Tag: Baseball

The A’s Rout the Texas Rangers

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

To paraphrase the great Charles Dickens ” It was the best of times for one team and the worst of times for the other.” For the Oakland A’s, it was the best of times as they routed the visiting Texas Rangers by a score of 10-0. They had it all going for them Wednesday night as they had good hitting, good pitching and good defense. They pounded out 14 hits, scored 10 runs and third baseman Brett Lawrie made a tremendous defensive play at third base to stop a ball from going down the left field line for a double and first baseman Mark Canha made a nice pick when the throw from Lawrie was slightly offline. A’s starter and winning pitcher, Scott Kazmir was on his game as he went seven innings allowing just one hit while striking out ten. For the Texas Rangers, it was the worst of times. Their starter, Ross Detiler, making his first start since July, 2013 gave up 8 runs on 9 hits and was gone after 4 1/3rd innings of work. The Ranger defense did not help Detwiler one bit. The Rangers committed four errors and  a passed ball  that led to 3 unearned runs. Kazmir allowed just one hit and the other came in the ninth when Prince Fielder doubled off reliever R.J. Alvarez.

The only noise the A’s made in the first two innings was a two out double by Brett Lawrie. Lawrie had a tough night in Tuesday’s game as he struck out four times on 12 pitches but he hit a line shot to left center but was thrown out at third trying to stretch  it into a triple. In the bottom of the third, the A’s sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs on five hits. Marcus Semien singled with one out to get things going. That was followed by Tyler Ladendorf’s first Major League hit in his first at bat in the big leagues. It was a line shot to left center and with his speed, he made it to third easily. Craig Gentry was hit by a pitch to put two men on. Cody Ross, in his first at bat as an Athletic singled to drive in Ladendorf. A’s DH, Billy Butler walked to load the bases. First baseman, Mark Canha, blasted a shot to deep right centerfield that hit the top of the wall driving in all three runners.Canha stopped at second and A’s manager Bob Melvin asked the umpires to review the play . After the review, it was ruled a double, Canha just  missed a grand slam by about an inch and it was his first Major League hit. A’s lead 5-0 after three innings of play.

The AS’s scored one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one run each in the sixth and seventh innings. That was the end of the scoring for the night as the A’s win 10-0.

Game notes. Mark Canha led the attack with two doubles and a single while driving in four runs. Brett Lawrie had three hits, Billy Butler and Marcus  Semien each had two hits. Cody Ross, signed by the A’s on Wednesday after being released by the Arizona Diamondbacks had a single and two RBIs in his A’s debut.

The A’s have started the season 2-1 for the first time since 2010. The A’s tripled in the each of the first three games for the first time since at least 1914. Scott Kazmir recorded 10 strikeouts for the 23rd time in his career and is 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA in five starts in the last 2 years against the Rangers. Mark Canha was 3 for 5 with 4 RBIs. The only Athletic to do better was Ben Grieve in his debut in 1997 when he drove in five runs in his first Major League game. The only players from last year’s A’s team were Craig Gentry and Scott Kazmir. All the other players are in their first year with Oakland.

After the game, A’s manager, Bob Melvin, was all smiles as his team really played well. He was pleased with Kazmir’s performance and was extremely happy about Mark Canha’s performance.

The Rangers are 1-2 for the first time since 2010.They committed 4 errors since April 30th, 2014 when they committed 4, also against the A’s  Delino Deshields made his Major League debut for the Rangers and had his first Major League hit.

The fourth game of the series will be Thursday afternoon at 12:35pm at the O.Co Coliseum. Kendall Graveman will be making his A’s debut and he will be opposed by the Rangers’ Nick Martinez.

Game time was 2 hours and 55 minutes and was watched by 19,479 very happy A’s fans.

Opening Day

Published on by rxsluggerLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Opening Day 2015 kicks off Monday as the new-look Oakland A’s meet the Texas Rangers. The A’s have made a multitude of changes and the home fans will be able to see the new players for he first time.

