Category: Oakland Athletics

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: Taking a look at some of the young talent picked up in the fire sale

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by Charlie O Mallonee

OAKLAND–In the deal that sent former A’s pitcher Scott Kazmir to Houston the A’s picked up one non pitcher and a pitcher. Let’s talk about the right hand pitcher Daniel Mengden who comes in immediately as the 25th best prospect in the Oakland A’s system and there was enough time to see where they’re going to plug him in. Mengden should be the number one prospect because this guy has the best mustache since former A’s pitcher Rollie Fingers.

Mengden has a perfectly groomed handlebar mustache. To look at this guy you would say “this guy is a member of the Oakland A’s” it’s just fantastic. In all seriousness Mengden is a 22 year old, he’s 6’2 190 pounds and the Astros took him in the fourth round in the draft in 2014. He was the 106th player in that draft. He comes out of Texas A&M that’s where he played his college ball.

Mengden is a four pitch pitcher, when you talk about that’s been at A ball that has already four pitches. Your starting to talk about somebody that has real potential. He has a fastball in the low 90s, he has a sharp biting slider right now that has an outstanding chance to make that an outstanding slider. He’s got a curve ball and a change up to go with that that both needs some work.

Then again your talking about fastball, slider, curve, change, he can perfect three of those pitches if he can take four of those pitches and put them into the mix he’s got some real potential at the Major League level. He’s currently needing some work but your an A ball guy. If he didn’t need work he wouldn’t be in A ball.

Mengden has made two starts in Stockton and is 1-1 as a member of the Ports he’s got a 1.50 ERA he struck out 13 and walked one that was a relatively impressive number. He had a 3.23 ERA for the season and as always their trying to work with the projections to see when Mengden would be MLB ready. They’re saying Mengden probably for 2017 would be the first opportunity to be pulled up into the Majors.

That’s pretty quick when your playing A ball and granted he’s playing high A ball but your talking about a guy whose going to go to AA ball and then onto Triple A next season and then onto the Majors in 2017. This is one guy that the A’s see that can fast track through the season. The other player that the A’s picked up who is a catcher/first baseman Jacob Nottingham. He comes immediately slotting as the eighth best player in the A’s minor league system.

Charlie O covers the rest of the A’s prospects picked up during the fire sale last week listen to the podcast below at http://www.sportsardioservice.com

A’s walkoff win brings good times back to the O.co Coliseum

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Celly Celebration

By Morris Phillips

It never gets old.  But it never looks like a proper way to treat a hero.

But in this case, the A’s Mark Canha will take it even if the whip cream takes forever to wipe off, and the Gatorade is way, way too cold.

The A’s captured a close game late—a rare feat for Oakland in 2015 with the A’s mired in last place—as Canha delivered the game-winning double off the left field wall in the 10th inning off Indians’ reliever Cody Allen.

With the win, the A’s gained an unlikely split in a four-game series where they went the first 18 innings with only three hits and one run. The team also picked up ace Sonny Gray, who went seven innings allowing just one run in the first inning, but left without the possibility of getting a win.

Canha had been struggling coming into his game-winning at bat, and while the whipped cream on his brow clearly labeled him the hero, Canha deflected some of the credit to Sam Fuld, who scored the winning run.

“I was just really rooting Sam on when I hit it to run as fast as he could,” Canha said.  “Sam has great speed and (Cody) Allen was paying a lot of attention to him over there, and maybe that helped me get in a good hitter’s count.”

“That’s always tough, whether it’s pinch-hitting or whether it’s coming in unexpected mid-game.  We do enough of them where guys are ready for them, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy,” manager Bob Melvin said of Canha’s impromptu dramatics.

Not one batter on either team managed to pick up more than one hit, a sure sign of pitcher’s duel and likely a lengthy game.  While the A’s were fortunate to gain a split, Cleveland manager Terry Francona expressed frustration that his team couldn’t capture three of the four games.   But when pitchers pitch like they did in this series, some frustration is par for the course.

“We have to do a better job of manufacturing runs or scoring runs,” Francona admitted.

The A’s are expected to activate Coco Crisp for Monday’s home game against Baltimore after a lengthy stint on the disabled list to deal with his nagging neck injuries.  If so, expect a changing of the guard as Billy Burns has quickly established himself as a rookie of the year candidate as well as the A’s leadoff man of the future which means Crisp will likely bat second in the order upon his return.

