Photo: Keith Allison

With today’s 13-5 win over the Los Angels Angels of Anaheim the A’s are sitting on a 5-5 record this spring. This is the first time since game two that the A’s are at .500 and they have also won three in a row for the first time in ten games. These numbers don’t really mean a lot until the real season starts, but a win is always nice even when it’s “only” spring training.

The five runs scored by the Angels today were only allowed by two pitchers; with Dan Straily allowing two and Ryan Cook allowing the other three. Straily started today’s game and went 2.1 innings while allowing four hits, two earned runs, no walks and striking out two. Over 3.2 innings this spring he has allowed six hits, four runs, one walk and struck out three. Chris Resop relieved Straily in the third and struck out both batters he faced. Sean Doolittle pitched a clean fourth inning while striking out the side. Ryan Cook allowed his three runs in one inning, allowing four hits and a walk while also striking out one. Jordan Norberto also pitched in today’s game and allowed only a hit.

The offense was what really won the game for the team today. They combined for fifteen hits, five walks, four doubles and two triples while going 9-14 with runners in scoring position. The biggest hit came from John Jaso in the fourth when he hit a bases clearing triple. He finished the game going 1-2 with a walk and three RBI.

• Adam Rosales started at second base today and went 0-2 with a walk. He is 4-11 this spring with four walks and two RBI.
• Josh Reddick started in right field today and went 1-3 with a double and an RBI.
• Yoenis Cespedes collected his first hit of the spring today and finished the day going 1-2 with a walk and two runs scored.
• Jed Lowrie was the starting shortstop today and went 1-3 with an RBI. He is now 4-14 with three walks and three RBI this spring.
• Josh Donaldson was the starting third baseman in today’s game and he went 0-2 with a walk. This spring he is 1-17 with four walks.
• Michael Choice stated in center today and went 0-2 with a strikeout. Shane Peterson replaced him in the sixth and he went 1-2 with a triple and an RBI.

Tomorrow is the first split-squad for the team; Bartolo Colon will face the undefeated Kansas City Royals while Brett Anderson takes on team Italy.

There really isn’t a lot to say about today’s game. I don’t think the A’s necessarily played terrible today, but they didn’t play well enough (to state the obvious). The A’s lost to the Chicago Cubs today to a final score of 5-3, dropping their spring record to 2-4.

Brett Anderson started today’s game and went two innings, allowed one hit, no runs, walked none and struck out one. Bartolo Colon relieved Anderson in the third inning and was the one pitcher who was hit the hardest today, having allowed five hits and three runs (only one earned) while walking none and striking out four. The two unearned runs were caused by an error by shortstop Hiro Nakajima.

As far as the offense goes, the team combined for nine hits, three walks and went 1-7 with runners in scoring position. Derek Norris hit his second home run of the spring (and second in two days) and Michael Choice hit his second double. Here’s some more stats from today:

• Both Hideki Okajima and Jordan Norberto pitched in today’s game. Okajima pitched one inning, allowed one hit, no runs, walked one and struck out two. Norberto pitched one inning as well, allowed two hits (a single and a double), one earned run, walked none and struck out three.
• Fellow lefty, Pedro Figueroa, also pitched one inning today, allowed two hits, one run and walked one.
• Hiro Nakajima started at shortstop today and went 1-3 with one strike out. Nakajima is 2-10 this spring with six strikeouts and one walk.
• Josh Reddick started in right field today and went 0-2 with a walk.
• Josh Donaldson started at third base today and went 0-3 with a strike out. Donaldson is 1-10 this spring with no walks and four strikeouts.
• Michael Choice continued his hot streak this spring, going 2-4 with a double and an RBI. He is now 7-14 with two doubles, one home run and five RBI.

In other A’s news, Bob Melvin announced that Brett Anderson was named the Opening Day starter earlier today. Anderson returned from Tommy John surgery last August and went 4-2 over six starts. In 35 innings he had a 2.57 ERA, 2.72 FIP, .272 BABIP and a 1 fWAR. There was really no question, as far as I am concerned, that he would get the Opening Day nod, so it’s no big surprise. The rest of the rotation will be; Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, A.J. Griffin and Dan Straily until Bartolo Colon returns from his suspension.

Tomorrow the A’s face the San Francisco Giants, Jarrod Parker will be the starter and will be making his spring debut. Along with Parker, Jerry Blevins, Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle will also be pitching for the first time this spring.

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.

I can even play with a dislocated shoulder!

Athletics:  9  White Sox: 7

This was not a pretty game by any means, but a win is a win and I’ll take it.

After struggling twice against Francisco Lirano earlier this season, the A’s finally found a way to score runs off of the left-hander.  The first inning did not look good for the Green and Gold as the first three batters that faced Lirano struck out.  In the second he struck out two more Athletics.

