Thanks for the memories, Penny!

It’s been a little over a week since the A’s played their final game of the season and Billy Beane has already started making moves. Today the A’s announced they have acquired outfielder Chris Young from the Arizona Diamondbacks for shortstops Cliff Pennington and Yordy Cabrera.

Chris Young played in 101 games this season for the Diamondbacks and posted a .231/.311/.434 slash line with 14 HR and 41 RBI.  Over 363 plate appearances he had a .325 wOBA, a 97 wRC+ and a 2.8 fWAR.  He has a career .239/.318/.437 slash line with a career 16.3 fWAR over seven seasons.

Young missed a month at the beginning of the season with a hip injury and missed time in September due to a quad injury. He  will be under team control through the 2013 season and has an $11 million team option for 2014.

Cliff Pennington shared time at second and short last season and played in 125 games for the A’s.  Over 462 plate appearances he had a .215/.278/.311 slash line, a .263 wOBA and a 65 wRC+.

The A’s drafted Yordy Cabrera in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft.  In Single-A Stockton last season he played in 60 games and posted a .232/.293/.332 slash line with a .284 wOBA. The Diamondbacks have announced they flipped Yordy and traded him to the Miami Marlins for closer Heath Bell.

It is unclear if Chris Young will be here to stay or if he will be flipped for a middle infielder, but overall, this is a good trade for the A’s.  The outfield has become even more crowded for the Athletics, who still have Seth Smith, Yoenis Cespedes, Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick.  Chris Young’s “natural” position is center field so most are speculating he will be the player that is moved.  My guess is that Coco Crisp or Josh Reddick are the odd men out, but Billy Beane always has a way of surprising.

Tigers: 5  Athletics:  4

This loss hurts a little bit more, okay a lot more, than yesterday’s. Not only are the A’s down by two games, with the Tigers one game away from eliminating them, but this is a game that they could have (probably should have) won.

Tom Milone had a great outing for the A’s, going six innings and only allowing five hits and one run while striking out six and walking one.  The score stood at 1-1 until the seventh inning, when the A’s took the lead on an RBI single by Cliff Pennington.

Sean Doolittle came in for relief in the seventh, he recorded the first two outs of the inning before allowing back-to-back singles to Austin Jackson and Omar Infante.  He then got Miguel Cabrera to pop up to Coco Crisp, who dropped the ball and both runners scored on the error.

In the top of the eighth the A’s fought back. Yoenis Cespedes singled to lead off the inning and with one out and Josh Reddick up to bat he stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch by Joaquin Benoit. Josh Reddick then hit a home run, putting them back up 4-3.

In the bottom of the eighth Ryan Cook came in to relieve Sean Doolittle, allowing back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.  Andy Dirks hit a sacrifice bunt, moving the runners over to second and third and with that Ryan Cook recorded the first out of the inning.  Cook then struck out Quintin Berry, but with Alex Avila batting, he threw a wild pitch, allowing the runner on third to score.  Alex Avila struck out looking to end the inning.

The A’s threatened again in the ninth, but with two runners on and two outs, Yoenis Cespedes grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.

Grant Balfour came in to pitch the ninth.  He lead off the inning by getting Austin Jackson to strike out, but then gave up back-to-back singles to Omar Infante and Miguel Cabrera. With two on and one out Balfour intentionally walked Prince Fielder to load the bases.  Don Kelly hit a fly ball to Josh Reddick and just like that; ball game over.

You can really blame anything you want on today’s game, the dropped fly ball, the wild pitch, Grant Balfour, home field “advantage”, but the one thing that went right was the managing of the game.  Bob Melvin did what was right,  he went to the right guys at the right time, the three guys who normally would have shut down the last three innings of the game.

The A’s have an off day tomorrow before they begin the last three games of the series at home.  It’s a sweep or nothing at this point for the Green and Gold and, as we know, anything is possible with this team.

Rangers:  5  Athletics:  4

Another day, another walk-off.  From a fan’s point of view, this has been extremely frustrating trip for the team.  We knew it wasn’t going to come easy, but I don’t think we expected this.