There is something special about the first game of the season. Every team starts off in first place 0-0 and it may be the only day that the team will reside in first place all season.  The players are always excited to get the show going. The adrenaline will be flowing as the park is sold out. The players on both teams will be introduced to the fans and there will be a color guard present when the National Anthem is sung and that is usually followed by jets from either the Air Force or the Navy.

Sonny Gray will be pitching for the A’s and it will be the second year in a row for the new ace of the staff. The A’s are hoping to snap a ten game losing streak on opening day. No one knows how the A’s will do this year. Many of the pundits are picking the A’s to finish third in the division. Texas hopes to rebound from last year’s dismal season as so many players were injured and their long-time manager, Ron Washington, resigned for personal reasons. Each team wants to get off to a good start, but it’s a long season. The A’s, last year, had the best record in baseball for four months, but the last two months were a nightmare and they barely made the playoffs and then blew a lead in the one game playoff with the Kansas City Royals.

General manager, Billy Beane, went back to the drawing board and decided to go in a new directions and made many moves that upset a lot of fans. Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss were fan favorites, but they are new playing for Toronto and Cleveland. All-Star Derek Norris now resides in San Diego. The team gave away power but got back players that are better defensively and young pitchers to strengthen both the starting rotation as well as the bullpen. It remains to be seen if Kendall Graveman and Jesse Hahn will succeed as starters. The A’s have depth and Jarrod Parker will soon be off the DL as well as A.J.Griffin. Both these men are proven starters, but they are coming off Tommy John surgery.

Winning the AL west will be a challenge for this young team. The Los Angeles Angels won the division last year but were  knocked out of the playoffs by the Royals. The Seattle Mariners finished just one game behind the A’s last year and have added a big bat signing free agent Nelson Cruz who had 40 homers for the Orioles last year. The Houston Astros had a better season last year and are also improving as they  will no longer be pushovers.

In 2012, many people thought the A’s would lose 100 games. They had a bunch of no names and cast-off and a young player from Cuba by the name of Yoenis Cespedes. They won the division on the last day of the year beating the Rangers. So, with a young team,  no one knows.  That’s why the play the games. See you at the park.

Lastly, this writer would be remiss not to mention the loss of Bay Area broadcast legend, Lon Simmons. Simmons passed away yesterday at the age of 91. He was a broadcaster for the Giants, A’s and San Franciso 49ers. He had a deep baritone voice and had a great sense of humor. People would tell me how terrific he was and it took a while for me to get his humor but once I did, I loved listening to him. One night while my wife and I were dining at a restaurant, I heard his voice. No need to turn around. I knew it was Lon. Rest in peace, Lon. You were an original and you will be missed by the Giants, A’s, 49ers and fans and most of all, by your family.

The A’s Head into the Home Stretch

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s head into the Home Stretch

The A’s played their 113th game of the season Wednesday afternoon at the O.co Coliseum. Things did not go well for the A’s as they lost the game. The A’s have forty-nine games left to play and they are scuffling at the moment. The A’s have split the last twelve games against the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays. The play the Minnesota Twins the next four days and , hopefully, they will beat them all four games. The A’s had an opportunity to pick up ground on their closest rival, the Los Angeles Angels, but failed to do so and if the Angels beat the LA Dodgers Wednesday night the A’s will be just one game ahead of the Angels in the race for the AL West division crown.

As mentioned earlier, the A’s hitters have been scuffling and the offense has gone south. This happens to all teams as the season is made up of peaks and valleys. When things are going well, the pitching, starters and relievers, the hitting and fielding are all in sync in the team can rack up wins. However, sometimes the pitching isn’t there but the team is getting hitting. Sometimes the hitting isn’t working but the pitching is good. That is the situation the A’s find themselves in right now as the season is moving quickly to the finish line. The A’s have four outstanding starters in Lester, Gray, Samardzija and Kazmir and the fifth starter, Hammel, got his act together for his first win as an Athletic. The hitting has not been there. Brandon Moss is in an 0 for 18 slump. Steven Vogt is at least 0 for 22 and can’t buy a hit.Coco Crisp has been out with a bad neck and is just now back in the lineup. Josh Donaldson’s production has also slowed down. The hot hitter is Josh Reddick. Reddick os hitting over .380 since coming off the DL but there is no consistency in the offense. Another factor may be the trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to Boston. Many, many fans are unhappy with the trade but the A’s got knocked out of the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers the last two years in the first round of the playoffs and General Manager Billy Beane felt it necessary to get a top of the line pitcher and in order to get Jon Lester from Boston he had to give up something and that something was Cespedes.

