By Morris Phillips

Insistent that they’re not a bad ballclub, the A’s took advantage of the Yankees over the weekend in an effort to state their case.

The A’s shutout New York, 3-0, on Sunday as starter Jesse Chavez was masterful, and Stephen Vogt—with two swings of the bat—provided all the needed offense.

By winning three of four from the Yankees, the A’s couldn’t escape the American League cellar, but they did avoid the stain of being the big league’s worst performer in May with their 11^th win, one more than the Red Sox and Marlins, who both lost on Sunday.

More importantly, there’s visible signs of life at the O.co Coliseum, where the A’s had failed to capture any of the last eight series at home, a streak dating back to September 2014.

“That’s a big confidence boost for us going into Detroit and Boston,” Vogt said.

Nothing said the A’s are ready to do something different more than their support of Chavez, and his second straight, spot-on performance, in which he shut the Yankees’ powerful lineup for eight full innings.  Previously, the A’s had left Chavez hanging in four previous starts where they didn’t score even one run while he was in the game.

Needless to say, Chavez has had to be mentally tough to go through a stretch in which he was tagged with losses in five of his six decisions despite a winner’s ERA of 2.44.   A major part of his success—first as a reliever, and now as a starter—is shutting down opponents early on.  Chavez struggled early on Sunday, needing 42 pitches to get through the first two innings.  After that, in a reversal of previous patterns, he cruised, throwing 110 pitches in eight frames.

“The first two innings I was just fighting myself,” Chavez said.  “I was not using the slope to my advantage.  I had to just really step back after that second inning and be like, ‘Just do what you do and pretend it’s a bullpen and drive to both sides of the plate.”

Chavez improved to 4-0 in his career against the pinstripes, a major accomplishment against any club, but even more so against the Yankees, who as always have deep threats one through nine.  Still, Chavez has allowed just one home run to New York in 27 plus innings pitched.

According to Vogt, who was behind the plate for Chavez’ gem, the pitcher had all of his pitches working.  But with the game scoreless in the fifth, the catcher felt pressure to tip the scales for his pitcher on the scoreboard.  Vogt did so in the sixth with a two-run shot off New York’s Adam Warren that put the A’s ahead.

“That was the first thing I thought of as soon as I was fortunate enough to get the ball out of the yard is ‘all we have to do is get this guy some runs and he’s just going to run with it,” Vogt said.

Vogt backed his homer up with sacrifice fly in the eighth that chased home the speedy Billy Burns for a 3-0 A’s lead.

Tyler Clippard came on to pick up the save, pitching a scoreless ninth, allowing just one hit.

The A’s drew 25,457 for the finale of the homestand, a crowd that included the Warriors’ Klay Thompson, sitting above the A’s dugout.

For the record, that’s one Splash Brother down with the Giants (Stephen Curry attended Friday’s Giants’ game with his wife) and one Splash Brother (Thompson) down with the A’s.