Category: Oakland Athletics

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:Relievers are made and also unmade

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND–In his first year in the majors,(1995) Panamanian-born right handed hurler Mariano Rivera pitched in 19 games for the New York Yankees, starting in 10 of those, finishing the season with a 5-3 record and a 5.51 earned run average. After that he never started another game for the next 18 years, finishing his career with 652 games saved in relief, the all-time leader.

Mariano’s first pitching coach in the minor leagues with the Gulf Coast Yankees was Hoyt Wilheim, the great Hall of Fame knuckleballer specialist. As a young kid growing up in Havana, Cuba, I remember Wilheim when he pitched for the Leones del Habana(Havana Lions)in the old Cuban Professional Winter League, in the late 1950’s and then remember him pitch in the major leagues with the Chicago White Sox.

Hoyt Wilheim was the first ever reliever elected to the Hall of Fame. Mariano Rivera made a Hall of Fame career with basically one pitch, a great cutter.

2.Dennis Eckersley started his career in the major leagues with the Cleveland Indians in 1975 as a starter. Ecksersley pitched for Boston and won 20 games in 1978, 17 in 1979 and when he arrived in Oakland in 1987 he had visions of continuing his career as a starter.

However, that year after starting 2 games and relieving in 52, he saved 16. He would never start another game in his life with the Oakland Athletics. He retired after the 1998 season, saved a total of 390 games and was inducted with his number 43 to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2004.

In 1987 Tony LaRussa was on his second year as manager of the Oakland Athletics and his right hand, pitching coach Dave Duncan converted Eckersley to the closer position.

And such is the history of most relievers today, known as “closers”because they get the ball to pitch in the ninth inning exclusively,(in some rare occasions managers would bring their closers in the eighth inning for an out or two).

3-Jim Johnson started his career with the Baltimore Orioles in 2006 and would pitch for them until 2011 and in those six seasons saved a total of 20 games. In 2012 he saved 51 games for the Orioles and 52 the next season.

Today Jim Johnson is fighting for his job with the Oakland Athletics, who acquired him with the purpose of closing their games. Johnson has appeared in 22 games with the A’s this 2014 season, has saved 2 games, won 3 lost 2, all with a 6.55 earned run average.

The Oakland A’s are so deep in pitching that even losing two of their regular rotation starters, Jerrod Parker and A.J Griffin and basically “losing “their closer, a man that saved 101 games last two years, still have the best record in the American League as they opened on Tuesday a ten game in ten days road trip to New York, Baltimore and Anaheim. The majority of teams today, could not lose two of their five pitchers in a rotation(including the number one)and still survive and even be in first place.

In today’s baseball, and since a complete game from a starter is almost “Breaking News”, a closer is necessary to win and make it to the postseason. Obviously the Oakland Athletics still hope that Johnson can be the closer he was in Baltimore; at least the A’s have the luxury to “figure this out”while they are in first place, which makes this much easier.

If the A’s lost all hope for Johnson, management has not said it publicly; one third of the season just concluded, the A’s have time to figure this one out, since there are still over 100 games this season. Who knows, Johnson can still end the season with another 50 saves. Of course for him to do that he must get the ball in save situations.

Action speaks louder than words, and the A’s are not giving Johnson the opportunity of closing these days. If this continues, I expect Billy Beane to work a deal for Johnson before the July trade deadline. What else can the A’s do?

A friend told me: Why not try him as a starter? Yes, sure, and the Chicago Cubs will also win the World Series this year!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Vice President of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Brandon Moss Homer In Extras Sparks A’s 5-2 Victory Over Yankees

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NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 03: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakland Athletics hits a solo home run in the 10th inning as Brian McCann #34 of the New York Yankees defends on June 3, 2014 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 03: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakland Athletics hits a solo home run in the 10th inning as Brian McCann #34 of the New York Yankees defends on June 3, 2014 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

New York –

“That’s typical Oakland A’s baseball.”