The A’s believe in the platoon system and the versatility of the players to be able to be utilized at different positions and be able to use left-handed hitters against righties and right-handed hitters against lefties and they have been successful all season long using that strategy.The A’s will be tested next week when they go on the road to Kansas City and Atlanta. The Royals took two out of three from the A’s here this week and they are in the hunt for a wild card spot. The A’s play four with the Royals and

they need to win at least two of the games. Then it’s Atlanta for three. The Braves have been playing poorly as of late but the A’s cannot take them lightly. The A’s return home for two with the Mets and then play the Angels seven times in a ten day stretch. The schedule after that is easier for the A’s but this is baseball and anything can happen. The A’s are going to find a way to get the hitting, pitching and fielding all working together or the A’s could fall out of first place in the west but still make the playoffs as a wild card but that would mean having to face the second wild card in a one game playoff and anything can happen. Stay tuned fans as it should be interesting from now until September 28th.

The A’s rally to defeat the Astros

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

A’S SNATCH VICTORY FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT

Holy Toledo!! That’s what the late great A’s broadcaster would say when a great play or a great win would occur on the field. Tuesday night in Houston, the A’s came back from a three run deficit trailing 4-1 in the top of the ninth and they were down to their last strike when they rallied for six runs and beat the Houston Astros 7-4. The Astros have played the A’s tough so far this year and the won the first game of the three game series on Monday night. Had the A’s lost , the team would have had a record of 2-3 on the five game trip to Texas and the best they could hope for was a 3-3 road trip. However, the never-say-die guys from Oakland came to life and stunned the Astros with their comeback.

The A’s sent Jeff Samardzija to the hill and he was opposed by the Astros’ Scott Feldman. The game didn’t start well for Samardzija as Marwin Gonzalez, the second batter Samardzija faced, hit a home run to give Houston an early 1-0 lead. The A’s tied the game in the top of the fifth when Josh Reddick blasted his sixth home run of the year to make it a 1-1 game. The Astros, however, came back and scored two in the bottom of the fifth. Robbie Grossman singled singled and then stole second. Enrique Hernandez followed with a triple and the American League leader in batting and hits, Jose Altuve singled to drive in the third run of the game for the Astros. The Astros scored another run in the bottom of the seventh to make it a 4-1 game and A’s manager Bob Melvin took Samardzija out of the game.

Samardzija went 6 2/3rds innings giving up six hits and four earned runs. He walked two and struck seven while throwing 104 pitches. The Astros Scott Feldman probably had the best game of his career against the A’s Tuesday night going seven inning allowing just five hits and one run. At this point in the game it looked like Feldman was going to pick up the win.

However, we are talking about the Oakland A’s and as Yogi Berra once said “it ain’t over till it’s over.”

It’s also the magic of baseball. A team can look lethargic and beaten for eight innings but then can rally in the ninth to come back and win the game. That is exactly what the A’s did to the Astros Tuesday night. The Astros brought in their closer, Chad Qualls, to pitch. With one out, A’s catcher Derek Norris reached base on an infield single. The next batter was Josh Reddick. Reddick, who had homered earlier in the game, doubled to left center field advancing Norris to third base. Alberto Callaspo, pinch hitting for Eric Sogard, slammed a double to right center and drove in Norris and Reddick making it a 4-3 game. The A’s replaced Callaspo with the very fleet footed Billy Burns. The next batter John Jaso ground into a fielder’s choice, Jaso reached second on a wild pitch and was now in scoring position to tie the game. Shortstop Jed Lowrie walked on a 3-2 pitch to put men on at 1st and 2nd. Quall had two strikes on Cespedes and needed one more strike to win the game but Yoenis Cespedes was able to hit a blooper to right field to drive in Jaso with the tying run. Astros’ manager Bo Porter had seen enough. He brought in left Tony Sipp to pitch to Brandon Moss. With the count at 3-2, Moss singled sharply to right field allowing Lowrie to score the go-ahead run. That was it for Sipp and he was replaced by Jose Veras. Donaldson swung and missed at the first pitch thrown by Veras but he didn’t miss the second one as he blasted a shot to deep center field that went way over the center fielder’s head and two more runs scored. 7-4 in favor of the A’s as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth. The A’s brought in closer Sean Doolittle and he set the Astros down 1-2-3 to secure the win and pick the save.

