Oakland Athletics – Page 325 – Sports Radio Service

Oakland’s Persistent Blunders Cost Them Another Game, Lose 5-2

Published on May 22, 2015September 5, 2015 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

Oakland Athletics catcher Stephen Vogt, right, questions a call by home plate umpire David Rackley, left, during the third inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday, May 22, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius)

By Kahlil Najar

An error in the fifth inning put runners in the corners for the Rays and third baseman Evan Longoria hit a three run homer to give the Rays a comfortable lead and the victory as the Ray beats the A’s 5-2.

“It’s like everyone is in the same boat. We just want to pull our hair out with what’s going on,”said Scott Kazmir (2-3) who went 5 2/3 innings and gave up two earned runs. The A’s are now on a four game losing streak and have only won twice in the last 16 games.

The A’s also left 12 men on base which has been an Achilles heel for them as of late as they always seem to get some great hits but aren’t able to drive some runs home.

Catcher Stephen Vogt said, “Everyone is trying to do more, do more. Everyone wants to step up and get the big hit instead of just moving the line like we were doing earlier in the season. That’s something we’ve got to get back to.”

A’s Head Coach Bob Melvin echoed Vogt’s sentiments, “That’s what we’re struggling with now. We’re getting runners on, but we’re not getting big hits, and we make one error and it blows up on us.”

The A’s got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning when Stephen Vogt hit his 10th homer of the year on a line drive to right field. The Rays answered back with the Longoria 3-Run shot in the bottom of the fifth and then went on to smack two more solo shots in the seventh and eighth.

The A’s were able to scrape up a run in the top of the ninth on a Billy Butler sacrifice fly but then ended the game with a Vogt strikeout.

Oakland hopes to get something going tomorrow when they send Kendall Graveman (1-2, 8.27) against the Rays Nate Karns (3-1, 3.77). Game time 1:10pm PST.

A’s Place LHP Pomeranz on the DL; Recall RHP Leon from Nashville

Published on May 22, 2015 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland A’s placed left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to yesterday with a sprained left AC joint, the club announced today. To take his spot on the roster, the A’s recalled right-handed pitcher Arnold Leon from Triple-A Nashville.

Pomeranz was 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA in eight starts with the A’s. He was 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA over his last two starts, but had issued 10 walks in 15.2 innings over his last three starts. Pomeranz had a .242 opponents batting average, including .162 with no extra base hits against left-handed hitters.

Leon joins the A’s for the second time this year. He was called up for the first time April 22 and made his Major League debut that day at Los Angeles-AL (1.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 1 so) before being optioned back to Nashville the next day. The 26-year-old right-hander went 0-2 with a 2.65 ERA in three starts with Nashville following his April 23 option and was 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA in five starts overall for the Sounds.

A’s OF Billy Burns to Make ‘Mathletics’ Visit to St. Bede Catholic School Tuesday, May 26

Published on May 22, 2015 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

WHAT: A’s outfielder Billy Burns will work on math problems and visit with students at St. Bede Catholic School on Tuesday, May 26. The visit will be on behalf of the A’s “Mathletics” program.

Mathletics is a unique program designed to stress the importance of students using math in their daily lives. The A’s design and distribute workbooks, which use simple formulas for calculating statistics of A’s players, to participating schools. Students in the first through eighth grades who complete their workbooks correctly and submit their answer sheets to the A’s receive two free ticket vouchers.

Since the program was created in 2003, over 200,000 Bay Area and Northern California students have participated in the program. Mathletics is presented by Ross Stores with support from Comcast SportsNet California.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 26 12:45-1:15 p.m.

Where: St. Bede Catholic School 26910 Patrick Ave. Hayward, CA 94544

A’s Place RHP Mujica on the DL; Select IF Andy Parrino from Nashville

Published on May 22, 2015 by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland A’s placed right-handed pitcher Edward Mujica on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured right thumb, the club announced today. To take his spot on the roster, the A’s selected infielder Andy Parrino from Triple-A Nashville. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the A’s recalled Tyler Ladendorf from Nashville and placed him on the 60-day disabled list as he continues to recover from left ankle surgery.