Jesse Chavez will get the start on Monday in a matchup with Orioles’ rookie Tyler Wilson, who is expected to be recalled for the fifth time this season as a replacement for Chris Tillman, who has an ankle injury and will be skipped in the Baltimore rotation.

NOTES: Nothing could more important for the A’s in the remaining 56 games than having one or more players establish themselves as a force on the club going forward into the 2016 season.  Reliever Fernando Abad appears to be the first guy to answer the call with his 1 1/3 of scoreless relief on Sunday, extending his streak of not allowing a run to 10 2/3 innings.  Abad struck out two batters, including Fernando Lindor with two runners on to end the eighth.

Aaron Brooks dazzles in his A’s debut, a 5-1 win over the Indians

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Brooks

By Morris Phillips

Like a lot of Oakland A’s acquisitions, Aaron Brooks is a small name replacing a bigger name.  The key for Oakland and Brooks is that he doesn’t remain anonymous for too long.

For Brooks, the transition to prominence began last night with a dazzling debut at the O.co. Coliseum.  The 25-year old righthander acquired in the Ben Zobrist trade shut down the Indians, pitching into the eighth inning allowing a run in the A’s 5-1 win.

“What a night for him,” Stephen Vogt said.  “He took a good lineup over there and shut them down tonight.”

“That was a terrific game.  Exceeded my expectations, whatever they were for him,” manager Bob Melvin said.

The A’s remain mired in the American League cellar, 13 games below .500, but the win snapped a three-game losing streak, and the team’s offense got moving in the process.  The A’s had just two hits on Thursday, and one hit Friday in dropping the first two games of the series.  On Saturday, the A’s tallied eight hits, including Marcus Semien’s mammoth, seventh-inning home run that put the A’s up 4-1.

Brooks’ debut and the offensive breakout offered a nice counterpoint to Zobrist’s big night in Toronto in which he homered twice in the Royals’ 7-6 win.  Brooks had been stuck in an awful start to his big league career that saw his ERA balloon to 43.88 in 2014, and was 6.23 in limited action this season for Kansas City.

Brooks kept the Royals off-balance with a four-pitch repetoire including a swing-and-miss changeup, a huge improvement on his previous outings.  He struck out five, didn’t walk anyone and cruised into the eighth inning on an efficient 94 pitches.

Melvin was quick to announce after the ballgame that Brooks had earned a spot in the team’s starting rotation going forward with the newly acquired Felix Doubront the guy who will—at least for now—be bypassed in the team’s short range plans.

“I mean, we want to take a look at our young guys, some of the guys that we traded for,” Melvin said.  “We wanted to see how he reacted to pitching at the big league level.  It was his first big league win, so it would’ve been pretty tough to send him down after that.”

Cleveland starter Cody Anderson allowed a run in the second and two in the fifth, before Semien’s homer knocked him out the game in the seventh.  After spectacular outings from Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, Anderson was just okay against Oakland on Saturday.  Despite the wins to open the series with the A’s, the Indians have dropped seven of their last 10 contests.

On Sunday, the A’s try to gain the split with Sonny Gray on the hill.  Gray was at his best in his previous outing on Tuesday in Los Angeles where he shut down the Dodgers on three hits.  Trevor Bauer will get the start Sunday for Cleveland.

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News and Commentary: Even with UCSF on board traffic questions still rise on Warriors arena; A’s in for a long second half

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–UCSF Hospital at Mission Bay is on board with the new Warriors arena to the relief of the world championship team. UCSF and it’s medical staff were opposed to the new arena because of traffic issues during event nights and the question on how emergency vehicles and patients would be able to access the hospital. UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood said that the hospital was satisfied with the City’s presentation of how traffic lanes would be separated for Warriors and UCSF traffic on game nights involving separate traffic lanes. The W’s really need to put all their ducks in a row to get this going.

Although the latest poll of San Francisco voters show that they favor a new arena at Mission Bay there is still opposition to the new arena and the lead on that comes from Mission Bay Alliance that says despite what the city is proposing on the drawing board to get traffic divided and organized that there will be traffic snarls on game, event nights, and Giants game nights and there will be no way to get away from that.

