Category: Oakland Athletics

Mike Clevinger and the San Diego Padres will visit the Oakland Coliseum on Friday through Sunday for the start of a three game series after the A’s have had six of their last eight games postponed (AP News file photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The A’s have returned home and are working out at the Coliseum on Wednesday. A’s manager Bob Melvin announced that all MLB protocols to protect against Covid-19 were maintained. He said that everyone was astounded at the news that someone had been infected. “What could go wrong actually did,” manager Bob Melvin said over a call somewhere in the Coliseum’s concourse. “It’s something we’re going to have to work through and understand. At this point, there’s not much we can do about it except just prepare for the next game.”

The players are working out in groups of three to four players as they get ready to face the surging San Diego Padres for three games starting Friday night.

“It doesn’t matter, you have to be prepared for it,” Melvin said. “You have to go out there with the expectation to win come Friday. The season, in general, has been a mental battle as well. You look at see the standings, you see how teams are doing, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that play into it this year more than any other year.”

The A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien, probably will not play Friday night. Semien’s 275 consecutive game streak ended last Saturday when he hurt his side. He is still sore, and Melvin will not put him in the lineup on Friday.

Chad Pinder will return from paternity leave. Tommy LaStella, acquired in a trade with the LA Angels, will make his Oakland A’s debut at second base on Friday. LaStella is a left-handed hitter and will help balance the A’s top-heavy righty lineup.

Lefty pitcher Mike Minor will see action coming in from the bullpen. With four doubleheaders coming up, the A’s will use Minor as a starter to go along with the A’s regular five-man rotation.

The starting pitchers for the Padres’ series will be Jesus, Luzardo, Sean Manaea, and Mike Fiers.

Oakland A’s manager Bob Melvin pictured here on Feb 13th during spring training says that the worst thing to happen this season is to stop playing. After Thursday the A’s will have missed six out of eight scheduled games due to being postponed (photo from San Francisco Chronicle)

By Jerry Feitelberg

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that the series between the A’s and the Mariners had been postponed. For the second day in a row, none of the A’s players or staff had tested positive for Covid-19. That is excellent news. MLB and the A’s are using an abundance of caution to allow for extra testing.

The A’s will now have to make up the five games and face the prospects of playing four doubleheaders this month. The A’s are 22-12 so far and have twenty-six games left to play. The A’s will host the Astros for four games starting September 7th.

It will become a five-game series when they play a doubleheader to make up for last Sunday’s postponement in Houston. After the Houston series, the A’s fly to Texas to play the Rangers. They will play a doubleheader on September 12th.

The A’s then fly to Seattle and will have another doubleheader with the Mariners on September 14th. The A’s have another doubleheader with the Mariners on September 26th. The season ends on the 27th. There is no question that Bob Melvin will have to be at his best preparing his starting rotation ready to face the challenges presented by the schedule.

The A’s have been quarantined in Houston since Sunday. The team will return to the Bay Area instead of traveling to Seattle. The team has not named the player or the staff member that has been infected. That person probably will stay in Houston until he is better.

Former Oakland Athletic Franklin Barreto will try to get his groove back as he works his way into the Los Angeles Angels line up after being traded to the Angels this week for Tommy LaStella (photo from Athletics Nation)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s had quite a few unusual events happenings the last few days in Texas. The A’s and Rangers postponed the game last Thursday to show support for the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, relating to the shooting of Jacob Blake.

The A’s traveled to Houston to face the Astros for a three-game series. The A’s and Astros are the two teams in the AL West fighting for the top spot. They did not play Friday night to show support for the protests in Kenosha.

The two teams played a double-header on Saturday. Under the new rules for 2020, each game was shortened to seven innings. Things did not go well for the Green and Gold as the Astros won both games and moved to within 2 1/2 games of the West’s top spot.

Also, Marcus Semien, the A’s seemingly indestructible shortstop, missed the second game with an injury. Semien had played in about 250 consecutive games. The damage is not too severe, and Marcus should be back in the lineup soon.

On Sunday, the team announced that someone in the A’s traveling party was tested positive for Covid-19. The team did not say if it was a player or a member of the staff. The game with Houston was postponed.

