Just when we all thought the A’s were never going to win another game this season, they prove us wrong, defeating the Mariners by a final scored of 4-3.  With this win, the A’s are now back at .500 and they avoided falling into third place.

The A’s scored three of their four runs on solo home runs; the first by Josh Donaldson in the second inning, the second by Daric Barton in the fourth and the third by Brandon Moss in the sixth.  The A’s also scored in the fifth inning when Seth Smith doubled and Jed Lowrie singled him in.

The offense was a bit deceiving today because of the three home runs, as they scored four runs on on eight hits and two walks, with Lowrie being responsible for three of those hits, going 3-4 today.  Josh Donaldson was the only other player to have a multi-hit day, going 2-4, which included his fifth home run of the season.

Jarrod Parker had a decent game, going 6.1 innings while only allowing three hits, three runs, striking out five and walking four. His biggest mistake was allowing a two-run home run to Kelly Shoppach in the fourth inning, which happened to also be the first hit of the game he allowed.  The seventh inning was where he seemed to run out of gas, allowing back-to-back singles with one out.  Sean Doolittle replaced Parker and allowed a single to the first batter he faced, which scored a run, but he retired the following two batters he faced.

Ryan Cook tried to make it interesting in the eighth inning, allowing a lead off single to Michael Saunders, but then striking out Kyle Seager.  He then allowed a single to Kendrys Morales, and followed with striking out Michael Morse. With two outs he loaded the bases by walking Justin Smoak, but ended the inning by getting Endy Chavez to srike out.

The ninth inning was not much easier than the eighth, Grant Balfour came in to close the game and struck out Dustin Ackley to lead off the inning. He then walked Kelly Shoppach and followed up by striking out Robert Andino. Michael Sanders singled, but Balfour recorded the last out by getting Kyle Seager to ground out.

After watching the A’s take two out of three from the Yankees, in New York, I was feeling pretty good about the team and the upcoming series against the Indians.  Don’t get me wrong, I still feel good about the series in New York, I just didn’t enjoy today’s game as much as I expected to.

There is not a lot to say about Jarrod Parker today, except he was just not good.  He allowed four home runs today, but the good news is that they were only solo home runs.  Over five innings he allowed seven hits, four runs, walked two and struck out seven (which is also good news, if you’re still looking for it).  He threw 95 pitches, 56 for strikes and hit one batter in the first.  I am not a professional by any means, so I cannot say exactly what is going on with Parker, but I do know the A’s do not exactly have the depth to send Parker down to “work on things.”  He’s here to stay, at least until Brett Anderson returns from the disabled list.  Parker’s next start will be against the Mariners on Saturday, who he faced last month and over five innings he allowed five hits, four runs, walked three and struck out one.

Chris Resop replaced Parker in the sixth, pitching a clean inning by getting Ryan Rayburn to pop up and then striking out Drew Stubbs and Michael Brantley.  In the seventh, he struck out Jason Kipnis to lead off the inning, and then followed with back-to-back walks.  He then got Mark Reynolds to ground out to record the second out of the inning, before intentionally walking Carlos Santana to load the bases for Jason Giambi, who singled in two runs.  Those two runs are what really sealed the loss.  Evan Scribner replaced Chris Resop, allowing a double to the first batter he faced and another run crossed the plate, putting the A’s down 7-2.  Drew Stubbs grounded out to record the final out of the inning.

Scribner pitched a “clean” eighth inning, allowing a lead off single to Michael Brantley who reached third on a wild pitch and a stolen base.  No damage was done, as Scribner was able to retire the next three batters he faced on a line out, strike out and a ground out.

The team went down pretty easily in the ninth, Adam Rosales hit a one-out double, but was stranded after Luke Montz grounded out and Seth Smith flew out to end the game.

Lines of the Day:

• Brandon Moss was the only player to have a multi-hit game tonight, going 2-4 with a double and one run scored.
• Yoenis Cespedes hit a home run tonight, and I like it when he hits home runs. It was his only hit of the night, going 1-3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBI.  He now has six home runs on the season, which leads the team and he is good at baseball. That’s my expert analysis.
• John Jaso was 0-1 today before he was replaced by Luke Montz, but he took two walks and that accounted for more than half the walks the A’s took today.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• The A’s offense was pretty offensive tonight (ha..ha.. get it?!), combining for only eight hits and three walks while striking out eleven times.  The team left eight on base and went 1-9 with runners in scoring position tonight.

