Oakland Athletics – Page 362 – Sports Radio Service

Michael Duca on A’s and Giants: Kazmir worth every dime of his $22M deal;Bochy tells Panda agent to take a hike

Published on April 24, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michael Duca

SAN FRANCISCO–Right now the word weakly means the Giants offense right now despite dropping a 12 spot on the Rockies on Wednesday it’s pretty clear it’s their still scuffling to put some runs together and it looks like Hunter Pence is starting to come out of it but maybe Pablo Sandoval will decide that’s it’s a better idea to just forget about everything and go hitting and not worry about contracts.

As of this morning a new issue came up Angel Pagan in his diognostic research on his knee we all saw it last year what it’s like not to have him in the line up maybe he got a little soreness that he can heal up and clean up. Also this one is concerning pitchers, if a pitcher has Tommy John surgery in the first place you have a mechanical problem, if you have a second Tommy John surgery you have a coachability problem.

You didn’t learn a thing from the first one, you went out and did things the same way and despite the fact their able to wrap the tendons, put titanian screws and their stronger than an original tendon was, it’s still possible to destroy it if you don’t go out and use proper bio mechanics in pitching.

It is beyond me how Major League teams can invest in a quarter of a billion dollars in a pitching staff but their unwilling to spend $100,000 a year on someone with a masters or a PhD in bio mechanics to be on staff to make sure that investment actually pays off.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy says he doesn’t want to have anything to do with Giants thrid baseman Pablo Sandoval’s agent, Sandoval changed agents last season and the agent has been fairly pushy in terms of trying to get the Giants to take a look at the new reality and understand what Pablo is probably going to be worth in the open market if he goes out there.

He was asking for five years for $90 million total, at $18 million a year average, honestly in this current market place considering that gives you fiscal certainty for a five year period forward. The only thing that you have to decide before you agree to a deal does Pablo have the discipline to maintain the weight and conditioning that he put himself through this year?

A’s pitcher Scott Kazmir getting $22 million is going to be a bargain, the world changed about a year and half ago, when this latest round of TV contracts came in and teams started reeiving upwards of $35 million a year and the national contract will grow to $60 million a year over the course of the contact. You add in things like the Dodgers with their local contract signed for $3 billion over a 25 year period.

These are just ludcrious numbers,now paying $11 millon a year for a pitcher who can go out and give you 30 starts is nothing. Thats a bargain rate your going to see very soon people signing contracts in the range of $200 million over their lifetime for maybe five or six seasons, it’s not far away.

Michael Duca does commentary on A’s and Giants each week for Sportstalk radio

Rangers Sweep A’s Out Of First Place, Steal AL’s Best Record on Perez’s Complete-Game Shutout

Published on April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew Harrington

For the first time in the 2014 season, the Oakland Athletics failed to pick up a single win in a series, dropping the Wednesday matinee finale 3-0 to suffer a sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers at O.Co Coliseum. Southpaw Martin Perez (4-0, 1.42 ERA) out-dueled A’s ace Sonny Gray, taming the potent Oakland offense in a complete game, three-hit shutout. The win improbably propels the Rangers (14-8), battered with injuries to key personnel at nearly every spot on the diamond, over the A’s to the best record in the American League and first place in the division.

The A’s (13-8) only had one batter advance past first base all afternoon. Josh Donaldson doubled on a line drive to Michael Choice in left field with one down in the bottom of the seventh but the A’s failed to convert on the opportunity with a man in scoring position. Perez followed up Oakland’s other two base-hits, singles by Jed Lowrie and catcher Derek Norris, by inducing the next batter to bounce into a double-play each time. Lowrie, Donaldson and Norris were the only A’s base runners all afternoon, as Donaldson and Norris also drew the only two walks for the green and gold.

A couple of players with ties to the A’s, including former prospect Michael Choice and one-time utility infielder Donnie Murphy, collected run-scoring base hits to lead the visitors over the A’s for Oakland’s first loss by more than two runs this season.

