Tag: Matt Olson

Sad Saturday Night in Seattle for the A’s

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
7-6b
Matt Olson rounds the bases after hitting home run number 18 Photo: @Athletics

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland A’s hoped to guarantee a series win in their final set before the All-Star Break by downing the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night. That opportunity to win the series will now have to happen on Sunday in the “rubber game” of the three-game series after the A’s lost to the M’s 6-3 on Saturday night.

The A’s staked their starting pitcher Chris Bassitt to a 2-0 lead through three innings, but the game took a dramatic turn in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bassitt gave up four runs off just four hits.

With Domingo Santana on at first and no one out, DH Daniel Vogelbach launched the first pitch from Bassitt high into the right-field seats to tie the game at 2-2. The next batter, Omar Narvaez, singled to right. Kyle Seager then hit a 2-0 pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run home run. The inning ended with the M’s up 4-2, and they would never look back after that frame.

Focus on the A’s

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Graphic/Photo: @Athletics
  • Bassitt was charged with the loss and his record fell to 5-4 on the season. Bassitt gave up multiple home runs for the first time since May 21st in Cleveland. This was just the second time in 14 games that he had allowed more than three runs.
  • Matt Olson hit his 18th home run of the year in the third inning. Those 18 round-trippers have come in just 50 games. Interesting fact: 12 of his 18 home runs have been hit on the road.
  • Ramon Laureano put another home run in the scorebook. He hit his 15th HR of the season in the top of the ninth inning. Seven of his home runs and 22 of his 44 RBI have come in the last 22 games.
  • Bob Melvin said after the game, “He (Bassitt) got off to a good start, he was throwing hard. Everything looked like it was working. Then, he ends up getting a couple of two-run homers and now we’re behind. Maybe not his best outing and I just couldn’t let something happen with Vogelbach at the plate. Looks like he had good stuff today, it just happened quickly on him.”

Mariner’s notes

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Gonzales recorded his 10th win Photo: @Mariners
  • Marco Gonzales recorded his 10th win of the season in this game. He worked 8.0-innings giving up two runs (both earned) on five hits. Gonzales struck out six and walked just one. He has now recorded 10 wins before the All-Star Break in back-to-back seasons.
  • Daniel Vogelbach hit his 21st home run the year on Saturday night. The launch angle on his home run was 43 degrees. It was truly a “moon shot”.
  • Kyle Seager ended an 0-for-21 streak at the plate when he hit his two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. This was his first HR since June 21.
  • There has been a home run hit in each one of the Mariners first 93 games this season. That is an MLB record.
  • Bob Melvin on Marco Gonzales: “It seems like we’ve played that game against him where we’ve had him on the ropes early in the game and he’s limited the damage and ended up going seven or eight innings. It feels like we’ve played that game quite often against him. So you’ve got to give him some credit. We would have liked to have (done) a little bit more damage early on and scored a few more runs and got a little more distance but we didn’t and he settles in and pitches well.”

Up next

RHP Daniel Mengden (3-1, 4.67 ERA) will take the hill on Sunday for the A’s. The M’s will use RHP Matt Carasiti (0-0, 1.80 ERA) to open the game with the plan being to turn the game over to Wade LeBlanc as the primary pitcher. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM PDT.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s close out road trip, taking 2 out of 3 from Rays; Oakland City Council questioning new A’s ballpark

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photo from newsday.com: Oakland Athletics’ Ramon Laureano connects for a grand slam off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Colin Poche during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 12, 2019, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

On the A’s on podcast with Jerry F:

#1 The Oakland A’s Ramon Laureano’s grand slam was certainly a huge part of the A’s 6-2 win on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

#2 The A’s had a decent road trip, finishing two games over .500 at 6-4, a nine-game swing that took them to Anaheim, Arlington, and Tampa Bay.

#3 The A’s Matt Olson is swinging the bats he clouted his 11th home run of the season with a home run off Rays pitcher Yonny Chirinos.

#4 Tampa has a potent line up being first in their division and very difficult to get a win at Tropicana Field and the Rays being tied with the New York Yankees in the American League East for first place the A’s came away from Tampa with two wins out of the three game series.

