6 innings and allowed 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), walked 1 and struck out 3.  He threw 87 pitches, 55 which were strikes.
• Brandon Hicks started at short tonight for the A’s, he went 0-2 before Seth Smith came in to pinch hit for him in the 7th.
• Travis Blackey is having his start pushed back due to back soreness.  Blackley was supposed to pitch on Saturday, but is now not expected to start until after the All-Star break.

For more on the Boston Red Sox, visit Fenway Fatales. 

Josh Reddick enjoys playing against his former team

Athletics:  6  Red Sox:  1

It seems that Jarrod Parker is a bit selfish when handing out runs.  Parker has started 13 games for the A’s and has allowed 2 runs or fewer in 11 of those starts and even more impressively has only allowed 1 run or less in 9 of those starts.  The only run he allowed was in the top of the first after Daniel Nava led off the game with a double and the very next at bat Dustin Pedroia singled him in.

Dice-K only lasted 1 plus innings tonight after allowing the A’s to score 5 runs on 4 hits, 2 walks and 2 HR.

Lines of the Day:

• Jarrod Parker:  6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 SO.  Parker threw 103 pitches and 65 of those pitches were for strikes.  He now has 5 wins on the season and 2 of those are against the Red Sox.
• Brandon Moss:  3 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 3 RBI.  Moss was the only player to have a multi-hit day for the team.  He also hit his 9th home run of the season in the 2nd inning.
• Sean Doolittle:  2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 SO.  Doolittle shut down the Red Sox tonight after Parker was pulled in the 7th.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Jemile Weeks:  4 AB, 0 H.  That’s 2 nights in a row Weeks has not reached base via hit or walk.  He now has a .216/.305/.308 slash line on the season, not exactly the kind line you want to see your lead off hitter have.
• Yoenis Cespedes: 4 AB, 0 H.  There is a positive side to his O-fer night, Cespedes did not strike out once!

A’s Extras:  

• Josh Reddick hit his 19th home run this season tonight.  He went 1-3 with a run and 2 RBI against his former team.  (Thanks again, Boston!)
• Derek Norris went 1-3 today with 1 BB .  Norris also had a stolen base in the 6th inning, it was his first major league steal.
• Brett Anderson is expected to throw to live hitters on Friday.  It will be the first time Anderson will throw to hitters since his surgery.
• The A’s officially announced that Bartolo Colon will be starting against the Red Sox tomorrow.  Colon’s last start was on June, 17th against the San Diego Padres.  No corresponding move has been announced yet, but with Sean Doolittle pitching 2.1 innings of relief tonight I would not be surprised it it were him or Evan Scribner.

 For more on the Boston Red Sox, visit Fenway Fatales. 

The A’s will begin a 6-game homestand starting tonight.  The Boston Red Sox (42-37) are coming in to Oakland for the first time this season and it will be the second time the A’s have faced them this year.

The Red Sox are 6-4 in their last 10 games and are coming off a 4-game series split with the Seattle Mariners.  They are 2nd in the entire league in runs scored (404), but rank in the bottom half of the league in almost all pitching categories.

Monday 7:05 PM PST: (RHP) Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2) Vs (LHP) Jarrod Parker (4-3)

• Daisuke Matsuzaka will be making his 5th start for the Red Sox since his return from Tommy John surgery.  His last start was his most successful, lasting 5.2 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays and only allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5.  This will obviously be his first start against the A’s this season.
• Jarrod Parker was sharp in his last start, he held the Seattle Mariners to 3 hits and 1 run over 7 innings while walking 4 and striking out a career high 9 batters.  Parker collected his first major league win the lone time he faced the Red Sox, he allowed 1 run over 6.2 innings while allowing only 4 hits and striking out 4.

Tuesday 7:05 PM PST: (LHP) John Lester (5-5) Vs (RHP) Bartolo Colon (6-7)

• In his last start John Lester faced the Toronto Blue Jays and allowed 4 runs on 7 hits walked 0, while striking out 4, which was good enough for him to collect his 5th win of the season.  Lester has faced the A’s 9 times in his career, he has a 3-3 record with a 4.53 ERA over 49.2 innings against them.
• Bartolo Colon is expected to return from the DL on Tuesday to face the Red Sox.   His last start was June 17th against the San Diego Padres and he only lasted 2 plus innings before injuring his oblique.  Colon has faced the Red Sox 21 times in his career, he currently has a 8-11 record against them with a 4.08 ERA over 156.2 innings along with 2.06 SO/BB ratio.

Wednesday 1:05 PM PST: (LHP) Franklin Morales (1-1) Vs (RHP) A.J. Griffin (0-0)

• Franklin Morales will be making his 4th start for the Red Sox on Wednesday since being converted over to the starting role.  Morales was dominant in his last start, holding the Seattle Mariners to only 3 hits while only walking 2 and striking out 7.  Morales has only made one relief appearance against Oakland in his career, he allowed no hits or walks in 2/3 of an inning.
• Despite being solid in his first 2 starts for the A’s this, A.J. Griffin has been handed a no decision both times.  In his last start he held the Texas Rangers to 2 hits over 6 scoreless innings while allowing 2 walks and striking out 4.

Keys to Success:

If the bullpen is handed a lead they should try and hold it for their starter.