Texas touched Gray (3-1, 2.25 ERA) up for a run in the first inning after the A’s starter gave up a walk to ex-Athletics farmhand Michael Choice. Gray bounced back to strike out Elvis Andrus, finishing off the shortstop looking on a masterful 80 mph curveball. Gray didn’t fare as well against Alex Rios who ripped an 0-1 fastball to left field for an RBI triple and a 1-0. The Rangers scored in the first inning in all three games of the series.

With Rios 90 feet from home and only one out, the Rangers appeared on the verge of a big inning. The clean-up hitter Prince Fielder appeared to expand the visiting team advantage after grounding a Gray offering to shortstop Jed Lowrie. Lowrie made the heads up play to try to cut an advancing Rios down at home plate, but home plate umpire Larry Vanover signaled Rios safe on the tag play. After A’s manager Bob Melvin challenged the play, the call on the field was overturned and the second run of the game became the second out instead.

The Rangers tagged Gray with another run after Leonys Martin singled to open the fifth then came around on Choice’s one-out single to center fielder Craig Gentry. Choice, Oakland’s no. 3 prospect in 2013 according to Baseball America, came over in the December trade that brought Gentry and Josh Lindblom to Alameda County. The A’s also shipped infielder Chris Bostick, the only player in the deal without Major League experience this year, to the Lone Star state.

One inning later Donnie Murphy wrapped up the scoring, launching a 3-1 fastball over the wall in left for a 3-0 Rangers lead. Gray fed Murphy a steady diet of fastballs in the at-bat, throwing five-straight heaters to the Rangers second sacker.

Gray pitched another scoreless inning but his offense couldn’t pick him up in the end. He headed to the showers down 3-0 on five hits and three earned runs. Gray struck out eight and walked four. Drew Pomeranz and Jim Johnson finished up the loss with a scoreless inning a piece.

Oakland hits the road for the next 10 games, heading to both American League outposts in Texas before a trip to Boston to face the defending World Series Champion Red Sox. The A’s open the road trip with a quartet against the Houston Astros, a team the A’s swept before seeing roles reversed against the Rangers. Scott Kazmir will take the mound for the second consecutive game against the ‘Stros. The veteran hurler pitched eight innings and surrendered three runs, two earned, but picked up the no decision on April 19^th. Just like in that Saturday Showdown, he’ll be opposed by winless lefty Brett Oberholtzer. Oberholtzer gave up a lone run in five and two-third innings of work against the A’s.

The Feitelberg report: Wolf and the A’s say no to ten year lease; let’s face it Mission Bay for W’s just doesn’t have it

Published on April 23, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolf and the A’s have rejected the City of Oakland’s offer to stay at the Coliseum for the next ten years and have rejected the lease. Wolf reportedly will go for a three year lease at a time during which time the A’s will try and secure a stadium which will be either in San Jose or another location in the Bay Area.

Wolf is not going to sign up for ten years with the City of Oakland for the Coliseum, the A’s claim the Colisuem does not meet the standards of what a Major League Stadium should be all about, with the backed up sewage, the poor drainage system, the poor drainage on the field when it rains at the park. It’s a matter now of where are the A’s going to play?

The Giants will not reliquish territorial rights for San Jose and that’s going to be a big fight if the A’s ever decide to go down there. What’s going to happen with the A’s? Were not sure yet but they hope to work something out in Oakland. The only way the A’s will stay in Oakland is if Mayor Jean Quan has some financing from an outside group to develop what is known as the Coliseum Complex.

The City has not been talking aobut it too much so we don’t know what is going to aspire from that front, in addition the Warriors who have announced that they’ll be vacating the Coliseum Arena and hope to open up a new stadium in San Francisco in 2018. Warriors owner Joe Lacob has every right to take the team and play it wherever he wants.

