Tag: Los Angeles Angels

Halos Cobb does the job shuts out A’s 4-0 at Coliseum

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Los Angeles Angels starter Alex Cobbs delivers a pitch against the Oakland A’s in the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum Sat May 29, 2021 in game three of the four game series (AP News photo)

Los Angeles (AL) 4- 9 – 0

Oakland 0 – 3 – 1

By Lewis Rubman

Sat May 29, 2021

OAKLAND– Two of the question marks about the A’s had about their rotation when they returned home from Anaheim on the 27th have been changed to exclamation points after Wednesday night’s masterly complete game shut out of the Angels by Chris Bassett and last night’s stellar 6-2/3 inning gutsy showing against them by Sean Manea. This afternoon we had a chance to see if Frankie Montás would continue this trend of improvement. He almost did.

The bullpen, however, remains unsettled. Perhaps because of the extra day´s rest Bassett´s route going performance gave them, the A’s relievers (at least the two of them who saw action last night) were sharp and effective over 2-1/3 innings.

Nonetheless, it’s a matter of concen that, while the Athletics’s relief corps converted 12 saves out of 13 opportunities and compiled an ERA of 2.32 in the team’s first 29 games in spite of the season opening six game losing streak, in the pen’s last 13 games, it has earned only two saves while blowing four.

During that time, its ERA has been a whopping 6.56 and opposing teams have ganged up on it for a BA of .285. This afternoon, the pen’s performance was excellent.

Oakland intends to activate Jesús Luzardo tomorrow. So, there does seem to be hope in the pitching department.

Ramón Laureano was missing from the starting line up for the second straight game, due to a pulled groin that has him day to day.

Although the Angel’s starter, Alex Cobb is new to the Halos this year, he has nine years of big league experience with Tampa Bay and Baltimore. The basic numbers for this season that he brought to the mound this afternoon, 2-2, 4.78, are pretty much in line with his totals for those nine previous years, 55-57, 3.88, taking into account the violentswings in ERAs that are prevalent this early in the season. He pitched brillantly today.

Slopppy play by the Oakland battery enabled the Angels to fly ahead in the top of the fifth. Rojas led off with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch during Anthony Bemboon´s at bat. Bemboon singled to right, sending Rojas to third.

David Fletcher bunted towards first, making hard enough contact to enable Olson to charge down the line, field the ball cleanly, and flip it like a frisibee in time for Aramis García, who was waiting at home, to tag Rojas. Only he didn’t tag him.

The ball bounced off the catcher’s mitt, Rojas scored, and Bemboom reached second. The play was ruled a fielder’s choice with an error charged to García. After Justin Upton flew out to left for the second out, Ohtani, who had yet to get a hit in the series, came to the plate. Before he could do anything, Montás unleashed a wild pitch that scored Bemboon and allowed Fletcher to reach second.

Then Ohtani lined a single to left that drove in Fletcher. He proceeded to steal second on a pitchso far outside that García made a nice play merely to catch it. Rendon’s single to right drove in Ohtani with the Halos’ fourth unearned run of the frame. Things were beginning to look like a mirror image of Wednesday´s game between these two teams.

Montás was pitching a nice comeback inning in the sixth, having struck out Lagares and Rojas, when Kean Wong´s double off the right center field wall drove him out of the box. Cam Bedrosian replaced him for the next inning and a third.

Montás had thrown 98 pitches, 68 of them strikes. 10% of the remaining 30 were wild pitches. He’d gone 5-2/3 innings and allowed four runs, none of which was earned, on six hits. He walked only one batter, but that was offset by his three wild pitches. He notched seven Ks.

Deolis Guerra took over for Montás to start the eighth and stayed on for an inning and a third, leaving in the top of the ninth with a runner on first after having struck out two Angels and yielded a walk and a hit but no runs. That was because Sergio Romo stranded Fletcher, who had gotten the hit, at first, striking out Upton and getting Ohtani to foul out to third. Ohtani, by the way, went 2 for 5 for the day.

Cobb had pitched a terrific game for Los Angeles before being lifted after seven innings, replaced by southpaw Tony Watson. The veteran starter had shut the Athletics out on three hits and wo walks. He struck out eight. He did this on 101 pitches, 58 strikes. For the ninth, Raisel Iglesias took over for Watson, who had retired the A’s in order in his one inning of work, and did the same in his.

