Category: Oakland Athletics

by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–Right after the Oakland Athletics traded outfielder and clean up hitter Yoenis Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox, for pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Jonny Gomes, I made it known why I did not like such deal. I said it on A’s Spanish radio and also on Fox Sports West TV in Anaheim with Angels. So this is not a reaction to today’s standings where the A’s who not very long ago had a 6 game lead and looked like the best team in the world are today percentage points in first place behind the LA Angels.

Yes, Céspedes was inconsistent, but he was still the SOUL of that Athletics lineup. Billy Beane was tired of losing game 5 vs.Tigers, but this year (the way things are going) the Tigers might be the last thing the Oakland team has to worry about. I also wrote about it right after the deal was made, here in this site.

With Yoenis Céspedes the A’s have won two Western Divisions, he was the most popular player on the Athletics, he can do it all, offensively and defensively, he made the other hitters in that lineup much better, fans would love to watch Céspedes at the plate. If he is healthy, he will thrive in the AL East, where he would play most of his games not only at Fenway but also in Baltimore, New York and parks much more hitter friendly than the Oakland Coliseum, Safeco Field, Angel Stadium and others.

Lucky for Yoenis, now his mentor in Boston is none but El Papi Grande Ortiz. A potential Hall of Fame player that also speaks Yoenis’ language. He doesn’t need Ariel Prieto to translate anymore, but most important, with Papi his “language”is more about hitting, and that my friends, is a tremendous advantage for Yoenis.

Billy Beane loves numbers, he still employs Daric Barton (who is in AAA Sacramento) because of his On-Base-Percentage, Barton is a first-baseman that walks a lot but doesn’t have much power. But anybody that knows anything about the game, knows that Barton is not a Major League player. I do predict he will come up again to Oakland, during the September call-ups. Beane loves Lester and his ability to win in the postseason, and that is fine, I do understand that.

World of Money Ball: Beane is not a genius in my book, he would be if he had won a couple of World Series for the Athletics, but many consider him such because with a $75-80 million payroll he can compete with teams that have twice that in players salaries. Economy wise, he is a genius to the owners, saves them money, and the team makes a profit, but as far as winning a championship, he still far from it.

Fans could care less about the economics of the game, the pay $10 for a beer and much more for tickets they want to see a championship team in Oakland, something that happened back in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake, when they swept the San Francisco Giants.

Yoenis always told me he was happy in Oakland, and that he would not mind staying here, because he appreciates the opportunity (his first since defecting from Cuba) into the Major Leagues. Yoenis Céspedes is a baseball player and he loves to play the game like most Cubans, but with the A’s he will never win a World Series.

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

By Morris Phillips

The A’s have been caught.

And for the first time since 2011, their rival, the Angels have first place to themselves. And for the first time since April 28, the suddenly struggling A’s are on the outside, looking up in the AL West.

The A’s came up short in Atlanta for the second night in a row, losing 4-3 to the Braves while the Angels won for the second straight night in Texas. The A’s fell to 1-5 on their road trip to Kansas City and Atlanta and their four-game losing streak is only their second such skid this season.

“We haven’t really been through a tough stretch all year other than a sweep here and there were we responded very well,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’re just going through a tough stretch right now.”

The A’s got an uneven outing from Sonny Gray, who allowed eight hits and four runs in an outing that lasted five plus innings. Still, the A’s battled back from 3-0 and 4-2 deficits only to see Josh Reddick’s blast to the left field wall in the ninth inning that would have tied the game caught by Justin Upton.

Gray couldn’t survive the sixth, while the A’s offense couldn’t capitalize on several rallies that were a result of the team’s five hits and five walks. In the end, the A’s were shut down by pitcher Julio Teheran who put up five scoreless innings then allowed two runs on Stephen Vogt’s two-run shot that brought the A’s within 3-2 in the sixth inning.

Gray was perfect in July, going 5-0 and being named the American League pitcher of the month, but in August, Gray has been saddled with a loss in all four of his starts, prompting questions of whether the young starter has run out of gas in his first full season as a big league starter.

“I thought I made a lot of really good pitches and it just kind of didn’t go our way,” Gray said.

The A’s look to avoid the sweep on Sunday when Jon Lester takes the ball looking for his eight consecutive victory. The Braves will counter with lefty Mike Minor.

By Matthew Harrington

Perhaps Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin wishes his team saved some runs after a Tuesday night 11-3 romping of the Kansas City Royals. Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, yesterday’s assembly of green and gold world beaters managed to advance only one batter beyond second base against the American League Central Leaders, with the Royals (65-54)blanking the A’s 3-0 to win game three of a four-game set.