The unfortunate part is Oracle Arena where the Warriors play now has been such a spectacular home for the Warriors and the noise level at the game and loyalty of the fans in that location has been spectacular. But teams who have been bad like the Warriors had been for deacades for so many years that don’t sell out and yet the Warriors have shown they can provide entertainment and sell out their games.

Lacob in coimng to San Francisco and feels there’s more corporate money but there are a lot of his critics that are not sold on the location at Mission Bay. The Muni T line does come to that location, they may have to add additional lines for people who come from BART from the Embarcadero like they do with AT&T. Muni intends to run a subway shuttle direct from Powell Street to the Mission Bay Arena in 2019 but it may still may not be enough.

The other side of the problem is the fact that it’s going to be at Mission Bay and their not really close to shops and restaurants as the Giants and the parking maybe a problem if the Giants and the Warriors have an overlap for home games on the same day. That may cost the Giants and Warriors a tremendous amount of traffic, however as we said before Lacob is entitleted to move his team wherever he wants.

Jerry Feitelberg is a talk show host on http://www.sportsradioservice.com

What is the Oakland-Alameda County Authority thinking?

Published on April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

By Charlie O. Mallonee

With Warriors buying a plot of land in San Francisco and the Raiders having moving boxes ready for Los Angeles, you would think the Oakland-Alameda County Authority would be falling all over themselves trying to keep the A’s at the Coliseum for the next five to 10 years. Well if you thought that, you would be wrong.

The Oakland Athletics have expressed a desire for a five-year lease with a five-year option to stay in the O.co Coliseum while they figure out what to do for a new facility. The A’s want some work to be done on the 46-year old building, but they are talking about staying put in Oakland for up to 10 years.

The Oakland-Alameda County Authority has responded by reportedly demanding the A’s guarantee to build a new stadium in Oakland before extending the lease. Are you kidding me? Really? You are on the brink of losing three professional franchises within the next two to three years and you are making those types of demands? Frankly, it makes no sense.

There comes a time when a government entity must “double down” to gain leverage in a negotiation. This is not one of those times. Oakland-Alameda County has ideas but no funding to make those dreams a reality. They need to be in triage mode in order to stop the bleeding before everyone has left town.

Yes, the A’s have been clear they would like to move to San Jose, but it is also clear that Major League Baseball and the San Francisco Giants are not about to let that happen anytime soon. In the meantime, the Athletics need somewhere to play and the Coliseum is in need of tenants. What is the problem?

Signing a five-year lease with an option would buy Oakland-Alameda County some much needed time. Time that will be needed to come up with plan to transform the current Coliseum site into a show place of major sports activity. Time to put together a financing plan and time to get the project built. It is a golden opportunity that has a very narrow time-frame to pull off a coup d’état of major proportion.

Oakland has the land, the mass transit in place and the freeway access that makes it a perfect place to build a world class facility. Envision an upscale shopping, dinning, housing and entertainment complex with great views of the Bay. Such a facility could transform the area.

The first step for any such project is to do whatever is necessary to keep the A’s and the Raiders in Oakland while a plan is put in place that will make all parties happy. The Oakland-Alameda County Authority can come out of this ordeal as a big winner but only if they stop acting silly and get down to business – negotiating in earnest.

A’s Surrender Two Runs In Top Of The Ninth, Lose 5-4

Published on April 22, 2014 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND –

The Oakland Athletics (13-7) gave up two runs in the top of the ninth and handed the Texas Rangers (13-8) a 5-4 win. Luke Gregerson (0-1) came into the top of the ninth with a one run lead but then gave up two doubles and a single to the Rangers and sealed them their second win of this series. With the loss, the A’s are the last team to lose back-to-back games as they lost to the Rangers last night 4-3. For the A’s, Josh Reddick continued his hot streak as he went 2 for 3 and a run. Only Eric Sogard and Brandon Moss were held hit less tonight but Sogard grabbed an RBI as he hit a sacrifice fly into center field and scored Reddick in the fourth.

