It’s barely the sixth inning and here I am, giving in to the fact that the A’s are getting swept by the Cleveland Indians, and by the time you read this they will be swept by the Indians over four games.  I didn’t really expect this, to be honest, I thought that Justin Masterson could have been tough, but I thought the other three games could be up for grabs and as it turns out, the Masterson game was the only game they came close to winning.

Today’s game was just plain ugly.  By the second inning, when the A’s were down 5-0, you knew it was over.  Normally I am one of those, “The A’s have six more innings to play catch up” kind of people, but with the way the A’s have been hitting in this series, I knew there was no way they the team was digging themselves out of that hole.

Bartolo Colon was bad today.  He only lasted four innings, allowing eight hits, six runs, two home runs and striking out four.  He did, however, manage to stay consistent in the strike zone, throwing 57 of his 83 pitches for strikes and he did not issue a walk.  Evan Scribner did his part in the fifth, by allowing three hits and three runs, including a two-run home run. He did pitch a clean sixth and seventh inning, only walking one of the seven batters he faced.  Pat Neshek pitched a clean eighth inning, allowing just a single to Drew Stubbs.

The offense was about the same it has been the entire series. The A’s could not do a whole lot against Scott Kazmir, scoring just one run on five hits, while taking zero walks and striking out ten times. The only run he allowed was on a solo home run by Josh Donaldson. The A’s “threatened” in the eighth; Adam Rosales led the inning off with a walk, Jed Lowrie followed with a single and Eric Sogard singled in the second run for the A’s. Josh Donaldson then drew a walk to load the bases, and with no outs the next three batters were retired in order and not another run scored. The A’s finished today’s game by going 1-6 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base.

I can take away a few things from this series, starting with the fact that the injuries could really be hurting the team. I honestly don’t know how much of an impact it would have made having both Coco Crisp and Chris Young in the lineup these past four games, but you have to think missing the two of them is not helping this anemic offense. Seeing Evan Scribner pitch in today’s game is another reminder that the team does not have a “true” long reliever, but I am not sure there is much they can do about that. And lastly, when a pitcher performs poorly the fans are always going to call for the player to be “cut” or “sent down”. Cutting Bartolo Colon would be, for the lack of a better term, stupid, and the team simply can’t afford to lose another starting pitcher.

I am going to close with some good news; the A’s are off to Seattle and they have fared well against the AL West this season, so it’s quite possible they won’t get swept in the next series. The A’s also do not have to face Felix Hernandez this time, so more good news! Josh Donaldson is still hitting pretty well, going 4-13 in this series with a home run, two RBI and taking two walks. And the most important piece of good news… this series is finally over.

Hey, the A’s won again! And it was a drama-free win! I like it when the the A’s win and when they win easily. It was also nice to see them hand Jason Vargas a loss, which they never seem to do.

It was the A’s who struck first again, scoring their first run in the third after Andy Parrino doubled and Jed Lowrie drove him in with a single. Their biggest inning was in the sixth, when they scored four runs, sealing the fate of the series. With one out Derek Norris doubled, Josh Donaldson followed with a home run and put the A’s up 3-1. Seth Smith doubled and Jason Vargas intentionally walked Coco Crisp to get to Chris Young. Vargas was then replaced by Kevin Jepsen, who coughed up a double to Young, which scored Crisp.

The offense was nice, but AJ Griffin was the true hero of the night. Griffin lasted eight innings tonight, the longest for any of the starting pitchers this season, and only allowed one run. The only trouble he really had was in the fourth inning, when he allowed back-to-back singles with one out to both Josh Hamilton and Mark Trumbo. Howard Kendrick followed up with a double, scoring Hamilton and with runners on second and third with only one out, he struck out Chris Iannetta and got Peter Bourjos to ground out to third base to end the inning.

After the first two nights of the series, this game was pretty uneventful for the team, besides the monster home run Yoenis Cespedes hit to center field to lead off the seventh inning. The A’s scored their final two runs in the ninth of off a two-run double by Seth Smith. Evan Scribner finished the game, retiring all three batters he faced on two fly outs and a pop up to to second base.

Lines of the Day:

• The team really needed AJ Griffin to go deep into this game and that’s what he did, he pitched eight innings, allowed five hits, one run, walked one and stuck out two.
• Seth Smith had another big night for the team, going 4-5 with two more doubles and an RBI.
• Josh Donaldson, who has struggled a bit at the plate this year, had a 2-4 night with a walk,  he also hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• It was a clean win and every player collected at least one hit tonight, so I will spare the players an “ugly line” tonight.

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.