Winning pitcher was Evan Scribner who pitched the eighth inning for the A’s and Chad Qualls took the loss.

After the game Chad Qualls said “They make contact. They take a lot of pitches Two of the hits they got tonight weren’t hit really hard.-Norris’ to start everything off was a little nubber to third and the Cespedes that tied it was just a jam shot they got to the outfield. They found some holes when they needed to and hit the ball on the screws when they needed to. I just didn’t get it done.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin said ‘That’s amazing. For a late-inning at bat, that’s as good as I’ve ever seen in a team.The 27th out, we don’t give that away. It’s an attribute. That’s the way this team is.”

Time for the A’s to make Hay

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

Time for the A’s to Make Hay

The A’s beat the lowly but pesky Houston Astros on Thurs and they upped their major league best record to 63-38. After the game the A’s embark on a six game road trip to Texas where they will face the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros again. The Rangers, if you can believe it, have a worse record than the Astros. The Rangers’ pitching staff has been decimated by injury and the team is just not very good right now. There is some speculation that Ranger Manager Ron Washington will be fired after the season. The Rangers’ top acquisition in the off season was Prince Fielder. The big lefty slugger is out for the season and the Ranger offense has been weakened.

The A’s will send Jason Hammel to pitch Friday night. Hammel is looking for his first win as an A since coming to Oakland in a trade with the Cubs. Sonny Gray (11-3, 2.72) will pitch game two and Scott Kazmir(11-3, 2.32) will go in the finale. The Rangers are sending out three pitchers with losing record. Jerome Williams(1-4, ERA over 6) will pitch Friday night. Nick Tepesch(1-2,4.75) goes on Saturday and Miles Mikolas (1-6,7.48) on Sunday. The A’s then travel to Houston to face a team that played them tough in the three game series that concluded on Thursday but the A’s took two out of three and clobbered them 13-1 in the finale. After that, the A’s come home to face the Kansas City Royals for three, the Tampa Bay Rays for three and four with the Minnesota Twins. The only team without a losing record is the Royals but they are at the .500 mark with a record of 50-50. The Rays are four games under .500 but have as of July 24th won seven in a row. The Rays had a lot of injuries earlier in the season but are playing well as those players are now healthy. The Twins are in last place in the AL Central with a 46-54 record.

The Angels, who are now 2 ½ games behind the A’s, start a four game series against the Detroit Tigers

Thursday and will have to face Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello. The Angels then o on a tough road trip as they travel to Baltimore to play the Orioles again. The Orioles took two out of three in Anaheim and are in first place in the AL East. The Angels then go to Tampa Bay to face the Rays and as noted above, the Rays are playing well and could be a problem for the Angels. The Angels road doesn’t get any easier as they return “home” to play a four game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The first two games of the series will be in Los Angeles and the last two games will be in Anaheim. The Angels then have to face the Boston Red Sox for three. The Red Sox have been playing better as of late and would love to upset the Angels apple cart.

It will be up to A’s manager, Bob Melvin, to keep his troops focused. The A’s have to feast on these team and they could put a lot of distance between them and the Angels. The Angels have the second best record in the American League and know that they can’t afford to lose any of these series as they want to keep pace with the A’s. The season is about two thirds complete. The trade deadline happens a week from today and the stretch drive to the playoffs begins. Should be a lot of fun and, hopefully,

the fans will come out and support the best team in the American League, the Oakland Athletics.