Mujica was injured last night in the seventh inning on a Bobby Wilson ground ball up the middle. He has not allowed a run in five games and 5.1 innings since being acquired from Boston May 9. Mujica logged a 4.61 ERA in 11 games with the Red Sox before he was designated for assignment May 8.

Parrino was batting .273 with four home runs and 12 RBI in 38 games with Nasvhille. He was tied for the team lead in home runs but also topped the Sounds with 43 strikeouts. The 29-year-old switch hitter was batting .313 in May after hitting .236 in April. Parrino appeared in 33 games at shortstop, three at second base and two at third base

Ladendorf was on the A’s Opening Day roster and went 2-for-10 (.200) in four games before he was optioned to Nashville April 12 when Josh Reddick was reinstated from the disabled list. He went 8-for-22 (.364) in six games with the Sounds before injuring his ankle and requiring surgery.

Oakland A’s Podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: You could bet your Money Ball on it Billy Beane will never step down

Published on May 22, 2015May 22, 2015 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND-The Oakland A’s have dropped 13 of their last 15 games, the slide continues on this current road stand after dropping two out of three in Houston and the opening game of this four game series in Tampa Bay. If the A’s were totally to slide and blame gets laid at A’s General Manager Billy Beane’s door step the only ones that can force Beane to step down are owners Lew Wolf or John Fisher.

To do that Wolf and Fisher would have to buy Beane out from his minority owner status and then fire him and that just isn’t going to happen. Beane has been pretty much an economist pretty much during his reign as A’s GM since 1998 his first season. He was pretty much on his own under former A’s owners Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman.

He’s just as independent with current A’s owners Wolf and Fisher and Beane at this point has nothing to worry about to be quite honest about it. Beane is not going anywhere. Wolf and Fisher are very please with the way that Beane has kept the payroll down and the A’s are profit making operation right now.

You have to keep in mind that if it’s Beane in Oakland or another general manager in MLB when these fellas make a deal you never know how it’s going to turn out. You study the players, you look at what you have out there and you make the deal. Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn’t. The A’s took a chance on Brandon Moss who is now with Cleveland.

Moss was with the Pirates in 2008-10 and at that time he was somewhat a marginal player but he turned out to be a pretty good deal for Oakland when he joined the club in 2012. Moss had three pretty good seasons which was cut short in the last part of last season. The A’s unloaded him to Cleveland. Beane felt that the trades that he made last season were going to get him to the World Series that failed to materialize.

Going forward A’s acquisitions from last season didn’t work including with former A’s pitcher Jeff Samardzija who was sent to the White Sox in the off season. Beane also brought in Jon Lester from the Red Sox and he was trying to rebuild the club on the strength of the Samardzija deal. The A’s Marcus Semien whose hitting a little over .300 has a lot of pop in his bat but his fielding has been a lot left to be desired.

Case in point the A’s have hired former Rangers manager Ron Washington to help right the A’s defensive ship, Semien has committed 16 errors this season thus far over the course of 40 games and the A’s have brought in Washington who worked with him to improve his fielding or throwing and this is something that Beane has done to get Semien back on track.

Jerry Feitelberg is a beat writer for the Oakland A’s at http://www.sportsradioservice.com catch Jerry’s podcast on the A’s below

The slide continues, The A’s lose to the Tampa Bay Rays

Published on May 21, 2015 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s lost again Thursday night to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 3-0. The A’s lost for the 13th time in the last 15 games and look like a team that has earned the distinction of having the worst won-loss record in all of baseball. In days past, Jesse Chavez would have received credit for a win but the A’s did not give him any run support. Chavez went six-plus innings giving up 5 hits and three runs while walking one and striking out six. Jesse’s record is now 1-4 for the season.

The A’s had a chance in the very first inning to put at least one on the board but, as usual, they did not score and no one knows why. A’s center fielder, Billy Burns, led off the inning with a triple. The next batter, Marcus Semien, flied out to medium deep centerfield. Burns, for some reason, did not tag up. Had he attempted to score, he would have made it easily. Rays starter, Alex Colome, retired the next two A’s hitters to end the threat. The decision to stay put at third was a bonehead move and it is symptomatic of what’s wrong with the A’s. They are not playing fundamentally sound baseball. Bob Melvin did not look happy when Burns came back to the dugout.