San Francisco is probably one of the toughest cities in the country to build anything of substance including a multi purpose sports arena very close to the waterfront neighborhood located at Mission Bay. This process to get the arena through is a day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year project. Now you take a town like downtown Denver, there is basically no traffic, there is very little congestion to get to the either Sports Authority, Coors, or the Pepsi Center.

For the City it’s going to eventually be a congested situation with two major league events going at the same time in the critical months of April, May, and June when the Warriors and Giants are overlapping. This will be close to Market Street and the traffic over there will be horrendous and there will be bicycles and you got everything going over there. You got public transit and a lot of cars and if the Warriors move to the City it’s going to be so bad for the traffic.

San Francisco is on it’s way to becoming one of those towns where half of the town is closed to traffic and in this case the South of Market. The voters always look at the taxes and how much more their going to pay, not to mention rent and mortgage in the city is through the roof now. Building an arena right now looks like it’s on track for Golden State but that could all change when the Mission Bay Alliance starts showing how traffic will look like and the proposed tearing down of highway 280 going to the Embarcadero and what that is going to look like.

The Giants were able to pull off their stadium back in 2000 because most of the money to build was from private funds, the Warriors new arena will be done with private funds too, but the traffic hang up is something the Alliance is pushing with City voters. When you build an arena in a metropolitan area and it’s not a social event, there’s tax increases and people don’t like to pay more taxes and in California we have enough taxes.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s, the Spanish TV voice for the Angels, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland Falls To Cleveland 2-1, Oakland’s 25th One Run Loss Of The Year

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OAKLAND, CA - JULY 31: Marcus Semien #10 of the Oakland Athletics slides into Francisco Lindor #12 of the Cleveland Indians preventing Lindor from making a throw to first base to complete the double play in the bottom of the third inning at O.co Coliseum on July 31, 2015 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – JULY 31: Marcus Semien #10 of the Oakland Athletics slides into Francisco Lindor #12 of the Cleveland Indians preventing Lindor from making a throw to first base to complete the double play in the bottom of the third inning at O.co Coliseum on July 31, 2015 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Michael Bourn hit a ground rule double over the left center field wall in the top of the ninth to score Lonnie Chisenhall and give the Indians a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

The Athletics are now 45-59 for the season and 13 games behind the first place Astros. Oakland has lost seven of the last eight games and are 4-9 since the All-Star Break and are 21-31 at home.

Oakland’s starting pitchers are 2-7 over the same span of games.

Kendall Graveman looked to turn that around tonight as he had a solid outing. He threw for six and two-thirds innings and only game up one run and struck out six.

“It was good to see him get through the first. He pitched as effectively as we could ask. We just didn’t give him any run support,” said Bob Melvin on Graveman’s performance tonight.

“I let the ball move. I was trying to be to fine early in counts and falling behind and letting hitters get hitters counts,” said Graveman.

Oakland’s offense has been sputtering lately. The A’s have only mustered two hits in the last 17 innings and are 10-14 in July. With today’s loss they set a new Oakland record of only scoring 76 runs in the month.

“It’s frustrating. You go through periods of the season when you’re a little bit up and down but you like to time it right where you get a well pitched game you get just enough to give him a decision or a win or a no decision and we weren’t able to do that,” said Melvin.

Stephen Vogt who is 0-6 this home stand so far echoed his frustration with offense.

“Anytime you waste a good start you get frustrated. When you can’t give your boy two runs and and he goes out there and gives up one unearned it’s pretty frustrating,” said Vogt. “I’m struggling. Flat out. Jumpy, not being patient enough. It’s been a really bad for me. Swing feels good.. just got to  bounce out of it.”

Defensively Marcus Semien committed his 29th error this season (the most among shortstops) which allowed the Indians to score their first run of the game.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the A’s. Ike Davis had a quick move to catch an Indians runner out at first and of course Graveman had an excellent start.

Newly acquired Aaron Brooks (0-0, 6.23) starts against RHP Cody Anderson (2-2, 3.26) tomorrow at 6:05 pm.

The A’s Bullpen Implodes, The Dodgers rally to beat Oakland

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by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s were trying to sweep the two-game series from the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night in LA. The A’s came from behind to lead 6-3 in the top of the seventh but the bullpen imploded and the Dodgers scored 5 runs in the seventh and 2 more in the eighth and they won by a final score of 10-7. A’s manager Bob Melvin cannot be pleased with the performance of his bullpen as they just couldn’t get the job done.

