Category: Oakland Athletics

By Morris Phillips

The A’s constantly-changing cast kept to the desired script once again in Arlington, TX on Saturday against the Rangers.

Sonny Gray won his sixth consecutive decision and the A’s belted four home runs to beat Texas, 5-1 at Global Life Park. Despite having the best record in either league, the A’s remain just two games up on the Angels in the supremely competitive AL West.

Gray was at his fastball/changeup-throwing best holding the Rangers to a run over 6 2/3 innings. Of the 28 batters Gray faced, the final 13–all after Gray allowed an RBI single to J.P. Arencibia in the fourth–failed to hit the ball out of the infield. That finishing kick kept to Gray’s pattern in an exceptional stretch in which he’s compiled half of his league-leading 12 wins.

“His fastball moves all over the place. Sometimes he doesn’t even know what it does,” A’s manager Bob Melvin marveled when asked about his young ace.

Gray was especially tough with people aboard as he frustrated the Rangers despite allowing seven singles and four walks. Saturday’s effort finished off a torrid month of July in which Gray went 5-0 and allowed six runs in 29 innings pitched.

Josh Donaldson, J.J. Reddick, Yoenis Cespedes and John Jaso all homered in support of Gray, but none figured out Texas starter Nick Tepesch until the sixth inning. At that juncture, Jaso hit a two-run homer to give the A’s a lead and Cespedes followed with a solo shot. In the seventh, Donaldson connected and his home run traveled the furthest of the four at 415 feet.

Reddick’s bomb came off reliever Jeff Adcock, giving the A’s a 5-1 lead. It may have been the most satisfying of the three since it was Reddick’s first since two stints on the disabled list that robbed the A’s of their most gifted defensive outfielder.

Everyday performer Jed Lowrie sat out on Saturday and was replaced by Nick Punto. Catcher Jaso left the game in the eighth when he suffered a minor injury warming up Luke Gregerson. Washout acquisition Jim Johnson was released on Thursday, replaced by Evan Scribner. Coco Crisp has missed 23 games but batted leadoff on Saturday. Disabled infielder Alberto Callaspo is expected to come off the disabled list on Sunday and make his 77th starting assignment of the year.

And throughout all the moves and changes, the A’s continue to win, And in most recent 40 days, the Rangers seem to always manage to lose. On Saturday, the A’s won their 25th in their last 36 games, while the Rangers have dropped 28 of 34.

On Sunday, Scott Kazmir attempts to win his 12th of the season in a matchup with the Rangers’ Miles Mikolas at 4:05pm PST.

By Kahlil Najar

Jason Hammel (8-8) last less than six innings in Texas tonight and the A’s (63-39) lost to the Rangers (41-62) 4-1.  The A’s were able to spread seven hits throughout the night however Adrian Beltre had two hits and RBI tonight to lead the offensive charge for the Rangers.

Over his last eight starts Hammel is 0-3 and 2-5 with a 5.02 ERA. With the A’s Hammel has gone a combined 12 2/3 innings, given up 19 hits, 12 runs,  seven walks and only eight strikeouts. He has a high ERA at 7.12. A stark comparison to Jeff Samardzija who has been an ace from the beginning.

“The easy thing to do here is to start getting down on myself, but I’m not going to do that. Lot of good things tonight,” said Hammel on his night.

The Rangers got on the board first in the bottom of the second. Jim Adduci hit his third double of the season off of Hammel into centerfield and then J.P. Arencibia singled a line drive to left field and drove Adduci in to make it a 1-0 lead for the Rangers.

The Rangers added another run in the bottom of the third when Rios shot a single to left field and drove in Andrus who was already on base.

The A’s got their only run of the game in the top of the sixth when on back to back singles from Sogard and Jaso landed Sogard at third. Cespedes then came up to the plate and hit a single to left field and brought in Sogard to make it a 2-1 game.

The Rangers added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it a final of 4-1.

Eleven game winner Sonny Gray starts for the Athletics tomorrow against Nick Tepesch, game time 5:05 pm PST.

