Month: July 2014

By Morris Phillips

When asked for his reaction to being selected to the All-Star game after spending much of April and May wondering if John Jaso would bypass him as the A’s starting catcher, Derek Norris kept coming back to one word.

“Surreal.”

Quite appropriate because that word describes the A’s weekend in which they beat the Blue Jays four straight, surprised all of major league baseball with a bold trade and then capped it off with the announcement that six (seven) A’s had been chosen as All-Stars.

And while the A’s may be a bit shocked by all their good fortune and shaking their collective heads, they haven’t lost their heads. Their brilliant performance on the field over the weekend speaks to that: the A’s allowed Toronto four runs in four games, and trailed for just two plus innings in the entire series.

On Sunday, Jeff Samardzija made his A’s debut and the pep in his step undoubtedly created by his transformation from being a last-place Cub to a first-place Athletic was noticeable from the start. The A’s prized acquisition showed off his classic fastball, slider mix in shutting down the Jays through seven innings. Samardzija allowed four hits and a run, striking out five and while looking nothing like a pitcher with a 2-7 record, which he had with the Cubs in his 17 starts there.

The A’s offense weighed in with a run in the second and two more in the fourth to back their new pitcher which at least to Samardzija must have felt surreal. The 29-year old right hander threw seven innings of shutout baseball for the Cubs on Opening Day only to see the lovable losers fall to the Pirates that day, 1-0 in 10 innings. And that was just the start of the challenging conclusion of Samardzija’s career in the Windy City: through 10 starts this season, his ERA sat at 1.46, the lowest in the history of the game for a pitcher with 10 starts under his belt without having at least one win.

Through all of that, Samardzija’s attitude never suffered. And his teammates, coaches and journalists covering the team couldn’t help but notice.

“He’s been grinding all season. That’s what the good ones do; they don’t get bothered by things they can’t control,” Cubs manager Rick Renteria said at that time.

“Not once has he been negative about the run support or not having a win,” Cubs’ teammate Nate Schierholtz said.

On Sunday, Samardzija received several ovations from the O.co Coliseum crowd for his initial performance. But he could have received those same cheers for his attitude and professionalism in the midst of all the upheaval.

“Like I said yesterday, they didn’t need me here. They were doing just fine without me. I don’t want to come in and change anything and change the atmosphere. I just want to come in and add and do my part,” Samardzjia said of his new situation in Oakland.

After the game, six A’s were chosen as starters and reserves for the July 15 All-Star game, the most nods the team has received since 1975. Josh Donaldson was voted in as the starter at third base, and he will be joined by Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Moss, Derek Norris and pitchers Scott Kazmir and Sean Doolittle.

In a bit of surprise, Samardzjia was chosen as well for the National League team despite the trade and his poor won-loss record. His selection came via the player ballot and means he will travel to Minneapolis and wear a NL uniform for introductions, then move over to the AL dugout for the game, where he’ll lead the cheers, but be unable to participate.

“Guys around the league are paying attention and know what you’re doing,” he said of his selection.

With all seven A’s All-Stars on the interview podium after the game, the group genuinely seemed humbled, despite their baseball-best 54-33 record and their statistical superiority of which hasn’t been seen since the 2001 Seattle Mariners put up eye-popping stats on their way to 116 regular season wins.

“We’ve all taken pretty interesting paths to get where we are and we’re appreciative for it,” Moss said.

Moss was released by the Pirates in 2010. He was hitting .154 at the time. Kazmir’s career got so far off the path he didn’t pitch at all in the majors in 2011 and 2012. Doolittle used to be an infielder, a career-threatening injury led him to reinvent himself as a pitcher. Norris entered this season just trying to establish himself as a full-time starter. Donaldson was a catcher in his big league debut in 2010, but his career has blossomed after a full-time move to third base. And Cespedes’ harrowing story of his escape from Cuba was thoughtfully recounted by the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser a year ago.

And the one thing that’s allowed the group to blossom in Oakland?

“They believe in you, and you believe in yourself,” Moss said.