On Gregerson giving up the run in the ninth, Bob Melvin said, “He wasn’t getting his slider to the other side of the plate. It was kind of hanging out there.”

The A’s didn’t exactly start off well as Tommy Milone who started the game, threw over 20 pitches in the first and loaded the bases after facing five hitters. Donnie Murphy, who was that fifth hitter came up with the bases loaded and hit a slow roller to third that Donaldson was able to grab but it was hit so slow that he had no play at first to get an out so the Rangers took a 1-0 lead. Robinson Chirinos was up next and on five pitches he was walked and scored Elvis Andrus who was on third and gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead after half an inning of play.

The A’s didn’t take long to answer back as in the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie smacked a double off the right center field wall and was then driven in by Josh Donaldson who hit a single to center field. After a Moss ground out, Yoenis Cespedes his the second double of the inning and drove in Donaldson to tie that game at two a piece.

The Rangers grabbed their third run of the game after back-to-back singles to Alex Rios and Prince Fielder, former Oakland Athletic Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a grounder to third which started a double play but still got Alex Rios to score from third and gave Texas a 3-2 lead.

The A’s took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth after an error on Rangers third baseman Josh Wilson landed Reddick at second and moved John Jaso to third who had singled earlier in the inning. Eric Sogard came up and launch a deep fly out to center field and scored Jaso to tie the game at three. Coco Crisp was the next batter and took Ranger pitcher Nick Martinez to center field on a line shot for his first double of the year and scored Reddick and made it a 4-3 Oakland lead.

Both teams smacked hits over the next few innings until the top of the ninth when the Rangers regained their lead and sealed the victory.

Luke Gregerson came in relief for Abad who finished off the eighth in relief for Ryan Cook.

Gregerson gave up a double to Mitch Moreland to start the inning. Chirinos gave up a sac bunt to move Moreland over to third and then Martin came up and laid down a bunt to Gregerson who threw the ball to home and got Moreland trying to score from third for the second out of the inning. Josh Wilson came up and hit a deep double off the wall and scored Martin to tie the game at four. Then on their very next batter, the Rangers Michael Choice hit a single into center field and gave the Rangers a 5-4 victory.

“This teams been real resilient. You get over a game like this tonight and come back tomorrow,” said Melvin.

The Rangers and A’s head back at it tomorrow afternoon when the A’s young star Sonny Gray (3-0) goes up against Rangers star pitcher Martin Perez (3-0).

A’s win again with role players playing their roles perfectly

Published on April 21, 2014April 21, 2014 by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

After another win over the Astros and the sweep of the weekend series, you have to be wondering: why are the A’s so good?

A lot of reasons for sure, but how about this: the A’s have had incredible success plugging guys—often complete neophytes—into roles and having them fit near perfectly. The stars of Oakland’s 4-1 win on Sunday provides examples of the A’s run of success of getting production from unlikely sources.

Starting pitcher Jesse Chavez picked up the win, going six innings without his best stuff. But the journeyman reliever turned starter—even at the advanced age of 30—is evolving. Chavez has added a cutter and changeup to repertoire which was apparent to the A’s when they acquired him in August 2012 on the heels of Bartolo Colon’s 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. The A’s felt that Chavez could make the transition from reliever to starter, based on his major-league quality arm and variety of pitches, skills that hadn’t translated to major-league success in his parts of six seasons of big league experience.

So what did the A’s see from the reliever who had a 5.72 ERA in 152 appearances when they acquired him in 2012? For one, a guy who was hungry, motivated enough to add pitches to his repertoire and already in possession of a fastball consistently above 90mph. With the addition of the cutter and the changeup, Chavez had enough of arsenal to start, so the A’s placed him in that role at Sacramento. Now, nearly two seasons since his acquisition, Chavez in the A’s rotation in place of injured starters Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin.