The series and the homestand will end tomrrow. The Athletics plan to pitch Cole Irvin (3-6, 3.92) against José Quintana (0-3, 7.92), both of them southpaws.

A’s reach out and touch up Ohtani for runs in the 6th and 7th for 3-1 win

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Los Angeles (AL) 1 – 6 – 1

Oakland         3 – 5-  1

By Lewis Rubman

Fri May 28, 2021

Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon (right) goes out to relieve pitcher Shohei Ohtani (17) in the seventh inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Fri May 28, 2021

OAKLAND–In Spanish, Major League Baseball is called la gran carpa, The Big Top. And Shohei Ohtani is a three ring circus; he can hit, pitch, and field with the best of them. He  was scheduled to pitch for the Angels when they opened a four game series against the A’s Thursday night at the Coliseum, but San Francisco’s rush hour traffic delayed his arrival long enough to prevent him from completing his preparation for his mound duties.

Instead, he batted second as the Angel’s DH and went 0 for three, postponing his season’s mound debut against the A’s until Friday night. He brought a 1-0, 3.69 record with him. Neither his batting average of .266 nor his 1-0, 3.69 pitching record is, at first glance,  impressive numbers, but that changes on closer examination.

As a batter, Ohtani had an OPS of .944 with 15 home runs in 177 bats before the day began. That’s a homer for every 11.8 ABs.  only three earned runs in his last 20-2/3 innings.

In spite of his respectable but not outstanding ERA, all of the runs scored against him came in five of the 32 innings he’d pitched. Ohtani has great movement on the ball until the A’s reached him for a run in the sixth inning and was relieved by Steven Cishek in the 3-1 Oakland victory.

He features a  four seamer, a slider, and a split finger fast ball, in that order of frequency, and he mixes them effectively. Going into tonight’s game, hitters were batting .049 in 42 at bats against his splitter this year, a figure that is consistent with his lifetime performance in MLB of .050 in an even hundred ABs. His fastest pitch so far this season was 101.1 mph.

The numbers for Oakland’s  starter, Sean Manaea,  3-2, 4.17, aren’t particularly prepossessing. He started the season poorly, getting knocked about by Houston in his first start, when he needed 101 pitches to get through 4-2/3 innings in which he gave up five runs on six hits and a walk.

His next four starts, in which he went 3-0, 1.50, including a seven inning complete game shutout at the Coliseum, were more successful.  He finished April at 3-1, 2.83.

But this month  has proved a disaster for him.  In his five May starts before today, he received the decision only once, an 8-1 loss at Fenway in which he lasted a mere two innings.

His earned run average so far this month was 5.68. Any mention of Manaea and the Red Sox has to include the no hitter he pitched against them on April 21, 2018 in the Coliseum.

For a moment it looked as if the Angels would draw first blood in the top of the third, when with no out and David Fletcher on first with a walk, Justin Upton, who had opened the game with a ground out to short, sent a seeing eye low drive in the hole between Andrus and Chapman, putting men on first and second and the numbers two, three, and four batters coming to the plate.  Manaea  got the powerful Jared Walsh to go down swinging at round house curves.

Then Anthony Rendon sent a hard liner to right center that Mark Canha, filling in for Ramon Laureano, tracked down and captured for the second out. That brought up clean up hitter Juan Legares. He hit a hard grounder Jed Lowrie, made a wonderful back hand stab to catch and a crisp throw to first to end the inning.

Things began to heat up in a less pleasant way when Ohtani nearly beaned Canha with a 94 mph fast ball, which caused both dugouts to empty. But things quieted down, and Canha struck out into a double play, ex-Athletic cathcer Kurt Suzuki threw to shortstop José Rojas to get the second out.

The exciting fielding continued with an inning ending running catch by Taylor Ward of Tony Kemp´s liner to right field to end the inning. Seth Brown topped that by making a diving grab of  Phil Gooselin’s dying quail just inside the right field foul line that opened the Los Angeles fourth, an inning in which Manaea retired the Angels in order.

 The Angels increased the pressure on Manaea in the top of the fifth. Suzuki led off with a slicing double to left. David Fletcher bunted him over to third. Manaea walked Upton and once more had to deal with Walsh in a dangerous situation. This time, he got the slugger to ground into a double play, Andrus to Olson, on a 93 mph sinker.

