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.

The funny thing about Spring Training, or baseball in general, is how quickly things turn around for a team. Yesterday my biggest concern was the lack of offense from the A’s and today that’s exactly what won them the game. The A’s defeated the San Diego Padres by a final score of 11-6, combing for fourteen hits, eight walks, four doubles and two home runs. Maybe the A’s weren’t facing the Padres best lineup or pitching, but a win is a win and the overreacting fans really needed it.

The pitching was not great again for the team, but keep in mind, most of the runs allowed today were not from pitchers we should expect to be on the opening day roster. Dan Straily, who may or may not be in the rotation, started today’s game and only lasted 1.1 innings. He allowed two hits, two runs, walked one and struck out one. The other four runs allowed came from Bruce Billings and Justin Thomas, each allowing two runs a piece.

On a side note, Chris Young was scheduled to play today, but was scratched from the lineup because Melvin wanted to give him an extra day off. Here’s what some of the players who did play did today:

• Bullpen hopeful, Pat Neshek, pitched one inning today. He allowed no hits, no runs and walked none. Also hoping to get into the bullpen is Chris Resop, who also pitched one inning and allowed one hit, no runs and no walks.
• Jemile Weeks started at second base today and went 2-2 with a home run (his first of spring), with a walk and 2 RBI.
• Seth Smith also hit his first home run of spring today, he went 2-3 with 2 RBI.
• Jed Lowrie made his debut at third base today and went 2-3 with a double and 2 RBI.
• John Jaso went 1-1 with a walk.
• Daric Barton started at first base today and went 1-3 with a double. He is now 4-7 this spring with two walks.
• Everyone’s favorite pitcher they love to hate, Jesse Chavez, pitched two clean innings; allowed no hits, no walks and struck out two.

Tomorrow the A’s will face the Chicago Cubs and Brett Anderson will be the starting pitcher. Along with Anderson, Bartolo Colon will also be making his spring debut.

(Photo: B.T. Indrelunas/Flickr)

I don’t know if any of you are aware, but there was an actual A’s game today. A game that lasted for nine innings and was played by two different teams! It doesn’t matter that it was a spring training game and spring training games don’t count, because, it was baseball.

I should probably also mention that they lost to the Brewers, by a final score of 2-1. I am just going to go ahead and assume none of you are in a panic right now because it’s February and it is spring training and it’s only the first game. Anyway, these games do matter to some of these players who are fighting for a job on the team so here’s some notes on them:

• RHP Jesse Chavez started today’s game and he pitched 2 innings, allowed only one hit (which was a solo home run to Ryan Braun), walked two and struck out one.
• Jemile Weeks started at second today and led off the game with a double, it was his only hit (going 1-3), but there was a diving stop that started a double play in the second that everyone who was watching was really impressed with.
• Scott Sizemore was the designated hitter today, going 1-2 with a walk.
• Hiro Nakajima (who we’re told already has the starting job at SS) made his debut with the team today, he took a walk in his first at-bat, then went 0-2 with a strike out.
• The most talked about pitcher of the offseason, Mike Ekstrom, pitched one cleaning inning today.
• For those wondering, the other run in the game was charged to LHP Justin Thomas, who struggled a bit with his command today. He pitched 1.1 innings, allowed one hit, walked four and struck out two.
• Newly acquired RHP Fernando Rodriguez relieved Justin Thomas, he allowed a wild pitch and struck out one in 2/3 of an inning.

Tomorrow the A’s face the Angels for the first time (obviously) this spring. Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie, Daric Barton, Derek Norris and Travis Blackley will all be making their spring debuts. You can see the rest of the lineup here.

Earlier this week I posted my thoughts on A’s FanFest, if you missed that you can see that here. As part of FanFest I was lucky enough to be invited to be a part of the BlogFest portion of the day. Myself and 14 other bloggers got to sit down with Manager Bob Melvin, GM Assistant David Forst and Third base Coach Mike Gallego in a press conference style interview. The first 15-minute interview was with Bob Melvin and he touched on Scott Sizemore, Daric Barton and Hiro Nakajima. (For those of you wondering I did not get in my own question since I shied up)

He was first asked about what he would be looking for from Jemile Weeks and Scott Sizemore in Spring Training this year and he had this to say:

Well, first and foremost,  I like that we have some competition here. And I think that for both those guys in Spring Training it’s important because they’re playing for their job right there and you really see what kind of shape some body comes in, what kind of desire, the attitude they’re gonna take towards that. Now they’re not the only two guys. Certainly, Adam Rosales can play everywhere. It almost works against Rosey some that he is so versatile and can play other positions. And you know Grant Green is going to get some at-bats over there as well, Eric Sogard. So we have some options over there. As we sit here right now, probably the two most prominent options are Weeks and Sizemore. I think it’s nice that we have some competition and the versatility plays in to our club as well and that Scotty can play third and we can move some guys around to try and get our best line up on a particular day. But both those guys will be in a competition type mode in Spring Training. 