The third inning was much different.  Jemile Weeks lead off the inning with a fly out, Coco Crisp then singled and then Jonny Gomes walked.  Josh Reddick then grounded out into a force out and Jonny Gomes was thrown out at second.  Yoenis Cespedes was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Chris Carter, who singled and drove in two runs.  Brandon Inge then walked and with the bases loaded and two outs Derek Norris hit a ground-rule double and both Cespedes and Carter scored.  Adam Rosales then singled in the final run before Jemile Weeks flew out, again, to end the inning.

Travis Blackley, having allowed two runs the previous inning, now had a 5-2 lead.  The A’s would add on another run in the fouth when Josh Reddick singled in Coco Crisp.  Blackley saw his lead shrink when he allowed a RBI single to Tyler Flowers in the 4th and then a 2-run home run to Kevin Youkilis in the fifth.

Jordan Norberto replaced Blackley in the sixth inning and after retiring the first two batters on strikeouts he gave up a home run to Tyler Flowers and the game was tied.  Norberto would start the seventh inning as well, allowing a lead off single to Kevin Youkilis and striking out Adam Dunn before Ryan Cook came in to replace him.

Bob Melvin had announced earlier in the day that Ryan Cook was being removed from the closer spot for a couple of days and will only be put into games with less high-pressure situations.  So I question why Ryan Cook was placed into a tied game in the seventh.  That being said, Ryan Cook immediately allowed back-to-back singles to Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynsky and the White Sox took the lead.  He then got Alexei Ramirez to ground out into a double play to end the inning.

» Continue reading “A’s Fight Hard to Even Up Series”

What is wrong with Cook?

Blue Jays:  3  Athletics:  1

You could say that the two teams on the field in Oakland today looked like two teams who played a 15-inning game the night before.  The offense wasn’t there today, for either teams, but it was the Jays who won in extras this time around.

After last night’s marathon the A’s needed A.J. Griffin to go out and pitch into the game as long as humanly possible, but an injury, which was soon described as shoulder tightness, took him out of the game after just 1.2 innings.  It was up to the tired bullpen to keep the A’s in the game today, which they did, shutting out the Blue Jays for the next 5.1 innings.

For the third consecutive game Ryan Cook came into the game in the 9th to save the game.  He was able to get the first batter to pop up to first base, but allowed a home run to to the very next batter and soon the game was tied.  He then was able to record the next 2 outs, but by then the damage was already done.

The A’s could not win it in the 9th, nor in the 10th when they had the bases loaded with 2 outs and Josh Reddick struck out looking to end the threat.

Jerry Blevins entered the 11th inning, having pitched in the 10th as well, and immediately gave up a single to Edwin Encarnacion, but then got David Cooper to line out to record the first out of the inning. Encarnacion then stole 2nd, but it didn’t really matter because Blevins then walked Rajai Davis.  Jeff Mathis then struck out swinging, and instead of turning a strike em out, throw em out double play, George Kottaras over threw the ball to Brandon Inge and Encarnacion scored on the error.  The following batter, Moises Sierra doubled and Rajai Davis scored, putting the Jays up 3-1.

The A’s went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, and lost in extras for the first time since May 23rd.

The loss can be blamed on many things, Ryan Cook blowing his second game in a row, Bob Melvin for going with Cook, Jerry Blevins for giving up runs in the 11th or George Kottaras for the error that caused the Jays to score the winning run.  For me, it was the offense that lost the game today for the A’s.  You simply cannot expect the team to win when they only score 1 run.  The team combined for 4 hits today over 11 innings, they did walk 7 times, but were 1-6 with runners in scoring position.

» Continue reading “A’s Game Recap: Bad News Turns To Good News, Turns To Bad News”

Thanks for showing up, Cespedes!

Rays:  4  Athletics:  1

The A’s have lost back-to-back games for the first time since June 30th.  The A’s are coming off a great July, going 19-5 on the month, which set a franchise record for the month, so is losing the first game in August mean it’s time to panic?

I’d say “yes” and “no”.  Okay, maybe not “panic”, but it’s a bit concerning.  The A’s looked absolutely terrible at the plate in this series, they scored only 5 runs over the 3 games, struck out 39 times total and in the last 2 games only combined for 8 hits and 1 run.  It was ugly, to say the least, and looked a lot like the A’s from earlier in the season.

On the other hand, the A’s have not had a day off since they began their 6-game east coast road trip and the first game in this series was 15 innings long.  It’s a silly excuse, but may also be a legitimate reason why the A’s looked so defeated over the past couple of games.  Most importantly, it’s only 2 games.  There are 7 more games in this homestand, and I think those 7 games will determine whether or not the July A’s are the real thing or not.