All the while, Ohtani was breezing through the Oakland line up, yielding only a pair of base on balls and and then Andrus’s single in the third before Andrus got his second single, to center, like first. This time, Canha was almost hit by a pitch.

Ohtani plunked him with a four seamer that travelled 92 mph. Kemp lay down a beautiful bunt that Ohtani fielded, considered throwing third but decided to get the sure out at first, and the A’s had runners on second and third with one down.

Olson sent a fly to deep left field, a very different sort of sacrifice than Kemp’s bunt in front of home but equally effective in moving up both runners. One of those was, of course, Canha, who scored the first run of the game for either team. Ohtani’s strike out of Seth Brown seemed anti-climactic.

Oakland’s lead was short lived. A one out Texas League single to left center by Rojas, a sacrifice by Suzuki, and Fletcher´s single to left, and the game was tied at one, ending Manaea’s  tenure on the mound.  Yusmeiro Petit came in to face the top of the Angels’ order. He did it successfully by wiffing Upton, staying on to throw a 1-2-3 top of the eighth.

Manaea left the game with 6-2/3 innings under his belt. He gave up six hits but only one run, which was earned. He walked three and struck out eight. 61 of his 94 pitches were strikes. After ths gutsy performance, Manaea’s ERA dropped to 3.86, but he had to settle for a no decision.

Ohtani weakened in the seventh. He issued two straight walks, to Lowrie and Moreland, to open the frame. Chapman’s single to left would have loaded the bases with no outs, but Upton fumbled it, and his error allowed Lowrie to score the run that put Oakland ahead, 2-1.

That was all for Ohtani. Steve Cishek, who relieved him, surrendered a single to left center to Murphy, which plated Moreland and put Chapman on third. Cishek also induced an inning ending around the horn  double play. His work done, he yielded to reliever Mike Mayers after the inning was over.

It was Lou Trivino who was given the task of closing out the game out for the green and gold. 

For sixth innings, Ohtani had pitched a beautiful game. He left it with a line of three runs, all earned but two of them scored after he was gone, allowed on three hits and four walks and a hit batter. 54 of his 93 offerings were strikes. For all that, he took the loss.

It was Lou Trivino who was given the task of closing out the game for the green and gold.

He set LA down in order to get his seventh save. The win went to Petit, his seventh of the year.             

Before the game, the  A’s announced that that they had placed left handed reliever Reymin Guduan on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 26 with a strained right groin and that they had replaced him on the roster with the righty relief pitcher Jordan Weems.

They also made another move, one that could be more significant, by taking  A.J. Puk off the injured list and optioning  him to AAA Las Vegas, one short step away from the big club, who’ll probably use him, at least the first step, from the bull pen.

The schedule for the remaining games in the current A’s home stand is:

Saturday, May 29, Oakland Frankie Montás (5-4, 4.92) will face Los Angeles Alex Cobb (2-2, 4.78) at 1:07.

Sunday, May 30, it will be Oakland Cole Irvin (3-6, 3.92) against Los Angeles José Quintana (0-4, 7.92), also at 1:07) 

Monday, May 31, Oakland James Kaprielian vs. Los Angeles TBA at 1:10.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Manaea looking for win #4 starts against Angels at Oakland Coliseum tonight

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Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea throws against the Tampa Bay Rays line up in the fifth inning on Fri May 7, 2021 at the Oakland Coliseum. Manaea will start tonight against the Los Angeles Angels at the Oakland Coliseum in game 2 of the four game series (AP News file photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 It’s not often you get to see a pitcher go the distance but the Oakland A’s (30-22) starter Chris Bassitt went wire to wire on Thursday night to throw a two hit 5-0 shutout against the Los Angeles Angels (22-28) at the Oakland Coliseum.

#2 Jeremiah, Bassitt had all his pitches working for him and you have to in order to get a shutout

#3 Bassitt also struck out nine batters and walked only one batter and that right there tells you he kept the Angels off balance at the plate.

#4 It was a 0-0 game for most of the way until the last of the sixth inning when the A’s scored five runs all the runs they needed to win the ball game.

