Sports Radio Service

Anthony Rizzo of the New York Yankees prepares to thrown down his helmet after striking out in the sixth inning against the Oakland A’s on Sat Aug 28, 2021 (AP News photo)

New York 2 – 5 – 2

Oakland 3 – 5 – 0

By Lewis Rubman

Saturday August 28, 2021

OAKLAND–The statistical expression “regression to the norm” can be translated to the vernaclular as the proverbial “water seeks its own level.” When the A’s opened the season with six progressively distressing defeats, they knew they weren’t as bad as their record indicated.

The responded by regressing to the norm by playing better than they really were, and three weeks later they were in first place in the AL West. They stayed there for two months before regressing once more to the norm, slowly but steadily dropping in winning percentage and the division and wild card standings.

Game time today found them at 70-59, trailing Houston by 6-1/2 games in the division and Boston by 3-1/2 for the second wild card spot. And they were in the throes of another six game losing streak, but now they have only 32 games left in the season.

Their starting pitcher, Frankie Montás is as capable of extreme performance swings as the rest of the team. In his most recent outing, last Sunday at the Coliseum, he held the Giants to two hits and two walks over seven scoreless innings.

His opposite number with the Yankees, Néstor Cortés, Jr., also had a successful seven innings in his previous mound appearance. The cagey southpaw held the Twins to a pair of earned runs to get the win and bring his record to 2-1, 2.56. That ERA is the second best in the American Leagiue.

The outcome of this encounter was a 3-2 win for Oakland, breaking the visitors’ 13 game winning streak and stopping the Athletics’ losing string at a half-dozen

Oakland struck first, on a two out double to left center by Chad Pinder, who notched the Athletics’ first tally when, after a walk to Sean Murphy, Tony Kemp’s single to center drove the versatile Pinder, the A’s starting right fielder, home and sending Murphy, DHing todaly, to third.

Cortés´s balk brought the DH in with the A’s second tally.They looked ready to score a Rickie run in the third when Starling Marte’s speed made Rougned Odor rush his throw on a grounder to third for a two base error and then stole third while Matt Olson was oin the process of striking out.

Yan Gomes then lashed a vicious liner up the middle on which second sacker DJ LeMahieu made a diving grab and rifled a throw to. Odor for the inning ending double play. Third Will Little’s call passed the video review test, much to Bob Melvin’s displeasure, and another A’s opportunity was lost, throuigh no fault of their own.

No one made a diving grab of Matt Chapman’s lead off drive in the fourth. It started out as an 86 mph slider and ended up 403 feet away over the fence in left enter for Chappy’s 21st round tripper of lthe year and a 3-0 lead for the Athletics.

When Canha got a single on a hard hit grounder to short, beating Velázquez´s one hop throw to first, with one down in the sixth, Aaron Boone decided that Cortés had seen enough action. He left the game, having yielded three runs, all earned, and was responsible for Canha.

Oakland reached him for four hits, one of them a homer, and three walks plus a run scoring balk. 60 of his 95 pitches were strikes. Right hander Albert Abreu relieved him and retired Pinder and Murphy to close the book on Cortés and bring New York up for the seventh frame.

Judge opened that inning with a line single to left center, the Yanks´ first safety since his double in the first. It came on Montás´s 86th pitch. The Oakland starter recovered from that brief setbackwith a swinging strike out of Stanton and beaiutiful Olson to Chapman to Olson inning ending double play, made possible by the extreme shift that had the A’s third baseman stationed just a few steps to the left of second. Who says that the use of shifts has made the game boring?

Kemp’s lead off fly to right in the home seventh turned Stanton around twice, converting a long fly into a two base hit. Once more, the curse of the lead off double struck. Two ground outs, an intentional walk, and a K, and the A’s had stranded two runners.

98 pitches in seven innings was the limit for Montás. He held the Bronx Bombers to two hits and a walk, throwing only 35 balls to the 23 batters he faced and mainly frustrated. Andrew Chafin relieved him and, after allowing a single to Voit, was lights out end the episode.

Lefty Lucas Luetge faced the A’s in their half of the eighth, starting with Chapman, who drove the reliever’s 2-2 offering over the left field fence, only to have Joey Gallo jump up and bring it down. It was three straight outs after that, bringing us to the top of the ninth and Sergio Romo taking the mound in his old role as closer.

LeMehieu socked a hard llner to third. Chapman caught it. Rizzo blooped a Texas Leaguer to left center. No one caught it. No one caiught Aaron Judge’s fly ball until lit had travelled 406 feet into the left field stands. The score was 3-2, and chants of “Let’s go, Yankees” filled the air, quieted when Stanton popped out to Harrison at second.

It sounded like more than the 18,337 paying customers were cheering when Gallo came to bat, but you couldn’t tell whom the were cheering for. Gallo grounded out to second for the final out. Romo’s performance wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done. Hhis first save of the year preserved the A’s lead and the win that brought Montás’s record to 10-9, 3.66. The loss brought Cortés’s record to 2-2.77.

The A’s will try to start a new regression to the norm and even the series Sonday at 1:08, with Paul Blackburn (0-1, 4.09) going against Jordan Montgomery (5-5, 3.69).

Giancarlo Stanton rounds the bases for the New York Yankees after hitting a master blaster 472 feet for a home run off Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri Aug 27, 2021 (AP News photo)

New York 8 – 14- 1

Oakland 2 – 8. – 0

By Lewis Rubman

Friday August 27, 2021

OAKLAND–It’s tempting to think of tonight’s starting pitcher for the Oakland Athletics (70-59), Sean Manaea (8-8, 3.77 at game time) as the personification of the team. Both the man and the ball club show flashes of excellence, go on hot streaks of sustained and unsustainable superiority, and then go terribly, terribly cold.