• Chris Resop had another poor outing, allowing one hit, three earned runs, three walks over 1.1 inning.  He did strike out three, so that was nice.  If you follow me on Twitter you know that I was a big supporter of Resop coming into the season, no reason why, just thought he had the chance to be an effective righty coming out of the bullpen. So far he has proved me very wrong, allowing 19 hits, 10 earned runs and walking 10 over 14.2 innings this season.

The A’s just won a game they probably shouldn’t have, defeating the Angels by a final score of 9-5. I know that sounds like a horrible thing to say, but this game was ugly. Not only did the starting pitcher only make it to the fourth inning, there were too many defensive mistakes, and it’s hard to believe the team actually came out on top. Don’t get me wrong, I love when the team wins, especially against the Angels, but I prefer the wins to be less painful.

The A’s were the first to get on board, with two outs in the first Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes both walked, Derek Norris followed with a single, which scored Jed Lowrie. Josh Donaldson then singled and loaded the bases for Brandon Moss, who also singled and scored both Cespedes and Norris. Nate Freiman then walked and Scott Sizemore ended the inning by hitting into a force out. They scored again in the second inning when Coco Crisp led the inning off with a home run, his fourth of the season and his fourth as in many games.

Jarrod Parker started today’s game and after his last start I think we were all hoping he would redeem himself, unfortunately that did not happen. Parker only lasted 3.1 innings today, throwing 74 pitches and only 40 for strikes. In the fourth, with one out, he loaded the bases after hitting Albert Pujols with a pitch and that would be the last batter he would face. Chris Resop replaced Parker and got Josh Hamilton to hit into an inning ending double-play. Resop returned for the fifth inning, allowed a lead off single, but retired the next three batters he faced, striking out the last two.

Pat Neshek replaced Chris Resop in the sixth and that’s really when things began to fall apart. Neshek allowed a lead off triple to Mike Trout, and what should have been a sacrifice fly to right field, turned into a dropped fly ball by Chris Young. The runner scored easily and the the batter, Brendan Harris, advanced to second on the error. Albert Pujols followed with a ground ball to short, and an error committed by Jed Lowrie allowed Harris to advance to third and Pujols was safe at first. Jerry Blevins relieved Neshek (who recorded no outs) and retired the first out of the inning, but at the cost of a sacrifice fly from Josh Hamilton. Ryan Cook then replaced Blevins and got Mark Trumbo to ground out into a force out, but Howard Kendrick followed with a triple and Trumbo scored. He then got Alberto Callaspo to strike out to end the inning.

In the very next inning, and down by one, the A’s came back. Coco Crisp led off the inning with an infield single, and two outs later, Yoenis Cespedes walked. John Jaso then took the lead back by hitting a 3-run home run to right. Josh Donaldson continued the rally with a single and Brandon Moss drove them both in with his first home run of the season. Nate Freiman then flew out to right field to end the inning, but by then the damage was done.

The rest of the game was pretty uneventful, Ryan Cook returned in the bottom of the seventh and retired all three batters in order, striking out two of the three he faced. Doolittle pitched the eighth and also retired all three batters in order. Grant Balfour pitched the ninth inning, allowed a single and a walk, but did not allow any runs.

Lines of the Day:

• Brandon Moss had a big day going 3-4 with a home run and four RBI. He seems to be heating up after starting off slow, he is now 7-21 on the season with five RBI and three walks.
• Yoenis Cespedes has had a slow start to the season thus far, but he had a good night tonight, going 2-3, with two walks and scoring twice.
• It’s hard not to mention Coco Crisp in this category, he went 2-3 today with another home run and a stolen base. Pretty sure I am going to be disappointed if he doesn’t hit 158 home runs this season (I KID, I KID).
• Some of you won’t be surprised, but I am going to add Chris Resop to this, and not just because I’m biased. He got the A’s out of a tough situation in the fifth, and for that I think he deserves the nod. He pitched 1.2 innings today and allowed one hit, no walks and struck out three.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Jarrod Parker had another poor outing, and I am trying not to be concerned yet. He lasted just 3.1 innings, allowed nine hits, two runs, three walks and struck out one. It’s going to be a big test for Parker this weekend, as his next start is scheduled against the Detroit Tigers.
• Chris Young not only had a poor night at the plate, going 0-5 and striking out twice, he also committed the error in the sixth.
• Turns out Jed Lowrie isn’t perfect. He finished the night going 0-4 with a walk and, he too, committed an error in the sixth. It was his second of the season.

