Kurt Suzuki was the longest tenured Oakland A.

The A’s have traded catcher Kurt Suzuki to the Washington Nationals for minor league catcher David Freitas.

Kurt Suzuki has a career .254/.311/.286 slash line with a .304 wOBA.  This season he had a slash line of .218/.250/.286 with a .237 wOBA, .069 ISO and 49 wRC+ over 75 games.

In January, John Sickels ranked David Freitas as the Washington Nationals 13th best prospect giving him a C+ grade (borderline C) and stated he “Draws tons of walks, has some power, not great at nailing runners but doesn’t give up many passed balls or errors. We need to see him higher than the Sally League, but an interesting player.”

Freitas has spent the season in Single-A and has a .217/.374/.407  slash line with a .358 wOBA over 78 games with 5 HR, 22 2B and 46 RBI.

It’s always hard to see a player go, especially with one who has been on the team as long as Kurt has.  Unfortunately for Kurt, Derek Norris is the future of this team and he is not.  I will miss Kurt, but I am glad to see him going to a contender and it’s good that he will get to play every day again.

The A’s have yet to announce a corresponding move, but unless someone (Seth Smith) lands on the DL, the 10 day waiting period for Derek Norris still applies before he can be called up again.

I wish nothing but the best to Kurt and he will truly be missed in Oakland.

Athletics:  4  Rays:  3

The A’s pulled off their 12th walk-off of the season tonight, defeating the Rays in 15 innings.

It was a pretty uneventful game, the A’s scored their first 2 runs in the the second when Chris Carter doubled in Yoenis Cespedes and Kurt Suzuki doubled in Chris Carter.  The Rays took the lead in the sixth when Matt Joyce homered off of A.J. Griffin.  The A’s tied the game back up in the seventh when Brandon Hicks hit a home run of his own.

The score remained the same for 8 more innings.  In the bottom of the 15th with Kyle Farnsworth on the mound, Brandon Inge led the inning off with a single and Kurt Suzuki sacrificed him over to second in the following at bat.  Farnsworth then intentionally walked Seth Smith and then unintentionally walked Eric Sogard to load the bases.  Jemile Weeks then hit a fly ball to center and Brandon Inge scored from third to end the game.

A’s Extras:

• This was A.J. Griffin’s longest outing of the season thus far, over 7 innings he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, walked 2 and struck out 6.
• The A’s set a franchise record tonight, striking out 21 times in the game.  Each player in the starting lineup struck out at least once, with Josh Reddick and Brandon Inge both wearing the Golden Sombrero.
• Jemile Weeks and Josh Reddick both went 0-7 tonight.
• Yoenis Cespedes went 3-7 tonight with 1 run and 1 strike out.

For more on the Tampa Bay Rays, vist 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:  9  Twins:  3

The A’s got on the board early tonight.  With 2 outs in the top of the first Josh Reddick singled, Yoenis Cespedes then doubled to score Reddick, Brandon Moss was then hit by a pitch and Chris Carter hit a 3-run homer to give Milone a 4-run lead.

It wasn’t over after that, the A’s hit 3 more home runs and scored 5 more runs.  Yoenis Cespedes hit his 10th home run of the season,  Seth Smith hit his 9th and Brandon Moss hit his 11th.  The A’s now have 88 home runs through 88 games this season.

Lines of the day:

• Josh Reddick:  5 AB, 3 H, 2 R.  After going 0-4 yesterday with 2 strikeouts, Reddick came back and had 3 singles tonight.
• Seth Smith:  5 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 2 RBI.  Seth Smith started in left field today and had a home run and a triple.  Huh.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Jemile Weeks: 5 AB, 0 H.  Ugly line for the lead off hitter tonight.  Besides Weeks, Cliff Pennington (0-4) was the only player to not record a hit in tonight’s game.