#5 Taking a look at the starters for tonight’s game at the Coliseum for the Angels Shohei Ohtani (1-0 ERA 2.37) and for the A’s Sean Manaea (3-2 ERA 4.17) talk about this match up.

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

A’s Bassitt goes the distance to shutout Angels 5-0

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The Oakland A’s starting pitcher Chris Bassitt throws to the Los Angeles Angels line up in the first inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Thu May 27, 2021 (AP News photo)

Los Angeles (AL) 0 – 2 – 1

Oakland 5 – 10 – 0

By Lewis Rubman

Thu May 27, 2021

OAKLAND–This afternoon, the A’s announced the return from the Injured List of Mitch Moreland and the concomitant return to Las Vegas of Luis Barrera, who had a demi tasse of espresso with the club while Moreland was recuperating. Moreland’s BA in the 31 games he played before his injury.

More significant was his five game hitting streak, in which he went 6 for 18. was .237 with four home runs and 15 RBI. Moreland had hit safely in each of his last five contests (6-for-18, .333). His return gives Oakland a powerful left handed designated hitter and an experienced back up first baseman for Matt Olson, allowing the team to take greater advantage of the Chad Pinder, Mark Canha, and Jed Lowrie’s versatility.

The front office also announced the opening of the Coliseum to full capacity and the end of the ban on out of state customers, starting June 29. You can get tickets and information at athletics.com/tickets. Tickets also will be on sale game days at the Coliseum Box Office on game days.

Both of those announcements were good news. They also were expected. What was not expected was that Shoei Ohtani, who had been scheduled to be tonight’s starting pitcher for Los Angeles would arrive at the ball park too late to perform his warm up routine.

As a result, he was scratched as starting pitcher. This was not just disappointing; it also was somewhat ironic because tonight was Asian American Pacific Islanders Night. Instead of pitching, Ohtani became the Angels’ designated hitter, going 0 for 3. Southpaw Patrick Sandoval (0-1, 4.96) got the nod as the visitors’ emergency starter.

The Oakland A’s got a complete game out of starter Chris Bassitt for a 5-0 shutout over the Los Angeles Angels. Neither Sandoval nor Chris Bassitt (4-2, 3.69), who took to the mound for the A’s, is as glamorous Ohtani. Sandoval gave an excellent account of himself, throwing five innings of shutout ball, in which he allowed five hits and two walks while striking out four. He threw 84 pitches, 50 for strikes, before being replaced by Aaron Slegers at the start of the Oakland sixth.

Bassett is a good, solid hurler. He got off to a slow start this season, but in his last eight starts before toeing the rubber tonight he went 4-0, with a respectable ERA of 3.26 and an opponents’ BA of .213. In half of the four no decisions of that eight game skein, he left with a lead that the Oakland bull pen couldn’t hold.

The first two and a half innings passed uneventfully, with the rivals trading zeroes. After three, they still were exchanging goose eggs, but the A’s had mounted a serious threat, loading the bases with one out on a pair of singles to right by Stephen Piscotty and Canha. But Laureano hit into an around the horn double play to squelch the incipient breakthrough.

Sandoval’s departure after five frames opened the flood gates for Oakland. After Sleger’s strike out of Laureano, Olson doubled into the left field corner. Lowrie walked. Chapman hit a grounder to deep short that Fletcher fielded and threw to third, hoping to get the force on Olson. But the threw the ball away, allowing Olson to score and Chapman to reach second on the throwing error. Murphy’s single to center drove in Lowrie and Chapman.

That was it for Slegger. Seth Brown hit for Piscotty just before Slegger was removed, replaced by Alex Claudio, who walked Brown, advancing Murphy to second. Canha loaded the bases with a single to right, the two runners moving up a base a piece.

That ended the short, unhappy stint of Slegger. Junior Guerra came in, and Tony Kemp pinch hit for Pinder. Kemp’s sacrifice fly to center brought in Brown with the A’s fifth run, all of them earned, four charged against Slegers, who would be the losing pitcher, and one to Claudio’s account. Junior Guerra finished off the inning by getting Laureano whose strike out had led it off. That was the only frame in which either team score. Guerra held the Athletics scoreless and hitlesss. the rest of the way.