This sentiment said by A’s reliever Sean Doolittle after the A’s defeated the Yankees 5-2 in 10 innings is something most Oakland fans are used too. The A’s always seem to find a way to squeeze out a win even in the most hostile of territories like Yankee Stadium. “The way the guys were swinging in the 10th inning, it was like they could smell the victory and found a way to get it done,” continues Doolittle. Brandon Moss belted his second homer of the game and Jed Lowrie and Kyle Blanks each earned a RBI in the top of the 10th to give the A’s the victory in extra innings.

Starting pitch Scott Kazmir went 6 1/3 and struck out 10 batters and only walked a pair of batters but didn’t last long enough to land the victory. Dan Otero (5-1) came in the ninth and only surrendered one hit and earned his fifth victory of the year. Sean Doolittle only needed 13 pitches to earn his sixth save of the year.

“I had been swinging the bat well tonight, so I knew they’d probably be careful, and it’s just one of those at-bats you’re battling, trying to get a good pitch to hit or get on base, and I ended up getting a hanging slider on a 3-2 count,” said Brandon Moss on hit night tonight. “Obviously any home run feels good, but in an extra-inning game, 2-2, it feels really good.”

After an hour long rain delay, the Yankees struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Mark Teixeira singled to right field and scored Brett Gardner who was already on second and made it 1-0 game. The A’s waited until the fifth inning to join in the scoring when Moss hit his first homer of the evening and tied the game at 1-1. The Yankees got the lead back in the sixth inning on a Teixeira  homer to left center field and made it a 2-1 game with three innings left.

Pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt hit a game tying double in the eighth off of Yankees pitcher Dellin Betances with two outs in the eighth inning to push the game into extra innings.

In the 10th, Moss hit his second homer of the night and Lowrie and Banks drove in runs to make it a 5-2 victory for the A’s.

The A’s and Yankees head back at it tomorrow when Jesse Chavez (4-3) goes up against Vidal Nuno (1-2), game time 4:05 PM PST.

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants;Comparisons of 74 A’s to 02 Moneyball team;If Giants Morse can get healthy he can be a big bopper

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by Michael Duca

Oakland A’s update: It’s pretty simple and straight forward that 40 years ago when the 1974 Oakland A’s won their third and final straight championship. Author Michael Lewis who wrote Moneyball would have been eight years old and it wouldn’t have been pretty much of a book to read if your comparing the 1974 A’s versus the 2002 team who won 20 straight games that season. You can’t write something until you get the idea and develop the idea.

I’m not sure it would have made a lot of sense for Lewis who spent a full year at the Coliseum and survived sitting with us over on the broadcasters side in the press box for a full season and still managed to write coherently about the subject. You can’t you do that about a team that played 25-27 years earlier. Your going to get unfortunately and it is human nature, the 1974 team is gonna feel like they were slighted. The 74 team held a reunion at the Colisuem last Saturday night.

That 74 team feels slighted because they didn’t get the credit that they desereved when things aren’t done the same way, that they didn’t get the credit that they deserved no matter what because there simply wasn’t the credit to be given then. Baseball was on TV on Saturday hence NBC’s Baseball game of the week. The local broadcast package was not something that the A’s had.

The 74 A’s never had a chance to get the recongnition that the teams do today, people who know baseball know that dynasty who won three straight World Series. The 74 A’s is as good a group of baseball players as anyone alive today has seen, because nobody alive today would remember those great Yankees teams from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Most of us didn’t see them and can’t because there’s no TV clips from those days.

SF Giants update: Michael Morse the Giants outfielder’s key is to stay healthy, he’s been interupted by nagging irritating injuries for large portions of his career and I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t know the reason for that any better than anyone else or he would have avoided them. It’s not that Morse is a reckless player.

Morse doesn’t do the head first slide that put the Rockies Nolan Arenado on the disabled list for six weeks, he plays the game the right way, he plays the game striaght up but manages to get hurt a lot. If Morse can stay healthy he could end up hitting 25-27 home runs, he can drive in over 100 runs. Morse can be a linchpin for the team.

It will be surprising if Morse can make the All-Star team simply because there’s that silly requirment that every team has to have a player on the team. Your going to wind up usually taking a good outfielder from a bad team and there’s usually three or four bad teams and that pretty much fills up your outfield bench. So guys who don’t get voted in, in the first three outfielders, you usually see a significant drop off in talent once you get past them.