Also worth mentioning that Scott Sizemore started at second today, but had to leave the game in the second after injuring his knee. The team has confirmed it’s a sprained knee and he will be leaving the team tomorrow for an MRI.

The A’s won today’s game, splitting the series with the Seattle Mariners. I missed recapping the first three games, but I had a couple of quick things to say after watching the first four games of the season.

The Good:

• Jed Lowrie had a good series, starting at shortstop in all four games and going 6-13 with four doubles, a home run, three RBI and two walks. It’s a very small sample size, but it’s nice to see him hitting already.
• Yoenis Cespedes has three hits this season in sixteen at-bats, which isn’t necessarily “good”, but two of his three hits are home runs.
• Chris Resop, who did not allow a run over nine innings this spring, has made two relief appearances so far. He has pitched two innings, allowed one hit, no runs, no walks and has struck out three. Again, another small sample size, but I said in the offseason he could play a big role in the A’s bullpen and I still still stand by that statement.
• Three of the four starting pitchers had pretty decent outings in their first appearances. I was most impressed with Tom Milone (who was mostly successful at home last season), who went seven innings while only allowing four hits and two runs, while walking one and striking out four. Brett Anderson didn’t have a bad outing himself, despite taking the loss on Monday. Anderson only allowed four hits and two runs over seven innings, he struck out six, but walked four.
• Nate Freiman made his Major League debut yesterday and went 2-3 with an RBI. He also had one plate appearance today and drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.

The Bad:

• The first two games were hard to watch, as the team only combined for six hits, one run and four walks over eighteen innings. I guess it really doesn’t matter that much since the offense really picked up in the following two games, but it was definitely ugly.
• Jarrod Parker had a pretty poor first outing for the A’s, allowing five hits, four runs and three walks over five innings while only striking out one. It’s only one game and there is absolutely no reason to panic, but it definitely falls under the “bad” category.
• Ryan Cook’s pitching performance in game two was probably one of my least favorite parts of the series. In his first appearance of the season he allowed one hit, three walks and one earned run over two-thirds of an inning. He did, however, pitch one clean inning today and struck out the side.
• Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss have both only combined for two hits in twenty-four at-bats, they have three strike outs a piece and neither has taken a walk.

I’ve said it twice already and I will say it again, these are very small sample sizes so it’s hard for me to really get excited (or worried) about certain players yet. Overall though, I am pretty satisfied with how the season has gone so far. I would have liked to see the team do more against Hisashi Iwakuma, but splitting the series is much better than losing the series, or even worse, being swept.

A year ago today I did my first Fantasy Baseball post and I recommended that you draft six A’s players for your team. I actually did pretty well, I think, as 4.5 of the players I told you to draft fared pretty well last season.  What I am trying to say here, is if you want to win, you’ll listen to me. (I kid).

If you’re anything like me you probably won’t draft an A’s player in fear of jinxing them (ahem… Jemile Weeks last season), but I know many of you like to get that one (or several) homer pick. This is strictly my personal opinion, and if you listen to me and I tank your season, I’m truly sorry.

Just like last season I am going off of standard leagues and using the following stats: BA, Runs, HR, RBI and SB for offensive categories and Wins, ERA, WHIP, Saves and SO for pitching categories. This is my once a year post where I pretend like batting average is an important stat, so enjoy it while you can:

Yoenis Cespedes: Last season he was a sleeper pick, this season I feel pretty confident about telling you to draft him. He had a .292/.356/.505 slash line and had 23 HR, 82 RBI and stole 16 bases. ZiPS projects a .273/.338/.452 slash line with 23 HR and 84 RBI. I tend to agree that Cespedes will not be a .300 hitter, but I do think if healthy, he could be a 30 HR player.