#5 The A’s still have a lot of work in front of them as they open up a ten game homestand starting Friday night against the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners will start Marco Gonzalez (6-6, 4.77 ERA) and for Oakland Chris Bassitt (3-2, 3.57 ERA).

#6 With the Oakland City Council not ready to vote on moving forward with approving the plans at Howard Terminal for the A’s new ball park.

#7 Oakland City Councilman Dan Kalb didn’t beat around the bush he made it clear that Council members want a full understanding about how finances for infrastructure and one of their biggest issues is on public transportation while the gondola from 12th Street BART to Jack London Square is a start Kalb is asking the A’s for a more comprehensive plan for public transit for the public to get to and from the ball park.

#8 In answer to the Council’s concerns on these issues, Oakland A’s media relations manager Catherine Aker said the team is working on an infrastructure plan. The A’s are expected to ask the city for $200 million for infrastructure plans.

#9 This was the same amount the Oakland Raiders asked for in order to build a new stadium, but the Raiders never got a deal with the city. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said public tax dollars will not be used for the project but a special tax around the new ball park a district tax will help pay for the infrastructure plans, including taxes coming from the 3,000 housing units and a 400-room hotel.

Listen for Jerry’s podcasts each Thursday on Oakland A’s baseball at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Texas two-step becomes a nasty trip and fall as A’s lose both games of the doubleheader on Saturday

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
Tex Beltre
Beltre’s number was retired before game two began Photo: @Rangers

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Major League Baseball teams are totally unequipped to play doubleheaders in this new century. The doubleheader used to be a mainstay of the annual baseball schedule. My late father and I would deliberately plan to attend Cincinnati Reds games when doubleheaders were on the schedule. You bought one ticket and got to watch two games.

Then a few years ago, some bean counter in a Major League team’s front office figured out that his/her team was losing money by allowing fans to see two games for the price of one, and the traditional doubleheader died a sudden death. The era of the day-night doubleheader was born in order to squeeze every dime out the fans that can be had by every team in both leagues.

On Saturday, the A’s and Texas Rangers played a day-night doubleheader. The teams were rained out on April 13 and had a game to make up, so Saturday became the day the teams would play two games. It was the first doubleheader to be played in Arlington, Texas since September 30, 2012.

If you are the A’s, you hope for a sweep, will settle for a split and fear a being swept. Unfortunately for the Athletics, their worst fears came true on Saturday.

Game One

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Photo/Graphic: @Athletics

LHP Joe Palumbo made his Major League debut in the first game of the doubleheader. The A’s sent RHP Paul Blackburn to the hill for his first start of the 2019 season.

The Rangers jumped on Blackburn in the bottom of the first scoring three runs and taking a lead they would never give up. Texas put two more runs up on the board in the third inning to take a 5-0 lead over the A’s.

Oakland mounted a comeback in the fourth inning when Matt Olson hit his eighth home run of the season with Khris Davis on base. Later, Josh Phegley hit a double to drive in Chad Pinder and Ramon Laureano. The score was 5-4 with Texas leading as the game went the bottom of the fourth.

Texas put up another run on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Elvis Andrus hit his 12th double of the year driving Shin-Soo Chin home to score to give the Rangers a 6-4 lead.

The Rangers added four more runs in the home half of the fifth inning. The big blow came when Tim Federowicz hit a three-run home run that made the score 10-4 in favor of Texas.

Oakland would score one more time when Josh Phegley hit his eighth home run of the season over the left field wall. The score at that point was Texas 10, Oakland 5 which would ultimately be the final score.

Jeffery Springs (4-1) who came on in the fifth inning to relieve Palumbo was credited with the win. He pitched 3.0-innings giving up one run (earned) off two hits. Blackburn (0-1) took the loss for Oakland.

Game Two

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Photo/Graphic:@Athletics

If you hung around for game two, you are a true fan. The twin bill took over 10 hours to complete because the stadium had to be emptied before the ticket holders for game two were allowed to reenter. They did have a nice crowd of 39,514 on hand as the Rangers retired Adrian Beltre’s number 29 before the game began.

The A’s drew first blood in the game when Mark Canha hit his 10th homer of the season off Adrian Sampson into left-center field in the top of the fourth inning. It would be the only run the A’s would score in the contest.