Michael Duca covers the Giants and A’s for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Athletics Call-up for Vogt a Requirement, Reward

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By Matthew Harrington

When the Oakland Athletics broke camp in March, they did so leaving behind third-string catcher Stephen Vogt. The omission of Vogt came as no surprise. It was a difficult decision, and Vogt may well have been the last player left off the roster, but he feel victim to the numbers crunch. In the offseason, General manager Billy Beane acquired left-handed hitting John Jaso to compliment righty Derek Norris. Jaso, a prototypical Athletic if ever there was one, gets on base, works well inserted in and out of the line-up and provides some sock of the bench. His arrival rendered Vogt, a lefty himself, superfluous despite any goodwill the unlikely hero earned by hitting a walk-off single in game two of the ALDS against Detroit last season. No, not even Vogt’s strong Spring campaign capped by a .364 batting average and three long balls could earn a spot over a player like Daric Barton or Sam Fuld when March turned to April and the dozens of players in big league camp were whittled down to 25 Athletics.

Fast forward to June 1st and you’ll see the name of a baseball battler penciled into the sixth spot on Bob Melvin’s line-up card in what would be a 6-3 Oakland win. Vogt, a veteran of eight minor league seasons, went 0-for-4 for the green but despite a rocky 2014 debut, the 29-year-old backstop returns to the A’s with confidence.

Certainly, Vogt’s promotion from Triple A came out of necessity. AL West-leading Oakland opens a three-game set at Yankee Stadium with question marks surrounding the health of starting right fielder Josh Reddick (hyperextended right knee) and clean-up hitter Brandon Moss (strained right calf). Vogt’s presence allows Jaso to split time at designated hitter in Moss’ stead while not surrendering the platoon advantage against right-handers (of which Oakland will see in two-of-three games in the Bronx). Vogt, a veteran with over 50 games of experience at first, catcher and left field, also provides some depth in the outfield and first base while granting Derek Norris some relief behind the dish.

The call-up, as brief or as long as it can be, also serves as the carrot on a string, the reward for Vogt’s impressive start with the River Cats. At the time of his promotion, Vogt had an impressive .364/.412/.602 line (including a .413 average against right-handers) with Sacramento, building on his 2013 Pacific Coast League All-star campaign in which he hit .324 with 13 home runs. For a baseball lifer, a nomad who has toiled away in baseball outposts like Durham, Hudson Valley and Charlotte, a taste of the Show every now and then is enough to labor away on the long bus rides for months on end.

The A’s are expected to activate reliever Ryan Cook from the disabled list, possibly as early as Tuesday, meaning a corresponding roster move must be made. Depending on the long-term outlook for Reddick, Vogt could be optioned back down to Sacramento to make room for the reliever. If he’s a casualty once again of the numbers game, he’ll at least take with him a peace of mind that his performance won’t go unnoticed. If Vogt continues to hit Pacific League pitching, the Oakland brass will almost undoubtedly beckon him back to the bright lights of the Bigs before season’s end.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: In the Southland their raising the roof for the Kings in the finals

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by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

LOS ANGELES–It is hard to believe that the Los Angeles Kings won in that seventh game on Sunday night in Chicago. The San Jose Sharks who had the Kings on the ropes in round one and lost in four don’t want to hear that. I hate to say this because I live in the Bay Area although I work in L.A. but there is something to be said about this but it looks like the stars are aligned for the Kings.

The Kings might go all the way, they have won against all odds and they were on the verge of elimination by the Sharks and here they are and now their going to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings won last in 2012 for the Stanley Cup and they might win it again as they start game one here in L.A. on Wednesday night.

Everything is happening for the Kings, this is what makes sports fascinating, here’s a team that was on the precipice to being eliminated three weeks ago by the Sharks now their going to the big dance. So this might be another L.A.Kings year in 2014. The Kings have more lives than a cat they were almost killed off in each of the three rounds against the Sharks, Ducks, Blackhawks and lived to play in the finals.

Imagine that your on the Kings right now they feel like they can beat anybody right now, bring on the Russian team, bring on the Olympic team, they don’t care, but hopefully they don’t take it to the point of complacency. The Kings right now are the team that feels like if they show up and their going to win.