So what does he do with the opportunity as a caretaker until bigger names and better arms regain health? Chavez allows one earned run in each of his first four starts to become the first A’s pitcher in franchise history to go at least six innings in each of his four starts and allow one earned run or less. And Chavez didn’t even have his best stuff on Sunday in lowering his ERA to 1.38, the best on the staff.

“The only thing I had pretty much working today was my changeup,” Chavez said. “That was a good pitch that I needed.”

“That’s really the mark of a good pitcher, when you don’t have your best stuff,” manager Bob Melvin said of Chavez. “He’s been focused and ready for that opportunity and continues to run with it.”

Luke Gregerson was part of some pretty good bullpens in San Diego where he made 373 relief appearances in five seasons. But the sinker ball specialist has never been a full-time closer, compiling 132 holds and just 16 saves as the Padres’ setup man. But when Jim Johnson struggled to start the season, Melvin tabbed Gregerson to be one of his closers by committee.

Now—three saves later—Gregerson looks like they guy even if he doesn’t ultimately assume the role. When Johnson faltered, it could have turned into a major problem for the A’s, but they’ve turned the dilemma into a plus by reaching for a quality arm in their deep and talented bullpen. The fact that the former Padre is well-compensated for his services–making better than $5 million this season in the final year of his contract—takes much of the pressure of Melvin, who can use the reliever in either role. Either way, Gregerson’s established and doesn’t have to worry that his value might diminish if he isn’t overwhelmingly successful in the new role.

Gregerson needed just nine pitches to record three outs in the ninth, lowering his ERA to 1.69.

Sunday’s offensive hero was Josh Donaldson who smashed a two-run homer in the first and later added a pair of doubles. The former catcher who was acquired from the Cubs in 2008 in the Rich Harden trade made his first major league appearances in 2010 as a catcher entrusted to spell Kurt Suzuki. But that role didn’t allow Donaldson to stick with Oakland, and he wasn’t again seen on the big league level until 2012 when the A’s needed a stop gap to replace injured Scott Sizemore at third base.

Needless to say, Donaldson has established himself at third base, working hard on his defense while smashing 24 home runs and knocking in 93 runs in his breakout 2013. But what’s really remarkable about Donaldson is that he has established himself as a middle-of-the-order presence by cutting down on his strikeouts, and learning how to consistently hit deep in pitch counts.

Where would the A’s be without the slugger from Alabama? In a much darker place for sure. Seth Smith never established himself as an everyday player and was traded in the offseason. Yoenis Cepedes has played spectacularly at points, but his inconsistent bat explains why doesn’t regularly hit fourth or fifth. And Josh Reddick, Brandon Moss aren’t nearly high enough for average hitters to qualify for a role in the middle of the order either.

But Donaldson has taken to the role perfectly, hitting for a high average and providing pop. This from a guy who didn’t get a look at the big-league level in 2011 and changed positions for the benefit of the A’s more so than for himself. Now Donaldson is giving the A’s exactly what they need when the cost of acquiring a middle-of-the-lineup presence is prohibitive.

And Donaldson’s salary? In 2014, the former catcher is big bargain, earning just $500,000.

On Monday, the A’s take on the Rangers at the Coliseum with Texas ace Yu Darvish facing Dan Straily.

Michael Duca on the Giants and A’s: SF might need to do gut check on back up Sanchez; A’s Donaldson getting his swing back

Published on April 20, 2014April 20, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michael Duca

If you talk to San Frnacisco Giants TV analyst Mike Krukow about the Giants offense he wouldn’t complain about it but his broadcast partner Duane Kuiper complained about the offense about guys who need to do some timely situational hitting which is a real issue for the Giants. Krukow started a little bit of a firestorm on Friday night when he said during the telecast that Giants catcher Hector Sanchez is not a Major League quality catcher and there will be repercussions coming down for that remark.