Texas put their first runs in the scorebook in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jeff Mathis hit a single to left that sent Danny Santana home and Ronald Guzman to second. Delino DeShields then hit a sacrifice fly to right field that allowed Ronald Guzman to score. After five complete innings, Texas held a 2-1 lead.

The Rangers would score again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Danny Santana hit his second triple of the year driving Rougned Odor home to score the third and final run of the game for Texas. That was all the scoring the Rangers would need as they would win the game 3-1.

Adrian Sampson (5-3) was the winning pitcher as he won his first complete game in his major league career. Sampson gave up one run (earned) off four hits. He struck out seven while issuing only one walk.

Chris Bassitt (3-2) was hung with the loss. Bassitt gave up three runs (all earned) on five hits. He struck out five Rangers and walked two.

Up Next

The four-game series wraps up on Sunday at 12:05 PM PDT. The A’s will send Frankie Montas (7-2, 2.83) to the mound to stop the two-game losing streak. The Rangers will counter with Drew Smyly (1-4, 7.93). On paper, it would the advantage would go to the A’s.

 

 

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: A’s get the long ball from Chapman and Canha

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photo from sfgate.com: Oakland Athletics’ Matt Chapman, right, is congratulated by Robbie Grossman (8) after hitting a two-run home run off Seattle Mariners pitcher Mike Leake in the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Oakland, Calif.

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

#1 How annoying in the A’s win streak was that game that was canceled on the count of no rain in Detroit two Sundays ago that very well could have been win number 4 and the A’s could have 11 straight on Monday?

#2 During the Mariners series in Oakland, there was little doubt that the struggle they had with them in Seattle to start the road trip last week was on their minds.

#3 The A’s got off to a shaky start after opening up their season in Tokyo. To go from a regular season line up with a 15-hour time difference and then revert to the preseason. Was that all part of their rough start?

#4 Charlie O, you said this was going to be a good A’s team at sometime this season with all the talent they have here with Canha, Semien, Chapman, Olson, Profar, Laureano, and Phegley, that they were eventually were go to break out the bats.

#5 Mariners manager Scott Servais got tossed for arguing a challenge call in the bottom of the seventh inning that saw Canha slide into second that he felt was an out. Later, the A’s got two runs on M’s shortstop Roenis Elias’ error and Profar later hit a groundout RBI. A’s manager Bob Melvin said he would have argued the umpiring crew waited to long to make a decision on the play.

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

A’s Long Balls Key in 6-2 win over M’s; 7th straight for Oakland

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

sfgate.com photo: Oakland Athletics’ Matt Olson, right, celebrates with Stephen Piscotty (25) and Marcus Semien, center, after hitting a three-run home run off Seattle Mariners’ Wade LeBlanc during the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 24, 2019, in Oakland, Calif.


By Matt Harrington


The Oakland A’s mashed three home runs to beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 and take game one of the weekend series. Matt Olson, Mark Canha and Stephen Piscotty all went deep for Oakland in a seventh-straight win.

Daniel Mengden started for the A’s going four innings and allowing a run on a Domingo Santana RBI single in the top of the first. Oakland would hit two two-run shots in the bottom of the fourth off M’s starter Wade LeBlanc, but Mengden was ineligible for the win after not reaching five innings.

The A’s added a run on a steal and wild throw in the bottom of the seventh, answering back after the M’s scored in the top of the frame to make it 4-2 at the time. Piscotty then took Connor Sadzeck deep in the bottom of the eighth.

Lou Trivino picked up the win after getting the final out of the seventh and finishing off the eighth. Blake Treinen closed out the ninth in a non-save. 

Olson and Canha went back to back in the fourth innning to get the A’s an early jump, Canha filling in for injured DH Khris Davis has been on a tear lately replacing the major league home run leader in the line up, “If you’re looking for a replacement for Khris, that’s the guy, he feels good at the plate, he’s getting good swings, seeing some pitches, taking some walks. Really good.” said A’s manager Bob Melvin.

A’s outfielder Stephen Piscotty had a big night with the homer and two singles, putting him a 22 consecutive games to get on base leading the majors in reaching base. 