California Chrome ready for Belmont Preakness: The name California Chrome sounds like a old Chevy Impala and it’s such a great name and I’m not a horse aficionado but I read a lot about it. Now that they’re allowing CA Chrome to wear the breathing strip on the bridge of his nose he looks like he might be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 this Saturday.

There are 40 million people who will either be tuned in on radio or watching this race on Saturday, it will be a widely watched event one of the biggest horse races in recent history. With a name like California Chrome how can you go wrong with a name like that.

When I first heard about CA Chrome’s breathing device you couldn’t help but think do horses go to sleep with that on strip on like humans? I never heard of such a thing but this is the ultimate betting sport and a lot of people’s money is riding on Saturday’s Belmont race and are betting on CA Chrome to win.

By the way I met the jockey for CA Chrome his name is Victor Espinoza and he threw out the first ball at Angels Stadium in Anaheim about a couple weeks ago right after he won the second race. Espinoza is a little guy who is going to be inducted into the Horse Jockey Hall of Fame.

So CA Chrome has a great jockey and a great horse and he has a good chance to win it and it looks like he’s the favorite and should win it barring any surprises for the Triple Crown for California Chrome.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish TV voice for Angels baseball and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s look like MLB’s best in sweep of Angels

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By Morris Phillips

The A’s could have been full of themselves after sweeping the Angels and increasing their lead in the AL West to 4 ½ games, but instead, they chilled.
And quietly got ready for their road trip back east to see the Yankees and the Orioles.

“We’re best about just individualizing the day, not worried about what happened the day before and give our total effort on a particular day. That’s more our philosophy,” manager Bob Melvin said when asked about the similar subjects of having, gaining or riding momentum.

But while the team with the best record in baseball since Opening Day 2012, and the best record in the American League this season goes about its business, their accomplishments speak for themselves. The A’s have their best season start since 1991 (35-22) after sweeping a MLB-best sixth opponent this season. And the Angels weren’t struggling upon entering the O.co Coliseum on Friday: Anaheim had won 14 of 20 coming in.

Statistically, the A’s couldn’t possibly be more imposing having scored the most runs in baseball (290, better than five runs a game) while its pitching staff has posted a big-league low 2.93 ERA.

And career-long nemesis Jered Weaver stepped to the mound on Sunday with an 8-1 record and 0.87 ERA in his last 11 starts against Oakland, but after cruising through the first two frames, got hit hard in the third. Weaver would surrender 11 hits, six runs while only striking out two in an outing where he saw a lot of prepared, capable hitters in white uniforms.

The A’s as self-assured, front-runners? Yeah, get used to it.

“Obviously, we wish we could’ve played a little bit better,” Weaver said. “As a pitching staff, we know we’re a lot better than what we showed this weekend. Next time we see these guys, I’m pretty sure they’re going to see a different team.”

“We beat them in different fashions,” Melvin recounted. “The first time we swung it pretty good, and then we come back the next night and really added on runs, where at times we have trouble with that. Today was just kind of a clean, well-played baseball game.”

Sonny Gray was a big part of the A’s elite look on Sunday. The gem of the current Oakland rotation wasn’t great, but he was plenty competitive, riding the early 4-0 lead afforded him, then limiting damage before disaster could strike in the fifth. After that, Gray got the A’s into the seventh where the best of a good Oakland bullpen handled the rest.

“Even when you get guys on base and you score some runs, he always finds a way to limit the damage,” Melvin explained when quizzed about Gray. “He never really gives up that big inning.”

Offensively, Josh Donaldson led the way with healthy swing of support from Jed Lowrie. Donaldson had a two-run single in the third, and Lowrie added a RBI single later in the third, and then he hit a solo shot off of Weaver in the fifth to put the A’s up 5-2.

The A’s open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday where Scott Kazmir will face New York’s Hiroki Kuroda.

A’s power past the Angels behind Cespedes’ arm and bat

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By Morris Phillips

Offensively and especially defensively, Yoenis Cespedes put his imprint on the A’s 11-3 rout of the Angels.