The Oakland Athletics offense, one day removed from a double-digit hit barrage, fell silent against Royals starter Jason Vargas. The left-hander (9-5, 3.27 ERA) pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out four A’s while walking none. He only yielded three hits, a pair in the first and a single in the second, over his nine innings of work before retiring the last 23 A’s batters in order.

Oakland southpaw Scott Kazmir (13-5, 2.78) did his best to match Vargas, firing off eight innings of seven-hit, three-run ball. A two-run homer, his sixth of the season, by Royals second basemen Omar Infante proved the biggest blow of the game in the third inning off Kazmir. 2014 AL All-Star catcher Salvador Perez also knocked in a run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly.

Oakland (73-47) takes on Kansas City one more time Thursday afternoon before traveling south to wrap up a seven-game road trip in Atlanta. Jeff Samardzija takes the mound Thursday to try to even up the series for the AL West leaders while James Shields will take the hill for Kansas City seeking to close out a series win.

By Matthew Harrington

The Oakland Athletics fell victim to the hottest team in baseball Monday night, wasting a Sonny Gray gem to fall to the Kansas City Royals 3-2 at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals (64-53) knocked in a run in the first two innings each before Brandon Moss answered backed with a bases-loaded two-run single to knot the game at 2-2 in the third. With two outs in the seventh inning and fighting a losing battle with an 0-2 count, Alcides Escobar singled Nori Aoki home to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. Escobar finished the night with two runs batted, both coming on singles with two outs.

The tight-fisted trio Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland followed manager Ned Yost’s atypical final inning game plan, all pitching a scoreless inning apiece for one of the best bullpens in the major leagues. Herrera (3-2, 1.62 ERA) earned the win for his unblemished seventh inning while Holland converted his 35th save despite putting runners on first and second base with no outs. A double-play off the bat of Derek Norris and a Stephen Vogt fly ball to right field wrapped up Kansas City’s eighth-straight win.

Gray (12-6, 2.86) wound up the hard-luck loser, turning in one of his best performances of the season but hitting the showers empty-handed. The baby-faced ace went seven strong innings, allowing only two earned runs while scattering only six hits. Yordano Ventura, the Royals starter Monday evening, also performed exemplary. He yielded only two hits to A’s batters in his six innings, compiling five punch-outs and four walks.

The loss comes with a bittersweet round of news for the A’s (72-46). With the Tigers scuffling amidst the resurgent Royals run, Kansas now holds sole possession of the top record in the American League Central. The boys in blue have ousted Oakland’s playoff nemesis of the previous two seasons, placing the injury-plagued Motor City Kitties on track to play in the sudden-death wild card playoff game.

Tuesday night the A’s call upon Jon Lester to replicate his recent success. The lefty, acquired from Boston for Yoenis Cespedes at the July 31st trade deadline, pitched a complete-game shutout against the Minnesota Twins at the O.Co Coliseum last Thursday night. He’ll be opposed by Jeremy Guthrie.

By Morris Phillips

In a season where everything’s coming up A’s, it’s often the ex-A’s that make the headlines when the current A’s don’t.

Kurt Suzuki doubled home the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning, and Josh Willingham followed with a two-run homer in the Twins 6-1 win over the A’s at the O.co Coliseum on Sunday. Suzuki and Willingham’s big contributions allowed the Twins to stop a 12-game losing streak to Oakland, dating back to last September.

Despite the loss, the A’s four-game lead in the AL West was preserved when the Red Sox got past the Angels, 3-1 in Anaheim. In that one, former Athletic Yoenis Cespedes provided all the fireworks with a three-run shot for Boston in the eighth inning.

The A’s finished their 10-game home stand against the Royals, Rays and Twins with a 6-4 record. Among the biggest developments during the stretch was the pair of solid outings by newly acquired Jason Hammel after he began his Oakland career with four straight losses.

On Sunday, Hammel pitched into the seventh inning, allowing a run on four hits. But matching Hammel was Minnesota’s Phil Hughes, who pitched seven innings allowing a run as well. Hughes left after the seventh when his cracked nail on his pitching hand preventing him from continuing. But he was the pitcher of record when the Twins rallied in the eighth, and picked up his 12th win.