Game notes:

Oakland manager Bob Melvin successfully challenged to have two safe calls at first base overturned on replay. Arencibia was initially ruled safe on a pick off throw by Hammel in the fourth. Andrus was called safe on what would have been an infield single, but wound up the inning-ending out in the seventh.

 

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Scott Kazmir went for seven solid innings but the A’s offense stalled in the sixth and lost to the Houston Astros in twelve innings. Losing pitcher Francisco Abad (2-4) gave up a home run in the top of the inning to L.J. Hoes to seal the victory for Houston.

EIght different A’s players got a hit tonight but Coco Crisp had a night to forget as he went 0 for 6 with two strikeouts including the game ending K in the 12th. For Houston, Jose Altuve went 3 for six and former Oakland Athletic Chris Carter went 3 for 5 as they provided most of the offense on the night aside from the Hoes home run.

Houston scored a pair of runs in the top of third to get on the board first however they were earned with a bit of controversy. With Marwin Gonzalez on first, Jose Altuve hit a grounder that was deflected off of Kazmir and landed in Josh Donaldson’s glove. When Donaldson went to make the throw to first it alluded Frieman and both runners advanced to second and third. However when Altuve was running to first base he was running out of the base path and on the grass in the infield which Bob Melvin came out to argue caused the error by Donaldson. After some jawing back and forth, Melvin conceded and then Chris Carter hit a single to get both runners in and make it a 2-0 lead for the Astros.

In the bottom of the third, Josh Donaldson grounded into a force out but was able to bring in Craig Genrty who was already on third after stealing second and third base earlier in the inning and brought the score to 2-1.

The A’s tied it in the bottom of the sixth when after Donaldson’s 15th double of the year and a single by Norris and landed him on third; Jed Lowire hit a sac fly to right field and tied the game at two a piece.

In the 12th, Abad was brought in to replace Otreo and gave up the home run to Hoes to give the Astros their third straight victory over the A’s, a new franchise record for them.

Houston and Oakland head back at it tomorrow when the A’s send Jesse Chavez up against Houston’s Brad Peacock, game time 7:05pm PST.

GAME NOTES – Hip Hop Legend Biz Markie will be throwing out the first pitch before tomorrow’s game.

by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–After 14 months of debating, going back and forth on costs, out clauses, and the threat of tearing down the Oakland Coliseum if the Raiders wish it so, the Oakland A’s ownership have inked a ten year deal with the City of Oakland worth $20 million.

The A’s out clause could come as soon as 2017 if they wanted to move out of Oakland but the team would be obligated for the remaining balance of the lease. The Coliseum which is managed by the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority. A’s owner Lew Wolff said that he accepted most of the changes of the lease agreement despite some of the particulars that the A’s might have disagreed upon with the city.

Wolff told Oakland City Administrator Henry Gardner that he intends to build a new stadium at the Coliseum and Wolff told the city that the A’s have good faith intentions of building at the Coliseum Complex. The Raiders have expressed an interest in tearing down the Coliseum by 2016 for a new Raiders stadium but with the A’s new lease signed by the city and the team that might cloud the Raiders plans.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has said she wants to revisit the Raiders wishes and make both teams happy by building stadiums for the Raiders and A’s side by side. The Golden State Warriors who are moving to San Francisco’s Mission Bay will vacate the Coliseum Arena after the Warriors new arena is completed. The schedule on the drawing board could have the A’s and Raiders build near or in the footprint of the Coliseum Arena if the city choses to tear down the Oracle Arena as soon the Warriors vacate Oracle.

The A’s and Wolff who made it their dream to play in San Jose and build a new stadium near the downtown Cal Train station and SAP Center fizzled over the years of discussion as the A’s came to the realization that San Francisco Giants will never reliquish terriorial rights. The City of San Jose had filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball to try and force baseball to drop the territorial rights but the case is a stalemate.