Dan Straily made his season debut tonight, facing the Houston Astros for the first time in his Major League career. This was the first time the A’s have faced the Houston Astros since they joined the AL West (obviously) and they walk away with the win by a final score of 8-3. Straily pitched 6.2 innings tonight, allowed five hits, two earned runs, walked none and struck out a career high of eleven.

Pat Neshek came in the seventh to relieve Straily, but struggled to get the last batter out. He allowed two hits, a walk and a run (charged to Straily) before he was relieved by Chris Resop, who recorded the final out by getting Brett Wallace to fly out to center with the bases loaded. Evan Scribner pitched the final two innings of the game, allowing two hits, a double, one run, no walks and struck out one.

Coco Crisp lead the game off with home run, but the bats stayed pretty quiet after that until the fifth inning. The A’s scored seven runs in the fifth on four hits (two doubles), four walks, one error and one hit by pitch. The only player to not reach base in that inning was Nate Freiman. In fact, Nate Freiman was the only player to not reach base the entire night.

Lines of the Day:

• Dan Straily was probably the hero in tonight’s game, striking out eleven and only allowing those two runs. Although I hear it’s easy to strike out Astros’ hitters this season, it was still fun to watch him. Unfortunately for Straily, Bartolo Colon returns from his suspension tomorrow and will be making his first start, which means Straily will be on his way to Sacramento.
• Coco Crisp had a big night going 3-5 with two doubles, a home run, one walk and three RBI.
• Also having a good night was John Jaso, who went 2-3 with a walk and one RBI.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• There really wasn’t a lot of bad tonight, but there were a few players that stood out to me. Yoenis Cespedes looked a little lost at the plate tonight he went 0-5 with an RBI and two strikeouts. He did reach base on an error in the seventh inning.
• Nate Freiman also went 0-5 tonight, but to be fair, there were two balls he hit that could have dropped for hits, especially when Rick Ankiel made a nice play to rob him from a hit.
• Pat Neshek seemed to be all over the place tonight, I don’t really need to repeat his numbers, but he just didn’t have it.

I will get the bad news over with first: the A’s lost a game today. Along with everyone else in the Cactus League, the A’s were not able to beat the Kansas City Royals. The Royals scored four runs in the first inning, which turned out enough to defeat the A’s, who only score two runs over nine innings. The final score of the game was 8-2.

Bartolo Colon did not impress in his second spring outing. He allowed seven hits and five runs over only two innings. He threw forty-eight pitches, thirty-two for strikes, did not walk a batter and struck out two. In two appearances this spring he has allowed twelve hits and eight runs over four innings while walking none and striking out six. I still think it’s entirely too early to be in any sort of panic mode with these players, but he has definitely not been enjoyable to watch so far.  Right-handed pitcher, Evan Scribner, also pitched in today’s game and went one inning while allowing two hits, no runs or walks and struck out one. Travis Blackley also pitched two innings; he did not allow a hit or a walk and struck out one. James Simmons was the only other pitcher to allow runs in today’s game, he pitched one inning and allowed four hits and three runs.

The offense wasn’t really there today, as the team only combined for two runs on nine hits and two walks. Grant Green was the only true stand-out player of the game, going 2-4 with two doubles.

• Daric Barton started at first base in this game and went 0-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
• Chris Young started in center field today and went 0-4. He is now 4-16 this spring with no walks and four strikeouts.
• Josh Donaldson played third and went 0-3 with a walk.
• Hiro Nakajima collected another hit today, going 1-3 with a double and strikeout. He is 4-17 with 9 strikeouts this spring.
• Michael Choice played right field and went 1-4 with a strikeout.
• Shane Peterson was in left field and went 2-4 with a strikeout.

» Continue reading “A’s Spring Training Games 11 & 11 1/2: One Loss, One Win”

(Photo Courtesy of Francine)

Athletics:  12  Rangers: 5

It seems like just yesterday we were all up at 2 AM watching game two of the season.  The A’s won that game behind three home runs, tying the Mariners for first place of the AL West. The A’s would never see sole possession of first place until today, the last game of the season and the day when it really mattered.

I can lie to you and tell you I knew this was going to happen back on March 29, but if you have been reading my blog since then you know that I never saw this coming.  I have not been the most optimistic fan at times, I can’t count how many times I have hit the panic button and I know I have said over and over again that their run would eventually come to an end.  This team has indeed, “shocked the world”.

The A’s found themselves in a really tough position after the top of the third inning. The A’s took the lead in the first off of an RBI double by Brandon Moss, but they would soon find themselves in a four run deficit after A.J. Griffin allowed five runs to the Rangers in the third. He allowed a single to lead off the inning, recorded an out on a ground out by Elvis Andrus, but then gave up back-to-back singles allowing the Rangers to tie it up at 1-1. Nelson Cruz then hit into a force out, but Michael Young followed with an RBI single. David Murphy then singled and Cruz and Young scored. Mike Napoli reached on a fielding error by George Kottaras and Geovany Soto followed up with a single, which scored Murphy. That was it for Griffin, who allowed seven hits, five runs (four earned), and two walks over 2.2 innings.  Evan Scribner would come in and record the last out of that nightmarish inning.