Former Athletic, David DeJesus, was the hitting start for the Rays. DeJesus doubled in the fourth to drive in Evan Longoria from first to give the Rays on the runs they would need to win. 1-0 after four. DeJesus homered in the seventh to make it 2-0 and the Rays added one more in the seventh. Final score Rays 3-0 over Oakland.

Notes- With the loss, the A’s are now 14-29 while Tampa improved to 23-19. The Rays were tied with New York for first place in the AL East before the start of play on Thursday. Alex Colome picked up the win and is 3-1 and Rays closer, Bruce Boxberger earned his 12th save of the year. A’s relievers Edward Mujica, Fernando Rodriguez, and Angel Castro closed out the game for Oakland. A’s third baseman, Brett Lawrie committed an error to add to the fielding woes.

Game two of the four-game series will be played Friday evening in Tampa at 4:10pm.

The A’s hire Ron Washington to help improve the fielding.

Published on May 20, 2015 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s have decided to bring in an expert to help the A’s improve their fielding. The team has announced that former Texas Ranger manager Ron Washington has been hired to work with the infielders in an attempt to cut down on the number of errors that have been committed by the team.

Wash was with the A’s as an infield coach and a third base coach from 1996 to 2006. Was worked his magic with Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez. Chavez won several Gold Glove awards and gave one of the awards to Wash as a thank you for helping him making him a great fielder. Ron left the A’s to become the manager of the Texas Rangers in 2007 and led them to American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. Ron resigned from his post last year for personal reasons.

Wash will not be a coach on the field during games but will work with the team pre-game. Wash will be joining the team in Tampa this weekend.

Welcome back, Wash. You are one great guy and the team is blessed to have you back in the fold.

The Astros slap another loss on the A’s.

Published on May 20, 2015 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s 2015 train wreck of a season continued Wednesday afternoon in Houston as they lost again to the Houston Astros by a score of 6-1. The A’s were trying to win the rubber game of the three-game series, but they had to face the Astro’s star left-handed hurler, Dallas Keuchel. Keuchel had not been charged with a loss so far this year and with the Astros’ win, his record improved to 6-0 and his ERA dropped to 1.67. The Astros are off to their best start in club history with a record of 27-14. The A’s, on the other hand, are a dismal 14-28. The A’s have won back-to-back games only once this year and that came against Houston on April 13th and 14th. Since that time, they have not been able to win more than one game in a row. It has been a pathetic performance. A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, has asked the fans to be patient as he feels the team can turn things around, but it’s going to be a tough sell. There are too many things going wrong for this club right now. They need improvement in all categories of play. They need better performances from the starting pitching, they need bullpen help as the bullpen is the arson squad. They need better fielding. A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien, made another throwing error and it was his 16th of the year. The A’s lead the Major Leagues in errors committed and does not show sign of improving at all. The A’s have not been able to get hits with runners in scoring position. They were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Wednesday’s game.

Jesse Hahn was on the mound for the A’s and he went six innings giving up 3 runs on 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 6. Hahn took the loss and his record dropped to 1-4 and his ERA now stands at 4.43. The big blow was a 2-run home run by Evan Gattis in the bottom of the 6th. The A’s had their chances but failed to cash in on the opportunities. In the fourth, they loaded the bases with one out. Mark Canh grounded into a force out at home and Craig Gentry grounded out into an inning-ending force out at second. In the 6th, the A’s had 2 on with 1 out but could score just one run on Chris Carter’s fielding error. The Astros put the game away in the bottom of the eighth when they score three times to make it a 6-1 game.

The A’s will be in Tampa Bay for a four-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays. Jesse Chavez (1-3) will pitch for Oakland as they face the resurgent Rays. The Rays are in second place in the AL East with a record of 22-18 and are probably licking their chops knowing that the A’s are struggling. Reversal of fortunes for both teams this year.

Notes- The only bright note is that A’s third baseman, Brett Lawrie, went 3-for-4 in the game and raise his batting average to .280. The line score for the A’s was one run on 7 hits and 1 error while Houston’s line was 6 runs on 10 hits and no errors. A’s reliever, Dan Otero pitched 1 and 1.3rd inning and allowed 3 hits and was charged with 3 runs, all earned.