Hitting fourth in place of the injured Brandon Moss, Cespedes doubled, tripled and hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning. The Cuban slugger also threw out two base runners at home plate in the second inning. With each great play, the sellout crowd at the O.co Coliseum roared its approval of Cespedes.

“No doubt about it. He just becomes a different player,” manager Bob Melvin said of the effect of the home crowd’s cheering on Cespedes.

With each great play, the A’s reversed the tide of the Angels 3-0 lead that came on Collin Cowgill’s three-run homer in the fourth inning. The A’s would go on to score 11 unanswered runs—one in the fourth, six in the seventh, and four more in the eighth to bury the Angels.

With a pair of wins to open the important series with the Angels, the A’s increased their lead to 3 ½ games in the AL West.

Tommy Milone made the start for the A’s and avoided disaster in the first inning by pitching out of a bases-loaded situation and keeping the game scoreless. But after allowing the home run to Tyler Skaggs in the fourth, Milone wasn’t around long enough to qualify for a win. Reliever Fernando Rodriguez pitched a scoreless seventh inning and picked up the win.

At 34-22 the A’s maintain the best record in the American League over the Central-leading Tigers and the East-leading Blue Jays.

Cespedes recorded a career-tying five RBIs in the win, but didn’t get a chance to bat for the cycle after homering in the eighth. His two outfield-assisted putouts at home in the same inning marked the first time the feat had been accomplished since 2011 when Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo did it.

The A’s look for the sweep on Sunday when Sonny Gray takes the mound for Oakland, and Jered Weaver pitches for the Angels.

Moss and Donaldson Knock The Halo Off The Angels, A’s Win 9-5

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OAKLAND, CA - MAY 30: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakand Athletics is congratulated by Coco Crisp #4 and Josh Donaldson #20 after Moss hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at O.co Coliseum on May 30, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA – MAY 30: Brandon Moss #37 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by Coco Crisp #4 and Josh Donaldson #20 after Moss hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at O.co Coliseum on May 30, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – Brandon Moss hit his first grand slam of his career and Josh Donaldson launched two deep home runs in the first game of this critical home series against the Angels (30-24) and propelled the A’s (33-22) to a 9-5 victory. The A’s ran through the entire lineup in the bottom of the first inning and scored five runs to knock out Angels starter Garret Richards in only 2/3 of an inning pitched. Donaldson went 3 for 4 with four RBI and Moss went  1 for 2 with four RBI to contribute a majority of the Athletics offense tonight. On the mound, Drew Pomeranz (5-2) went 5 1/3 innings and struck out five for his fifth win of the year.

“We had good energy right out of the gate,” said Athletics head coach Bob Melvin. “It didn’t feel like it was going to be one of those nights where you’d see too many balls leave the ballpark but there were strong guys. It doesn’t surprise me when they hit homers (Donaldson, Moss).”

Tonight was Donaldson’s second ever multi-homer game of his career and Melvin said, “He’s playing really well right now, across the board. He has great focus. He knows how he’s going to get pitched and his defense comes with him.”

Moss, who ended up leaving the game early because of calf stiffness spoke on his first grand slam and said, “I’ve never come close to one. I came close-ish once last year when I flied out to the wall. It was on my mind, not that I was trying to hit one. I just thought it would be cool to do it. And it felt good, for sure.”

Putting up five runs in the first made the entire O.Co Coliseum crowd feel good especially when going up against a team like the Angels.

The A’s added to their lead in the second and third inning when Donaldson hit his first of two homers in the game to right field over the out of town scoreboard. In the third, Donaldson received his second RBI of the night when he singled home Crisp and gave the A’s a 7-0 lead after three.

The Angels won the fourth inning when Mike Trout hit his eleventh homer of the year and Howie Kendrick hit his third of the year and gave the Angels three run and brought the lead to only four runs.

However in the bottom of the fifth, Donaldson launched a line drive home run to center field off of a two seam fastball that catapulted the A’s to 9 runs to the Angels 3.

The Angels C.J. Cron doubled in a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth but then the A’s relief squad of Otero, Gregerson and Dolittle came in for 3 2/3 scoreless innings and gave the A’s their 33rd win of the year.