Mike Bolsinger started for the Dodgers and the A’s had Jesse Chavez going for them. Each pitcher lasted just five innings and it became a bullpen game. The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Howie Kendrick singled to start the frame. He advanced to second on a walk to Adrian Gonzalez. Kendrick stole third and then scored on a single by Andre Ethier.

The A’s tied the score in the top of the fourth. Brett Lawrie had the first of his four hits when he doubled to left. Lawrie went to third on an infield single by Marcus Semien. The A’s got on the board when Sam Fuld laid down a drag bunt that went for a hit.

The game didn’t stay tied for long. In the bottom of the fourth, Ethier led off with a double down the right field line. Yasiel Puig made it a 3-1 game when he drilled the first pitch he saw from Chavez over the left field wall. The A’s scored a run in the fifth. Ike Davis walked and went to second on a Josh Reddick single. It was the third hit of the night for Reddick and sixth in the series. Stephen Vogt grounded into a 4-6-3 double play but Brett Lawrie came through with his second double of the night to drive in Davis.

The A’s scored four times in the top of the seventh to take a 6-3 lead. Billy Burns walked to get the rally going. The Dodgers brought in J.P.Howell to pitch. Josh Phegley was sent up to pinch hit and he did his job hitting a single to put men on at first and second with no out. Reddick hit a grounder to Howie Kendrick at second. Kendrick bobbled the ball and all runners were safe and the bases were loaded. After Stephen Vogt struck out, Brett Lawrie singled to drive in Burns and Phegley. The A’s pulled off a double steal to put men on at second and third. With one out, they Dodgers drew the infield in so that they could get the runner at home if the ball was hit on the ground. Eric Sogard did just that but he hit it up the middle and two runs scored to give the A’s the lead.

In the bottom of the seventh, Melvin brought in Fernando Rodriguez to pitch. Rodriguez walked two batters and retired two hitters but the dangerous Adrian Gonzalez was coming up next. Melvin brought in lefty Drew Pomeranz to face the left-handed hitting Gonzalez. Gonzalez hit a double to deep centerfield to drive in one run. Gonzalez is 3-for-6 lifetime against Pomeranz. Dodger catcher Yasmani Grandal hit a swinging bunt down the third baseline that refused to roll foul. Kendrick scored on the play as the Dodgers now trailed 6-5. Pinch-hitter Keke Hernandez doubled to left to drive in two. Melvin replaced Pomeranz with Dan Otero to pitch to Puig. Puig singled to drive in Hernandez with the fifth run of the inning. Puig was called safe at second as he tried to advance on the throw home but the call was overturned.

The Dodgers scored two more times in the bottom of the eighth. Howie Kendrick singled to drive in Alberto Callaspo and Jimmy Rollins. All the runs came with two out. 10-6 Dodgers.

The A’s scored a run in the ninth. Brett Lawrie had his fourth hit and fourth RBI of the night when he hit his ninth dinger of the year off Dodger closer Kenley Jansen. Final score 10-7 in favor of the Dodgers.

Game notes- The hitting stars for the A’s were Brett Lawrie and Josh Reddick. Lawrie had his first career four-hit game. He had a single, two doubles and a home run. Reddick had three hits.

The A’s return home to Oakland to face the Cleveland Indians for four games to start an eleven game homestand. Game time will be at 7:05pm Thursday night at the O.co Coliseum

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: For A’s it’s back to “who are these guys” this fire sale is not over yet

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by Charlie O Mallonee

We’ve been saying for a good month that Scott Kamir, Ben Zobrist and pitcher Tyler Clippard were gone when Clippard came up on the radar all things fortunately were 100 percent right. That’s not what we wanted because the A’s had shown some potential promise that maybe things could turn around and get to .500.

That they would be able to turn things around and get in contention and get a playoff spot and A’s general manager Billy Beane saying he’s going to keep things together. It’s doesn’t come as a shock and when you say the team’s not happy this is one of the problems not just with baseball it doesn’t hit football quite as hard but it hits basketball.