And in regards to Sizemore’s injury and Weeks’ struggles:

In the case of Scotty who played a full year at third, got hurt and now he’s going back to second base you want to make he gets comfortable over their first. And you don’t start evaluating right away on him because you know it’s going to take some time for him to be comfortable. It’s not uncommon for a guy who had a rookie year like Jemile had to not have as good a year as next year. And I think even though it was difficult for him certainly last year he’ll probably benefit from that going forward. With his mind set each and every day coming into second base. It’s easy to read your press clippings and “I’m the untouchable guy”, I’m the guy that’s the lead off guy”, “And I have second base as my job”. For a younger guy, that can be… and it’s not his fault. A lot of younger players have to go through that, that can be dangerous. But, I know, and I’ve talked to him recently, he is really looking forward and knowing that he still has an opportunity and grateful for that. I think you’ll see a different Jemile Weeks this spring.

When he was asked whether or not they will change their strategy this year from last year, Melvin had this to say:

We put together our coaching staff because they are good instructors, they teach very well and we knew with the influx as many young players as we had last year we were going to have to do some coaching. That doesn’t change. The mindset for myself, my coaches in our rhetoric to the players is we have to even work harder this year. Certainly we want to bring the success and the confidence that we gained in 2012 forward. But knowing just because you did that doesn’t mean you throw your glove out there and just play and that things are going to work out for you. So, we’re going to work just as hard, we’re going to try to remain, as far as our Spring Training concept, pretty much the same. We add and subtract each and every day depending on what we accomplish on a particular day. But they’re going to know that that remains the same and during the season as well. We did an awfully lot of early work, guys that didn’t play on a particular day, were real flexible and guys who might not be playing 8, 10, 12 days in a row and therefor gives us some time to combat some things, some ruts you can get into a little bit. As a staff they’re going to know we’re just as committed this year as we were last year. But also try to ride the momentum from last year, the experience that we gained.

» Continue reading “A’s BlogFest: Q&A With Manager Bob Melvin”

This season I was lucky enough to represent Aerys Sports at A’s Blog Day.  Myself and 10 (or so) other A’s bloggers got to sit down with with Bob Melvin, Farhan Zaidi, A.J. Griffin and Brett Anderson in a “blogger” press conference.

The interviews began around 4:00 when Bob Melvin entered the room for the first interview of the day. Bob Melvin was my favorite of the three, he was very professional and treated each question as if we were the media.  I, unfortunately, did not get in my question for him, but there were plenty of other great questions for Melvin.  (I actually didn’t get any questions in that day). Ultimately, I found the question answered regarding Jemile Weeks to be the most interesting from Melvin:

“As far as Jemile, you know I think it’s not unlike, you talk about Sophmore slumps and so forth and you know he’s a tough kid who can be hard on himself, but I think he just got into a little bit of a slump where he couldn’t quite get out of it.  You know you look up there and you have some pride and you look at your average after hitting .300 for basically a full season and then not being able to repeat that, you try a little bit too hard some times as opposed to trying a little easier and letting your ability take over and I think it was just a little bit of change of scenery he went down there and instantly hit and I don’t think this is going to affect where his career is going forward.”

And regarding any adjustments Weeks needs to make:

“I think maybe just keep the ball out of the air a little bit.  I mean this year he probably… I think he hit a couple of home runs early on and he will tell you that that has nothing to do with, you know, swinging a little bigger.  I think he just felt more comfortable with his swing and that he can drive some balls and last year he just wasn’t trying to do too much, he was just putting it in play, putting it in play on the ground and so it’s a matter of finding a happy medium for him and he will do that.”

