In order to make room for Bartolo Colon, the A’s have designed relief pitcher, Brian Fuentes for assignment.

Brian Fuentes pitched in 25 games this season for the Athletics and over 25 innings had a 2-2 record, 6.84 ERA and a .305 BABIP.  In 8 opportunities this season Fuentes was able to convert 5 for saves.

In his 2 seasons with the A’s he has a 4-8 record with a 4.64 ERA over 83.1 innings.

Fuentes had this to say about the situation:

“They’re developing guys, they can’t wait for me forever,” he said.  “It’s a crummy situation, but I go away feeling good about it. … In this game, you learn it’s a revolving door. Very few guys stay in one place for a long time.”

It's not all bad in Oakland

It has been a roller coaster for A’s fans this season so far, to say the least.  The A’s started off the season looking decent, not great, but like a team that was not going to lose 90-100 games.  Entering May the A’s were 12-13, they started the month off by taking back-to-back series against the Red Sox and Rays, but finished the month going 11-16.  Entering June the A’s were 22-29 and now have a 5-6 record on the month so far.

It’s been a frustrating year so far, the promise the A’s once showed at the beginning of the season is now long gone and we are looking at what will probably be another losing season for the green and gold.

Where They Are Right Now:

There are exactly 100 games left for this team, they are currently 8 games under .500 and 9 games out of first place.  The A’s are in third place in the division, but are only half a game ahead of the Seattle Mariners.  Unless the A’s go on some sort of tear, it’s not likely the A’s will take the division this season, nor does it seem likely they will ever see .500 again.

What’s Going Right:

Before I get into what is going wrong with the team, I would like to look at the bright spots on the team.  They may be losing a lot more than winning recently, but there are still many reasons why you should continue to watch the team.

» Continue reading “Checking In With The A’s: 100 Games Left”

Diamondbacks:  9  Athletics:  8

The A’s were just 1 out away from winning tonight’s game, going into the bottom of the ninth the A’s were up 8-6.  Brian Fuentes was able to get the first 2 outs on a fly out and a ground out, but then he lost it.  He allowed a walk to Chris Young, a single to Aaron Hill and then Ryan Roberts took Fuentes deep.  Just like that the game was over.

This is the second time in his last 3 save opportunities that Fuentes has allowed a walk off home run to the opposing team.  The first time I defended him saying the team should have also score more runs, this time the A’s scored plenty of runs and he was still unable to hold the lead.  This loss is all on Fuentes.  And Interleague simply because Interleague is terrible to begin with.

(Photo: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Athletics:  2  Rangers:  0

The A’s offense was pretty quiet last night, but even quieter were the Rangers.  Bartolo Colon and Brian Fuentes dealt the Rangers their first shut out of the season while the A’s mustered out 2 runs to at least guarantee a split in the 4-game series.

Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon:  8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO.  Colon was dealing last night, he threw exactly 100 pitches and 77 were for strikes.  Of those 100 pitches, 93 were fastballs.
• Yoenis Cespedes:  3 AB, 3 H, 1 R, 1 RBI.  Cespedes was not only responsible for half of the A’s hits and runs, but he was also a home run away from hitting for the cycle last night.

A’s Extras:

• Andrew Carignan was placed on the 15-day DL yesterday, called up in his place was (RHP) Evan Scribner.  Scribner was 3-0 in 23 games of relief with the River Cats, he had a 3.31 ERA and 9.6 SO/9 ratio.  Carignan has elected to have Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
• Bradon Moss was called up from Triple-A Sacramento yesterday, over 51 games he had a .286/.371/.582 slash line, a .952 OPS with 15 HR.  To make room for Moss, first baseman Kila Ka’aihue was DFA’d.
• Brian Fuentes pitched a clean inning in the 9th yesterday for the A’s, he collected his 5th save of the season.

For more on the Texas Rangers, visit Big Game Claws.

Twins:  3  Athletics:  2

The A’s were only one out away from breaking their losing streak.  I’d like to blame this loss on Brian Fuentes, he is the one who gave up the walk off home run to Josh Willingham, but the A’s as a whole played some ugly baseball tonight.

The A’s had a lead off hitter reach base 6 out of the 9 innings tonight and only 2 of those 6 players crossed home plate.  The A’s took 9 walks tonight, they also loaded the bases twice and failed to score both times.  They were 3-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 base runners.

It wasn’t all bad tonight, Jarrod Parker pitched 6 shut out innings tonight, he allowed 4 hits, walked 4 and struck out 4.