Lines of the Day:

• Brandon Inge: 4 AB, 1 H, 1 RBI.  Brandon Inge is responsible for the only run scored for the A’s over the past 18 innings, he also holds a season high 11-game hitting streak.
• Yoenis Cespedes:  4 AB, 2 H.  Cespedes was the only player to collect 2 hits today, he was 5-14 in the series.

A’s Extras:

• Josh Reddick went 0-4 today and is now hitless in his last 21 at-bats with 8 strikeouts.
• Jarrod Parker was okay today, lasting 6 innings, allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, walking 3 and striking out 2.
• Jordan Norberto pitched 2 innings of relief today, he allowed 1 hit (a solo home run to Carlos Pena) and struck out 1.

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

Athletics:  5  Yankees: 4

You are reading that correctly, the Oakland A’s have swept the New York Yankees.  This is the first time in Oakland A’s history that the A’s have swept the Bronx Bombers in a 4-game series at the Coliseum.

The game was not easy for the A’s as they had to come back from a 4-0 deficit after Bartolo Colon allowed  3 runs in the 3rd and another run in the 4th.  Brandon Inge was the first to get the A’s on the board when he hit a solo home run in the 5th (his 10th of the season).  Kurt Suzuki followed with his own, which also happened to be his first of the season.  The  A’s would score again in the 6th after an RBI groundout by Brandon Inge.

The A’s were down 1 in the ninth when Rafael Soriano came in to close the game. He got Brandon Inge to pop up to record the first out of the inning, but Seth Smith was the next batter and he took Soriano deep to tie the game at 4.

The 10th and the 11th were quiet for the A’s, as they did not even get a base runner on in either of the two innings.  With 1 out in the 12th Derek Norris singled to break his 30 at bat hitless streak and Jemile Weeks sacrificed him over to second in the next at bat.  Coco Crisp was the next batter and he singled in Norris, for his 2nd walk-off of the season and making it the team’s 11th walk-off overall.

 Lines of the Day:

• Coco Crisp:  3 AB, 2 H, 1 RBI, SB.  No one really had a big day as far as offense goes, but after coming in to pinch hit for Gomes in the 8th, Crisp collected a couple hits, including the one that won the game.
• A’s Bullpen:  Jordan Norberto, Grant Balfour and Jerry Blevins were fantastic today, they combined for 5.1 innings, allowed 3 hits, no runs, walked one and struck out 7.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Jemile Weeks:  5 AB, 0 H, 1 SO.  With Crisp not in the starting lineup today, Weeks hit lead off and went O-fer at the plate.  The only time he reached base was on a fielding error by Jayson Nix.
• Yoenis Cespedes: 5 AB, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 SO.  Cespedes struggled a bit at the plate today, only reaching base on a fielder’s choice in the 4th.

A’s Extras:

• After witnessing 3 spectacular pitching performances in the first 3 games, Bartolo Colon was just okay today.  He lasted 6.2 innings, allowing 8 hits, 4 runs and a walk while striking out 5.

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

Athletics: 2  Mariners:  1

The A’s ended the first half of the season almost identical to the way they entered the season; a game against the Mariners, facing King Felix that ends up going into extras.  Only this time, the A’s were on the winning side of things.

If you could sum up the entire 2012 season so far in one game, this was the one.  It started off in the A’s favor, Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks lead off the first inning with singles, Josh Reddick grounded out and Yoenis Cespedes singled in Crisp.  It would take the A’s 11 more innings before they scored again.

Bartolo Colon retired the first 2 batters in the 6th, but after allowing 3 consecutive singles to Dustin Ackley, Ichiro Suzuki and Michael Saunders, the Mariners were able to tie the game at one a piece.

The pitching duel continued on until the 13th inning.  With Oliver Perez pitching in relief for the Mariners, Jemile Weeks lead off the inning with a single and Josh Reddick came in, swung at the first pitch he saw and doubled in the winning run.

With this walk-off win today the A’s now have 8 walk-off wins, which leads the majors.  The A’s will enter the All-Star break with a .500 record, the last time they had a winning record going into the second half was in 2008.

Lines of the Day:

• Bartolo Colon:  8.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 SO.  Colon only needed 93 pitches to get through 8.2 innings and of those 93 pitches, 79 of them were for strikes.
• A’s Bullpen:  4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO.  It was Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle, Grant Balfour and Jordan Norberto again who shut down the Mariners.  Jordan Norberto was credited with the win in tonight’s game, his second in 3 days.
• Jemile Weeks:  4 AB, 2 H, 2 BB.  Weeks reached base 4 times today, the most by any player in the game.  He also had a stolen base in the 10th inning, it was his 12th of the season.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• A’s Offense: 43 AB, 9 H, 5 BB, 12 SO.  The A’s offense struggled again today, they were 1-12 with runners in scoring postion and left 10 players on base.

