Tag: Bob Melvin

A’s can’t survive a night of bullpenning and home runs; Rays win 7-5

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Tampa Bay Jake Bauers
Jake Bauers hit the game-winning 3-run home run for the Rays Photo: @RaysBaseball

By Charlie O. Mallonee

If the Tampa Bay Rays were in the National League, they would be in the fight for a spot in the Wild Card game. They are not a walkover team anymore. The Rays have an 81-66 record this season. Unfortunately for the Rays and their fans, they play in the American League East where the Boston Red Sox have clinched the division with a 102-47 record to date, and the Yankees are in second place with a 91-57 record.

The Rays brought their “A game” on Saturday night as they handed the A’s their second loss on this six-game road trip 7-5. The game featured 21 hits, 4 home runs, 14 runners left on base, 15 strikeouts and 12 pitching changes over 3 hours and 19 minutes.

The loss was very costly for the A’s in their chase for the AL West crown and the home field advantage in AL Wild Card Game. The Astros beat the D-Backs 10-4 on Saturday and increased their lead over the A’s to 3.5 games. The A’s elimination number is now 11.

The A’s (90-59) had the opportunity to move within a half-game of the Yanks for the top Wild Card slot because the Bombers lost to the Blue Jays 8-7 on Saturday. Because Oakland lost, they remain 1.5 games behind New York in the second Wild Card spot.

More Bullpening
It was another bullpenning game for the A’s. Liam Hendriks was “the opener” on the mound for Oakland. He pitched one inning, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Dean Kiekhefer took over in the second inning and things did not go well for him. He gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits. The big blow came when Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer with one on and no outs. Ryan Dull had to come in to close out the inning.

Chris Bassitt was the “featured pitcher” of the game. He worked 3.0 innings giving up one run (earned) off two hits. He struck out three Rays and walked two.

Yusmeiro Petit was the next man up. Petit gave up a run (earned) off one hit.

The brightest spot of the night for the A’s may have been the performance of reliever Fernando Rodney in the seventh inning of the game. Rodney has really struggled recently but not in this game. Rodney gave up no runs while he struck out one and walked one.

Jeurys Familia would have rather stayed in the hotel. Familia was brought in to pitch the eighth inning. He only gave up one hit, but it was a go-ahead three-run homer by Jake Bauers that ultimately proved to be the game-winning hit. Familia (8-6) was tagged with the loss.

A’s with the bat

  • Matt Chapman went 3-for-5 and hit his 23rd home run of the season in the ninth inning off Sergio Romo.
  • The other Matt (Olson) had a 2-for-3 night at the plate and he hit his 27th homer of the year in this game.
  • Marcus Semien had a 2-for-4 night including a run scored. He was also involved in an incident with the home plate umpire that eventually caused A’s manager Bob Melvin to get ejected.

Rays’ notes

Tampa Bay Kelvin Kiermeier
The Rays Kevin Kiermaier hit a key triple in the game Photo: @RaysBaseball
  • The Rays went bullpening as well on Saturday. Ryne Stanek was the opener and then Yonny Chirinos was “the featured pitcher.” He lasted 5.1 innings.
  • Andrew Kittredge (2-2) was the eventual winner of the game.
  • Bauers not only hit a home run, he recorded four RBIs in the game.
  • Brandon Lowe had two RBIs, two runs scored in addition to his home run.
  • Kevin Kiermaier hit a triple and posted two RBIs

Up next

The A’s will send RHP Mike Fiers (12-6, 3.29 ERA) to the mound to face the Rays’ RHP Diego Castillo (3-2, 3.31 ERA) in the Sunday finale at 10:10 AM PDT.

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: Pitchers Are Bigger, Stronger and on the DL More Than Ever

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Photo credit: @NBCSAthletics

By: Amaury Pi-González

If the A’s advance to the postseason, they will not be able to depend with their No. 1  starter, Sean Manaea. He will have arthroscopic surgery to repair a left shoulder impingement on September 19. A’s manager Bob Melvin said that Manaea will be sidelined through 2019.

Just a few years ago when I asked Melvin in Spring Training about Manaea, he told me wonders about the then-rookie pitcher. Jharel Cotton missed this 2018 season with Tommy John surgery as well as the A’s top pitching prospect A.J Puk. Pitchers are having all kinds of surgeries–primarily Tommy John–to the point where it’s very common. No team is immune to injuries. Young pitchers mostly throw 95 mph and they are bigger and stronger than ever. Conditioning is the best it has ever been. Nutrition is much more advanced than ever. Plus we now know more about the human body, so people are living longer than ever. Yet, few teams can escape these injuries to their pitching staffs.