The A’s are only one loss away from being a last place team now.  Maybe things aren’t going their way, or maybe they’re just finally living up to everyone’s expectations.  Either way, A’s baseball isn’t easy to watch right now.

Tomorrow the A’s will send (RHP) Tyson Ross to the mound to try and avoid the sweep, he will face off against (LHP) Francisco Liriano who will be making his first start since May 7th.

I apologize for the delay in getting this post up a day late, but I did not want to go without highlighting a few things from last night’s game.

• Tom Milone had another strong outing at the Coliseum last night,  over  7 innings he allowed 5 hits, 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 3.  His one run was on a pop up by Mike Trout that dropped in for double.
• Coco Crisp was activated from the DL yesterday, Eric Sogard was sent down to Triple-A to make room for him.  Crisp went 1-4 and scored 1 run in last night’s win.
• The A’s combined for 6 hits and 6 walks, the only 2 players to not reach base yesterday were Jemile Weeks and Kurt Suzuki.
• Last night was the first time I have seen Ryan Cook live, he did not make me feel nervous so that’s a plus!  He pitched 1 clean inning and did not allow a baserunner.
• Brian Fuentes collected his 4th save of the season last night, like Cook, he also did not allow a baserunner.

Athletics:  5  Rangers:  4

The A’s did the impossible, they beat the Texas Rangers in extras at Rangers Ballpark!  Okay, maybe “impossible” is a little dramatic, but it feels like the A’s are always struggling to get wins in Arlington, especially when the game goes into extras.

The game started off in the A’s favor,  Jemile Weeks leaded off the game with a walk, he was almost immediately picked off when he tried to steal second, but 2 singles and 2 doubles later the A’s had the 3-0 lead.

The A’s would see their 3 run lead shrink in the 4th when Mitch Moreland hit a 2-run homer off Brandon McCarthy.  It was pretty quiet from both sides until the dreaded sixth inning.  Mitch Moreland hit his second home run of the game, this time a solo, off of Brandon McCarthy to tie it.  Craig Gentry then hit a double and Elvis Andrus bunted into a double play.  Oh wait… scratch that.  The home plate umpire, Laz Diaz, called the catch by Brandon McCarthy a trapped ball and the Rangers took the lead.   Bob Melvin had things to get off his mind, so he was tossed for arguing with the umpire.

Josh Reddick showed his middle finger to the umpire by hitting a solo home run in the next inning to re-tie the game, it was his 10th of the season.  The A’s would go on to win in the 10th on an RBI single by Kila Ka’aihue.

Lines of the Day:

• Adam Rosales:  1 AB, 3 BB.  Rosales was called up today after Brandon Inge was placed on the DL for groin strain.  He played at 1st today and  celebrated his promotion by reaching base in all 4 of his plate appearances today.
• Ryan Cook:  2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO.  Another 2 clean innings for Ryan Cook, who also collected his first major league win today.  There was a scare with Cook in the 8th when he winced in pain after throwing a pitch, but we learned after the game he had tore a nail and there should be no trips to the DL for the reliever.  Knock on wood.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Josh Donaldson:  4 AB, 0 H, 1 E.  Donaldson was not the only play to not reach base today, but his defense almost cost the A’s the game in the bottom of the 9th.

A’s Extras:

• Brandon McCarthy pitched 5.1 innings today, he allowed 8 hits, 4* runs, walked 3 and struck out 4.
• As I said earlier, Brandon Inge has been placed on the DL retroactive May 13th.
• Brian Fuentes recorded his 3rd save of the season today, he allowed 1 hit and struck out 1.

For more on the Texas Rangers please visit Big Game Claws.

Athletics:  3  Tigers:  1

There was no offensive explosion in Oakland today, but the A’s didn’t need 11 runs to win (not that they did yesterday either) because Brandon McCarthy was on tonight.  The team has now at least guaranteed they split the 4-game series and will finish this home stand at least 1 game over .500.

Lines of the Day:

• Brandon McCarthy:  7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 SO. Apparently Brandon McCarthy was not kidding when he said he was feeling better because he had his best game of the season tonight.  After going 0-3 in his first 5 starts of the season he has now won 3 straight in his last 3 starts and has only allowed 3 earned runs in his last 20.2 innings pitched.
• Jemile Weeks:  2 AB, 2 H, 1 R.  There was really no offensive stand outs today, but Weeks was the only player to have a multi-hit day.  Weeks did have to be pulled from the game after he rolled his ankle running out of the batters box and right now not a lot is known about his injury.

I am skipping the “Ugly Lines of the Day” because the only thing ugly going on in Oakland right now is the injury bug.

