There is not a lot to say about today’s loss against the Cleveland Indians. Seriously, not a lot happened today. The team combined for six hits and one walk over nine innings and not one baserunner made it past first base. John Jaso was the only player to collect multiple hits tonight, going 2-4. The team “threatened” in the ninth inning when Yoenis Cespedes singled with one out, but that was quickly erased when he was caught stealing while Brandon Moss was batting.

Tom Milone was the one bright spot in today’s game, lasting seven innings and allowing only five hits, one unearned run, no walks and striking out five. I was impressed with Milone today, who normally struggles on the road, so maybe this a sign of things to come? Or maybe I am looking too much into one game. Either way, Milone will next face the Mariners in Seattle and hopefully by then, the team will have located their bats.

The one run that scored in tonight’s game was on an error, actually two errors, Carlos Santana reached first on a fielding error by Brandon Moss, he then advanced to second on a throwing error by Eric Sogard. He then reached third on a one-out single by Mike Aviles and crossed home on a sacrifice fly by Yan Gomes.

Josh Reddick did not play in tonight’s game due to wrist soreness, which may or may not have to do with him crashing into the wall in Houston, way back in April. It is believed that Reddick will land on the DL and no word on who will replace him if he does need to miss an extensive amount of time. Reddick has performed pretty poorly this season, posting a .152/.266/.250 slash line with a .241 wOBA and 48 wRC+ over 109 plate appearances. It’s possible this wrist injury explains his struggles, but I think we can all agree we hope to see the old Reddick return if he does, indeed, land on the disabled list.

Update: Susan Slusser reports that the A’s will place Josh Reddick on the DL and will call up Daric Barton in his place. Barton has played in 28 games for the Sacramento Rivercats this season and over 125 plate appearances has posted a .296/.432/.480 slash line with a .411 wOBA and a 142 wRC+. I may be in the minority here, but I don’t think this is a terrible move for the team to make. I assume this means Brandon Moss moves to right field, while Barton covers first. Defensively, he is good, and offensively, he could match (if not exceed) Reddick’s numbers this season.

Bad news first: Josh Reddick had to be pulled from the game in the fifth inning after slamming his arm into the wall going after a foul ball. As of right now we don’t have any idea how serious the injury is, but thankfully, if he needs to be out for an extended period of time, there is plenty of outfield depth on the team.

Anyway, the A’s beat the Astros by a final score of 9-3. The good news of the game is that, they are beating a team they should be beating. More good news for the A’s; after taking a ball off of his hand in the second inning, Brett Anderson stayed in the game and pitched a pretty decent game. The only trouble Anderson really came across was in the sixth, when he allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. He was able to get the first two outs via strikeout, but a throwing error by Jed Lowrie allowed two runs to cross the plate.  Pat Neshek relieved Anderson in the seventh and pitched one plus innings, allowing a triple and two walks while striking out two before being relieved by Jerry Blevins in the eighth. Jerry Blevins retired all three batters he faced, but allowed the runner at third to cross home on an RBI ground out. Evan Scribner pitched the ninth, also retiring all three batters he faced.

The A’s collected eleven hits today, and thanks to two doubles, three home runs and six walks, the A’s won this game easily. The biggest hit of the game was probably Chris Young’s 3-run home run in the fifth, which put the A’s up 8-0.  After seeing the first two games of the season, it’s nice to see the A’s bats come alive. The series against the Angels should be an interesting one and I am curious to see how the offense plays out this week.

Lines of the Day:

• Brett Anderson pitched six innings, allowed five hits, two unearned runs, walked two and struck out ten. This start was similar to his first start, just a couple less walks and a few more strikeouts. I don’t think we will be seeing many 10 plus strikeout games for Anderson this year, but I could be wrong.
• Jed Lowrie had another multi-hit game going 3-5 with a home run, a double and a single while driving in two runs. He now has three home runs on the season and five doubles.
• Coco Crisp also had another multi-hit day, going 2-4 with a home run, a double and a walk. He now has three home runs in his last three games and is 10-30 on the season with three walks.
• Brandon Moss quietly had a nice day going 2-3 with two walks and one RBI.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Josh Donaldson went 0-4 today with one strikeout. He is now 3-25 on the season with one walk and four strikeouts.
• Eric Sogard was also hitless today, going 0-3 with a HBP. He has struggled a bit at the plate himself this season, starting off the first week going 3-19 with with one walk and three strikeouts.

With the first week of the season over, it’s still really too early to be worried about anyone. Well, besides Josh Reddick who may have a broken arm. I am not worried about Yoenis Cespedes not hitting because it’s April 7th. I am not worried about Josh Donaldson or Eric Sogard for the same reason.

Update: Per the team, Josh Reddick’s X-rays were negative and he is listed as day-to-day with a sprained wrist. Big sigh of relief from everyone.

With today’s 6-3 win over the Astros, the A’s are now on a four game winning streak, two games over .500 and hold sole possession of first place in the American League West. I know, I know…it’s only the first week of the season, but it always feels good to say that.

