The Oakland A’s Chad Pinder looks relieved scoring a run after a long scoreless and hitless drought against the Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander who lost his no hitter in the bottom of the seventh on Wed Jun 1, 2022 at Ring Central Coliseum in Oakland (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The Oakland A’s (20-33) have three games left on the ten day homestand. They lost the series with the Texas Rangers (24-26) three games to one. The Houston Astros (33-18) swept their three games with Oakland this week. The A’s are off on Thursday.

The A’s open a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox (24-27) starting Friday night. The A’s have been scuffling for a while. The A’s started the season winning ten of the first eighteen games. Since that time, they are 10-25.

With the good early start, many pundits thought their predictions for Oakland may have been wrong. However, the A’s are not playing well right now, and the same pundits are saying, we told you so.

The A’s hope that attendance will improve this weekend with Boston in town. Good-sized crowds would show up at the Coliseum to see the Red Sox in past years. This year attendance has been down for the Green and Gold.

Fans are upset about the possibility that the A’s may move to Las Vegas. The A’s have stated that they have two sites in mind in Sin City where they can relocate. In the meantime, a key committee will hold a vote on June 30th. An affirmative approval would buoy hopes that the 12 billion dollar Howard Terminal project can proceed.

The Red Sox got off to a slow start in 2022. They did not sign Kyle Schwarber to a contract. Schwarber wanted to stay in Boston, but their front office did not commit to him, and he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Red Sox traded Hunter Renfroe to the Milwaukee Brewers and got back Jackie Bradley, Jr. Renfro put up good power numbers for Boston. Bradley has rarely hit for average, and fans in Boston are still shaking their heads over this trade.

The Red Sox still have several hitters in their lineup that can cause severe damage. Their big hitters are Rafael Devers, J.D.Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Trevor Story, Alex Verdugo, and catcher Christian Vasquez. Devers is hitting .341 with 11 homers and 26 RBIs.

J.D.Martinez comes in with a .360 batting average. Trevor Story was hot last week, and he now has nine dingers and 37 runs batted in. Other players contributing are first baseman Bobby Dalbec, centerfielder Kike Hernandez, and backup second baseman Christian Arroyo.

The Red Sox will send Nate Eovaldi to the hill Friday night. Eovaldi was a key ingredient when the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 World Series. Eovaldi is 2-2 with an ERA of 3.77. Oakland will have James Kaprielian handle the pitching for the A’s. Kaprielian is 0-2 with an ERA of 5.93.

On Saturday, Nick Pivetta will go for Boston. Pivetta is 4-4 with an ERA of 3.95. The A’s will counter with Paul Blackburn. Blackburn is 5-1 with an ERA of 2.25. Blackburn suffered his first loss of the season last Monday to the Houston Astros.

Sunday’s finale will feature lefty Rich Hill going for the Red Sox. Hill is 42-years old and was with the A’s in 2016. The A’s traded him to the Dodgers and received Frankie Montas. Montas will start for Oakland and is 2-5 with an ERA of 3.20. Montas has pitched well but has received little run support from his teammates.

The A’s and the Red Sox have been opponents since the creation of the American League way back in 1901. Both teams have won nine World Series crowns. Both teams have had down years. After the trade that sent Babe Ruth to the Yankees, the Red Sox were not very good.

Their fortunes changed when Tom Yawkey purchased them. The Red Sox went 86 years without winning a World Series. They have won four since 2004. The A’s last appeared in the World Series in 1990. They won their last World Series Championship in 1989.

The A’s have made the playoffs several times in the last 20 years. They advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once.

The A’s would like to get back on the winning track. The Red Sox would love to sweep the three-game series to reach the .500 mark. Let’s hope the fans show up. The series between these two teams have always been fun.