The question I had for Melvin was regarding the difference between working with veterans and rookies and Frank from The Bay Area Sports Report asked him a similar question in which Melvin had this to say:

“Well I think, you know,  based where we are in the season we try to keep the distractions to a minimum and just, I know it’s very cliche, but keep it to all our efforts and focus on a particular day.  I think we are playing some match ups in the second half, you know whether it’s a Moss/Carter type of thing. And I think keeping them aware of when they’re playing is important so they know and can visualize and do some homework on some potential pitchers that they’re going to face.  You know, whether it’s Kottaras and Norris and we’ve run a little platoon Pennington/Rosales at second, so I think they benefit by knowing which and what days they’re playing.  And then I think with younger players you try to be consistent in giving them good feedback. Because you know one thing about being a younger player coming to the big league level that you always have to get over is that ‘awe factor’ and ‘do I belong here in the big leagues?’.  And we’ve not only as an organization put a lot of stock in our younger players and getting them to the big leagues, we put them in prominent roles and I think we have done that across the board this year, whether it’s the pitching end of it, whether it’s position player end of it and we’ve been rewarded with good performances.”

» Continue reading “Oakland A’s 2012 Blog Day: Part 1″

Sadly, one month from today the regular season will be coming to an end.  The last time I checked in with the A’s we had just reached the All-Star break and the A’s were at .500 and were 9 games back from Texas.  My prediction was far off stating:

At this point in the season the A’s are expected to be sellers rather than buyers and if this is true, I don’t see the A’s being able to maintain a .500 record let alone a winning one.

Looks like I was wrong again.

Where They Are Right Now:

The A’s have a 33-15 record since returning from the All-Star break.  They are back in second place and 3 games behind the Texas Rangers,  5 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and 12 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners.

Rather than sell the A’s added to the team, acquiring RHP Pat Neshek, C George Kottaras and SS Stephen Drew.

They are currently the lone holders of the first wild card spot, 2 games ahead of Baltimore and 3 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.  For the first time since 2006 the Oakland Athletics are playing meaningful baseball in the month of September.

» Continue reading “Checking In With The A’s: One Month Left”

With the acquisition of Stephen Drew, the A’s had to make some pretty interesting moves today.

The A’s have activated OF/DH Seth Smith from the DL and placed LHP Jordan Norberto on the 15-day DL with shoulder tendinitis.

In surprising news, the A’s have optioned 2B Jemile Weeks to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for Stephen Drew.  Weeks has had a pretty poor season only batting .220/.305/.302 with a .276 wOBA and 73 wRC+ over 504 plate appearances.  He also has 15 stolen bases, 14 doubles and 8 triples.

In order to make room for Stephen Drew on the 40-man, RHP Graham Godfrey has been designated for assignment.  Godfrey was in the starting rotation on opening day and has pitched in 5 games (4 starts) for the Oakland A’s this season.  Over 21 innings he had a 0-4 record with a 6.43 ERA, .310 BABIP and 6.48 FIP.  He has pitched in 20 games (17 starts) for the Rivercats this season and has a 3.29 ERA, .280 BABIP and 4.06 FIP over 104 innings.  I’d be shocked if he didn’t make it through waivers.

Both Seth Smith (DH) and Stephen Drew (SS) are in the lineup tonight for the A’s.

Athletics:  7  Indians:  0

The A’s brought out their bats today, completing the 3-game sweep over the Cleveland Indians.  Today marks the sixth sweep for the A’s this season as well as their thirteenth shut out of the year.

The A’s scored first in the third inning, when Coco Crisp singled in Cliff Pennington.  They scored again in the following inning on a solo home run by Brandon Moss.  The fifth inning would be their biggest inning, scoring three runs off a Coco Crisp home run (his seventh of the season).  They scored two more runs in the sixth, one run off of a Jemile Weeks double and one off of a Coco Crisp single.

The bats were definitely there today, combining for 12 hits, four doubles, two home runs, and seven runs.

Lines of the Day:

• Jarrod Parker:  8 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 SO.  Parker was shaky through the first three innings, allowing four hits and walking one, but only allowed 2 hits (both in the sixth) through the next 5 innings.  He threw 93 pitches over those eight innings and 64 were for strikes.
• Coco Crisp:  5 AB, 3 H, 5 RBI.  Huge day for Coco, who had a season high 5 RBI game.
• Jemile Weeks: 3 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 1 RBI.  Jemile Weeks had his first multi-hit game since August 10th and also collected his 14th double of the season in today’s game.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Josh Reddick: 4 AB, 0 H, 1 SO.  Reddick was the only player to not reach base today by either a hit or walk.
• Derek Norris:  3 AB, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 SO.  Norris did reach base by taking a walk in the seventh, but hit into a double play in the second inning and struck out in the fourth and sixth inning.