And, when they took the field, they were, indeed, in spite of a temperature reading of 82 degrees, terribly, terribly cold. Oakland, at 70-58, was five and a half games behind Houston for the AL Western Division lead and two and a half games behind Boston for the second AL wild card spot and threatening to repeat their season opening nightmare of a six game losing streak. The A’s went down in a whimper a sixth straight loss defeated by their guests the New York Yankees (76-52).

Manaea, who was 3-2, 1.13 in June, went 2-2, 3.30 in July, and hadn’t won a game or gone more than five innings this month, losing half of his four August starts. The man who no hit the Red Sox three year ago still hasn’t fulfilled his potential.

Meanwhile, Manaea’s Yankee counterpart, Gerrit Cole (12-6, 2.92), he of the rising fast ball, had been undefeated in his two starts, both wins, in August. His highest ERA at any point this season was 3.38, following his opening day non decision against Toronto.

Tonight’s contest, an 8-2 drubbing administered by the visitors wasn’t out of character for either team or either of their starting moundsmen..

The two slightly mismatched pitchers traded zeroes until Giancarlo Stanton led off the fourth with a four base blast to center and, following Gallo’s pop up to. Andrus, Luke Voit followed suit with another round tripper to center. They were home runs number 25 and eight, respectively, for the two Bronx bombers, and they felt like a re-enactment of the second inning demolition derby Stanton and Gardner performed on Cole Irvin last night.

The Athletics’ recurring nightmare continued in the fifth, not exactly the same as the previous nights’, but close enough to be distressing. Kyle Higashioka and LeMahieu stroked singles to the left center and left, respectively; Rizzo went down swinging; and Judge swung for the fences.

His 28th dinger of the the year cleared the one in center field and sent Manaea to the showers. He left completing 4-1/3 innings of arduous labor, allowing five runs, all earned, on seven hits and a hit batter. On the other hand, he didn’t walk anyone. His pitch total was 86; 58 counted as strikes, and he took the loss.

Deolis Guerra took Manaea’s place on the mound and was hit hard for by Stanton, who flew out to left, Gallo, who doubled to right. He got Voit to strike out swinging and pitched a perfect sixth before giving way to AJ Puk, who held the Yanks to one hit in the seventh before he was, in turn, replaced by Jake Diekman, who set them down in order in the eighth.

The A’s stirred in the fifth, only to leave, as they have been doing too frequently these days, three men on base. A lead off single to center by Andrus, followed by another by Kemp and, after Marte fouled out to first, a walk to Olson put an Athletic on every base. But Lowrie went down swinging, and Harrison’s wicked line drive towards left somehow landed in the glove of the flying Urshela at third. RISP has been morphing into RIP for Oakland.

Ahead 5-0 after six innings, manager Aaron Boone decided he had no need to keep Cole on the job. He had allowed the A’s six hits and two walks; thaat was it. He struck out nine, and 70 of his 104 offerings were strikes. He went to the showers with an ERA lowered to 2.80 and, at game’s end, was the winning pitcher. His replacement, Joey Rodríguez, allowed the A’s a window of opportunity.

With one out, he walked Chad Pinder, pinch hitting for Kemp, and allowed singles to left by Marte and Olson. Olson’s safety drove in Pinder and advanced Marte to third. Gallo’s throw home was way off line, allowing Marte to score and Olson to make his way to second, occasioning Rodríguez’s early departure, Chad Green replacing him on the hill. He put out the fire by walking Lowrie and inducing a 4-6-3 twin killing from Harrison. He proceeded to strke out the three A’s he faced in the eighth.

New York put the game out of reach in the top of the ninth. Burch Smith gave up a first pitch lead off double to Velázquez. There was no curse of the lead off double for Kyle Higashioka when he brought all of his .179 batting average to the plate and blasted a 94 mph fast ball into the right center field seats to open up a 7-2 gap between the Yankees and their too accomodating host.

Singles by LeMahieu, Rizzo, and Judge made it 8-2, with runners on first and second and still not a man out. Stanton and the infield fly rule finally broke the Yankees’ streak of five successive hits, and, after Smith retired two more batters, allowed the Athletics one last chance, with Lucas Luetge on the mound for the New Yorkers, to catch up. They went down, 1-2-3.

As if the Yankees’ pyrotechnics hadn’t been enough for them, most of the 22,462 people in the stands hung around to watch the Star Wars fireworks that followed the game.

Saturday afternoon at 1:07, Frankie Montás (9-9, 3.84) will go against Néstor Cortés (2-1, 2.56) and his accompanying wrecking crew in an attempt to stop the A’s impending slide into oblivion.

Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt is back in the Bay Area since his injury and surgery in Chicago. Bassitt is reportedly in good spirits and could visit the A’s clubhouse during the Yankees series (mercurynews.com file photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt flew to Oakland today from Chicago after having surgery for a broken cheek bone, Bassitt could pay a visit to the A’s clubhouse just to reassure his teammates at the Coliseum tonight as they get ready for the Yankees.

#2 The A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty is going for wrist surgery and might make a return this season.

#3 The A’s had a such a good run and now find themselves not only behind the Houston Astros five games in the American League West but the A’s are also behind the Yankees in the Wild Card by two and half games. They need to get hot to catch.

#4 The A’s host New York tonight at the Coliseum for game 2 of this four game series. The A’s are on a five game losing streak and the Yankees came in with an 12 game win streak. The A’s will be pressed to get hot to try and make a run at the post season.

#5 Tonight’s starters at the Coliseum for the Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (12-6 ERA 2.92) and for the A’s Sean Manaea (8-8 ERA 3.77) with a 6:40pm first pitch.

Join Jeremiah for the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com