Dan Straily pitched a great game tonight in Arlington, over 6.2 innings he allowed 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) walked two and struck out a career high of 8.  His only real mistake was a one out home run to Josh Hamilton in the fifth inning. The fifth was really the only inning he struggled in, after allowing a home run to Hamilton he allowed a double to Adrian Beltre, but he was picked off by Derek Norris when he tried to moved to third on a ball that dropped a foot in front of Norris.  He then allowed a double to Nelson Cruz, but the threat ended when he got Michael Young to pop up.

The A’s scored first tonight off of a 2-run home run from Josh Donaldson in the second inning.  They scored again in the third inning off of a solo home run by Yoenis Cespedes.  Their final run scored was in the sixth off of a two out RBI single by Cliff Pennington.

They knocked Derek Holland out of the game after only 3 innings, they only collected 4 hits off of him, but two of those hits were home runs.  He also walked 2 and struck out 4. The A’s could not do much against the Rangers bullpen after Holland was pulled, only combining for 4 hits, 2 walks and 1 run over the next 6 innings of the game.

When Dan Straily left the game in the seventh inning he left with the bases empty and was in line for the win.  Jerry Blevins came in to record the final out of the inning, but walked Josh Hamilton.  Pat Neshek came in to relieve Blevins, he did record the last out, but not before giving up a 2-run home run to Adrian Beltre.

The A’s did not do much in the eighth or the ninth.  Josh Reddick walked in the eighth, but was stranded and Stephen Drew walked with 1 out in the 9th, but was stranded after he was caught stealing to end the inning.

Ryan Cook came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, he was able to retire all three batters he faced.  Unfortunately, Tyson Ross, who came in to pitch in the ninth, did not have the same success.  Ross allowed two singles to Mitch Moreland and Ian Kinsler to lead off the inning.  Elvis Andrus then sacrificed both runners over to second and third with a bunt.  Ross then intentionally walked Josh Hamilton.  With the bases loaded Adrian Beltre (yes, again) came up to the plate and smacked a single up the middle and the ballgame was over.

It’s easy to put the blame on one individual, but, in my opinion, it was another group effort.  You could say that it was poor management of the bullpen, but there was another costly error in the second inning which lead to an unearned run.  The team struggled again offensively, only going 2-8 tonight with runners in scoring position and leaving 7 on.

Is it panic time for the A’s?  Probably so.  I have tried to remain optimistic through this entire road trip, but they are now only 2-4 over their last six games with 3 left to play in Texas before heading home.  They have 9 games left, 6 of which are against the Rangers.  They are now 5 games out of first place, 1.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the first wild card and only hold a 2 game lead over the Angels for the second wild card.  I don’t necessarily think it’s time to give up on them, but they are going to have to make a tremendous turnaround if they want to hold onto the second wildcard spot.

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.

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″

Athletics: 12  Tigers: 4

The A’s avoided the sweep today by doing the exact opposite of what they had in their previous three games.  They hit with runners in scoring position and despite Tom Milone being pulled from the game in the fifth, the bullpen pitched well enough to keep Oakland in the game.

Tom Milone was less than sharp today, throwing 94 pitches through 4.2 innings.  He got Austin Jackson to strike out to start the bottom half of the first, but with only one out he loaded the bases with a double and two walks.  Delmon Young swung at the first pitch he saw, grounding out into a double play and ending the threat.

He was not so lucky in the second inning, allowing back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and a sacrifice bunt that would move the runners over to second and third.  Then with two on and one out Gerald Laird hit an RBI single scoring the first run of the game.  He record the second out of the inning by getting Austin Jackson to fly out, but a second run scored on the sacrifice.  Omar Infante walked, but Miguel Cabrera flew out to end the inning.

The A’s cut the Tigers lead in half in the third, scoring on a throwing error by Omar Infante. The Tigers would stay quiet in the third and the fourth, allowing the A’s to tie it up in the fifth inning off of a solo home run by Seth Smith. The Tigers retook the lead in the fifth inning off of an RBI double by Prince Fielder.  Milone recorded the second out of the inning before being replaced by Pat Neshek who recorded the last out by getting Avilsail Garcia to pop out.

The sixth inning was huge for the A’s, who scored four runs off of an RBI double by Brandon Moss and a 3-run double by George Kottaras.  Jerry Blevins replaced Neshek in bottom half of the sixth and after allowing a lead off home run to Andy Dirks he got Gerald Laird to fly out.  Ryan Cook came in to replace Blevins, getting the last two batters to fly out. Cook pitched the seventh inning as well, setting down the batters in order and striking out two of the three he faced.  Sean Doolittle pitched a clean eighth inning, also striking out two of the three he faced.