The A’s open the home-and-home interleague series with the Giants on Monday when Jesse Chavez faces San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong at 7:05pm.

By Morris Phillips

Quite clearly the A’s are making news off the field, as well as on, this holiday weekend.

Having pulled the big trade to acquire a front-line starter in Jeff Samardzija as well as Jason Hammel, who will also step into the A’s rotation, the A’s have the attention of the baseball world with their MLB-best record and brash trade for a pair of pitchers that make them the favorites to capture the AL pennant.

And while all the pundits assess and dissect the trade, the A’s haven’t missed a beat on the diamond, beating the Blue Jays for the third straight day, 5-1 at the O.co Coliseum.

In beating the AL East leaders the A’s looked the part, getting a stellar start from Scott Kazmir, a critical home run off the Jays’ best starter, Mark Buehrle, and a pair of outstanding defensive plays to boot. After a few ragged outings over the last 10 days, this may have been the A’s best played game in recent memory.

With the Blue Jays leading 1-0 early, the tenor of the game changed when Toronto first basemen and prolific home run hitter Edwin Encarnacion was injured trying to beat a throw running to first base. Encarnacion ranks second in all of baseball with 26 home runs, and his quad injury will mean that total will sit for a while with a stint on the disabled list likely.

After that, the A’s began to solve the 10-game winner Buehrle, who nearly allowed a grand slam to Coco Crisp on what would instead become the final out of the second inning caught on the warning track. In the third, Josh Donaldson touched Buehrle with a prodigious shot over the center field wall to tie it. It was just Donaldson’s second home run in his previous 24 games.

The A’s took control with a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the eighth. Kazmir and the bullpen did the rest with the veteran striking out eight batters and allowing just three hits. Luke Gregerson and Fernando Abad came out the bullpen to shut the door in the eighth and ninth.

The A’s improved to 54-33, tying their season-best 21 games over .500 and equaling the ’72 A’s for the fourth best 87-game start to a season in Oakland history. The Angels and Mariners also won on Saturday to remain 3 ½ and 6 games behind the A’s in the AL West.

The A’s turned in a pair of defensive gems with left fielder Craig Gentry and shortstop Jed Lowrie combining on a relay to the plate that chopped down Melky Cabrera trying to score on Joey Bautista’s double. Instant replay got involved in the bang-bang play but the video crew in New York upheld the ruling on the field saying the replay didn’t provide conclusive evidence to justify overturning home plate umpire Bill Miller’s call.

The Blue Jays, most notably Bautista, strong objected to ruling in support of Miller’s initial call, with the outfielder saying, “It’s pretty frustrating for you to battle as a team, keep the game close, for our pitchers to be doing what they’re doing, for us to keep grinding three games and facing tough pitching, and somehow be able to get an opportunity to tie the game in the eighth inning and it all goes down the drain because somebody first initially made a bad call to begin with, and then it gets upheld by God knows who in some room in New York.”

Earlier in the same inning, Josh Donaldson recorded the first out by running full speed into the rolled up tarp in foul ground and catching Munenori Kawasaki’s foul pop as he impacted the tarp.

Samardzija flew into the Bay Area on Saturday, immediately came to the ballpark and soon found out that his first appearance as an Athletic will come in Sunday’s series finale. The 29-year old who dabbled in football at Notre Dame as an All-American and NFL prospect says he shouldn’t be too nervous.

“This is what I do,” Samardzija said. “I haven’t changed teams, I haven’t played here, all those boxes are checked. But it’s the same distance to home plate, it’s the same 90 feet to all the bases. And the way I look at it is I’ve just added a sense of excitement into what I do every fifth day with where this team is at and how it’s been playing.”

Manager Bob Melvin spoke before the game, and praised GM Billy Beane for not only pulling off the big trade but doing it well in advance of the July 31 trade deadline. Melvin opined on what fans can expect from Samardzija.

“Not only is he a good arm, but from what I understand he’s quite the competitor, has that football mentality, takes that mentality out there on the mound,” Melvin said. “And anytime you have that presence on the mound on top of the stuff he brings, guys feel good about it.”