One of my favorite pitchers was the Phillies’ Robin Roberts, who would throw 300 or more innings each season, just like Nolan Ryan or Jaime Moyer. Moreover, Vida Blue pitched for 17 years, and in eight of those years, he hurled between 224 to 312 innings per season. Not to mention, Moyer pitched for 25 seasons, and in 10 of those seasons, he easily went over 200 innings.

Juan Marichal completed 244 career games, going the distance. Most recently, Pedro Martínez pitched for 2,827 inning in 18 seasons. Jim Palmer pitched a total of 3,948 innings over 19 years with the Orioles, and never gave up a grand slam. Bartolo Colón has pitched for 3,459 2/3 innings and counting in his 21-plus seasons, and he has easily pitched over 200 innings per season. None of these guys were near 6’4″ and 235 lbs.

Many established pitchers as well as rookies in the MLB would travel to Cuba, Puerto Rico, México, Venezuela and vice versa to pitch in the Winter Leagues. They reported to Spring Training the following year and continued their long careers–most of them free of surgeries. There was always tendinitis, tired arms and ailments like that, but the names of the surgeons were not as famously known back then. Pitchers used to run a lot and did not lift weights. Teams did not have a state of the art gym at each park like they have today with all types of supplements and vitamins along with qualified physiotherapists. Tommy John surgery has a high success rate, but around 20 percent of pitchers never make it back.

It is a never ending debate. Should they limit pitchers to 100 pitches per game? Are they training the wrong way? And there are many other questions without definite answers.

This is one of my favorite quotes. It is from Liván Hernández, who pitched for 17 years and in many seasons threw over 200 innings, “A mi no me preocupa la cantidad de lanzamiento que yo hago, lo que quiero es ganar el juego para mi equipo, si ellos quieren contar mis lanzamientos, está bien, en Cuba solo Dios sabe cuantos lanzamientos yo hacía por salida.”

Translation: “I am not worried how many pitches I throw, what I want is to win the game for my team, if they want to count the pitches I make, that is fine, in Cuba only God knew how many pitches I made every time I started a game.”

Notes: Tommy John pitched for 26 years from 1963 to 1989, winning 288 games while losing 231. He pitched for the Indians, White Sox, Dodgers, Yankees, California Angels, A’s and Yankees. Despite not being in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., his name is mentioned much more often than all the combined pitchers that are in the HOF.

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s have wacky schedule playing in AL Eastern cities in September

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

1) The schedule has the A’s in Baltimore and Tampa Bay this week with Minnesota in Oakland next week as the division race comes down to the wire. How can that happen?

2) The A’s have been testing using “bullpening” as a way to pitch their way through games. Liam Hendriks has twice been used as the opener. Is this concept worth pursuing?

3) Who will the starting rotation be for the A’s in the playoffs?

4) Can the A’s win the playoffs with a so-so starting rotation and a monster bullpen?

5) Sean Manaea is going to have arthroscopic surgery. How concerned are you about this?

Charlie O covers A’s baseball each Sunday and podcasts A’s each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: Ex-D-Back helps Braves to defeat old mates; New hero every day for Oakland A’s–Olson helps beat Rangers; plus more

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Photo credit: theathletic.com

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Beware of the boomerang! Ex-D-Back helps Braves defeat Arizona and its imploding bullpen.

2 Matt Olson, playing off the bench, helps A’s beat Texas.

3 Top White Sox pitching prospect Michael Kopech has UCL tear, likely candidate for Tommy John surgery.

4 Tigers announcers suspended after brawl; fight started over a chair and ended with a chokehold.

Daniel Dullum does the MLB The Show podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s outlast the Rangers 8-6 in a slugfest on Saturday at the Coliseum

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

 

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By Charlie O. Mallonee

OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics’ 61-0 winning streak when they held a lead after seven innings was on the line Saturday versus the Texas Rangers. The A’s had a 6-4 lead after seven innings, but Texas veteran third baseman Adrian Beltre had other ideas about Oakland continuing that winning streak.

Beltre came to bat in the top of the eighth inning with teammate Nomar Mazara at first and his team trailing by two runs. With the count at 0-2, Beltre hit a Fernando Rodney pitch down the left-field line into the seats for a two-run home run to tie the game at 6-6. It was home run No. 11 of the season for Beltre and his second of the game (his first multiple home run game of the season). The crowd of 20,504 became very concerned.