The vote to approve the lease goes in front of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and Wolff sounded confident that everything is moving to plan, “it looks like we have a mutually agreeable lease transaction that will be subject to the vote of the board of supervisors” said Wolff. Talk of a Howard Street Waterfront ballpark for the A’s at Jack London Square was never in the cards for the A’s according to Wolff he wants to make the A’s home at the current Coliseum site with a brand new state of the art stadium, “we look forward to moving on and talking about the bigger goal building a beautiful new ballpark for the team right here in Oakland” said Quan

The deal now will go in front of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for next week’s vote and it is expected to pass with a lot less fanfare than when it was in front of the Oakland City Council which mulled over it for 14 months with the team. It must be noted that the proposal might go in front of the Coliseum Authority again because of the revisions in the lease. Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid who opposed the original lease particulars is happy that a deal was struck and that Wolff and the A’s can get on with business as usual.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering A’s baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

By Matthew Harrington

The collective state of mind projected by the seven Oakland Athletics in attendance at the 2014 All-Star game was that, despite being all business on the field, this team was all smiles and just happy to be in the fold. In the various interviews, Josh Donaldson, Sean Doolittle and Derek Norris all made it seem like playing for the A’s was just a good ole’ time. Winning, after all, is a cure-all for many things. It’s not, however, a consolation prize for one contributor to the first-place squad.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweeted today that sources close to Tommy Milone say the southpaw has requested a trade to a team with an opportunity at the major league level. This comes after Milone’s third demotion to Triple A Sacramento in the last calendar year on Independence Day. At the time of his optioning, the lefty had gone 6-3 in 16 2014 appearances, all starts, with an accompanying earned run average of 3.55.

While preseason injuries to Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin gave the 27-year-old a chance to crack the rotation out of Spring Training, Milone (still in possesion of a minor league option) became expendable after the July 4^th trade that brought Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel over from the Chicago Cubs. While he was 6-0 with a 2.62 ERA over his last 11 starts. With Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir and Samardzija anchoring the front end while Jesse Chavez and Hammel create a formidable back-of-the-rotation duo there was no room at the major league level for Milone or fellow lefty Drew Pomeranz, also demoted to the River Cats after returning from a broken hand July 13th. Brad Mills, who was purchased from the Milwaukee Brewers for one dollar earlier in the season, also fell victim to the roster crunch and now finds himself a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

While the path to the big leagues appears blocked for Milone, who was acquired along with Derek Norris from the Washington Nationals in 2011 for Gio Gonzalez, he may not have to wait long for another opportunity with green and gold. Over his last ten starts, Chavez has seen his ERA balloon from 2.61 on May 24 to 3.14 after his July 12^th start against Seattle. While a change in roles for Chavez may be unlikely, Hammel’s position could be in jeapordy after going 0-2 in his first pair of starts with the A’s. The righty has allowed seven earned runs over his first seven innings, failing to register more than six outs in his last start against the Baltimore Orioles.

One of the hallmarks that have made the 2014 Athletics the top team in the American League has been the reliance on and faith in positional depth. Dan Straily, Josh Lindblom, Mills and Pomeranz join Milone as pitchers who made a start for the A’s this season but are no longer with the team (or in Mills and Straily’s case, the organization). Few teams, especially teams that play deep in to October, avoid casualties to the rotation due to injuries.

While Milone believes he deserves to be contributing at the major league level, and though his numbers thus far certainly suggest he should be, it is in the best interest of Bob Melvin and co. to keep Milone at their beck and call. With Chavez pitching his first year as a starter following an off-season conversion from long relief, questions surround how his stamina will hold up as the seasons turn from summer to fall. While Kazmir’s past injury woes, ailments that derailed most of his 2011 season and had him toiling for another big league audition in the Independent leagues in 2012, if trouble should again befall the Texan Milone could be plugged into his spot in the rotation.

With the Los Angeles Angels only two games back of the A’s for the AL West lead, the ability to not skip a beat for even one spot start could prove the difference between a bye to the Division Series or a spot in the sudden death Wild Card Play-off game. While Milone may currently be frustrated with the lack of reward for his performance, sticking it out for the good of the team may lead to an emergency role when the A’s need him most down the stretch.