Relatively early in the season teams have to give up on themselves if their going to get anything that they want to have. You look at baseball they have the entire month of August and September for the A’s and everybody knows that Beane has raised the white flag and said “were out of it” so as an A’s fan that makes it difficult because you can’t get invested in the players too much.

This is like Josh Donaldson last season who got traded to the Toronto Blue Blues everybody in Oakland loved that guy and when they traded him away what’s does he do he goes to Toronto and he has another terrific part of the season and makes it tough to come up with loyalty. It’s 2015 it’s the business of pro sports is different than it was in the 60s and the 70s.

It’s still very difficult for fans who can’t invest in players. It’s tantamount for the Giants not doing well if they were to get rid of a guy like Mad Bum. Your invested in a guy, you love him, you think their a great player, Ben Zobrist who was traded to Kansas City how can you not love this guy. You plug him in anywhere you need to plug him in.

Even though Zobrist wasn’t hitting for high average he was getting key hits everywhere you go and you say, “this is a guy I would love to see into the next four or five seasons” and it’s “thanks for playing and here’s your parting gifts.” It’s difficult for fans but its got to be more difficult for the players. You just get into a rhythm of playing with each other, you get on base with Zobrist coming up and you know what to do because he’s going to put the bat on the ball he’s going to make things happen and now you have a new set of people that your playing with.

Charlie O does the A’s podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sonny Gray Sparkles, Shuts out the Dodgers

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Sonny Gray pitched a gem Tuesday night as he shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0. Gray’s brilliant performance removed some of the gloom from the clubhouse. The A’s traded Ben Zobrist to the Kansas City Royals for two pitchers, Righty Aaron Brooks, and twenty-year lefty Sean Manaea. On Monday, the A’s traded reliever Tyler Clippard to the Mets. The A’s needed a shot in the arm, and Gray came through big-time in that department. Gray pitched a complete game. He gave up just three hits while striking out nine and walked one. Former Athletic, Brett Anderson took the loss for the Dodgers.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning. Billy Burns singled on the very first pitch of the game. Marcus Semien walked to put men on at first and second with no out. Brett Lawrie grounded into a fielder’s choice. Burns took third on the play and later scored when Billy Butler hit a slow grounder to third. There was no way for the Dodgers to complete a double play, so Burns was able to score with the A’s first run.

Josh Reddick hit a solo home run to right in the top of the seventh; It was Reddick’s 13th dinger of the year. The A’s lead 2-0 after seven.Reddick also had a single and double in four trips to the plate Tuesday. The other hitting star of the game was none other than Sonny Gray himself. Gray singled to right with his first career hit leading off the eighth. He looked surprised that he made contact, but he did and was able to manage a weak smile when he reached first. Final Score 2-0 in favor of Oakland.

Game notes- with the win, Gray’s record improved to 11-4. The A’s played their 101st game of the year, and they are now 45-56. After the game, A’s manager Bob Melvin was all smiles talking about Gray’s performance. However, he said, Gray will want to talk more about getting the hit than anything else tonight. He also said the Josh Reddick “swung the bat great and used the whole field.” Melvin commented that the three trades the A’s made since last Thursday made it a “rough day for everybody.”

The Dodgers’ record drops to 56-45 but remain 1/2 game ahead of the San Francisco Giants as the Giants lost to Milwaukee 5-2 in San Francisco. The A’s did their job by beating the Dodgers but the Giants missed a golden opportunity to pass the Dodgers in the NL West standings. The A’s will have their work cut out for them Wednesday evening as they will be facing the Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is 8-6 this season but has been dominating lately. The A’s will send Jesse Chavez out to pitch. Chavez had a bad outing in his last game, and he will be trying to get back on the winning track.

Time of game was two hours and twenty-two minutes, and there were 50,182 people in attendance at Dodger Stadium. Game two will be played in LA at 7 pm Wednesday night.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary a telephone conversation between Billy Beane and Donald Trump

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

Billy: “Hey Donald I have a couple of players you might like to have on your team” Trump: “Nah, Billy I am fine I think I can make the postseason with my team this year, If I need anything from you I will call you. Billy: “OK but are you sure you do not want my shortstop, he is going to get better with time, I know he leads both leagues in errors, but he is getting better”

Trump: “I tell you what Billy, let him play for you one more year, and if he is better by July 31, 2016, please call me, we will talk”. Billy: “OK, will do….and by the way I do have a couple of young pitching prospects in the minors, they have a great upside and will be solid pitchers by 2018”. Trump: “OK Billy,….wait a minute I have a couple of calls on my other telephones….”