A’s Extras:

• Tom Milone was just okay tonight, he lasted 6 innings allowed 10 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and struck out 4.  He allowed a solo home run to Brian Dozier in the 3rd and the second run came in the 6th when he walked Joe Mauer, allowed a single to Josh Willingham and then Justin Morneau singled in Mauer.  After tonight’s win, Milone now has 9 wins on the season.
• Yoenis Cespedes DH’d again tonight, he was 2-5 with a 2-run home run and an RBI double.
• Kurt Suzuki was 2-4 tonight with a double and a run.
• Former A, Josh Willingham, hit another home run against the A’s tonight.  This time it was solo off of Jordan Norberto in the 8th inning.  Willingham now has 5 HR and 11 RBI against the A’s this season.
• Coco Crisp was not in tonight’s lineup due to shoulder soreness and is considered day-to-day.  With Crisp out of the lineup Reddick started in center and Weeks batted lead off.

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.

Athletics:  4  Dodgers:  1

Thanks to a stellar performance by Tom Milone, the A’s have won their second straight game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Milone threw his first career complete game, he was also the first A’s pitcher this season to throw a complete game.  The A’s have now held the Dodgers to 5 hits and 1 run over the last 18 innings.

Lines of the Day:

• Tom Milone:  9 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO.  Tom Milone threw 112 pitches tonight and 73 were for strikes.  When pitching at home he has not allowed more than 2 runs per game.
• Yoenis Cespedes:  4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI.  Cespedes returned to the A’s lineup tonight as the DH, it was the first time he has played a game since June 13th.  Cespedes doubled in an RBI in the 5th and was about 10 inches short of hitting his 7th home run of the season in the 8th.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• Josh Reddick:  4 AB, 0 H, 1 SO.  It was another 0-4 night for Josh Reddick, who is now 0-19 in his last 19 ABs.
• Kurt Suzuki:  3 AB,  0 H.  Suzuki was the only player besides Reddick to not reach base tonight, he is now 0-14 in his last 14 ABs.

A’s Extras:

• Brandon Moss hit his 7th home run of the season in the 8th inning.  He now has 7 home runs in his first 13 games with Oakland.
• The A’s announced today that Tyson Ross will be recalled from Sacramento on Saturday to start in place of Bartolo Colon.  In his last start against the Padres he allowed 2 ER over 6 innings, only allowed 1 hit, but walked 4.

For more on the Dodgers, visit Foul Territory.

(Photo: michaelgoodin/flickr)

Not really.

After being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the A’s did some sweeping of their own this week.  It was the first time the A’s have swept a series this season, outscoring the Rockies 26-15 over those 3 games.

So how did they do it?

Game 1:  Athletics: 8  Rockies: 5

It was the 6 run 3rd inning that won the game for the A’s.  The A’s had 4 home runs on Tuesday, Brandon Moss was responsible for half of them while Cliff Pennington and Brandon Inge each hit one of their own.

Bartolo Colon was not great, he only lasted 5 innings and allowed 5 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks, but thanks to the A’s offense he was credited with the win.

Star of the game: Brandon Moss went 2-4 with 2 runs, 3 RBI and 2 home runs.

» Continue reading “A’s Sweep Rockies, Time To Move To Denver”

I apologize for the delay in getting this post up a day late, but I did not want to go without highlighting a few things from last night’s game.

• Tom Milone had another strong outing at the Coliseum last night,  over  7 innings he allowed 5 hits, 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 3.  His one run was on a pop up by Mike Trout that dropped in for double.
• Coco Crisp was activated from the DL yesterday, Eric Sogard was sent down to Triple-A to make room for him.  Crisp went 1-4 and scored 1 run in last night’s win.
• The A’s combined for 6 hits and 6 walks, the only 2 players to not reach base yesterday were Jemile Weeks and Kurt Suzuki.
• Last night was the first time I have seen Ryan Cook live, he did not make me feel nervous so that’s a plus!  He pitched 1 clean inning and did not allow a baserunner.
• Brian Fuentes collected his 4th save of the season last night, like Cook, he also did not allow a baserunner.

Tigers:  3  Athletics:  1

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t feeling good about this game when I saw the lineup and the tweet from Susan Slusser that said “Melvin’s bench today is … No one”.

She was not kidding.  Kila Ka’aihue was out of the line up again because of his hamstring injury, Kurt Suzuki was out of lineup today because of a hand injury, Brandon Inge was out of the lineup because of groin soreness and Jemile Weeks was out of the line up because of the ankle injury he suffered from yesterday.