The A’s needed insurance runs and that’s exactly what they got in the ninth, scoring six runs and putting them up by eight. Cliff Pennington and George Kottaras lead off the inning with two singles and Stephen Drew grounded out moving the runners to second and third.  The Tigers then intentionally walked Josh Reddick to get to Yoenis Cespedes, who hit a sacrafice fly.  Then with two outs and Kottaras and Reddick on first and third Brandon Moss was intentionally walked to get to Daric Barton.  Barton walked and Kottaras scored and the A’s were up by four. Seth Smith would follow with a bases clearing double and he scored after Josh Donaldson doubled him in.  George Kottaras, who lead off the inning with a single, grounded out to end the inning.

Evan Scribner pitched the ninth inning, he allowed a double to Omar Infante, but escaped the inning without allowing a run.

Along with good news comes bad news, the A’s have announced that Brett Anderson will miss the rest of the regular season with a right olique strain.  Anderson has expressed that he would like to be ready in the post season if the team makes it.  As I said yesterday, Travis Blackley is expected to take his spot in the rotation.  In 93.2 innings for the A’s this season, Blackley has a 3.65 ERA, a 3.62 FIP and .262 BABIP.

NOOOOOOOO…

Tigers:  6  Athletics:  2

A lot of things did not go right for the A’s tonight.  I guess if I had to chose the one thing that went right it was when Justin Verlander was done after 6 innings, but that did not make a big difference in the final score.

Brett Anderson looked strong through the first two innings, allowing only a walk.  In the third Andy Dirks and Gerald Laird both lead off with bunt (yes bunt) singles.  He got Austin Jackson to ground out moving the runners over to second and third, but a two run double by Omar Infante put the Tigers up 2-0.  Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked and then Prince Fielder was unintentionally walked to load the bases.  Then with Delmon Young at the plate Brett Anderson fell to the ground while making a delivery on the fourth pitch of the at bat.  Anderson had to be removed from the game after the fall and his injury was later described as a right oblique strain.

It’s not a sure thing that Anderson will miss time, but I think it’s safe to assume he will most likely be done for the rest of the season.  If he does have to miss any time Bob Melvin has named Travis Blackley to take his spot in the rotation.

The offense struggled again, going 2-10 with runners in scoring position.  They scored their only two runs in the ninth off two RBI singles from Cliff Pennington and Stephen Drew.

Thanks, Jerry!!

Athletics:  6  Angels:  5

I’d say that last night’s game was the scariest of the season so far.  I’d say most of these games are “must” wins at this point, but last night was a MUST win for the A’s.  The A’s needed to gain ground on their division rival before the next two games, as they have to face two pitchers they have struggled with in the past.

The A’s got on the board first again, this time a Yoenis Cespedes hit a solo home run to give them the lead in the second.  The Angels took the lead immediately after when Vernon Wells hit a 2-run home run to put the Angels up 2-1.  The A’s retook the lead in the fourth on Brandon Moss’ 2-run home run (his second home run in two days).  In the same inning, Josh Donaldson and George Kottaras followed with back-to-back singles and Stephen Drew hit a sacrifice fly, putting the A’s up by 2.

The Angels cut their lead down to one after a Torii Hunter home run in the seventh.  The A’s scored two more runs in the top of the ninth, which ended up being the most important of the game.  Cliff Pennington singled with two outs and Coco Crisp came up and drove a ball to right field, thanks to bit of fumbling by Hunter, both Pennington and Coco himself scored.  The play would later be ruled as a triple and an E9.

With a 3-run cushion Grant Balfour came in to save the game.  Balfour has been good for the A’s since he took over at the closer spot, having only allowed 3 runs over the last 10 outings (and no blown saves).  Last night he was not at his best, to say the least.

Grant Balfour walked Chris Iannetta to lead off the inning.  He then walked Mike Trout. Torii Hunter came up and singled and Iannetta scored, cutting the lead to only 2 runs.  Balfour then gave up a single to Albert Pujols and Trout scored and the A’s saw their lead cut to just 1 run.  Then with runners on first and third and no outs Jerry Blevins came in to replace Grant Balfour.