Game time will be at 4:10pm from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: After opening the series with a win A’s find their inner loser again

Published on May 19, 2015 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Charlie O Mallonee

The A’s dropped another tough one behind starter Sonny Gray after winning the first game of this current series in Houston on Tuesday night at Minute Field 6-4. I don’t like to run a round and be Chicken Little but in some ways you have to be right when your talking about the A’s. They went 1-5 on that homestand with Boston and Chicago.

It’s never good to go 1-5 in any six game series but especially not when your at home. The A’s went 1-5 on the last honestand that put them into a situation where they have lost ten of 11. The Athletics have now fallen 13 games under .500, the club owns last place in the American League West. Their 1-13 in one run ball games and it would have been 14 had they lost by one on Tuesday night.

For the A’s that’s a nightmare it’s an absolute nightmare, the A’s are 1-12 in day games, no one has been able to explain that. Why are they losing day games? No one really knows it, they have used 15 different relief pitchers and of those 15 relief pitchers they really haven’t got the job done. With all of this, all the A’s really need to do is to get things right they should play all night games and have at least a two run lead and things will turn around.

Now there’s more doom and gloom in the future for the A’s because their out on the road in Houston and Tampa Bay coming up on Thursday with a seven game road trip. Three games with the Astros who are in first place in the AL West and after they finish with the Astros they have to travel down to Tampa Bay and play in that horrible building Tropicana Field.

They will face a Rays team that is currently tied for first place in the AL East. That’s a last place team’s nightmare while your awake and your still having the nightmare. That’s what the A’s are up against for this road trip. On Monday night you would like to think that was a sign of a turnaround. The A’s were able to do something that haven’t done and that is win.

The A’s won in Houston on the road in that first game and they had starter Drew Pomeranz who came in with a 2-3 record facing Houston’s Lance McCullers who didn’t figure in Tuesday’s decision. McCullers is off to a big start for the Astros he doesn’t have a great record but he has a 1.93 ERA. When your posting that kind of a ERA average your having a big season. Neither starter was overwhelming in that game.

Charlie O has your A’s commentary podcast tonight at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

The Astro snap the A’s winning streak at one.

Published on May 19, 2015 by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s were trying to get a two-game winning streak going against the Houston Astros Tuesday night in Houston. The A’s had their ace, Sonny Gray, on the hill while the Astros gave the ball to Roberto Hernandez. It was the first time in his career that Gray has pitched in Minute Maid Park and it did not go well for him or the A’s as they lost 6-4. Gray absorbed his second loss of the season. Gray went five innings and allowed three runs and seven hits. The A’s relieved failed again as the Astros scored three runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach. Fernando Rodriguez went 2 1/3rd innings in relief allowing just one hit but was charged with an earned run after he was relieved by Fernando Abad. Abad has not been effective this year and he was ineffective again as gave up home runs to Colby Rasmus and Jason Castro.

There were two bright spots in the game for the A’s. Max Muncy hit his second home run of the year and, lo and behold, the defense did not commit an error. Be still my heart!!! The lowlights were the bullpen and the A’s ran themselves out of the game with baserunning blunders. Hope Bob Melvin keeps his cool.

Jesse Hahn will pitch for Oakland on Wednesday and Houston will counter with their ace, Dallas Keuchel. Game time is 11:10 am PT.

The A’s released the following information regarding the surgery performed on Jarrod Parker Tuesday.– Oakland A’s right-handed pitcher Jarrod Parker underwent successful right elbow surgery, the club announced today. The surgery was performed this afternoon by Dr. James Andrews at the Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Fla. Parker’s previous revised ulnar collateral ligament did not need repairing and the avulsed medial epicondyle fracture was cleaned up andrepaired. Parker is currently resting comfortably. Parker underwent “Tommy John”surgery for the second time in his career March 24, 2014. He began a rehab assignment with Single-A Stockton April 23 and made two starts with the Ports and two at Triple-A Nashville before injuring his elbow with the Sounds May 8 against Round Rock. Parker combined for 2-1 record and a 5.79 ERA in his four rehab starts.