Billy got tired of waiting so he hang up. Next day he calls Trump again. “Hey Donald did you have time to think about the trades I had in mind?” Trump: “Billy, you traded Céspedes, Donaldson, Moss, and Norris and then you just traded Kazmir and Clippard, what are you doing”. Billy: “My team is getting younger, my payroll is getting smaller, we still making money every year. Trump: “Well in that case why should I talk to you?…I just opened four new golf courses and I am very busy now, I have no time to talk trades with you”.

Billy keeps calling until one day he gets an unexpected call from Trump:” “Billy, are you there? Billy: “Yes”. Trump: “Billy, you are fired!” Billy: “But Donald I do not work for you!”
Trump: “Yes you do, I just bought the A’s and my first move is to fire you”. Billy: “Oh….but wait I own 3% of the A’s” Trump: “I know that, In my deal with Wolff and Fihser I told them to give you instead of your $40 million dollar share, a new rookie shortstop, two pitchers and a catcher and a Cuban player to be named later”.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland travels to LA to face the Dodgers

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Image result for los angeles dodgers

The A’s will be in Los Angeles for a short two-game series starting Tuesday evening against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The A’s lost the last four games since the Scott Kazmir trade and were swept by the San Francisco Giants over the weekend.

The Giants are red hot having won 11 of the last 12 games played and are just one game behind the NL West Divison leaders, the hated LA Dodgers. The A’s could help the Giants by knocking off the Dodgers, but they will have their work cut out for them as they will be facing two left-handed starters. The A’s are 7-19 against lefties in 2015, and one of the lefties is the reigning Cy Young award winner and the Most Valuable Player in the National League last year, Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers will enter the game with a record of 56-44 and hold a one game lead over the surging Giants. The Giants were four games behind the Dodgers last week but picked up three games in the standings as they were 9-1 in their last ten games while the Dodgers were a mediocre 5-5.

Former Oakland Athletic, Brett Anderson, will be on the hill for the Dodgers Tuesday night. Anderson sports a record of 5-5 and has an ERA of 3.33. The Dodger offense can be potent. The Dodger attack is led by first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez is hitting .298 with 21 homers and 60 RBIs. The rest of the infield is solid with Howie Kendrick at second, Jimmy Rollins at short and Justin Turner at third. All four infielders have a lot of pop in their bats and can do a ton of damage. The outfield is manned by Andre Ethier, rookie Joc Pedersen, and Yasiel Puig. Ethier is hitting .276 with ten homers and 33 RBIs. Rookie-of the-year candidate, Joc Pedersen, has a low batting average, .230, but has hit 21 dingers and has knocked in 43. Rightfield is manned by Yasiel Puig. Puig missed six weeks of the season due to a hamstring injury and is batting just .253 with six homers and 22  ribbies. There has been a lot of speculation in the LA press that Puig might be traded. His production has gone down each year since he broke in 2013. The Dodger management has said that they have no intention of trading Puig, but one never knows. The catching chores are handled by All-Star catcher, Yasmani Grandal. Grandal came to the Dodgers in the trade that sent Matt Kemp to the Padres. On paper, the deal looked like a steal for the Padres as Grandal’s performance in 2014 was subpar. This year, however, Grandal has been a pleasant surprise handling the talented Dodger pitching staff while compiling a batting average of .281 and having hit fourteen home runs and making the NL All-Star team.

The A’s continue to flounder in 2015. They own a record of 44-56 and have just 62 games left to play. They have not had a lengthy hot streak so far this season and continue to play sloppy baseball. They have committed 86 errors to lead the majors. A’s GM Billy Beane traded away one of their best pitchers, Scott Kazmir, as it became apparent that the A’s were not going to make the playoffs. Rumors swirl around the clubhouse about the futures of closer Tyler Clippard, utilityman Ben Zobrist and reliever Eric O’Flaherty. All three players will be free agents at the end of the year, and Beane probably will trade them for prospects.

After the series in LA, they A’s return home for a ten game homestand against the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, and Houston Astros.