Blevins was put in a tight spot, he needed to record three outs without letting the runner on third cross the plate to tie the game.  That’s exactly what Blevins did.  The first batter he faced was Kendrys Morales and he got him to strike out swinging.  The following batter, Howard Kendrick, hit a 2-1 sinker right to Josh Donaldson who threw out Peter Bourjos (who was pinch running for Pujols) at second and then Cliff Pennington threw out Kendrick at first.  It was Jerry Blevins second career save and the first of this season.

Dan Straily, who made his first start since August 16, did pretty well tonight.  The last time he faced the Angels he allowed four home runs to them, tonight his only two hiccups were the two home runs he allowed to Wells and Hunter.  Through 6.2 he allowed 7 hits, 1 walk and struck out 8.  Pat Neshek tried to record the final out of the seventh, but an error by Stephen Drew put the runner on first and Sean Doolittle came in and relieved Neshek.  Doolittle did record the final out and pitched a clean eighth.

In other good A’s news, Brandon McCarthy was released from the hospital yesterday after having surgery 6 days prior.  Hopefully he will be able to resume baseball activities within a few months.

Athletics:  3  Angels:  1

Hello from Southern California! Caught the game tonight in Anaheim and it was a good one.

There was not a lot of offense coming from the team tonight, as the A’s only combined for 6 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs.  They scored in the first inning after Coco Crisp lead off the game with a triple and Seth Smith followed with an RBI ground out.  They would score their other two runs on solo home runs, Brandon Moss lead off the fifth with his 17th of the season and Cliff Pennington lead off the sixth with his fifth of the season.

They threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with only one out, but Stephen Drew struck out and Cliff Pennington grounded out to end the inning.  They also got two on in the eighth inning, but the inning ended after Stephen Drew struck out.

Jarrod Parker was pretty solid tonight, throwing seven innings and only allowing 3 hits, 1 run and walking 2 while striking out 2.  The only run he allowed came in the third when he walked with Mike Trout with 2 outs.  Mike Trout stole second and a throwing error by George Kottaras allowed him to move to third.  Torii Hunter then followed with a double, scoring Trout and then advanced to third on another error by Seth Smith who was in right field today. Parker was able to get out of the inning by getting Albert Pujols to pop up to second base.

Ryan Cook pitched a clean 8th inning, allowing only one hit.  Grant Balfour recorded his 17th save of the season, he did not allow a baserunner and struck out 2.

The A’s needed this win tonight.  Had they lost they would have only been a game and a half ahead of the Angels, but they now have a 3 1/2 game lead on their division rivals.

Athletics:  6  Mariners:  1

For the second night in a row, the A’s have defeated the Mariners 6-1.  Just like last night’s game, the A’s scored in the first inning.  Again it was an error that put them ahead early in the game, this time Josh Reddick scored off an error by third baseman Kyle Seager.

The Mariners tied up the game in the second inning, taking advantage of a throwing error by shortstop Stephen Drew.

The fourth inning was the biggest inning in the game for the A’s.  Yoenis Cespedes lead off the inning with a double, Chris Carter grounded out and failed to move him over, but with Stephen Drew batting, Cespedes stole third.  Stephen Drew singled and Cespedes scored.  Josh Donaldson grounded out into a force out and then, for the second night in a row, George Kottaras hit a 2-run home run to put the A’s up 4-1.  Cliff Pennington continued the inning by hitting a single and Coco Crisp followed with a double and Pennington scored.  Seth Smith walked, Coco Crisp stole his 33rd base off the season, but Josh Reddick struck out swinging to end the inning.

The rest of the game was pretty uneventful for the A’s (and the Mariners) until the ninth inning.  With one out Seth Smith and Josh Reddick hit back-to-back singles and Yoenis Cespedes followed with a sacrifice fly, which scored Smith.

Brett Anderson was solid once again, only allowing 1 unearned run over 6 innings.  He allowed 6 hits, walked none and struck out 4, throwing 108 pitches with 71 for strikes.  Pat Neshek came in relief for Anderson in the seventh inning, he lead off the inning by walking Brendon Ryan, but recorded the next two outs before he was replaced by Sean Doolittle.  Doolittle pitched 1.1 innings, allowed a hit and struck out one.  Evan Scribner pitched a clean ninth inning, he did not allow a baserunner and struck out 1.