It’s a new season, but the A’s still remember how to hit a walk-off!

Max Scherzer held the A’s to only five hits and two runs over six innings, while striking out eleven. Luckily for the A’s, they got to face the bullpen “early”, which wasn’t much easier for the team as they only were able to muster three hits and two runs over 5.1 innings. Thankfully, those two runs not only tied the game, but also brought the team to their ninth win of the season.

The A’s scored their first run in the third inning, Eric Sogard doubled to lead off the inning and with one out he stole third and scored on a throwing error by Max Scherzer. They scored their second run in the sixth, when Jed Lowrie led off the inning with a double and Josh Reddick followed with a single to drive him in. They tied it in the seventh when Josh Donaldson hit a one out double and Coco Crisp singled him in with two outs. Their most important run of the game was in the twelfth inning, when Josh Donaldson hit a solo home run with one out to win the game for the team.

Bartolo Colon had another effective start, again I can’t say he was stellar tonight, but he kept the A’s in the game. Colon lasted seven innings tonight, allowing eight hits, three runs, while walking none and striking out five. He threw 86 pitches tonight, 60 of which were for strikes. Just like his last game, his only mistake was allowing a three-run home run, this time to Prince Fielder, in the third inning. Sean Doolittle took over for Colon in the eighth inning and retired all three batters he faced. Grant Balfour pitched the ninth, allowed a hit and struck out one.

Ryan Cook pitched the tenth inning, he allowed one hit, but allowed nothing more. Jerry Blevins pitched the eleventh inning, allowed a single to Prince Fielder, but got Victor Martinez to ground out into a double-play and recorded the last out by getting Alex Avila to strike out. Blevins also pitched in the twelfth inning, he recorded the first two outs of the inning before allowing a triple to Ramon Santiago. Blevins was then replaced by Chris Resop who got Austin Jackson to fly out to end the inning.

Unfortunately, it was not all great for the team tonight, both Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes left the game with injuries and it is unclear when either player will return to the lineup. The team announced that Coco Crisp had strained his groin and is now listed as day-to-day. Yoenis Cespedes seemed to have injured his hand while trying to steal in the eighth, and according to the team his X-rays came out negative.  The good news is, Josh Reddick did return to the lineup tonight, he finished the night going 1-4 with an RBI, a walk and two strikeouts. If both players were to miss a significant amount of time, it could really hurt the team.

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.

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 A’s announced earlier today that they reached deals with their final two arbitration eligible players. Brandon Moss and Jerry Blevins, who both were first-year arbitration eligible, both agreed on one-year deals.

Brandon Moss had a career year in 2012, hitting .291/.358/.596 with a .402 wOBA and 160 wRC+ over 296 plate appearances. Moss also hit a career high 21 home runs and had a 2.4 fWAR. Like most of the team last season he struck out a lot (30.4%) and walked occasionally (8.8%). As good as he was last season, I do expect some regression , especially with him having a .359 BABIP. ZiPS projects a .236/.305/.426 slash line for the first baseman in 2013 with him hitting 21 HR over 532 plate appearances and a 1.3 WAR, which is quite a dip for him from last season.

He saw most of his playing time against right-handed pitching last season and over 207 plate appearances he had a .290/.363/.643 slash line with a 172 wRC+. Just as he did last season, I would expect him to continue to spend most of his time at first base this season, sharing time with Chris Carter.

Similar to Moss, Jerry Blevins had a break out year for the A’s last year. He pitched in 63 games and over 65.1 innings of relief he had a 2.48 ERA, a 4.21 FIP, 7.44 SO/9, 3.44 BB/9 , 84.4 LOB% and .01 fWAR.  His FIP and .224 BABIP indicates there was some luck behind his success, so also like Moss, I would expect some regression from the left-hander this year. ZiPS projects a 3.79 ERA, 3.83 FIP and .282 BABIP over 57 innings.

Athletics: 4  Tigers:  3

I have been absolutely speechless for the past hour.  How do you put into words what just happened?  Just when I was ready to say good-bye to the 2012 Oakland Athletics, they manage to do what the 2012 A’s do and come from behind and walk-off for the fifteenth time this season.

A.J. Griffin had his struggles today, but in the long run was able to “tame” the Tigers enough for the A’s to make their comeback. He allowed seven hits and two runs over five innings while walking none and striking out only one.

For the first time in the series, the Tigers were the first to score.  In the third inning, Alex Avila doubled to lead off the inning and Omar Infante sacrificed him over to third.  Austin Jackson followed with a single and Avila scored.  Griffin got Quintin Berry to fly out and Miguel Cabrera to ground out to end the inning.  The only other run scored off of Griffin was a solo home run by Price Fielder that lead off the fourth inning.

Griffin came out to pitch the sixth, but after Miguel Cabrera lead off the inning with a pop up that nobody caught for a single, he was replaced Jerry Belvins. Blevins did what Blevins does and got Prince Fielder to ground into a double play and then got Delmon Young to ground out to end the inning.