The A’s immediately were quarantined at the hotel in Houston. The team was not scheduled to play on Monday. No A’s have tested positive after the one positive test on Saturday. Individuals who have tested positive must test negative twice before rejoining the team per MLB protocol.

The team may continue isolating instead of traveling as scheduled because of its potentially long incubation period. The Tuesday and Wednesday games with the Mariners have been postponed.

In other news, the A’s made a trade with the Angels last week. The A’s acquired second baseman Tommy LaStella. LaStella, who hits from the left side, is 31 years-old. He was an All-Star last season and was hitting about .273 at the time of the trade.

LaStella is a pending free agent after the season. The A’s sent Franklin Barreto to the Angels. The 24-year old Barreto played well in Triple-A ball. His slash line was .285/.357/.505, with 53 home runs in 1285 plate appearances. However, he could not produce at the Major-League level. The Angels are hoping a change of scenery will work wonders for him.

The A’s made a trade with the Texas Rangers on Monday. They acquired left Mike Minor in exchange for two prospects. Minor has struggled this season. His record is 0-5 and has a 5.60 ERA. In his last start against the Dodgers, Minor went six innings and pitched well. The A’s are hoping that he can find his 2019 form.

It’s been one of those days for the Oakland A’s as the A’s Mark Canha does a swipe slide but is tagged out by the Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado during the second inning of the first game on Sat Aug 29th’s doubleheader at Minute Maid Field in Houston (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s wasted no time getting on the board in Game 2 of their doubleheader against the Houston Astros. Facing Astro pitcher Zack Greinke Ramon Laureano hit a homer (382 feet) to take the early lead 1-0.

The Astros would now duel with the A’s pitcher Frankie Montas who has yet to reach the level he had been at previously, before his suspension. It has been a very big series for the Astros Kyle Tucker driving in three runs in the first inning and just like that the Astros led 3-1. It would be another big first inning for the Houston Astros and a disappointing start for Montas.

It didn’t get much better for Montas in the second inning when George Springer hit a home run scoring Martin Maldonado and extending their lead 5-1. It has been a struggle for Montas since the beginning of the season and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of the old Montas.

In the third inning we got to see Tommy La Stella’s first at bat since coming to Oakland from the Angels. He would pop fly out in his first showing. Zach Greinke was proving to be a very difficult pitcher to hit making it tough on the A’s offense.

Montas had a three up three down third inning and it was on to the fourth inning. Matt Chapman would hit his tenth home run in the fourth, another solo home run. Hits were few and far between for Oakland, trailing 5-2.

In the bottom of the fourth the A’s would make a pitching change sending J.B. Wendelken to the mound. The Astros would leave two runners on base when George Springer struck out. The A’s had three innings left in the games to try and comeback. Oakland had five hits so far in this game and Houston had seven.

In the fifth inning the A’s would chip away at the deficit. Machin would score when LaStella grounded out moving Laureano to third. Chapman would pop out leaving Laureano on third and the A’s still had a two run deficit and two innings left to do something about it. TJ McFarland would dismiss the Astros in the bottom of the fifth inning.

A double play would end the top of the sixth inning and the A’s were running out of innings. The seventh, eighth and ninth inning comebacks that the A’s are famous for have to happen in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings of these shortened games.

The offense has been very disappointing for awhile now and the team has become very inconsistent of late. Given the hitting prowess of the Astros the Athletics had their hands full and they needed to match the offense of Houston and they just were not.

In the bottom of the sixth Yuli Gurriel would sacrifice fly and Martin Maldonado would score giving the Astros a 6-3 lead. This really took away the possibility of an Oakland comeback.

Oakland couldn’t get a thing going in the seventh, a theme that ran throughout this game. It was very choppy with a few bright spots but this team just was not hitting. The Astros outhit the A’s 11 to 6.

Tomorrow: Oakland will play one more game against Houston. They need this game; they do not want to let the Astros get within one and half games especially since they will be seeing them at home in a little over a week for a four game series. They have to step up their offense and pitching has to improve especially with only 26 games left in the season.