The Angels send Tyler Skaggs (4-2, 3.97 ERA) to the mound against Tommy Milone (3-3, 3.50) who is 3-0 and has an ERA a little over one in his last four starts.

 

Michael Duca on the A’s and Giants: Donaldson is turning out to be the A’s gamer;The Giants Panda is back with improved average

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by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–I was right down on the field when Josh Donaldson hit his walk off homerun on Wednesday night at the Coliseum in the A’s 3-1 win and I had mentioned to somebody standing next to me that the bottom of the ninth was not going to be quick and easy just because the Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez had thrown a lot of pitches. Sanchez had 104 and the A’s Coco Crisp worked the count on Sanchez for awhile and hit a ball down the third base line for a double.

Tigers Manager Brad Ausmus came out and replaced Sanchez with relief pitcher Joe Nathan whose scuffled this year, he brought an ERA of 4.58 into the game and if your closer has an ERA like that you’ve given up a lot of runs. There was a long at bat by the A’s John Jaso that resulted in an opposite field ball that hit off Tigers third baseman Nick Castellanos’ glove to put runners on first and third.

With one out the Tigers were looking for the double play and Nathan tried to sneak a first pitch sinker in that didn’t sink and Donaldson went yard with it. The most excited guy was A’s pitcher Scott Kazmir who was in danger with a terrible loss at 1-0 after pitching a brilliant game out there.

Sanchez painted the strike zone beautifully, his fastball was clocked at 94-95 but he was moving it in and out, he was able to back off just a little bit and then he threw it at 91-92, he was not finding the strike zone and Sanchez is not a really tall pitcher and plate umpire was Jerry Meals who is about 5’6 and that by defintition is when your sight changes, his visual has his eyes starting lower so the strike zone is going to be a little bit lower.

SF Giants update: Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum who pitched five innings of no hit ball against the Cubs on Tuesday afternoon at AT&T was lifted he could have pitched maybe one more inning and he had 94 pitches, with 32 pitches in the first inning, and in that inning he had absolutely no command of the first inning and Timmy had no idea where the ball was going.

Despite the result SF won it 5-0 and Lincecum was able to fight and figure out ways to win games when doesn’t bring his best stuff out to the mound with him. The fact of the matter he still is mechanically out of whack. He’s not leaning forward into the pitches. He’s not pushing his upper body forward into the target.

If Lincecum can find a way to quickly correct that things will go well because he’s clearly becoming more and more of a pitcher and less and less of a thrower. However you have to be concerned about back to back outings like he’s had and he’s throwing a ton of pitches and this is a guy whose walked three hitters in his first three starts this year. Now Lincecum has 35 walks, the Giants have to be worried about that he averaging more and he’s walked 11 batters in nine innings his last two outtings.

As far as Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval is concerned the Panda is back, there’s just no two ways about it, the Panda is back, that guy who was occupying his uniform for the first month of the season and hitting .166 and working counts and looking like he was struggling on every swing, has been replaced by the original article.

Sandoval is aggressively swinging at anything that is within the same time zone as home plate, you can’t be a good bad ball hitter and all of sudden be a good select ball hitter. There were a lot of people happy to see that Sandoval worked 13 walks in the first month and half of the season. Sandoval is now hitting .246 an improvement since April.

Michael Duca does commentary each week on the A’s and Giants for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kazmir, Athletics Walk Off to Complete Game Win

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By Matthew Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. — The narrative surrounding the Oakland Athletics over the past three season states that the green and gold achieve with a line-up devoid of super stars but rife with supporting cast members. Josh Donaldson tossed that notion out the window with one swing of the bat Wednesday night, crushing a three-run walk-off home run off closer Joe Nathan to give the A’s (32-21) a 3-1 decision over the American League Central leading Detroit Tigers at O.Co Coliseum.

“For the fans that was a fun game to watch,” said A’s starter Scott Kazmir. “Throughout the game it seemed like (Detroit Tigers Starter) Anibal Sanchez and I were battling it out. We ended up getting a couple base runners in the ninth and you just kind of had that feeling when Josh came up. He swung at the first pitch and didn’t miss it. That was awesome.”