The Twins broke through against reliever Luke Gregerson, who allowed three hits and three runs. Both pitches thrown to Suzuki and Willingham were grooved, a departure from the streak Gregerson had built allowing no runs and just eight hits in his previous 15 appearances dating back to June 25. The cruelties of baseball math were in effect with the reliever’s poor outing: his ERA on June 25 was 2.43 and he lowered it to 1.81 during his streak, but Sunday’s outing saw the number jump back to 2.26.

The 35-year old Willingham has seen his profile drop since his breakout 2011 season in Oakland, but it did allow him to sign a rich free-agent deal with Minnesota. Suzuki was in Oakland from 2007 until the spring of 2012 when he was dealt to the Nationals. He returned to the A’s for 15 games last season during the playoff push only to sign with the Twins in the off-season.

While Suzuki described the 12-game losing streak as one of those things, in part probably because he contributed to the A’s success in it last September, Willingham was far more conscious of the slide given his comments after the game.

“If we would’ve come in here and lost today, that would’ve been a very big disappointment,” he said. “We needed to get this win.”

The A’s open a seven-game trip in Kansas City on Monday evening with Sonny Gray facing Yordano Ventura at 5:05pm. The red-hot Royals took two of three from Oakland last weekend and are riding a seven-game win streak after sweeping the Giants.

By Morris Phillips

Trevor May—one of baseball’s ten highest ranked minor league prospects—couldn’t contain his excitement in his highly-anticipated major league debut.

Unfortunately for May, baseball’s highest scoring team as well as baseball’s best home team noticed right away that he was probably a little too amped up in front of friends, family and his new Twins’ teammates.

So the A’s did what they normally do. They watched and waited with fantastic results.

May’s debut was brief as he lasted just two innings and allowed seven walks in the A’s 9-4 win that gave them wins in each of the first three games of this four-game series. When May departed the A’s were up 4-1 and well on their way to their 12 straight win against the youthful, but hapless Twins.

“Your brain can get scattered in several different ways,” A’s catcher Derek Norris said. “Some guys are able to harness it, and unfortunately the kid tonight, he just wasn’t able to harness all the adrenaline (and) stuff that was going on.”

May retired A’s leadoff batter Coco Crisp on one pitch. But then Sam Fuld singled, Josh Donaldson doubled, and Brandon Moss walked to load the bases. Norris was next, and he appeared to be in a tough spot down 1-2 in the count. But May issued three straight balls to walk Norris and give up the game’s first run.

May escaped further damage in the first when Josh Willingham turned a nifty double play by catching Josh Reddick’s fly ball to right and throwing Donaldson out at the plate. Still, the A’s had their jump start, scoring in the first inning for the first time in their last 18 games.

In the second inning, May appeared to settle, retiring the first two batters. But then he walked the bases loaded and allowed a two-run single to Donaldson. Then just as he had done in the first inning, May walked Moss and Norris to put the A’s up 4-1. Notably, Norris picked up a pair of RBI without putting the ball in play as May couldn’t gather himself after starting Norris with three straight balls.

“He could gather himself,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They took a lot of pitches and we walked a lot of people. That was pretty much the story.”

Gardenhire, well known for his disdain for free passes, probably developed an ulcer watching the display. Since 1986, the Twins have employed just two managers—Gardenhire and Tom Kelly—who are well known for pulling pitchers quickly who issue walks. But somehow, Gardenhire let May finish the inning, making him only the second Minnesota pitcher to issue seven walks in just two innings of work. Consequently, the young May had a lot of explaining to do after the game.

“It was a lot of factors: some excitement, getting used to the ball,” May said. “All kinds of stuff. But at the end of the day there’s no excuses not making pitches when you need to and not executing.”

The quick start was just what the doctor ordered for A’s starter Jeff Samardzija. Plagued by poor run support as a Cub earlier this year, Samardzija knew exactly what to do when staked to an early lead. The former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver allowed single runs in the first and fifth innings on his way to his third straight win as an Athletic at home. Samardzija allowed seven hits and two walks, but made big pitches when he needed too in a 109-pitch, six-inning performance.

After May departed, Stephen Vogt and Derek Norris greeted reliever Samuel Deduno with home runs and the rout was on. The A’s registered their 26th win by five runs or more. The A’s improved to a major-league best 40-20 at home, which includes wins in 34 of their last 45 home dates. The A’s maintained their four game lead over the Angels in the AL West after their southland rivals outlasted the Red Sox in 19 innings Saturday night in Anaheim.

On Sunday, Jason Hammel, coming off his best start and first win as an Athletic, faces former Yankee Phil Hughes in the series finale at 1:05pm.