Krukow may actually be correct and it’s a serious issue for the Giants, the club needs a second catcher for those two days a week when they want to get Buster Posey out of the line up for a rest. Back up catchers are not considered to be offensive personalities but you really want them to defend. The pass ball that wound up costing Giants starter on Friday Matt Cain his first run on Friday night was just an utterly sloppy effort by Sanchez.

There was no two ways about it, its the same guy who won a game for them earlier on the homestand with a 12th inning single gave that game back in the standings on Friday night. The Giants faced a decent pitcher in Padres starter Tyson Ross who pitched four innings surrendered eight hits and no runs. Ross always had great potential he was a great pitcher at Cal and was a solid pitcher in San Francisco but he just never found a spot to break into on the Giants rotation.

Ross was pitching well in San Francisco and it looked like he got a spot to slide into in the rotation when he injured himself on the first batter and went out for three weeks and when he got back he never got that opportunity back. He’s always had the potential He’s a big tall pitcher and had trouble harnessing the mechanics, had trouble harnessing the leverage of his body and it could take him longer to mature to quote “get it” and now it looks like Tyson got it.

Oakland A’s update: When you get four walks from the opposing pitcher in the opening inning which happened when the A’s faced Houston Astros starter Jason Cosart in the opening game of this series Friday who pitched one third of an inning and surrendered seven runs and three hits and they managed to get four walks from Cosart and the A’s managed to match all of them with home runs this is an opportunistic offense who makes the job of the pitcher much easier. Go ask A’s pitcher Sonny Grey how easy it was for him to throw the last five innings with a seven or eight run lead.

We saw this on the last homestand in San Francisco when Tim Hudson was throwing 62 percent strikes to start a game and when they expanded the lead for him from 2-1 to 5-1 he started suddenly throwing 75 percent strikes he went out and started challenging the strike zone and saying “I hit it I got seven guys behind me a and one in front of me who will catch it.”

That’s what pitchers have to do, that’s what pitchers don’t seem to be able to do with the lead until they become very mature is to understand you don’t need to pitch for strikeouts and stats anymore with a four or five run lead and you pitch to make them contact the ball and make them hit the ball at people.

It was Josh Donaldson bobblehead day at the Coliseum on Saturday and you have to admit that his head is the only thing that bobbles. Donaldson has a .247 average, three home runs and ten RBIs and he owns the tarp, nobody defends as well as he does in the Coliseum. He scuffled a little bit to begin the season. He was struggling at the plate. It’s happens guys who are on fire in Arizona and all of sudden cool off and then it’s vice versa guys who couldn’t buy a base hit to save their life in the desert come up to the regular season and start hitting, it’s always interesting to watch.

Michael Duca does commentary on Giants and A’s weekly for Sportstalk radio

A’s big ninth inning rally sinks the Astros

Published on April 19, 2014April 19, 2014 by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

The A’s are back at it: winning close games, and beating familiar opponents.

The Astros know the drill all too well, allowing four hits and three runs in the ninth—including Jed Lowrie’s rally-inducing leadoff home run–to take a tough loss, 4-3 to the surging A’s.

Oakland improved to 4-1 in one-run ballgames, and 8-3 in the AL West. All the success added up has the A’s holding the best record in the American League at this pubescent stage of the season, nothing to sneeze at with the two-time division champs getting all the attention they can handle from the Astros, Angels and Mariners thus far.

But even with all the attention, the division is where the A’s do all their best work, finishing nine games over .500 in 2012, and 12 games over .500 in 2013. By winning 8 of 11 thus far the A’s have upped their game within the division in 2014. The Astros are clearly their preferred opponent, after Saturday, the A’s have beaten Houston 17 out of the last 21 meetings.

Lowrie found himself in a tough spot with the A’s trailing 3-1 and the A’s second baseman facing Astros’ closer Chad Qualls for the first time in his career. In addition, the A’s didn’t see the Astros in the spring with Houston moving to the Citrus League, so the introductions had to be quick. Lowrie said afterwards that scouting reports told him he needed to look for a sinker or a slider from Qualls and he got one up in the zone on the fifth pitch of the at-bat and sent it over the right field fence.