• What he’s good for: HR, RBI, a few SB

Coco Crisp: I hesitate to put him on here, but for deep leagues he might be worth picking up. Last season Crisp had a .259/.325/.418 slash line with 11 HR, 68 Runs and 39 SB. ZiPS projects a .263/.325/.400 slash line with 8 HR, 63 Runs and 32 SB. He has a history of injuries, so it’s hard to really gauge how his numbers will be, but like I said, he would not be a bad bench player for deep leagues.

• What he’s good for: Runs, SB, the occasional HR

» Continue reading “A’s Baseball: Fantasy Edition II”

We are now finishing up the first week of spring training and the A’s finish the week with a 2-5 record. Today’s loss came against the San Francisco Giants and the final score was 13-9. The good news is real baseball begins a month from today and that there is plenty of games for the A’s to play before then.

A lot of runs were allowed today, but ten of the thirteen were allowed by only two pitchers. Jerry Blevins pitched 2/3 of an inning and allowed four hits, three runs (only two allowed) and struck out one. The error that caused the unearned run to score was committed by Jemile Weeks. Travis Blackley was hit the hardest today, allowing five hits (two singles, one double, one triple and a home run), seven earned runs and two walks over a third of an inning.

Despite the thirteen runs allowed, the pitching wasn’t all bad today. Jarrod Parker started today’s game and pitched two innings in his spring debut. Parker allowed one hit, no runs and struck out two while walking none. Ryan Cook also made his spring debut and pitched an inning while only allowing a walk. Sean Doolittle also pitched for the first time this spring and only allowed a hit over an inning of work.

The offense was not a problem today, as the team combined for nine runs on fourteen hits and four walks, while going 6-21 with runners in scoring position. Here are some of the lines from the team’s hitters today:

• Jemile Weeks started at second today and went 1-3 with an RBI. He is now 6-11 this spring with five RBI.
• Chris Young returned to the lineup today and started in center field. He went 2-3 with a strikeout.
• Jed Lowrie started at shortstop today and went 0-2 with a walk and run.
• Derek Norris started behind the plate and went 1-1 before he was replaced by John Jaso. Jaso finished the day going 0-2.
• Seth Smith started in right field today and went 1-2 with a triple, a walk and a run.
• Daric Barton was at first again today and went 1-2 with a RBI.
• Michael Choice continues to hit this spring, going 2-2 with an RBI. He is now 9-16 this spring with six RBI.

Tomorrow the A’s will face the Colorado Rockies and Tom Milone will be making his spring debut for the A’s.

Tigers: 3  Athletics: 1

Let’s start with the good news, the Oakland A’s were not no-hit tonight by Justin Verlander!  That’s always a good thing right?!

There isn’t really a lot to say about the A’s offense tonight, it started off well for them as Coco Crisp did his best Rickey Henderson impersonation and hit a lead off home run to start off the game. Unfortunately, that was it for the A’s. Justin Verlander, Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde held the A’s to only 4 hits, 1 run and 4 walks.  Oh, and they struck out 15 Athletics total.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a blow out (also good news). Jarrod Parker pitched well for his first career playoff start.  He held the Tigers to 7 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 1 walk (again, good news) and struck out five. The first run he allowed was in the first inning, Austin Jackson lead off the inning with a double, Quintin Berry singled and with runners on the corners and no outs Miguel Cabrera came up to bat. Parker got Miguel Cabrera to hit into a double-play, but the runner from third scored on the play.

In the third inning Parker allowed a one out double to Omar Infante, then with two outs Quintin Berry “singled”. Jarrod Parker could not field the ball properly and Infante scored on the error.  The last run allowed was a lead off home run by Alex Avila in the fifth.

The bottom of the seventh would end up being the most memorable inning for us A’s fans.  After Jarrod Parker allowed two runners on (with only one out) in the seventh, Bob Melvin pulled him from the game. Pat Neshek, who just lost his newborn son three days prior, came in to finish the inning. Neshek got Omar Infante to ground out into a fielders choice and then ended the inning by getting Austin Jackson to strike out.  As he left the field he patted the patch with the initials “GJN”, the patch the players were wearing in honor of his son, and looked up at the sky. After the game Pat Neshek was quoted as saying:

“It was definitely tough,” he said of the evening and of Gehrig’s memory. “I was thinking about him the whole time, too. I kind of just grabbed the ball and threw it. Yesterday, I said, you go to the baseball field and don’t really think about anything else. But that wasn’t true tonight. It’s probably a cliché. But I felt like somebody was looking down on me.”