I am not going to lie, this win came as a surprise to me. Outside of a solo home run by Coco Crisp in the fourth inning, the A’s really struggled against Bud Norris. It wasn’t until the lead off home run by Jed Lowrie in the sixth, that they really got the bats going. Following the home run, Josh Reddick reached on a fielding error by Ronny Cedeno and two outs later, Brandon Moss walked. With Josh Donaldson batting, Josh Reddick stole his third base of the season and Donaldson following with a single, which scored Reddick.  Derek Norris then followed up with a single of his own, scoring Brandon Moss. The last run scored on an RBI single by Eric Sogard. That inning was really the difference maker in the game.

Today was Bartolo Colon’s first Major League start since August 18th, and while he was wasn’t stellar, he was efficient. He pitched six innings, allowed eight hits, three earned runs, walked none and struck out two. (This is the first game this season that the Astros hadn’t struck out ten times or more by the way). He threw 83 pitches, 58 were for strikes and his one mistake was allowing a 3-run home run to Jason Castro. So like I said, not fantastic, but exactly what the A’s need him to do for the team.

The bullpen did their job; Sean Doolittle pitched a clean seventh, not allowing a base runner. Ryan Cook also pitched a clean inning in the eighth, he did not allow a base runner and struck out one. Grant Balfour collected his first save of the season, retiring all three batters he faced, while striking out one.

Lines of the Day:

• Jed Lowrie had another good day for the team, going 3-5 with a home run (his first of the season) and one RBI.  He is now 10-21 on the season with four RBI and four walks.
• Coco Crisp has continued to stay hot, going 2-5 with a home run, a double and one RBI.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Josh Reddick had a 0-5 day, but did reach base in the sixth on an error. He did, however, hit into an inning ending double play in the ninth.
• Yoenis Cespedes continued to struggle at the plate today, going 0-4 and striking out three times.

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.

Athletics:  4  Rays:  3

The A’s pulled off their 12th walk-off of the season tonight, defeating the Rays in 15 innings.

It was a pretty uneventful game, the A’s scored their first 2 runs in the the second when Chris Carter doubled in Yoenis Cespedes and Kurt Suzuki doubled in Chris Carter.  The Rays took the lead in the sixth when Matt Joyce homered off of A.J. Griffin.  The A’s tied the game back up in the seventh when Brandon Hicks hit a home run of his own.

The score remained the same for 8 more innings.  In the bottom of the 15th with Kyle Farnsworth on the mound, Brandon Inge led the inning off with a single and Kurt Suzuki sacrificed him over to second in the following at bat.  Farnsworth then intentionally walked Seth Smith and then unintentionally walked Eric Sogard to load the bases.  Jemile Weeks then hit a fly ball to center and Brandon Inge scored from third to end the game.

A’s Extras:

• This was A.J. Griffin’s longest outing of the season thus far, over 7 innings he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, walked 2 and struck out 6.
• The A’s set a franchise record tonight, striking out 21 times in the game.  Each player in the starting lineup struck out at least once, with Josh Reddick and Brandon Inge both wearing the Golden Sombrero.
• Jemile Weeks and Josh Reddick both went 0-7 tonight.
• Yoenis Cespedes went 3-7 tonight with 1 run and 1 strike out.

For more on the Tampa Bay Rays, vist Cowbell Clankers. 

Athletics: 6  Orioles: 1

The A’s celebrated their 100th game of the season with a win tonight.  They are now 10 games over .500 and with a Rangers loss are now 3 1/2 games out of first place in the division.

The question is, are the A’s “faking” like many seem to believe?  If you asked me in the beginning of the month I might have told you they were running on luck, but how can you not believe in this team right now?

It was Yoenis Cespedes who struck first tonight, in the fourth he hit a 2-run home run, his 14th of the season, off of right-hander Tommy Hunter to get the A’s on the board.  Chris Carter also hit a 2-run home run in the sixth, his 8th of the season.

Bartolo Colon was okay tonight, lasting only 5 2/3 innings, while allowing 7 hits and 1 walk and striking out 5.  His pitch count was up early and the only inning he did not have a runner in scoring position was in the 3rd, but was able to get out of trouble every time.

Lines of the Day:

• Yoenis Cespedes: 4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 1 3B.  Since returning from the All-Star break Cespedes has a .439/.484/.807 slash line with a 1.291 OPS.
• Jemile Weeks:  5 AB, 3 H, 2 R.  This is the first time Weeks had a 3-hit game this season.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp:  4 AB, 0 H, 1 SO.  Crisp was the only player in the starting lineup to not reach base today.  He also left the game in the 8th with a tight hamstring and is not expected to be in the lineup for tomorrow’s game.

A’s Extras:

• Josh Reddick was not in the lineup tonight because of the back contusion he suffered yesterday, but was available to pinch hit so he should be back in the lineup from Sunday’s game.
• Eric Sogard started at shortstop today and went 2-4 with an RBI.
• Evan Scribner pitched 1.2 innings tonight and allowed 1 hit (a solo home run) and struck out 2.  The one run he allowed was his first of the season.
• According to Susan Slusser the A’s have acquired George Kottaras from the Milwaukee Brewers, but no official announcement has been made yet.  The A’s are expected to send Fautino De Los Santos in return.