A’s Extras:

• Seth Smith is expected to make his first rehab assignment tomorrow and should return to the lineup some time in the middle of the week.

Athletics:  8   Indians:  5

Tonight the A’s celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their 20-game winning streak and in honor of the streak, these A’s extended their streak to three.

The A’s struck first in the third, taking advantage of an error committed by Asdrubal Cabrera.  Cliff Pennington reached base on the error to lead off the inning, Jemile Weeks then sacrificed him over.  Coco Crisp then walked and with Josh Donaldson batting both runners stole second and third.  Donaldson grounded out and Cliff Pennington scored.  Josh Reddick doubled in Coco Crisp and with Reddick on second Yoenis Cespedes hit his sixteenth home run of the season to put A’s up 4-0.

The A’s would not score again until the sixth inning, when George Kottaras singled in Chris Carter.  The A’s scored again in the seventh on an RBI single by Yoenis Cespedes. The A’s scored two more runs in the eighth off of a Coco Crisp triple, which scored George Kottaras and Jemile Weeks.

Bartolo Colon pitched well tonight, only allowing five hits, one run, while walking no one and striking out three.  Colon’s one run allowed was a solo home run to Carlos Santana in the seventh inning.  With today’s win he now has 10 wins on the season, it’s his first double digit win season since 2005 (when he played for the Anaheim Angels).

The ninth inning was pretty shaky for the bullpen, Evan Scribner came in to relieve Bartolo Colon, and allowed a lead off single to Asdrubal Cabrera.  Then the very next batter, Shin-Soo Choo, hit a 2-run homer and the A’s saw their lead cut to 5 runs.  He then got Carlos Santana to line out, but allowed a single to Michael Brantley.  He struck out Shelly Duncan before Jerry Blevins came in to relieve him.

Blevins immediately coughed up another 2-run home run to Brent Lillibridge and the A’s lead shrunk to only 3 runs.  Blevins then gave up a single to Jason Donald before he was pulled and Grant Balfour came in to relieve him.  Balfour recorded the last out of the game by getting Ezequiel Carrera to strike out swinging.

A’s Extras:

• Brett Anderson threw a 40-pitch bullpen session today and everything went well according to Bob Melvin.  There is still no timetable for his return, but I would guess it will be within the next week or so.
• Josh Reddick returned to right field today and went 1-4 with an RBI and a double.
• After going 4-4 yesterday, Josh Donaldson went 2-5 today with 1 RBI.

Athletics:  3  Royals:  0

Dan Straily and the A’s got a little revenge tonight, shutting out the Royals for nine innings and holding them to only six hits.  The A’s offense didn’t do much better, combining for only five hits, but those five hits were good for three runs and a win.

The game was pretty quiet until the sixth inning when Coco Crisp hit a fly ball to right field, which was initially called a double, but under review the call was reversed to a home run.  The A’s scored again in the seventh inning when Yoenis Cespedes hit his fifteenth home run of the season, it was a solo shot.

The A’s scored their final run of the game in the eighth inning when Derek Norris lead off the inning with a walk, then stole second base, and Jemile Weeks singled him in.  This was Norris’ fifth steal of the season and I still chuckle every time he does it.

The biggest story of the night was Dan Straily, who held the Royals to three hits, two walks and struck out two over 6.2 innings.  It was a big turn around from his last start and with the bullpen’s help, he was able to collect his first Major League win.

The bullpen was pretty solid tonight, holding the Royals to only three hits, walking none and striking out two.  Sean Doolittle did get himself into a bases load jam in the seventh when he came in to relieve Straily, but Jerry Blevins came in and recorded the final out of the inning by getting Chris Getz to fly out to center.

A’s Extras:

• Grant Balfour recorded his ninth save of the season when he pitched a clean ninth inning, he allowed no hits and no walks.
• Josh Reddick returned to the line up tonight after missing yesterday’s game after suffering from complications due to a tooth extraction.  He served as DH and went 1-4 with 2 strike outs.
• According to Susan Slusser, Seth Smith is close to returning to the team.  He is eligible to come off of the disabled list on Saturday, but will play in a couple of rehab games before coming back.

For more on the Kansas City Royals, visit Drinking the Royals Blue-Aid.