The Rangers brought RHP Chris Martin into the game from the bullpen. The first batter he had to face was Matt Olson who entered the game in the seventh inning for Mark Canha. Olson hit the 0-1 pitch from Martin over the fence in left field for his 25th home run of the year to give the A’s a 7-5 lead. After Chad Pinder flied out, Jonathan Lucroy singled. Ramon Laureano struck out for the second out of the inning. Matt Chapman, who leads the majors in doubles since the All-Star Break, hit an RBI-double to right field that allowed Lucroy to score the A’s eighth run of the game to give them an 8-6 lead.

The A’s went to the top of the ninth with an 8-6 lead which meant it was “Treinen Time.” Treinen took the mound and struck out the first two hitters he faced. Shin-Soo Choo then stepped into the batter’s box and hit a soft line drive to Marcus Semien for the final out of the game.

The A’s won the game 8-6 and upped their record for the season to 86-57. They have now won three consecutive games and have guaranteed that they will win this series with the Rangers. The A’s are now 11-0-2 in their previous 13 home series which is the longest single-season home series unbeaten streak in Oakland history.

Ryan Buchter (4-0) received credit for the victory and Blake Treinen of the A’s picked up his 37th save. Chris Martin (1-4) of the Rangers was hung with the loss.

The Astros beat the Red Sox on Saturday 5-3 in Boston so the A’s will stay 3.5 games back of Houston. The Mariners host the Yankees on Saturday night.

Bob Melvin analyzes the game

Performances worth remembering

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  • Khris Davis hit his 41st home run of the season in the home half of the first inning. He now has 10 round-trippers off Rangers pitching.
  • Jed Lowrie hit his 36th double of the year in this contest, which ties him with Nick Swisher for third most for switch hitters in A’s history.
  • Stephen Piscotty doubled in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
  • Matt Olson’s 25 home runs lead the American League for most HR’s by a first baseman.
  • Chad Pinder hit his 11th home run of 2018 in the sixth inning – a solo shot.
  • The Rangers Shin-Soo Choo has reached base in 15 out of 17 games versus the A’s this year.
  • Jurickson Profar hit his 16th home run of the season in the fourth inning off Jackson.

Pitching was a group effort in this game

A’s

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  • Starter Edwin Jackson was credited for just 3.0 innings and was dinged for four runs (all earned) off five hits. He struck out five and walked just one but gave up two home runs.
  • Shawn Kelley was back after his kitchen accident and pitched a perfect inning with two K’s.
  • Lou Trivino worked a perfect inning of relief.
  • Fernando Rodney was charged with blown save for giving up the two-run shot to Beltre.
  • The A’s used eight pitchers.
  • Oakland pitching gave up six runs (all earned) off six hits. They walked just one batter. A’s pitchers struck out 12 Texas hitters. They did give up three home runs.

Rangers

  • The Rangers used five pitchers in the game.
  • All but one of those hurlers gave up at least one earned one. Ouch!
  • Eddie Butler was the only reliever not to give up a run.
  • Texas pitchers gave up eight runs (all earned) on nine hits. They struck out seven and walked six. The Rangers also issued three home runs to A’s hitters.

Up next

The series wraps tomorrow at 1:05 PM when the Rangers send RHP Ariel Jurado (2-4, 6.00) to the mound to face the A’s RHP Trevor Cahill (6-3, 3.60).

Oakland A’s podcast with Joey Friedman: A’s need every win in this Rangers series starting tonight

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Joey:

#1 The Houston Astros never quit. They’re just 3 1/2 games ahead of the A’s with five straight wins and a convincing win over the Minnesota Twins 9-1 on Wednesday at Minute Maid Field.

#2 Alex Bergman hit for five RBIs on Wednesday as the Astros have some different player to come through every other day and they manage to stay ahead of the A’s in what can be called a real race in the AL West.

#3 The A’s meanwhile beat the New York Yankees two out of three and they out foxed and outbombed the Bronx Bombers’ best pitcher Luis Severino 8-2 with some early hitting.

#4 The A’s go up against the Texas Rangers tonight. The Rangers are 26 games out of first place. The season is finished for the Rangers, but as they say in the show, anything can happen on any given day and the A’s need every game of this series.

#5 The A’s need this series if they want to continue to chip away at the Astros. It starts Friday night at the Coliseum, the Rangers will start Yovani Gallardo (8-3) and the A’s will start Chris Bassitt (2-3).