For more on the Baltimore Orioles, visit Charm City Yakyuu.

Athletics:  3  Yankees:  2

This season has quickly become the season of walk-offs for the A’s.  Tonight was no exception, as they won on their 10th walk-off of the season.

Tom Milone left the game after throwing 7 shutout innings, but the bullpen could not hold the lead for him tonight.  Jerry Blevins allowed a lead off home run to Russell Martin in the eighth and Ryan Cook allowed his second home run in 2 days (also his second home run in his major league career) when Robinson Cano lead off the ninth with one.

Josh Reddick lead off the bottom of the ninth by striking out, Yoenis Cespedes then singled, Jonny Gomes followed with a single of his own and then Brandon Moss singled to score Cespedes which won the A’s their 49th game of the season.

Lines of the Day:

• Tom Milone:  7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 10 SO.  Milone struck out a career high of 10 tonight and did not walk a single batter.  It took him 110 pitches to get through 7 innings and 78 were for strikes.
• Yoenis Cespedes:  5 AB, 4 H, 1 R.  Are you tired of hearing about Cespedes yet?  Good.  Because I’m not either.
• Josh Reddick:  5 AB, 3 H, 2 2B.  3 hits for Reddick tonight, who now has a .274/.351/.534 slash line on the season with 18 doubles.

Ugly Lines of the day:

• Jemile Weeks:  4 AB, 0 H, 1 RBI.  After going 2-4 yesterday, Weeks had a hitless night tonight.  He has been pretty inconsistent all season and has a .221/.307/.304 slash line on the season.
• The offense did collect 13 hits tonight and 3 walks tonight, but missed out on many opportunities to add on to their lead.  They were 3-14 with runners in scoring position tonight and left 14 runners on base.

A’s Extras:

• Cliff Pennington was placed on the DL earlier today with left elbow tendinitis.  Eric Sogard was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Pennington and was in tonight’s lineup.  He went 1-4 tonight.
• After holding the Yankees to only 2 runs tonight, the A’s snapped their 43-game streak of scoring 3 or more runs in a game.

For more on the Yankees, visit Second Place Is Not An Option.

Another active morning for the A’s today.  More roster moves for the green and gold and more good news coming from the DL side of things.

• Brandon McCarthy has been placed on the 15-day DL with right shoulder soreness retroactive to June 20th.  This is the same injury that landed the right-hander on the DL back in May.  McCarthy had put together a very nice season for himself again, going 6-3 over 12 starts with a 2.54 ERA, a 3.37 FIP and .283 BABIP.  He also ranked 6th among AL starting pitchers with a 2.2 WAR.  It is not known how much time McCarthy will miss, but he is hoping to return some time around the All-Star break.
• The A’s have purchased the contract of A.J. Griffin from Sacramento, he will replace Brandon McCarthy in the rotation and will be making his MLB debut this afternoon against the San Francisco Giants.  Between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Griffin pitched in 15 games putting up a 6-3 record with a 2.66 ERA over 94.2 innings.  In the minors this season he also had a 8.0 SO/9 rate and a very impressive 1.3 BB/9 rate.
• In order to make room for A.J. Griffin on the 40-man roster the A’s have designated (RHP) Danny Farquhar for assignment.  The A’s claimed Farquhar off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays back on June 9th and this was his second stint with the club.  Over 8 innings in Sacramento this season, he had a 10.12 ERA and had issued 6 walks and 10 hits.
• Also on the move is (RHP) Evan Scribner, who has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento.  Scribner pitched in 4.1 innings of relief this season for the A’s and only allowed a walk and struck out 5.
• To make room for Scribner, (INF) Eric Sogard has been optioned back to Sacramento.
• Dallas Braden will be throwing of the mound this week for the first time since Spring Training.  The left-hander is recovering from shoulder surgery and was sidelined back in April after straining his shoulder while rehabbing.

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.

Note:  I wrote this last night and never hit the submit button, I apologize for that.  Game recap from today to follow shortly.

Rangers:  4  Athletics:  1

There really isn’t a lot to talk about in tonight’s game, but losing to the Texas Rangers 4-1 in Arlington with Tom Milone on the mound and having Josh Donaldson and Eric Sogard in the starting lineup is actually not that bad.

The A’s scored in the first inning thanks to a lead off double by Jemile Weeks who was brought home on a sac fly by Josh Reddick, it also happened to be the last time they scored.

So because this game was pretty uneventful, especially in the offense department, I thought I would just bring you the Good News of the Day instead of the norm:

• The A’s only had 4 hits today, but Jemile Weeks was responsible for 2 of them.  He went 2-3 with a walk & a run.
• Tom Milone pitched pretty good today against the offensively talented Texas Rangers, in 7 innings he allowed 9 hits and 4 runs while only walking 1 and striking out 4.  The 4 runs came in the bottom half of the 4th inning and had the defense been a little better they may have saved a run or 2.
• The A’s struck out 11 times tonight, but only struck out 7 times against Yu Darvish.

A’s Extras:

• Per Susan Slusser (via Twitter) if Brandon Inge does not improve by tomorrow he will probably land on the DL.

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