Houston Astros reliever Ryan Pressly (right) exchanges high fives after recording the last out against the Oakland A’s in the Astros 4-2 win of the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Minute Maid Field in Houston (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s took on the Houston Astros in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. Yesterday’s game was scratched when both teams left the field in support of the fight for racial equality.

There have been at least 20 teams that had chosen not to play on Wednesday, Thursday and last night’s game between the A’s and the Astros. They join the NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLS and the NFL in this fight. With heavy hearts both teams took the field at Minute Maid Park for the first of two games.

The first inning was a good one for the Houston Astros getting on the board early when Kyle Tucker homered to right, for 366 feet, scoring Michael Brantley who had walked and Yuli Gurriel who had doubled to right giving the Astros the early lead 3-0. The A’s had a quick first inning with two strike outs, Piscotty and Grossman. Marcus Semien popped out.

Starting pitcher for the A’s was Chris Bassitt and for the Astros Lance McCullers Jr. An important series for Oakland; they were looking to extend their four and a half game lead on Houston in the standings.

The last thing they wanted to see was Houston gaining any ground on them. Giving up a 3-0 lead to start the game was the last thing that the A’s needed against a very tough team. Neither team could get a lot going through the next two innings. The A’s finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning when Robbie Grossman scored.

Grossman had doubled to right and Stephen Piscotty had singled. With runners on first and third, Chapman grounded out to right allowing Robbie Grossman to score and the A’s were on the board 3-1. The Astros answered right back with their first at bat in the bottom of the fourth inning. Josh Reddick homered to right for 413 feet extending their lead 4-1.

It was a quiet fifth inning for both teams going into the top of the sixth inning. The A’s were able to get another run up on the board by yet again Grossman. He was having a great game keeping his team in this one.

Grossman was safe at first on a throwing error by the pitcher and moved on to third on another error by the Astros. Matt Chapman singled allowing Grossman to score now trailing Houston 4-2. Through six innings the A’s had 6 hits and Houston had 8.

The A’s had one last chance in the seventh inning with only seven being played in the double header. It was a quick two outs for Oakland in the top of the seventh inning, Canha and Laureano. Kemp would ground out to first and that was the game. The Astros would now trail the A’s in the standings by three and a half games.

Both teams would have about an hour to regroup and get ready for game two. The first game had been a little over two hours. It wasn’t Bassitt’s finest hour. He had three innings in this game and obviously it was a tough first inning for him. “ He was just a little off,” said Bob Melvin of Chris’ performance. “Getting behind in the first and all of a sudden it’s 3-0. Lou came in and did a good job,” he said. The A’s would be looking for a chance to even the score in game two and reclaim their four and a half game lead in the standings.

On Jackie Robinson day at Minute Maid Field Fri Aug 28th stands Houston Astros catcher Martin Maldonado, on home plate a Black Lives Matter t shirt with the Oakland A’s and Houston Astros #42 jerseys honoring Jackie Robinson. Soon after honoring Robinson the A’s and Astros walked off the field in recognition of shooting victim Jacob Blake and racial injustice in America (photo from the Houston Chronicle)

On the A’s podcast with Jeremiah:

#1  In a statement by the A’s they made it very clear before their cancelled game in Houston that Oakland is a diverse community and that in recognition of Black Lives Matter, shooting victim Jacob Blake, and racial injustice in America the A’s and Astros postponed Friday night’s game at Minute Maid Field.

#2 The A’s and Rangers were about to cancel their game on Wednesday but were able to cancel their game on Thursday. A’s second baseman Marcus Semien said that there just wasn’t enough time to cancel the game and so the A’s did play the Rangers on Wednesday but were able to cancel the game on Thursday.

#3 Semien said that after Wednesday’s game the team had a meeting in the clubhouse asking what they were going to do and they had seen other sports teams and leagues cancel their games and to shine a light on what is going on in our country.

#4 The A’s going into Saturday’s doubleheader have won six of their last eight games before postponing their next two games. The A’s did get two days rest how much of an advantage will that be for the A’s coming into Minute Maid Field against a rough and ready club like the Astros.