Cespedes Powers the A’s to Victory

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg

What an interesting game the A’s played Wednesday night against the lowly Houston Astros. The A’s won the game 9-7 as the A’s led 7-0 after four innings on the strength of two home runs off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes drove in five runs and he made it look like he was participating in a Home Run Derby. The A’s continued to have their way with former Athletic, Brad Peacock. Peacock gave up seven runs on seven hits in just 3 and 2/3rds innings of work. The A’s starter, Jesse Chavez, pitched well giving up two runs on four hits before he left the game in the top of the sixth with two outs. Ryan Cook relieved and Cook did not allow a hit or any runs in 1 and 1/3rd inning of work.

The A’s in the meantime, increased the lead and led 9-2 at the end of seven innings. Then came the fateful eighth inning. A’s manager, Bob Melvin, brought in Jim Johnson to pitch. The fans started to get nervous as Johnson has had a terrible year so far with Oakland. However, the bullpen needed some rest and the A’s had a big lead so what could go wrong. Well, it did not go well for Johnson. Jose Altuve, Houston’s great second baseman and All-Star, hit a ground ball to third. Josh Donaldson’s throw to first was offline and Brandon Moss tried to tag to tag Altuve but that tactic went awry. Moss did tag Altuve but Altuve, running hard, nearly took Moss’ left arm off. His glove was knocked off his hand and the ball dropped to the ground and Altuve was credited with a single. Did this unnerve Johnson? Probably. Johnson’s struggles are well known and he must have been thinking “here we go again. What will go wrong now?”

Big League players have to have confidence that they can do the job and relievers have to believe they are invincible. Someone once said baseball is 50% physical and 90% mental. In any case, Johnson proceeded to give up three more hits and could not get anyone out. The A’s brought in Dan Otero to pitch and he gave up 2 hits and one run. Johnson was charged with four runs on four hits and the Astros sent ten men to the plate in the inning scoring five runs and the game was suddenly a 9-7 contest.

Otero got one man out and the A’s brought in Luke Gregerson to restore order. Gregerson retired the two men he faced to end the inning and closer Sean Doolittle put the Astros down in order in the ninth to seal the win.

There were a lot of positives in the game. Yoenis Cespedes had a big night as did John Jaso who had three hits and a walk as well as a sacrifice fly. Right fielder Josh Reddick had two hits and really had good swings in his first game back from the DL. Jesse Chavez pitched well as he picked up his eighth win of the year. On the negative side, Cespedes injured himself while batting and suffered a sprain in his right thumb. Brandon Moss also was hurt and he may not play Thursday as he had a biceps stinger in his left arm. The biggest negative of the night was the pitching of Jim Johnson. Johnson had 100 saves over the last two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and the A’s brought him here to be their closer. He also was given a ten million dollar contract but he has not done enough to earn the money and he was bombarded with boos as he exited the game

The A’s conclude the Series Thursday afternoon at 12:30pm at the O.co Coliseum Jeff Samidzija will pitch for the A’s before they start a six game road trip against the Texas Rangers and three more with the very same Houston Astros.

The A’s improve their record to 62-38 and continue to lead the Los Angeles Angels by two games in the AL West.

Comeback Falls Short, A’s Lose To Blue Jays 3-2

Published on by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment
TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 23: Brett Lawrie #13 of the Toronto Blue Jays is thrown out at second base trying to strecth a single into a double in the fourth inning during MLB game action as Nick Punto #1 of the Oakland Athletics tags him out on May 23, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA – MAY 23: Brett Lawrie #13 of the Toronto Blue Jays is thrown out at second base trying to strecth a single into a double in the fourth inning during MLB game action as Nick Punto #1 of the Oakland Athletics tags him out on May 23, 2014 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

By Kahlil Najar

TORONTO – After winning the 11 of the past 13 games, the Athletics rallied in the eighth but were unable to secure the victory and lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. Brandon Moss hit his 11th homer of the year in the fifth and Alberto Callaspo scored two in the eighth for the A’s total offense on the night. Scott Kazmir (5-2) earned his second loss of the year as he gave up five hits in seven innings including a two run home run to Steve Tolleson.

Toronto’s starting pitcher Liam Hendricks earned his first victory of the year and went 5 2/3 innings and only surrendered one run and three hits.