I can’t even be mad about today’s loss, Justin Verlander is one of the best pitchers in baseball and the A’s lineup was pretty… subpar.

The A’s combined for 2 hits in 28 at bats, walked twice and struck out 11 times.

Lines of the Day:

• Seth Smith: 2 AB, 1 H, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR.  Seth Smith hit his 3rd home run of the season off of pitcher Justin Verlander, he single handily prevented the A’s from being shut out today, so for that he is the player of the day.  Honorable mention to Josh Reddick for being the only other player to get a hit today, which was also the first hit for the A’s.
• Jordan Norberto:  1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 SO.  Norberto was the only A’s pitcher today to not allow a base runner.

Ugly Lines of the Day:

• A’s offense:  28 AB, 2 H, 1 R.  Two hits says it all.

A’s Extras:

• Jarrod Parker wasn’t terrible today, but he wasn’t great either.  He continues to struggle with his control having walked 4 and it took him 112 pitches (61 for strikes) to get through 5.2 innings.  Parker was charged with 2 earned runs today, but to be fair to him he left the game having only allowed 1 as Grant Balfour walked in the 2nd run when he came in to relieve him in the 6th.
• Overall, I am happy with how this team finished the home stand, splitting a 2-game series with the Blue Jays and a 4-game series with the Tigers. Frankly, I am tired of hearing about how “terrible” this team is and how they are going to start losing “any day now” especially from other A’s fans.  Just be happy that the A’s are finding ways to win and enjoy this run while it lasts.

For more on the Detroit Tigers please visit Motown Lowdown.

Athletics:  3  Tigers:  1

There was no offensive explosion in Oakland today, but the A’s didn’t need 11 runs to win (not that they did yesterday either) because Brandon McCarthy was on tonight.  The team has now at least guaranteed they split the 4-game series and will finish this home stand at least 1 game over .500.

Lines of the Day:

• Brandon McCarthy:  7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 SO. Apparently Brandon McCarthy was not kidding when he said he was feeling better because he had his best game of the season tonight.  After going 0-3 in his first 5 starts of the season he has now won 3 straight in his last 3 starts and has only allowed 3 earned runs in his last 20.2 innings pitched.
• Jemile Weeks:  2 AB, 2 H, 1 R.  There was really no offensive stand outs today, but Weeks was the only player to have a multi-hit day.  Weeks did have to be pulled from the game after he rolled his ankle running out of the batters box and right now not a lot is known about his injury.

I am skipping the “Ugly Lines of the Day” because the only thing ugly going on in Oakland right now is the injury bug.

• Yoenis Cespedes has been placed on the DL retroactive May, 7th.  Cespedes was expected to be back in the lineup today, but during batting practice he was still experiencing pain in his hand.  Josh Donaldson has been recalled from Triple-A Sacramento to replace him.
• Before tonight’s game Bob Melvin announced that Kurt Suzuki was dropped to the 9th spot because he also is dealing with a sore left hand and he would like for Kurt to see as little at bats as possible.  (Suzuki was eventually moved up because of the late scratch of Cespedes and Ka’aihue)
• Kila Ka’aihue was a last minute scratch from the lineup because of a hamstring injury that apparently happened last night while he was running the bases.  As of right now the injury is not thought to be serious.
• Although he was pulled from the game with an ankle injury in the 4th, Jemile Weeks tells Susan Slusser he believes he will be able to play tomorrow.  I personally don’t see this happening, nor would I really want it to, but at least it sounds like this is an injury that won’t land him on the DL.

A’s Extras:

• Ryan Cook pitched another clean inning tonight for Oakland, he allowed 1 walk and struck out 1.
• Brian Fuentes collected his 2nd save of the season tonight.  It wasn’t a clean save for him as he allowed a double, a wild pitch and a run, but after the game Bob Melvin announced him as the new closer.
• Brandon Inge did not hit a home run today nor did he have 4 RBI, but he did go 0-3 with a walk.

For more on the Detroit Tigers please visit Motown Lowdown.