Joey does the A’s podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s honor their very best in the Hall of Fame class, then go out and beat Yanks 8-2

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Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Big night for the Oakland A’s honoring their Hall of Fame class of 2018 of ex-owner Charlie O Finley, Jim Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, and Dennis Eckersley.

#2 You gotta love it when Rickey gave his speech and said, “I’m the youngest player up here” and “I’ve been called back here four or five times already.”

#3 Everybody got one of those green jackets that were for the honorees in the A’s Hall of Fame. There’s a lot of hard work that went into earning that jacket.

#4 The A’s got an 8-2 win over the New York Yankees and got great pitching out of starter Mike Fiers to take the series 2-1.

#5 The A’s open up a three-game series with the Texas Rangers. Each series is important as the A’s are trying to chip away at the Astros and Yankees in the AL West and Wild Card races.

Jerry does the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s drop 4.5 games back in wild card; 3.5 back in AL West after loss to Yankees

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Photo credit: @athletics_fanly

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

The Oakland A’s are closing in on everybody. They’re 4 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card race. The A’s are 3 1/2 games back and wouldn’t they love to win the division? The A’s are certainly getting a good mix of pitching from the starters and relievers.

The A’s will be introducing all their living Hall of Fame inductees: Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, and Helen Hunter (Jim Catfish Hunter’s widow) will be on hand on Wednesday night at the Oakland Coliseum for the tribute.

Charlie O does the A’s podcast each Tuesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Piscotty’s inspiration on team is part of the reason for record run at postseason

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Photo credit: @retrosimba

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

Oakland A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty’s home run total at 21 is a career-high and is truyly having a remarkable season at the plate. Piscotty was pronounced with 60 extra base hits in 2016 with the St. Louis Cardinals, but his hitting hit a slump in 2017 as Piscotty’s mom was suffering from ALS.

In the offseason, Piscotty worked out a deal moving from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Oakland A’s so he could be closer to his mother in Pleasanton, Calif. Piscotty cared for his mother after each home game, putting her to bed and feeding her.

Piscotty’s care for his mother Gretchen lasted until May at her passing and later Piscotty began to swing the bats with great production. The team was inspired and now the A’s are in the hunt for an AL West title.

Amaury does the A’s Spanish radio play-by-play, serves as vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Museum Hall of Fame, and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Khris “Krush” Davis joins Jimmie Foxx in three straight years of hitting 40 home runs or more

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photo from athleticsnation.com file: Oakland A’s slugger Khris Davis (2) joins former A’s slugger Jimmie Foxx for hitting at least 40 or more home runs per season for three consecutive years

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND — On Saturday September 1, 2018, Oakland Athletics’ designated hitter Khris Davis hit his 40th home run at the Oakland Coliseum against Seattle reliever Alex Colomé. Davis joined Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (1932-34) of the Philadelphia Athletics as the only two players in three consecutive years to have 40 home run seasons in the A’s franchise. Khris Davis came to the A’s in 2016–that season he ended with 42 home runs and 102 runs batted in, 2017–43 home runs and 110 runs batted in, and as of the conclusion of Sept. 1–40 home runs and 105 runs batted in. Originally a left fielder, he is the A’s everyday DH. A quiet player that goes on with his business. Davis is a 30-year-old, Lakewood, Calif. native. His mother was born in Guadalajara, México. He has played on a “year to year” contract since he arrived with the A’s, making $10.5 million this season.

Here is the all-time list of players who have accomplished this feat: Babe Ruth, NYY 1926-32, Alex Rodriguez, 1998-2003, Sammy Sosa (1998-2003), Ken Griffey Jr. (1996-2000), Ralph Kiner (1947-1951), Ryan Howard (2006-09), Albert Pujols (2003-06), Jim Thome (2001-04), Mark McGwire (1996-99), Ernie Banks (1957-1960), Duke Snider (1953-56), David Ortiz (2004-06), Barry Bonds (2000-02), Vinny Castilla (1996-98), Andres Galarraga (1996-98), Juan Gonzalez (1996-98), Jay Buhner (1995-97), Frank Howard (1968-1970), Ted Kluszewski (1953-55), Eddie Mathews (1953-55), and of course, Jimmie Foxx (1932-34).

Listen to the A’s games on KIQI 1010AM/990AM in San Francisco, Oakland, San José, Sacramento, Stockton and the Valley. Also, on the SAP line on A’s television.