The A’s would fight their way back into the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, leading the inning off with a walk by Brandon Moss and an RBI double by Josh Reddick. Josh Donaldson then singled and Seth Smith followed with an RBI single. Derek Holland came in to replace Ryan Dempster and he immediately recorded the first two outs of the inning, but then Coco Crisp doubled and Donaldson and Smith scored tying the game up 5-5.  Stephen Drew then drew a walk and Yoenis Cespedes hit, what should have been the final out of the inning, a fly ball that Josh Hamilton missed and both Crisp and Drew were able to score. The A’s scored six runs total in the inning, giving them their final lead of the game.

» Continue reading “A’s Sweep Rangers, Win The West”

Athletics:  9  Rangers:  3

Maybe it’s not the history a team would be proud of, but tonight the A’s set an American League record in strikeouts on a season with 1,333. (The previous record was held by the 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays who had 1,324).  With the 11 strikeouts, came 16 hits and 9 runs.

The A’s came out swinging right away, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning.  Stephen Drew lead off the game with a double, but Jonny Gomes followed with a line out.  Yoenis Cespedes then tripled in Drew and Chris Carter singled and Cespedes scored. Brandon Moss singled, Josh Donaldson singled and both Carter and Moss scored on an error by Josh Hamilton. Josh Reddick struck out to record the second out of the inning.  Derek Norris then tripled, scoring Donaldson and Martin Perez was pulled out of the game after that.  Roy Oswalt came in to replace Perez and he got Cliff Pennington to ground out to end the rally.

Jarrod Parker also struggled early, walking Ian Kinsler to start the bottom half of the first.  He then coughed up a double to Elvis Andrus to put the Rangers on the board.  He then retired the next three batters to end the first.

In the second inning he loaded the bases (with no outs) by allowing back-to-back singles and a walk.  He then got Mitch Moreland to ground out to record the first out of the inning, but a run scored on the ground out.  He walked Ian Kinsler to load the bases again.  Elvis Andrus flew out and the Rangers scored their third and final run of the game on the sacrifice. Josh Hamilton struck out to end the inning.

The A’s loaded the bases (with only one out) with three walks in the third inning and Stephen Drew singled and both Donaldson and Reddick scored putting the A’s up 7-3.  They scored their eighth run of the game in the fourth off of an RBI single by Derek Norris.  The A’s scored their final run of the game in the ninth after Derek Norris hit a sacrifice fly to score Brandon Moss.

After having trouble in the first two innings of the game, Parker was able to collect himself and throw four strong innings. He pitched six innings tonight, allowing only five hits and three runs while walking three and striking out eight.  Jerry Blevins and Evan Scribner closed out the game, neither allowed a hit, but Blevins walked one and Scribner walked two.  Blevins pitched 1.2 innings and struck out 1, while Scribner pitched 1.1 and struck out three.

Stephen Drew had a big night tonight, going 4-5 with a double, one run and two RBI.  Derek Norris also had a good night, going 2-4 with three RBI.  Josh Reddick snapped his 0-30 streak in the seventh inning when he singled to lead off the inning. He went 2-4 today (also singling in the ninth inning) with a walk.

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″

Tigers:  12  Athletics:  2

It was going to happen eventually, we all knew this day would come.  A.J. Griffin had his first poor outing of his Major League career and also took his first career loss.

With Max Scherzer on the hill today for the Detroit Tigers it was expected that this win would not come easy to the A’s. They did get on the board in the first after Brandon Moss hit a two out single to score Josh Reddick in the first. The Tigers would tie the game in the bottom of the inning off of a sacrifice fly by Miguel Cabrera.  The A’s did not do much in the second inning, Cliff Pennington took a two out walk, but Coco Crisp lined out to end the “threat”.

The Tigers took the lead in the second inning off of a solo home run by Jhonny Peralta.  Darin Downs came in replace Max Scherzer in the third inning after he was pulled from the game with shoulder fatigue, at the time it seemed like the A’s might have an opportunity to get back in it, but we were very wrong.  Seth Smith lead the inning off with a ground out, but Josh Reddick walked, Yoenis Cespedes then popped up and Brandon Moss singled.  Then with two on and two outs Stephen Drew struck out to record the final out.  The rest of the game was about the same as the third inning, they would threaten, but nothing would come of it.  Their final run scored was in the seventh inning off of an RBI single by Yoenis Cespedes.