“I wasn’t sure if it is was out, but we know the ball carries better during the day here,” Lowrie said.

Josh Donaldson followed with a five-pitch walk, and Yoenis Cespedes singled. John Jaso pinch-hit for Derek Norris, but struck out. Alberto Callaspo then singled home Donaldson to tie the game, setting the stage for Josh Reddick with two runners aboard.

Reddick hit a 1-2 pitch to center field that dropped, scoring Cespedes with the game-winning run.

The A’s spent most of the afternoon fumbling defensively and failing to cash in on the 14 hits they would gather. Houston starter Brett Oberholtzer had a bunch to do with that, scattering eights and a pair of walks to hold the A’s to just one run into the sixth. For Oakland, Scott Kazmir pitched well again, but defensive miscues left him trailing 3-1 after eight innings. Kazmir was on the short end, but he showed all the signs of his renaissance, starting 19 of the 30 batters he saw with strikes, and getting through eight efficiently, throwing just 109 pitches.

“I thought he pitched great again,” manager Bob Melvin said of Kazmir. “At times we didn’t play well behind him, but he’s doesn’t let that stuff bother him.”

“It’s great to be able to go deep in the games and still have quality pitches,” Kazmir said of his outing.

The A’s look for the sweep on Sunday with Jesse Chavez facing Houston’s Brad Peacock.

NOTES: The numbers continue to bare out what A’s fans—who have been flocking to the Coliseum for a couple of years now—already know: the A’s are among the biggest winners in the game. The A’s have won 202 of 341 games since opening day 2012, which is the best record of any major league team during that span (tied with the Atlanta Braves after their 3-1 win over the Mets on Saturday).

Huge First Propels A’s Victory Over Astros 11-3

Published on April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment

OAKLAND, CA - APRIL 18: Josh Reddick #16 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by John Jaso #5 after Reddick hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning against the Houston Astros at O.co Coliseum on April 18, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) — OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 18: Josh Reddick #16 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated by John Jaso #5 after Reddick hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning against the Houston Astros at O.co Coliseum on April 18, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

Oakland – Behind a seven run first inning the A’s (11-5) easily beat the Houston Astros (5-12) 11-3. Yoenis Cespedes and Alberto Callaspo provided the bulk of the offense tonight as they both contributed with one home run each and six combined RBI. Josh Reddick who’s been struggling from the plate for the last couple weeks broke out of the slump and went 3 for 4 with a home run and two RBI. Lead-off man Coco Crisp appears to be back as well as he went 2 for 3 and had two RBI.

Sonny Gray (3-0) who started for the A’s tonight gave up a career high nine hits in six innings but only gave up the three runs and struck out four. Francisco Abad and Ryan Cook came in for relief and pitched three scoreless innings and struck out five Houston batters.

“He got behind some guys but we’ve seen him recover. He continues to be good and we haven’t seen his best yet,” said Athletics coach Bob Melvin.

“We gave Sonny a lot of breathing room early even though he doesn’t need it,” said Josh Reddick who was able to grab two singles and the home run tonight.

“I actually helped in the game for once, it felt good. I went straight into batting practice today and skipped the cages and it just felt good.”

On Reddick, Melvin said, “It was good for him to get some hits. He’s been going through a rough stretch. It was good for the team to get off to a good start.”

The A’s really did get off to a great start when they scored seven runs in the first inning coming off of home runs from Alberto Callaspo and Reddick and a RBI single from Cespedes. In the bottom of the first, Jed Lowrie was up and he attempted to bunt the ball over to the third base side but was eventually thrown out at first.

The Astros didn’t take to kindly to that bunt attempt that in his next at bat, Lowrie was thrown to and almost hit.