Bassett got the win, and it was a beauty. It was hit first career complete game and, after an infield single to Juan Lagares ln the second frame, he didn’t allow any hits until Justin Upton doubled with one down in the ninth. The only other batter he allowed to reach base safely was his would have been mound antagonist, Ohtani, who walked in the fourth. Bassett threw 114 pitches, 70 for strikes.

Tomorrow — or, if you’re reading this after midnight, Friday, May 28 — the A’s will entrust their fortunes to southpaw Sean Manaea (3-2, 4.17) against in a game scheduled to start at 6:40. It’s probable his opposing number will be Ohtani (1-0, 2.37), but you never can tell …

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s open up four game series against Ohtani and Angels tonight

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The Los Angeles Angels starter Shohei Ohtani shown here throwing against Cleveland on Wed May 19, 2021 will start tonight against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 The performance of Oakland A’s (29-22) starter James Kaprielian going seven innings of shutout ball against the Seattle Mariners (23-27) in a 6-3 win for the A’s.

#2 Kaprielian over the seven innings he pitched gave up only two hits and had all his pitches working for him.

#3 The Seattle Mariners as a team have been struggling at the plate and have been no hit twice this season thus far.

#4 Jerry, talk about the A’s next opponent the Los Angeles Angels (22-27) are coming to the Coliseum on Thursday night for four games. For a team that is five games below .500 and have struggled you can never count the Angels out.

#5 The Angels for game one of the series will start their ace Shohei Ohtani (1-0 ERA 2.37) who fast ball was clocked five MPH less than normal against Cleveland but held Cleveland to two runs over 4.2 innings. Ohtani will be matched up against the Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt (4-2 ERA 3.69)

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

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: A’s open three game series against Seattle tonight

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The Los Angeles Angels share congratulations after their come back win against the Oakland A’s at Angels Stadium in Anaheim on Sun May 24, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 The Oakland A’s (28-20) opened up their final game with the Los Angeles Angels (20-27) the A’s Matt Olson and Seth Brown both hit home runs scoring three runs in the top of the second and a run in the third to grab an early 4-0 lead.

#2 Down 4-2 the Angels came back scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh Shohei Otani hit a sac fly to right to score Upton to tie the game. Iglesias got a base hit to score Rojas to take the lead 5-4 for the Angels.

#3 The A’s were able to tie the game for a last chance at the brass ring in the top of the eighth making as Sean Murphy got on on an infield single that scored Olson on a throwing error 5-5

#4 The Angels got a go ahead run in the bottom of the eighth when Upton hit a sac fly to left as Ward tagged up and scored which turned out to be the game winner for a 6-5 win.

#5 It’s back to the Oakland Coliseum as the Seattle Mariners will pay a visit and start pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (1-3 ERA 4.32) and the A’s will go with Frankie Montas (5-3 ERA 4.79) a 6:40 pm PDT first pitch.

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

A’s top Angels 6-2; Bassitt pitches seven plus for the win

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Oakland A’s starter Chris Bassitt throws against the Los Angeles Angels line up in the first inning on his way to a win at Angels Stadium on Sat May 22, 2021 (AP News photo)

A’s Top Angels In Game Two

By Barbara Mason

Friday night the Oakland A’s (28-19) beat the Los Angeles Angels (19-27) 8-4 at Anaheim 8-4. After two back to back losses to the Houston Astros, the A’s showed some definite signs of getting back on track with their first win against the Angels. Game Two on Saturday would be the deciding factor.

Were they really back to the play that kept them in first place in their division for weeks? Yes they were as A’s starter Chris Bassitt threw seven plus innings and held the Angels to only two runs in the 6-2 victory at Angels Stadium in Anaheim.

The Angels despite their recent struggles are still a very good ball club. A second win for the A’s would be a very promising sign that this team is back to their winning ways.

Chris Bassitt was on the mound for Oakland and Patrick Sandoval opened for the Angels. The A’s would rebound.

The A’s first inning was a good one. Mark Canha hit a triple and he scored when Matt Chapman hit a sacrifice fly. Oakland had an early 1-0 lead. Canha had a double in the third inning and would score to extend Oakland’s lead to 2-0.

Then the green and gold homeruns came to life. Matt Olson had one in the sixth inning and Aramis Garcia had a second homerun in the seventh inning for a 4-0 A’s lead. Oakland’s Seth Brown would add a third homer with Tony Kemp on base and the A’s now led 6-0. So far in this series the A’s had seven home runs and seven doubles.