A.J. Griffin only lasted 4.2 innings tonight, he allowed 8 hits, 5 runs, 1 walk and 3 home runs.  It was the shortest outing of his Major League career and tonight’s game broke his 11-game streak of allowing less than 3 runs and 3 walks in a game.  The bullpen was not able to hold down the Tigers either, Pedro Figueroa successfully recorded the last out of the fifth, but Evan Scribner struggled in the eighth.  Scribner walked Peralta to start the inning and got Omar Infante to ground out into a force out to record the first out of the inning, unfortunately Infante moved to second on a throwing error by Stephen Drew.  He then walked Gerald Laird and gave up an RBI double to Austin Jackson.  Following Jackson’s double was a 2-run double by Quintin Berry, putting the Tigers up 8-1.  He got Miguel Cabrera to fly out before walking Prince Fielder, but got Delmon Young to ground out to end the inning.

Jesse Chavez came in to replace Scribner in the seventh inning and set the batters down in order.  The eighth inning was a different story for him.  He gave up back-to-back-to-back singles up to first three batters and with no outs and three on Miguel Cabrera hit a grand slam, it was also his second home run of the game.  He then hit Prince Fielder with a pitch (still no outs) before being ejected from the game by the home plate umpire.  Jerry Blevins came in to replace Chavez and got Delmon Young to ground out into a double play and Andy Dirks to fly out to end the nightmarish inning.  Jesse Chavez has been terrible since coming up to Oakland, over 2.1 innings he has allowed 9 hits and 7 earned runs.  He simply cannot be depended on and I hope that we see less of him moving forward.

It wasn’t all bad tonight for Oakland, Josh Reddick went 2-3 with a walk, a double and two runs and Yoenis Cespedes went 1-2 with two walks and an RBI.

Orioles:  9  Athletics:  5

I want to be happy that the A’s took two out of three against the Orioles, but it’s hard to feel optimistic when today’s game was absolutely ugly.

I felt good about the A’s in the first, Dan Straily had an easy inning getting the first two batters to pop up and then striking out the final to end the inning.  Collin Cowgill lead off the bottom half of the inning with a double and two batters later Josh Reddick hit his 29th home run of the season putting the A’s up 2-0. Yoenis Cespedes then doubled, Chris Carter then walked, but both were stranded after Josh Donaldson hit into a double play.

The A’s lead was then cut in half after Straily allowed a solo home run to Matt Wieters in the second.  The Orioles then tied it in the third inning off of an RBI single from JJ Hardy.  The Orioles then took the lead in the fourth inning when Matt Wieters hit his second home run of the game to lead off the inning.  The A’s would never see the lead again after that.

Dan Straily was not good today, only lasting 4.2 innings while allowing 5 hits, 4 runs, 2 home runs and walking 5.  Home runs have been one of his biggest issues in the majors, having allowed 8 over 28.1 innings since his call up.  His next scheduled start is in Yankee Stadium, so it will be interesting to see if his start is skipped or if he gets another shot in the home run friendly stadium.

Six pitchers came out of the bullpen today, Travis Blackley pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed 1 hit, 1 walk and no runs.  Evan Scribner replaced Blackley in the fifth, faced one batter, allowed a hit and then was replaced by Pedro Figueroa.  Figueroa threw one pitch, getting Chris Davis to pop up, before being replaced by Tyson Ross.  Ross struck the last batter out to end the inning.

Tyson Ross came out in the seventh and walked the first two batters before he coughed up an RBI double to Manny Machado and a two run single to Endy Chavez. Jim Miller then came in to replace Ross, allowed a single to Robert Andino, but then struck out the next three batters.  Miller then pitched a clean 8th inning, walking 1 and striking out 1.

The A’s scored two more runs in the eighth off of a 2-run home run by Stephen Drew, their first runs scored since the first inning.  Jesse Chavez came in to replace Jim Miller in the ninth and allowed back-to-back doubles and a run to start of the inning. He then recorded two outs, but allowed an RBI single to Chris Davis.

The A’s tried to make a come back in the ninth, but fell short.  With one out Brandon Moss walked and Seth Smith struck out swinging.  Josh Reddick singled and Brandon Moss scored.  Yoenis Cespedes then kept the rally going by also hitting a single.  Jim Johnson then came in and got Chris Carter to ground out to end the game.

The pitching was not great today, having combined for 13 hits, 9 earned runs and 9 walks.  Those 9 walks were the worst to me, there is no way you can win a game by allowing 9 walks.  The offense was just as poor as the pitching, although the combined for 11 hits and 5 runs, they also struck out 12 times and were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left 9 on.