“They were giving me the shift (in the first inning) so I went for it. We’ve seen teams before come back from seven down so each run in the beginning of the game is important. I would never do that if we were up by seven in the seventh or eighth inning.”

After getting thrown at Lowrie gave a menacing stare to the Astros pitcher. “He definitely tried to hit me on that second pitch,” said Lowrie.

For Houston, Jarred Cosart (1-2) had a night he wishes he could forget. Cosart only went for 1/3 of an inning and gave up seven runs on three hits and walked four. Paul Clemens who came in for Cosart gave up three runs on five hits in a little over four innings of relief. Offensively the Astros were able to scatter 10 hits but left 12 men on base.

The A’s and Astros go head to head again tomorrow afternoon when Scott Kazmir (2-0) takes on Brett Oberholtzer (0-3).

A’s and Giants commentary: Are players, fans, and employees really safe under Puig human trafficker threat

Published on April 18, 2014April 18, 2014 by lleonardbwLeave a comment

by Michael Duca

OAKLAND–I can not honestly say if ball park security or ball park operations at AT&T Park over the past week when the Dodgers and Giants were there for the three game series when Dodger outfielder Yesiel Puig was getting threats from the Los Zetas Mexican cartel how much ball operations knew about the threat and what did park management do in setting up protection for the fans, players, and employees.

The information that I’ve learned from ESPN is a harrowing account and it is a terrifying account and my first question that I asked when I got even an inkling of this story was how can baseball actually allow him to play? You got a situation here where a person is beholden essentially to Los Zetas cartel in Mexico for 20 percent of what he was going to earn but not on this current $42 million contract.

The understanding is that the cartel doesn’t have a claim on his earnings forever, it’s his bonus money that their after and 20 percent of his bonus money which is a little bit more of an open thing. While its certainly still illegal and it’s extortion and a bunch of other things it isn’t as bad as it’s originally made to sound.

You would understand that somebody would have to pay some kind of fee in the situation, the unfortunate thing is that whole market if you will is clearly human trafficking no matter how you slice it. It’s a violation of international law. We always knew that these players coming out of Cuba were stretching the laws in many, many ways.

You had to violate the laws of Cuba to get out, most people didn’t have too much trouble with that as would often times could rationalize breaking the laws of a country we don’t agree with. He had to break the laws of Mexico in order to get there and he had to bend the laws of the United States by taking advantage of the rather strange American immigration policy that Cubans who do come into the country without documents as long as they show that their Cubans and that they arrive on dry land and don’t come out of the ocean can get political asylum.

It’s all very strange but the bottom line is people involved in Puig’s extracton have died under very questionable circumstnaces. The Dodgers have had a full time security detail around Puig since he’s been called up from double AA Chattanooga and it begs the question, how safe are the fans in those arch ways in right field at Dodger Stadium? How safe are the fans in the areas in right field and how safe is the team?

It certainly has shed some new light on his cavalier attitude and towards the game in some circumstances and maybe it might explain why it appears he’s always concentrating on what he’s doing. I’m not sure how many of us could have survived getting this far. What’s critcial is the safety of the fans, the integrity of the game and the safety of Puig himself.

Oakland A’s update: The Houston Astros opened up a series in Oakland, the Astros who are a last place team begs one to say there are last place teams and I suspect that the Astros will end up in last place or they may win 15-20 more games than they did last year.

The Astros are an imroving team, they have the best farm system in baseball and you can’t take anybody for granted but obviously you don’t take a team that’s young and improving for granted. Particularly early in the season, the Astros don’t know any better, they don’t know they’re not good yet, so you have to play Houston straight.

I have the distinct feeling that A’s General Manager Billy Beane and Manager Bob Melvin know how to get the A’s to play everybody, the A’s are just beating up on people this year and I would be surprised if there is any let down by this team at any point this year.

Michael Duca does commentary on the A’s and Giants each week for Sportstalk radio