Yoenis Cespedes would hit a single in the eighth, but that would be it for them.  In the ninth, facing Jose Valverde, the A’s would go down in order.  Josh Donaldson and Seth Smith would both strike out and George Kottaras would pop up to the first baseman to end the game.

The A’s have announced that Jarrod Parker will be starting tomorrow against the Detroit Tigers for the first game of the American League Division Series. Parker finished the regular season with a 13-8 record with a 3.47 ERA. Over 181.1 innings pitched he had a 3.43 FIP, a .290 BABIP and 6.95 SO/9 rate. Parker’s biggest struggles were with his control having a 3.13 BB/9 rate, but rarely allowed home runs, having only allowed 11 over 29 games (.55 HR/9).

Jarrod Parker has faced the Tigers once this season (at home) and he allowed 6 hits and 2 runs over 5.2 innings, while striking out 5 and walking 4.

He will face the reigning Cy Young winner, Justin Verlander. Verlander finished the 2012 season with a 17-8 record and a 2.64 ERA. Over 238.1 innings he had a 2.94 FIP and .273 BABIP. Verlander struck out 239 and walked 60, good for a 3.98 SO/BB ratio.

Verlander pitched in two games against the A’s this season and allowed 7 hits and 1 run over 13 innings while striking out 13 and walking 4.

Tom Milone will take the mound for game two of the playoffs, he finished the season with a 13-10 record and a 3.74 ERA. Over 190 innings he had a 3.93 FIP and .310 BABIP. He also had 6.49 SO/9 and 1.71 BB/9 rate. His road and home splits are quite different from each other, at home Milone put up a 3.16 FIP and .273 BABIP and away he had a 4.76 FIP and .350 BABIP.

Milone has faced the Tigers twice this season and over 11.2 innings he allowed 14 hits, 5 runs (4 earned) while striking out 7 and walking 4.

He will face off against Doug Fister who had a 10-10 record with a 3.45 ERA over 26 games. Over 161.2 innings he posted a 3.42 FIP and .296 BABIP. He also finished the season with a 7.63 SO/9 and 0.84 HR/9 rate.

Fister faced the A’s once this season (in Oakland) and allowed only 5 hits and 1 run over 6 innings while striking out 8 and walking 2.

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.

Athletics:  5  Orioles:  2

Tonight’s game can be described in one word and that’s “unbelievable”.  I know I have said it one-hundred times (or maybe more), but this team continues to surprise me every day.  Today’s win secures a series win for the A’s and they go into tomorrow looking to sweep their wildcard rivals.

The Orioles were the first to score again tonight.  Adam Jones lead off the second inning with a single and two batters later Mark Reynolds hit a double, scoring Jones.  The Orioles scored again in the third off of a solo home run by Nate McLouth.

The A’s fought back in the bottom of the third, scoring five runs total.  Stephen Drew lead off the inning with a home run.  Then with one out Coco Crisp walked, Jonny Gomes was hit by a pitch and Josh Reddick singled and Crisp scored.  Yoenis Cespedes singled, scoring Gomes. Chris Carter then doubled scoring both Reddick and Cespedes.  Josh Donaldson then walked, but the inning ended after a fly out by Derek Norris and a strike out by Stephen Drew.

Most of the offense came in the third for the A’s.  They had a total of five hits tonight, four of those coming in the third.  Their last hit was a double in the seventh by Josh Reddick.  They had more walks than hits tonight, taking 7 and went 3-9 with runners in scoring position.

Jarrod Parker allowed 7 hits through 7 innings, also allowing 2 runs and 1 walk while striking out 5.  The A’s defense helped Parker out tonight, with the biggest out coming from a relay throw from Cespedes and Donaldson to gun Adam Jones out at home.

Sean Doolittle pitched a clean eighth, he did not allow a baserunner and stuck out 1.  Grant Balfour made it interesting in the ninth inning, allowing a one out single to Chris Davis and then walking Mark Reynolds.  With two runners on and one out he got Manny Machado to fly out and Endy Chavez to ground out to end the inning.