It sure looked like Oakland was cruising to their second win in this series. After seven innings Chris Bassitt was still on the mound. He already had six strikeouts and continued to throw hard in the eighth inning with an 85 pitch count. He was having a great outing.

The Angels got on the board in the eighth inning when Lagares and Iglesias scored trailing Oakland 6-2. After Ohtani hit a triple Chris Bassitt left the game. There were two outs when Petit came into the game and it would be up to him to get that third out. That third out was realized in quick order and this game would go into the ninth inning,

Diekman would come in to save this game. It would be a three up, three down and into the clubhouse for Oakland to celebrate their second win in the series. Tomorrow the A’s will go for the sweep. With the Astros and the Mariners both losing the A’s were taking advantage of the inter division schedule.

Sunday the A’s will start Sean Manea (3-2 ERA 4.41) and starting for the Angels Dylan Bundy (0-5 ERA 6.02) will be on the mound for Game Three. First pitch is at 1:07 PM.

A’s Break Two Game Losing Streak Beating Angels 8-4

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The Oakland A’s Chad Pinder (4) holds onto the ball after rolling over to hold onto the baseball after Los Angeles Angels Jose Igelesias (4) hit a fly ball on Fri May 21, 2021 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim (AP News photo)

A’s Break Two Game Losing Streak Beating the Angels

By Barbara Mason

The Oakland A’s have gotten off track in their past few games. They dropped two in a row to the Houston Astros falling into second place in their division. They are now a half a game behind Houston after holding down first place for weeks.

The team is now struggling with leaving runners stranded on base. This has haunted them here and there throughout the season. They seemed to have turned it around and then it surfaced again in the Astro series. The A’s hope to leave the memory of the Houston Astros all behind them as they opened a three game series against the Los Angeles Angels with a 8-4 win.

Friday night the A’s began a three game series with the Angels who have trouble of their own with the loss of Mike Trout to injury. Kaprieliian was on the mound for Oakland and for the Angels, Quintana got the nod.

Mark Canha would give the A’s a brief lead in the third inning with his ninth home run of the year but the Angels would answer in the same inning. Jose Iglesias homered to tie up the game 1-1. Again the A’s had left runners on base through the first four innings.

In the top of the sixth inning the A’s got something going. Laureano doubled and Pinder singled. A double by Sean Murphy would drive in Laureano and Pinder. Oakland now led 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Angels Jared Walsh would make things very interesting when he homered cutting the A’s lead to 3-2. With two outs Yusmeiro Petit would take over on the mound.

It was a tough inning for Petit allowing hits by Ward, Rojas and a triple by Lagares. Ward and Rojas would both score giving the Angels their first lead of the game 4-3.

In the seventh inning the A’s had a chance to tie up the game but Mark Canha was thrown out at home, the second time for the A’s in this game. Matt Olson was also thrown out at home in the third inning. With two outs in the seventh Chad Pinder would knock the ball out of the park to give the A’s the lead back 6-4. It was time for another pitching change for Anaheim.

Anthony Rendon very nearly tied up the game but Ramon Laureano stole a probable home run hit deep in center field. Laureano leaped up to snag the ball and save the lead for the A’s. We have seen this same play time and time again from the center fielder.

Laureano who was 3 for 3 in this game came to the plate in the top of the ninth inning. He went 4 for 4 hitting a home run extending the A’s lead to 7-4. Oakland was not finished. Jed Lowry hit a homerun and the A’s led 8-4. It was Lowry’s fourth homer of the year.

Lou Trivino was the closer in the bottom of the ninth. The game would end on a very nice defensive play. A double play would hand the A’s the win.

It was a great win and coupled with the Astros and Mariners losing it was good news all-around for Oakland. The A’s and Angels will tangle tomorrow in Game Two. First pitch is at 7:07.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Astros were just a little better; Took two of three from Oakland

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The Houston Astros Jose Altuve returns to the dugout after scoring against the Oakland A’s in the seventh inning on Thu May 20, 2021 at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 The Oakland A’s (26-19) dropped their seventh game to the Houston Astros (26-18) for the season the A’s have defeated the Astros three times.