#5 Taking a look at today’s doubleheader pitchers for the A’s in the first game Chris Bassitt (2-1 ERA 2.97) for the Houston Astros Lance McCullers Jr (2-2 ERA 5.74) and in the night cap starting for the A’s Frankie Montas (2-2 ERA 5.22) and for the Astros Zack Greinke (1-0 ERA 2.29).

Jeremiah has the A’s podcasts every Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The Houston Astros and Oakland A’s stand for the national anthem and later walked off the field to an empty stadium at Minute Maid Park on Jackie Robinson day postponing Friday night’s game in recognition of Black Lives Matter, shooting victim Jacob Blake and racial injustice in America (@Athletics photo)

A’s Astros Walk Off Field In Solidarity Against Racial Injustice

By Barbara Mason

The players took the field and nothing seemed amiss. The players stood along the field on either side to honor the National Anthem. They removed their hats because they love this country and wanted to honor it.

Again nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was at this point that the players solemnly and silently walked single file off the field. A Black Lives Matter shirt was placed on home plate with an Astro jersey alongside on the right and an A’s jersey on the left side It was a simple yet powerful symbol as was the way they walked off the field.

This was two teams that a short three weeks ago were slugging it out over Ramon Laureano being hit twice in the game. Now they were living in unity and supporting a cause that many of us, black, white , or brown are deeply involved in.

They are not alone. The NBA, NHL, WNBA, NFL, MLS, and now MLB have joined forces voicing their disgust of the latest police shooting of an unarmed black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I need to say his name.

Jacob Blake is his name and he is now paralyzed for life, short of a miracle. Unbelievably shot in the back seven times we now have another horrendous video that is emblazoned into our minds. How can any caring human being watch this and tolerate this is unconscionable.

The White House will not address the reasons that are behind all of the demonstrating, the looting and the damage. Donald Trump is a whistle blower of hate; he thrives on this. People are mentally exhausted because of the racial unrest.

I believe that a lot more eyes have been opened lately throughout this nation. People are on the streets because they are tired of the non-action in the federal government. People at the top are ignoring this; they are not hearing and instead have used this to further their racist cause.

Doc Rivers head coach of the Clippers was clearly distraught with the state of this nation. “Why do we keep loving this country and the country doesn’t love us back. We’ve got to do better,” he said. He is not alone in his thoughts.

We do need to do better and we are not. Not much has really changed since we watched George Floyd die in Minneapolis Minnesota on May 25th. Yes the streets are filled with peaceful protestors but until they clean out this White House it will fall on deaf ears because the federal government simply does not care.

Now we have athletes like the Oakland A’’s and the Houston Astros stepping unto the political stage making a stand for racial justice because we have a hate-filled government. The NBA started a real movement that has crossed into every facet of the sports world. MLB is predominately white (only 6% are black) as is the MLS and the NHL yet they stand with the NBA and WNBA and also the NFL.

It is sad that racial injustice now lies on the shoulder of athletes. This is not their job but they do realize the power that they command. I believe that every player in every sport should speak to all their fans and urge all of them to vote and take the measures that need to be taken to cure the epidemic that has infiltrated this country.

Although as I said this is not their job the voice they have will reach far and wide. So be warned—if you believe in this government, you support racism, white supremacy, the KKK and QAnon. I am not saying that you are those things but you support them. Years ago we would have never seen an uprising of this magnitude but it is here now and it will not be silenced.

The Oakland A’s will be back on the field with heavy hearts to take on the Houston Astros in a double header Saturday. The first game will be played at 1:10 and the second at 4:10. We will continue to support the sports world in their endeavor to achieve racial justice and the belief that Black Lives Matter.

La Stella comes to A’s from Angels in trade: The Los Angeles Angels traded Tommy La Stella to the Oakland A’s for Franklin Barreto both play second base. La Stella is hitting .273, 27 hits, 4 homers, and 14 RBIs and Barreto scored five runs and is batting 0.00 for the season.

Starting pitchers for Saturday’s doubleheader: In the front game for the A’s Chris Bassitt (2-1 ERA 2.97) and for the Astros Lance McCullers Jr (2-2 ERA 5.74) and in the night cap for the A’s Frankie Montas (2-2 ERA 5.22) and for the Astros Zack Greinke (1-0 ERA 2.29)