by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s hit the road Monday traveling to the Big Apple to play a three-game series with the Yankees before heading off to Cleveland for another three-game series with the Indians before the All-Star break.

The A’s finished their ten-game homestand with a record of 4-6. The Kansas City Royals swept the A’s three straight but the Green and Gold rebounded to take two out of three from the Colorado Rockies and then split a four-=game series with the Seattle Mariners. Oakland’s starting pitching has been excellent this year. The A’s, who were sixteen games under.500 earlier in the season, are playing well as they are benefiting from improved fielding and better performance from their bullpen.  The A’s are currently last in last place in the AL West with a record of 38-47, but they have a winning record since May 23rd.

The A’s will be meeting the Yankees for the second time this season. The Yankees were here in Oakland at the end of May for four games, and the A’s took the series three games to one. New York has been playing well as of late, and the Yanks have moved into first place in the AL East with a record of 44-38 and have a one-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees have had several key players on the DL this year but are still playing winning baseball. Centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury will come off the DL Wednesday night. Pitcher Ivan Nova is back from Tommy John surgery and has made three starts. Carlos Beltran is also on the DL.

The Yankees big boppers include designated hitter, Alex Rodriguez, first baseman Mark Teixeira, catcher Brian McCann, third baseman Chase Headly, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner.

A-Rod, on the comeback trail after being suspended last year for PED use, is performing well. He is hitting .271 with sixteen home runs and 47 RBI. Teixeira’s average is just .243, but he has twenty homers and is leading the AL with 59 RBIs.

The first game of the series will feature the A’s ace, Sonny Gray going against the Yankees’ Nathan Eovaldi, Gray,  named to the All-Star team Monday, missed his last two starts due to a salmonella infection. Gray has a record of 9-3 and an ERA of just 2.09. Eovaldi’s record for the Yankees is 8-2, and his ERA comes in at 4.52.

The second game of the series will feature a battle of two lefties. Scott Kazmir will go for Oakland and C.C.Sabathia will be on the hill for New York. Kazmir has pitched much better than his record would indicate. Kazmir has been the subject of much speculation this year as he will be a free agent at the end of the season.  Many teams are hoping that the A’s will be sellers and that Kazmir will be dealt before the July 31st trade deadline. Reports had several scouts checking him out last week in Oakland. Sabathia has struggled this year. His won-loss record in 3-8 and he his ERA is a whopping 5.59.

The A’s bullpen, as mentioned earlier, has improved. Lefty Drew Pomeranz has done well coming out of the bullpen either to pitch ans inning or a specialist, coming in to face a left-handed batter. Evan Scribner has faltered somewhat but has been good all year. Tyler Clippard has done his job as closer much to the delight of A’s manager Bob Melvin.

The Yankees starting rotation has had health issues all season. Masahiro Tanaka was shut down last season due to an elbow injury and has made just ten starts in 2015. Ivan Nova has returned from Tommy John surgery and had two good outings and one not-so-good outing. His record is 1-2. Eovaldi (8-2) and Michael Pineda lead the Yanks with eight wins each. Adam Warren is the fifth starter, and he has a record of 5-5. Lefty Andrew Miller was doing an excellent job as closer for the Yanks until he was injured. Miller recorded seventeen saves before going on the DL.and is scheduled to pitch an inning for Triple-A Scranton Monday Night. Dellin Betances took over the closer role and has been lights out. Betances was superb last year in a setup role and has appeared in 37 games this year with a won-loss record of 5-1 and seven saves to his credit. He has struck out 68 men in just 42 innings of work. His ERA is 1.50 with a WHIP of 0.86.

Sonny Gray and A’s catcher Stephen Vogt have been named to the American League All-Star team. The honor is well-deserved.

The A’s announced that they have obtained right-handed minor league reliever Aaron Kurcz from the Atlanta Braves for international slot number 113 which corresponds to the right to spend $167,000 on international signings during the 2015-16 signing period without incurring penalties. This is the second time the A’s have traded an international bonus slot for a Braves pitcher in a week. The A’s acquired Cody Martin for slot 53 on July 2.

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