#2 With the win 8-4 on Thursday afternoon the Astros move a half game up on the A’s in the AL Western Division. The loss also marked the first time in 30 days that the A’s are no longer in first place. The A’s have been playing .500 ball winning five of their last ten games.

#3 The Astros Jose Altuve and Martin Maldonado both provided runs for the Astros Thursday afternoon for Houston there’s a different star everyday but someone is going to out pitch or hit a big fly on this team to beat their opponents.

#4 The A’s open a three game series against Joe Maddon and the Los Angeles Angels (19-24) on Friday night. The A’s will be starting James Kaprielian (1-0 ERA 1.80) and for the Angels Jose Quintana (0-3 ERA 8.53). The Angels have lost six of their last ten games.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: The Angels dismissal of Albert Pujols

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The Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout (right) says it hit him a lot when he found out that Albert Pujols (left) was released for assignment by the Angels and some veteran players felt it wasn’t right what happened to Pujols (photo from the New York Post)

The Angels Dismissal of Alberto Pujols

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Last week the Los Angeles Angels designated for assignment/released the future Hall of Fame player (maybe unanimously) Albert Pujols. Logically, anybody that is following the Angels knows that with Japanese two-way superstar Shohei Othani, when he doesn’t starts a game on the mound, he is the team’s Designated Hitter and the resurgence of young first baseman Jared Walsh who is hitting over .300 with enough power to hit 30 or more home-runs this year, Pujols was not getting the playing time and at bats he wanted. That is a given.

However, to designate for assignment a player of Albert Pujols caliber, on the last year of his ten-year contract at the beginning of the month of May is not something you see every day and the team made the decision after only 29 games he had participated and them showed him the door.

Management is entitled to make their decision, that is what management in a front office does, but in my book the Angels did not show much grace to a man that played and who represented them very well since he signed ten seasons ago. In retrospect; could the Angels have spoken to him and told him of the possibility that he might be let go, depending how things worked as the season unfolded?

–More on this further down–This is a very emotional decision. The Angels want to win this year, they play in the same market as the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers who have won eight consecutive Western Division titles in the National League, plus the 2020 World Series and the Angels have not made it to the Postseason since 2014, and counting, with what many still consider the best player in the game, Mike Trout.

This looked (to me) like a decision that should had been made differently. It looked like it was not thought through. The LA Angels probably believe that a man that was hitting under .200 is “done” and they want to contend this year for a division title, so they dumped Albert Pujols so that Shohei Othani and Jared Walsh could handle the DH and 1B position, without interruption.

By the way hitting under .200 for everyday players at this time in baseball history should not be the main factor. If that is the reason. then most teams most release three or four players right away. Albert Pujols is one of the best players of this or any other generation. His ten-year $240 million salary ends this season, but the Angels are still responsible for paying remainder of his $30 million this year.

I called the 600th Home-run of his career one night at Angel Stadium for Fox Sport West (Español). Pujols is as dedicated to his craft as anybody I have seen in this game, Mike Trout (who himself is on his way to a Hall of Fame career) would always look to Pujols for hitting and guidance overall, not to mention many Latino players on the team. Pujols led by example, never a scandal, always on time for practice, always there for the team, always representing the Angels and the game of baseball as good as anybody.

Albert Pujols did not want to retire; he believes he still has something left in the tank. It would be interesting to see if another team would pick up Pujols. Tony LaRussa, back as manager with the White Sox has always been a big fan and friend of the Dominican-born player, when he played in St Louis and LaRussa was his manager, however, the Chicago White Sox are a young team with Yermin Mercedes, who is often a designated hitter and who is having a very nice season. If Albert Pujols gets the opportunity to play again if would be in the American League where he can DH. We can discount the National League.

According to reports five days after his release, Pujols wanted to be released if he could not get enough playing time. Anyway we look at it; it is not a good ending of a story. In reality, we might have seen the last of a Hall of Fame player.

Albert Pujols, 41 years old. three Time National League Most Valuable Player— Rookie of the Year— ten-Time All-Star– two-World Series Titles– two Gold Glove–six-Silver Slugger–Batting Title–National League Championship Series MVP– Among the Top Five players in MLB history in Home-runs 667, Runs-batted-in 2,100, Extra-base hits 1,352.

Stay well and stay tuned.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play announcer for the Oakland Athletics Spanish radio network and on flagship station 1010 KIQI LaGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com