Jed Lowrie, who went 1 for 4 on the day had this to say about Hendricks,”He was able to move his fastball around and elevate it. It looked like he kept guys just a little bit off balance.”

Toronto took the lead in the second when Steve Tolleson took a 3-1 fastball deep to left field, his first of the year. The bottom of the third saw Toronto get their game winning run. After Kevin Pillar hit his second double of the year, Kazmir threw a ball to second base trying to pick off Pillar but no one was home and Pillar moved to third. Jose Reyes came up next and hit a ground ball to second base that scored Pillar and gave Toronto a 3-0 lead.

“I should have held on to it,” Kazmir said. “It ended up being the difference-maker in the game.”

Brandon Moss put the A’s on the board when he took a change up from Hendriks deep to right field and made it a 3-1 game. Callaspo gave the A’s a pair of runs in the top of the eighth but it was already too late and the A’s lost 3-2.

Saturday’s game isn’t any easier as Toronto sends R.A. Dickey (4-4) to the mound against Jesse Chavez (4-1).

 

 

Chavez Continues Impressive Spring with Fifth Win, A’s Beat Giants 4-1

Published on by kahlilnajar7Leave a comment
Photo Courtesy USA Today
Photo Courtesy USA Today

By Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO – A’s pitcher Jesse Chavez (5-1, 2.22 ERA) looked great in his seventh appearance of spring training and beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1. Chavez continued his domination during spring training as he took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth inning until Angel Pagan hit a double to get the Giant’s their first hit of the game. John Jaso and Sam Fuld provided the offensive power for the A’s tonight while the Giants were only able to score one run in the bottom of the ninth.

“It was a good one to finish off like that and go into the season and build off  of that one,” said Chavez on the win tonight. “Getting ahead was key for me tonight. If you can get ahead, you’re more than likely to succeed.”

On Chavez, Coach Bob Melvin said “Jesse’s been really sharp and efficient this spring. He had a really good cutter tonight and mixed his curve ball in just enough to slow him down a bit. He was on the corners all night.”

Tonight’s win solidified Chavez as a bona fied  starter in the A’s rotation and gives the Oakland faithful something to be grateful for after losing Jarrod Parker for the season. When asked about being a starter and how to keep it going, Chavez said, “I can’t get complacent. I still have to stay after it and keep doing what I’m doing and not change anything. I’ve been able to focus a lot more knowing that I have to go through line up three or four times. I’m happy that they have the confidence in me to put in me in the rotation and I don’t want them to think they made the wrong decision.”

“This is something he’s always strives for is to be a starter. He’s earned, he deserves it and you can see his confidence grows each time he goes out there,”said Melvin echoing his confidence in Chavez.

On offense, Oakland’s John Jaso hit his first homer of spring training on a first pitch 2-seam fast ball from Tim Lincecum (1-1, 5.79 ERA) to give the A’s a 1-0 lead in the third.

In the top of the fourth, the Giants biggest fear came to reality when Daric Barton hit a shot into Lincecum’s left leg and immediately dropped him. After stretching on the ground and taking time to make sure nothing was broken, the Giants were able to get Lincecum to get off the field with some help from the trainers. Luckily it was a left knee contusion and x-rays didn’t find anything.

“You never want anybody to see get hit by a come backer especially someone of his caliber,” said Chavez.

In the fifth, Jaso walked, Nick Punto doubled and Daric Barton walked to get the bases loaded for  spring training phenom Sam Flud. Flud didn’t disappoint as he took a 2-seam fastball to right field past the out-stretched body of Brandon Belt and into the deep part of right field that Hunter Pence had to scoop up and relay to home. By the time the ball reached home Flud was standing at third and had three more RBI added to his stat sheet to give the A’s a 4-0 lead.

The Giants were able to break up the no-hitter that Chavez had going into the sixth when Angel Pagan hit a double to A’s left fielder Yoenis Cespedes. After the hit, Melvin pulled Chavez ended  his night with 5 1/3 innings pitched with one hit, one walk and five strike outs.

“I don’t normally take out guys of potential no-hitters,” Melvin said. “At the time, I was almost glad that Pagan got the hit, to tell you the truth. But it was impressive. He was on it all night.”