• Yoenis Cespedes has been placed on the DL retroactive May, 7th.  Cespedes was expected to be back in the lineup today, but during batting practice he was still experiencing pain in his hand.  Josh Donaldson has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to replace him.
• Before tonight’s game Bob Melvin announced that Kurt Suzuki was dropped to the 9th spot because he also is dealing with a sore left hand and he would like for Kurt to see as little at bats as possible.  (Suzuki was eventually moved up because of the late scratch of Cespedes and Ka’aihue)
• Kila Ka’aihue was a last minute scratch from the lineup because of a hamstring injury that apparently happened last night while he was running the bases.  As of right now the injury is not thought to be serious.
• Although he was pulled from the game with an ankle injury in the 4th, Jemile Weeks tells Susan Slusser he believes he will be able to play tomorrow.  I personally don’t see this happening, nor would I really want it to, but at least it sounds like this is an injury that won’t land him on the DL.

A’s Extras:

• Ryan Cook pitched another clean inning tonight for Oakland, he allowed 1 walk and struck out 1.
• Brian Fuentes collected his 2nd save of the season tonight.  It wasn’t a clean save for him as he allowed a double, a wild pitch and a run, but after the game Bob Melvin announced him as the new closer.
• Brandon Inge did not hit a home run today nor did he have 4 RBI, but he did go 0-3 with a walk.

For more on the Detroit Tigers please visit Motown Lowdown.

 Athletics:  9  Rays:  5

It was a morning game for us West Coasters and today I decided that no matter what the outcome of this game would be, I would remain optimistic about this team.  I’ve been hard on them lately, especially their offense, instead I should be praising them for this run they have given us.

I don’t want to question why the A’s keep winning or why they aren’t looking like that 90 loss team that everyone projected in the off season, I just want to enjoy watching A’s baseball while this lasts and if we’re lucky enough maybe it will never end.

The game didn’t start off great, Tom Milone allowed 4 runs in the first and instead of giving up in the first inning I decided that it was okay because the A’s had 8 more innings to come back from that very small deficit.  That’s exactly what the A’s did, they scored 5 in the 3rd inning (all with 2 outs) and went on to win the game 9-5.  So it turns out that a little bit of optimism goes a long way.

Lines of the Day:

• A’s Bullpen:  4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO.  Today it was Jerry Blevins, Ryan Cook, Brian Fuentes and Jordan Noberto that held on to the A’s lead.  The bullpen combined for 15.1 inning pitched, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB & 13 strike outs in this 3-game series against the Rays.
• Brandon Inge:  2 AB, 1 H, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 1 HR.  Inge hit his first home run as an Athletic today, it was a 3-run shot that got the A’s back into the game and came off of (LHP) Matt Moore.  He also had a sac fly in the 7th inning to collect his 4th RBI of the game.

Athletics:  4  Rays:  3

This was the shortest start for Bartolo Colon since April 7th, when he only lasted 4.1 innings, but he left the game with a tie which was eventually broken up in the 12th off a solo home run by Jonny Gomes (his 5th of the season).  The A’s would go on to win the game, are looking at a .500 record again and are now 3-1 in extras this season.

Lines of the Day:

• A’s Bullpen:  7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO.  Tonight it was Jordan Norberto, Ryan Cook, Brian Fuentes and Grant Balfour who held the Rays scoreless through almost a complete game (the Rays bullpen was almost equally as impressive).
• Jonny Gomes:  1 AB, 1H, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB.  Not only did Gomes hit the go ahead home run to win the game, but he also made a great catch in the 10th to rob Carlos Pena from what would have probably been a double.
• Daric Barton:  5 AB, 3 H, 1 BB.  Barton finally saw some time at first base again, he showed his appreciation by reaching base 4 times and being a big part of the double play that ended the game.

Ugly Line of the Day:

• Jemile Weeks:  6 AB, 0 H, 0 BB, 7 LOB.  Weeks was the only player to not either record a hit or take a walk in tonight’s line up, he is now hitting .174 this season.

• After having 3 poor outings in a row, Grant Balfour pitched a clean inning tonight and recorded his 7th save of the season.  He allowed a lead off single to BJ Upton, but then got Carlos Pena to pop up and got Matt Joyce to ground out into a double-play on a 3-0 count.
• Josh Reddick also hit his 5th home run of the season, it was also a solo shot, that came off of Jeremy Hellickson in the 1st inning.  Reddick went 2-6 tonight and also had 1 run and 2 RBI.
• Bartolo Colon only last 5 innings tonight, he allowed 8 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 2.