Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Blackburn works against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum Sat Aug 5, 2023. Blackburn will be the A’s starting pitcher this Fri Aug 11, 2023 at Nationals Park in DC (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s (33-82), fresh off winning their first (3-2) homestand of the year, are in Washington, DC, to play three games against the Nationals this weekend. The Nationals are in last place in the NL East Divison with a record of 50-65. The A’s hope to take two out of three from the Nats this weekend.

The A’s have announced their starters for the series. Paul Blackburn (2-2 ERA 4.35) will pitch Friday night 4:05PM PT, Luis Medina (3-8 ERA 5.47) goes Saturday 4:05PM PT, and lefty Ken Waldichuk (2-7 ERA 6.30) pitches on Sunday 10:35PM PT. A’s skipper Marl Kotsay hopes to see improvement from Medina and Waldichuk. Both performed well in the last couple of outings.

The Nationals, playing the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, have yet to announce their starters. Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Patrick Corbin, Trevor William, and Jake Irvin are in the Nationals’ rotation. Nats’ manager Dave Martinez will announce which pitchers will perform after Thursday’s game.

As mentioned earlier, the A’s won three out of the last five home games. A’s centerfielder Esteury Ruiz and second baseman Zack Gelof have emerged as future stars for the A’s. Ruiz is second in baseball with 46 steals. Gelof has homered six times in 22 games.

No player in A’s history has ever achieved that feat. On the IL list, Ryan Noda looks like he will be a regular at first base. The A’s pitching is another story. The A’s starting rotation’s combined ERAs are the worst in baseball. The same goes for the bullpen. There has been some improvement lately, but not enough to get the A’s out of the bottom of the barrel.

The Nationals are in rebuild mode, too. The Nats have gone from the penthouse( World Series champs in 2019) to the outhouse, last place in the NL East. Max Scherzer is gone, and Stephen Strasburg has yet to throw a pitch this year. Both pitchers were instrumental in helping Washington win the World Series.

This weekend, Key players to watch are the Nationals’ right-fielder Lane Thomas, DH Joey Meneses, catcher Kelbert Ruiz, and shortstop C.J. Abrams. Thomas is hitting.284 with 20 home runs and 67 RBIs. Meneses’ numbers are .279, 11 homers, and 63 RBIs. Ruiz is batting .244 with 12 dingers and 42 knocked in. Abrams comes in at .258, with 11 bombs and 44 RBIs.

The Nats’ close Kyle Finnegan has recorded 18 saves this year.

After the series with the Nationals, the A’s play three games with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals have the same record as Washington, 50-65. St. Louis, normally a contender for the NL Central Division crown, finds themselves in last place. The Cardinals were sellers at the trading deadline. St. Louis sent lefty Jordan Montgomery to the Texas Rangers and Jack Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles.

Mark Kotsay continues to have his players ready. Even though they have the worst record in baseball, Kotsay has them working to improve and has his guys wanting to grind out every at-bat to get a win. The A’s do not want to break the 1962 New York Mets’ record of 120 losses.