The Giants were able to get to A’s closer Jim Johnson for one run in the bottom of the ninth but then he settled down and got Sanchez to fly out to Flud to end the game.

Both teams head to the other side of the Bay to continue the Bay Bridge series in Oakland when Dan Strailey takes on the Giant’s Edwin Escobar, game time 1:05 pm.

 

The Agony of defeat

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The Agony of Defeat

The Oakland Athletics lost the final game of the AL Division Series. The A’s led the series at one time two games to one but the Tigers won the last two games to take the best of five series 3 games to two.

In addition, the A’s had to watch the Tigers celebrate on their home field. The A’s had to go to the clubhouse and feel the agony of having their season end.

It’s hard to realize that after the great season had this year but end it did. All the hard work day after day

as the A’s won the AL west. All the great performances and thrilling come from behind wins are put aside as the players have to come in tomorrow and clean out their lockers and head home for the winter.

The A’s brass will have to think hard over the winter on ways to improve this team so that the can get

past the first round of the playoffs. The only time the A’s advanced to the AL Championship series was in 2006 and the Tigers knocked them out in four straight.

The fans were great again this year but they left the stadium disappointed as the A’s couldn’t get the job done. The fans will have to “wait till next year”.

So that’s it for the 2013 season. See you again next year as the A’s regroup and start a new quest.

Tigers Rally to even Series

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

by Jerry Feitelberg


  • Division Series – Oakland Athletics v Detroit Tigers – Game Four

    October 08, 2013


  • Division Series – Oakland Athletics v Detroit Tigers – Game Four

    October 08, 2013

    Tigers Rally to Even Series

    The A’s missed a golden opportunity to advance to the American League Championship Series

    as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the A’s 8-6 and even the Series at 2 games apiece. The

    deciding game of the best of five series will be played Thursday night in Oakland.

    The A’s led at one point 3-0 but the Tigers rallied to tie it 3 in the bottom of the fifth.

    The A’s took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh but the bullpen imploded and the

    Tigers went ahead 5-4 in the seventh and added three more in the eighth. The A’s

    rallied for two in the ninth but fell short. Dan Straily started for the A’s and

    he was opposed by Detroit’s Doug Fister. Straily pitched no hit ball for four innings but

    the Tigers got to him in the fifth. Fister went six innings and was relieved by Tigers’ ace, Max Scherzer.

    The A’s got the scoring going in the first inning. Coco Crisp blasted a triple to start the game. Crisp scored on a Jed Lowrie single. Jed Lowrie hit a two run homer in the top of the fifth to put the A’s

    ahead 3-0. Looked like Lowrie was going to be the star of the game. However, The Tigers rallied to put

    three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Straily gave up singles to Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez.

    Jhonny Peralta then put a Dan Straily fastball over the left field wall to tie the game at 3.

    The A’s came back and scored a run in the seventh. Steven Vogt singled and advanced to second on a ground out. Coco singled to drive in Vogt and the A’s had a short-lived 4-3 lead. A’s Manager, Bob Melvin, went to his bullpen and brought in Sean Doolittle to pitch. He Tigers scored two runs to put them ahead 5-4 at the end of seven. Melvin had Ryan Cook pitch the eighth but the Tigers got to him and scored three more times and the increased their lead to 8-4. The A’s didn’t give up as they scored two in the top of the ninth but it wasn’t enough and they wound up on the short end of the score 8-6.

    Notes- The A’s had a chance to get back into the game in the top of the eighth. The A’s loaded the bases with no out. Scherzer struck out Josh Reddick for out number one. He got Steven Vogt to strike out for out number two. Melvin sent Alberto Callaspo in to pinch hit but Callaspo lined out to center field to end the threat.

    Since 1990, the ‘s are 1-11 in potential clinch games. The game will be played at 6pm PDT at the Coliseum. If the Red Sox eliminate Tampa Bay, the game time will be moved to 5pm PDT.

    The Tigers will send Justin Verlander to pitch and he will be opposed by the A’s Bartolo Colon.

    Verlander pitched extremely well last Saturday night allowing no runs in seven innings of work.

    Colon gave up three runs in the first inning in Game One.