A’s Extras:

• Yoenis Cespedes had to leave the game after he sprained his thumb stealing 2nd.  The injury does not sound serious and he should be back in the lineup on Friday.
• The A’s 17-game home run streak ended today when the team failed to score any runs on the long ball.
• Impressively, Bartolo Colon and the bullpen did not allow a walk over all 13 innings today.

 For more on the Mariners, visit Needle Ball. 

Athletics:  4  Mariners:  1

This was a typical 2012 A’s/Mariners game.  The Mariners scored first, a couple of singles off Milone in the first and Seattle was on the board.  Milone calmed down and only allowed 3 more hits and 1 walk over the next 6 innings.  It wasn’t until the 8th inning when the next run would score.

It was the 11th inning that really mattered today, Josh Reddick lead off the inning with a single and then Yoenis Cespedes flew out after him.  Seth Smith then singled to keep the rally going and then came Chris Carter who was pinch hitting for Brandon Moss.  On a 0-1 count Carter crushed…er..,slaughtered, the ball to left field and won the game for the A’s.  It was his first major league career walk-off and the A’s 7th walk-off of the season.

Just like that the A’s are back to .500.  To quote myself I said this on June 13th:

Unless the A’s go on some sort of tear, it’s not likely the A’s will take the division this season, nor does it seem likely they will ever see .500 again.

That’s exactly what this team has done over the past 3 weeks.  Even looking at their losses there are at least a handful they could have won.

Lines of the Day:

• Tom Milone:  7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 SO.  Milone continues to be brilliant at home.  In 7 games at the O.co Milone has only allowed more than 1 run one time.  Milone also had a career high 9 strikeout outs tonight and now has 20 over his last 3 games pitched (19 innings).
• A’s Bullpen:  4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 SO.  The bullpen was practically flawless tonight.  Sean Doolittle, Ryan Cook, Grant Balfour and Jordan Norberto threw and inning each.  Jordan Norberto, who struck out the side in the top of the 11th, was credited with his first major league win.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• A’s Offense:  36 AB, 8 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 7 SO.  Although they won tonight, the A’s offense was not great.  Josh Reddick, Jemile Weeks and Seth Smith all had 2 hits and combined for three-fourths of the hits collected over 11 innings.  The A’s left 7 players on base tonight and were 2-6 with runners in scoring position.

 For more on the Seattle Mariners, visit Needle Ball. 

Athletics:  4  Dodgers:  1

This game was actually pretty uneventful until the 9th inning.  Both starting pitchers were impressive, Travis Blackley held the Dodgers to 1 run over 8 innings, while Clayton Kershaw did the same to the A’s.  Each pitcher only allowed 3 hits, Kershaw struck out 7 A’s players, Blackley struck out 6 Dodgers.

Josh Lindblom came in to replace Clayton Kershaw in the bottom of the ninth, Coco Crisp walked to lead off the inning and moved over to 2nd on a wild pitch.  Jemile Weeks then tried to sacrifice him over to 3rd, but reached first on a bunt single.  With players on 1st and 3rd Yoenis Cespedes came in and hit an 0-1 pitch for a line drive home run to left field to win the game for the A’s.

The A’s managed to hold the Dodgers to 11 hits and 2 runs over the 3-game series.  The A’s didn’t score a ton in the series, but outscored the Dodgers 11-2.

Lines of the Day:

• Travis Blackley:  8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 SO.  It took Blackley only 87 pitches to get through 8 innings and 67 were for strikes.  It was his longest outing of the season and the first time he did not issue a walk over his first 5 starts.
• Yoenis Cespedes:  4 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 3 RBI.  Cespedes only had 1 hit today, but his 1 hit won the game for the A’s.  It was his 7th home run of the season and now has a .279/.338/.507 slash line and .845 OPS.

A’s Extras:

• Derek Norris made his MLB debut today for Oakland (Josh Donaldson was optioned down to Triple-A to make room for him).  He went 0-3 with a double play, but threw out Dee Gordon trying to steal 2nd in the 9th.  According to Bob Melvin, Norris will not be a backup to Kurt Suzuki, he plans on splitting playing time between the two catchers.
• Jordan Norberto was activated from the DL today, Pedro Figueroa was optioned to Sacramento to make room for the left-hander.
• Ryan Cook was credited with the win today, he allowed 1 walk and struck out 1 over 1 clean inning of work.

For more on the Los Angeles Dodgers, vist Foul Territory.