Kazmir pitched a complete game but watched the bottom of the ninth on the hook for a loss after allowing a solo blast to Torii Hunter with two outs in the fourth for the only Detroit run. Donaldson picked his starter up, launching his 13th four-bagger to extend his streak of reaching base to 43 games when penciled on the line-up card at third base.

The pitchers’ duel expected Tuesday night in the much ballyhooed showdown between ace Sonny Gray and 2013 AL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer never materialized, instead morphing into a battle of the bullpens in a 6-5 home team loss. The true display of pitching prowess came Wednesday night, with Kazmir (6-2, 2.36 ERA) and Detroit’s Sanchez allowing a combined eight hits.

“You always want to give your starting pitcher support,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “Sanchez was unbelievable tonight. He pitched backwards. Fastballs in breaking ball counts, a lot of change-ups in counts where you’d expect fastballs. It took us a while to score some runs at the end but we kept grinding.”

Sanchez dazzled the Oakland hitters, scattering three hits over 8 1/3 innings, striking out nine while only walking one. He appeared en route to his ninth career complete game, but a one out double in the ninth by Coco Crisp knocked him out of the game after 111 pitches. First-year Detroit manager Brad Ausmus tabbed Nathan to close out the contest and nail down his 13th save of the season.

“I don’t think anybody thought we were going to come up short,” said Melvin. “Once Coco got on I think we had a really good feeling we were going to win the game. That’s what this team has been great at here in the last couple years. Until that last out is recorded, we always feel optimistic that we have a win.”

John Jaso continued the rally, flipping a 2-2 Nathan delivery over the third baseman Nick Castellanos’ outstretched glove for a single, setting up base runners on first-and-third with one away for Donaldson, the fourth place finisher in the 2013 AL MVP voting.

“In that situation, they’re looking for a double play,” said Donaldson. “I was just trying to hit something in the air and get one run.”

Donaldson wasted little time against Nathan(2-1, 4.58), crushing the first-pitch offering from the four-time All-star deep to left field to hand the righty his fourth blown save of the year. The A’s third basemen stood at home plate watching as his blast sailed dangerously close to the foul pole.

“I was just trying to watch it to see if it stayed fair,” said Donaldson. “If it went foul, I didn’t want to waste my energy running.”

The ball indeed landed fair for Donaldson’s second career walk-off home run, the first also coming against Detroit last April. While the homer, Donaldson’s 13th of the campaign, marked a huge highlight in the young slugger’s career he remained humbled about its significance.

“It’s just one of those things,” said Donaldson sheepishly. “I just go out there and play to win.”

The homer, which no doubt will play repeatedly on sports highlight shows until the next news cycle tomorrow, boosts Donaldson’s candidacy for a 2014 All-Star game starting spot. He currently sits in first place amongst third basemen in the fan vote, and could be the A’s first position player to appear in a Mid-Summer Classic in 11 seasons.

Donaldson entered play Wednesday second in the AL in runs scored (42), tied for second in go-ahead RBIs (38) and fifth in home runs (12). He’s also ranks in the top ten in slugging percentage, walks, RBIs and extra base hits. Those numbers are reminiscent of former A’s basher Jason Giambi, green and gold member elected by the fans to the All-star squad back in 2000.

No stranger to the All-star game, Torii Hunter made his presence felt earlier in the game. The right fielder crushed Kazmir’s only mistake, a full count pitch to deep right center field for his second home run in as many nights. The 38-year-old Hunter now owns eight long balls on the season along with 29 runs batted in for the Motor City Kitties. Kazmir finished the night with eight strikeouts and no walks for his first complete game since 2006.

“We’ve seen him pitch pretty similar to this a few times,” said Melvin. “He’s been consistent for us. It probably rates up there with some of his games. But when you’re pitching against a guy that’s throwing the ball that well, you’re not scoring very many runs. You have to be perfect. He was close to that.

Melvin would like to receive another near perfect performance when he sends Jesse Chavez to the mound to stymy the AL’s best offensive team in the matinee finale of the four-game set Thursday afternoon. Detroit (29-20) sends Rick Porcello, owner of seven wins in 2014, to the hill seeking a series split after losing the first and third games in Oakland.