For more on the Boston Red Sox, visit Fenway Fatales. 

Back when the A’s made this move I hated it.  Back in April when I graded the A’s offseason moves I still hated this trade (a little less though), grading it a C.   At some point, I believe I even said we just trade Ryan Sweeney for Ryan Sweeney.  I am now eating crow.

This is the trade that brought us (OF) Josh Reddick, (IF) Miles Head and (RHP) Raul Alcantara and sent (RHP) Andrew Bailey and (OF) Ryan Sweeney to the Boston Red Sox.

Josh Reddick is not Ryan Sweeney.  In fact, Josh Reddick is the anti-Ryan Sweeney.  Coming in to today, Reddick has played in 71 games for the A’s, he has a .266/.344/.522 slash line with a .866 OPS.  Last season over 87 games he had 7 HR, this season he leads the team with 17.  Most impressively, he has a 2.9 rWAR, which ranks 5th among position players in the AL.

Coming into the season, one of the biggest concerns for Reddick was his patience, or lack of, at the plate.  His walk rate is up, taking walks 10% of the time, where last season he was only walking 6.8% of the time.  Now that he is hitting for power more, his strikeouts went up from 18% to 22.7%.

Miles Head was the player I was originally most intrigued by.  Originally drafted as a 3rd baseman by the Red Sox they converted him to 1st and the A’s have now converted him back to 3rd.  Head’s biggest concern has always been his strikeouts, collecting 109 over 129 games in the minors last season.

Head started off the season in High-A Stockton and over 67 games he had a very impressive .382/.433/.715 slash line with an 1.149 OPS and 18 HR.  Having started the season off so strongly, he was promoted to Double-A Midland on June, 21st.  He has only started in 5 games for the RockHounds and currently has 4 hits in 18 AB with a double and a triple.

Raul Alcantara has started in 13 games for Single-A Burlington, he has a 4-6 record with a 5.05 ERA and 4.84 FIP.  At the age of 19, he is still very young.  So far this season he has a 4.77 SO/9 rate with a 3.41 BB/9 rate.

Andrew Bailey started the season on the DL for the Red Sox after having right thumb surgery in April.  Bailey was not expected to return until after the All-Star break, but recently experienced a setback due to tightness in his arm.

Ryan Sweeney has started in 52 games for the Red Sox this season, during that time he has put up a .292/.330/.404 slash line with a .733 OPS and 0 HR with 13 RBI.

Sweeney was also placed on the DL on June 17th due to toe discomfort.

All I can really say is, I was really wrong about this trade.  My grade is now an A+ and it’s not just because Bailey hasn’t played a game in the majors this season.

Athletics:  4  Red Sox:  2

For those of you keeping track, this is the third day in a row of me not complaining about the A’s lack of offense.  So maybe you think 9 hits and 4 runs is not offense to brag about, but when you’re an A’s fan anything more than 4 hits and 2 runs is something to get excited about.

Lines of the Day: 

• Brandon McCarthy:  6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 SO.  After going winless in his first 5 games (not entirely his fault), McCarthy has now recorded back-to-back wins.  It’s amazing what a little run support can do for a guy!
• Seth Smith:  4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 2RBI.  After going 0-4 and wearing the golden sombrero in his last game, Smith had a nice bounce back game.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp:  4 AB, 0 H, 1 SO, 3 LOB.  I was wondering if Coco starting in the lead off spot today might help him offensive, but apparently the answer is no.
• Eric Sogard:  4 AB, 1 SO, 3 LOB.  Sogard was the only other player in the starting lineup tonight to not collect a hit.

A’s Extras:

• Brandon Inge collected his first RBI as an Oakland Athletic, he went 1-3 and his 1 hit was a double.
• Kila Ka’aihue also had a double (his 4th of the season) in today’s game, he went 1-3 had 1 run, 1 RBI and a walk.  I think it’s safe to assume that if he continues to hit like this, he will be the every day first baseman…if he isn’t already.
• Jemile Weeks did not play today due to groin tightness and is expected to be back in the lineup for the series opener against the Rays on Friday.  Speaking of injuries, Coco Crisp left the game tonight because his is still experiencing problems with his ear.
• Brian Fuentes collected his first save of the season, he did allow 2 hits (1 single, 1 double) and 1 run, but was able to finish the game by getting Adrian Gonzalez to ground out.  It was Fuentes’ 200th career save, making him just the 6th left hander to reach that milestone.

For more on the Red Sox please visit Fenway Fatales.

Athletics:  5  Red Sox:  3

Not only did the A’s record hits and score runs today, but they also had the pitching to back up the runs.  Jarrod Parker had another solid outing for the A’s and, even though the bullpen was shaky again for him in the ninth, he was able to record his first major league win.

Lines of the Day:

• Jarrod Parker:  6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 SO.  Parker threw 98 pitches and 59 were for strikes, his one slip up was a wild pitch that got Dustin Pedroia into scoring position, and who eventually scored on an RBI ground out.
• Jemile Weeks:  5 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB.   There’s been a lot of murmurs lately about whether or not “something is wrong” with Weeks, so it’s nice to see him have a multi-hit day along with 2 RBI.  I also think it’s important to note that Weeks was on twice today and both times he scored.