Runs did not come easy for the team today, but caught a break in the bottom of the sixth.  Coco Crisp grounded out to Prince Fielder, but an error by the first baseman allowed Crisp to reach second.  Stephen Drew then followed with a double, scoring Crisp.  Drew tried to stretch his double into a triple and was thrown out at third.  The inning was pretty uneventful after Drew’s TOOTBLAN; Yoenis Cespedes struck out, Brandon Moss walked and Josh Reddick recorded the final out by flying out to center field.

Jerry Blevins pitched a clean seventh, getting all three batters he faced to ground out.  Sean Doolittle replaced Blevins in the eighth, but struggled a bit.  Omar Infante lead off the inning with a single and Austin Jackson sacrificed him over to second base.  Then with one out Avisail Garcia singled, scoring Infante. Miguel Cabrera popped up, but Prince Fielder followed with a single and that was it for Sean Doolittle. Ryan Cook came in and recorded the last out by getting Delmon Young to ground out.

The A’s did threaten in the eighth inning, with two outs Stephen Drew singled and Yoenis Cespedes walked, but Brandon Moss struck out swinging to end it.  Ryan Cook pitched a clean top of the ninth, retiring all three batters he faced.

With Jose Valverde on the mound and down by two runs, the bats came alive.  Josh Reddick lead off the inning with a single, Josh Donaldson doubled and with runners on second and third with no outs, Seth Smith smacked a double to center, scoring both runners and tying up the game.  George Kottaras popped up and Cliff Pennington struck out looking before Coco Crisp became the second hero of the inning.  Crisp swung at the first pitch he saw, singled and Smith scored from second.

It’s up to Jarrod Parker tomorrow to save the A’s season.  No pressure, right?  He last faced the Tigers on Saturday and allowed seven hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out five over 6.1 innings.

(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.

Rangers:  5  Athletics:  4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Athletics:  5  Yankees:  4

The previous two games in Yankee Stadium were each determined by one run and today was no different, except this time the A’s were on the winning side of things.

The A’s scored their first run in the first inning off of a wild pitch from Hiroki Kuroda.  They scored two more runs in the second inning after Cliff Pennington launched a 2-run home run to right field.

This was the second start in a row that A.J. Griffin could not make it through five innings.  Over 4.1 innings he allowed 7 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks and struck out 4.  He threw 103 pitches before he was replaced by Jerry Blevins in the fifth.  All four runs scored by the Yankees came in the fourth inning, Griffin struck out Alex Rodriguez before allowing a single to Robinson Cano and Cano moved to second on a throwing error by Seth Smith.  Nick Swisher then hit a 2-run home run and reduced the the A’s lead by 1.  A.J. Griffin then allowed back-to-back singles before giving up a RBI double to Raul Ibanez. Then the Yankees took the lead off of a RBI ground out from Eduardo Nunez.  Derek Jeter grounded out to end the inning.

The A’s tied the game in the fifth off of an RBI single from Yoenis Cespedes.  The A’s took the final lead of the game in the sixth off of an RBI single by Cliff Pennington.

The bullpen was the unsung heroes of the game, throwing 4.2 innings while only allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and striking out 5.  Today it was Jerry Blevins, Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour that kept the Yankees from scoring.  Grant Balfour was credited with his 20th save of the season while Jerry Blevins received the win.

Cliff Pennington had a big day for the A’s today, going 3-4 with a home run and 3 RBI.  Josh Donaldson also had multi-hit day going 2-4 and scoring twice.

Yankees:  10   Athletics:  9

I never enjoy when the A’s lose, in fact if it were up to me I would have them win every game of the season, but today has had to be the biggest heartbreaking loss of the season.  This is a game the A’s should have won.  There were many missed opportunities for the team today, three costly errors, a bad call by the second plate umpire and a four run lead that could not be held onto.

It started off good for the A’s, the lead off the game with back-to-back-to-back doubles, immediately putting themselves up 2-0.  Then with Cespedes on third and only one out, Chris Carter struck out swinging and Josh Reddick flew out to end the inning.  Travis Blackley, who was in to replace Brett Anderson, struggled in the bottom of the inning, after getting Derek Jeter to fly out he allowed a solo home run to Ichiro Suzuki and then walked Alex Rodriguez.  With Robinson Cano batting he was able to pick off Rodriguez at first, but the umpire called the pick off a balk (which it wasn’t) and Rodriguez moved over to second.  Cano then hit a double, scoring Rodriguez and the game was tied 2-2.  Nick Swisher then walked, Casey McGehee struck out and a routine ground ball to Josh Donaldson, which would have been the third out of the game, turned into an error and the bases were loaded.  With the bases loaded Andruw Jones walked and the Yankees took the 3-2 lead.  Blackley was able to collect the final out of the inning by getting Chris Stewart to ground out.

The Yankees scored another run in the second inning, an unearned run, this time coming off of an error by Cliff Pennington.  It was the last inning Blackley saw, only lasting two innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 runs (2 earned), walking 3 and striking out only 1.  Blackley needed 59 pitches to get through the first 2 innings of the game and only threw 30 strikes.  The A’s scored two runs, one in the third and one in the fourth, tying the game up to 4-4.  The Yankees retook the lead in the fifth off of a solo home run by Raul Ibanez and the A’s tied it up again in the seventh off of a sacrifice fly from Chris Carter.

» Continue reading “A’s Blow 4-Run Lead in 13th Inning, Lose In 14″