A’s starter Daniel Mengden started out the game walking four M’s hitters, but later A’s reliever Lou Trivino, who got the win and was the fourth of five pitchers was able to get four of five hitters out. 

Notes: Oakland A’s P.A. announcer Dick Callahan acknowledged A’s Spanish play by play announcer and our very own talk show host Amaury Pi-Gonzalez on the A’s scoreboard, who missed most of the first two months of the season after having surgery. Amaury looks great and says he’s been anxious to get back to work. 

Today’s 1:07 pm starters at the Oakland Coliseum for the Seattle Mariners Yusei Kikuchi (3-1, 3.43 ERA) vs. Oakland A’s starter Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.05 ERA).


Matt Harrington covers A’s baseball each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O: Canha homers in first game back; Khrush Davis belts two homers for A’s

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Photo credit: nbcsports.com

On the A’s podcast with Charlie O:

#1 Was the decision to designate Kendrys Morales for assignment the right thing to do. Morales joined the A’s after Matt Olson broke a bone in his right hand, Morales but ended up hitting .204, one homer and seven RBIs.

#2 Pitcher Edwin Jackson has been on 14 different major league teams, and this week, the Oakland A’s dealt him to that 14th team, the Toronto Blue Jays. Jackson is expected to get a start this week and he’ll join the Jays in San Francisco as Toronto is in San Francisco for a two game series. Jackson is 6-3, 3.33 ERA.

#3 Ironically, Mark Canha has come full circle after Morales replaced him on the roster. Canha now replaces Morales. Canha homered in his first game with the A’s on Monday night and Charlie talks about what it means to have Canha back in the lineup again.

#4 It’s a while, but Khris Davis slugged two home runs at Safeco Field on Monday night for his 11th and 12th homers of the season. Davis looks like he’s got that old swing back again.

#5 Taking a look at Tuesday night’s pitchers at Safeco, the Oakland A’s will be starting with Brett Anderson (4-2, 4.19 ERA) for the Seattle Mariners Mike Leake (2-4, 4.37 ERA).

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

Home Heroics Take A Day: A’s fail to rally, lose series finale to the Indians

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — No longer stuck in last place after winning four of five, the A’s could have leapfrogged the Mariners, Rangers and Angels in the AL West on Sunday by sweeping the Indians at the Coliseum.

Instead, they couldn’t muster a third day of last at-bat heroics, losing the series finale to Cleveland, 5-3. Now the A’s face a far, different reality: hitting the road for a nine-game trip–where they’ve been dreadful–while staring at a season-worst 7 1/2 game deficit behind the first place Astros.

Call it the Mother’s Day swing, and we’re not talking about Dallas Braden parading his grandmother across the diamond. At some point, the A’s figure to play better baseball, but they don’t want to get to far behind in the division. Back-to-back playoff appearances would be great, but the A’s want no part of the crap shoot as a wild card again.

“You’re not playing great, you’ve got to find ways to win the games,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We did, obviously some dramatic and late. The offense still isn’t what we expect it to be. It will come around.”

Offensively, the A’s weren’t much better than they were on the 1-8 road trip that ended a week ago. They foraged 43 hits and a barely bearable 17 runs on the six-game home stand, but they won. Winning four of six was a nice bounce back, but not quite what 5-1 would have meant.

“Would have liked to sweep them today, but [if] we keep winning series, we’ll be in a good spot,” said Matt Olson, who advanced his offensive game by homering for the first time this season.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Olson hurt; A’s swept in Tokyo; Bad start to ’19 season for A’s

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nbcsports.com photo: Oakland A’s first baseman Matt Olson injured his right hand fouling off a ball Thursday in Tokyo against the Seattle Mariners. Olson could be out for months.

On the Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg:

#1 Oakland A’s Gold Glover Matt Olson fouled a pitch off his right hand while swinging against the Seattle Mariners. The hand will be further looked at by team doctors once the A’s arrive back in the Bay Area from Tokyo on Thursday night.

#2 Olson couldn’t grip the bat after the foul ball and that sounds like the diagnosis for a hamate bone injury. If so Olson could be lost for months. Jerry explains the hamate bone injury.

#3 What was tough for the Olson injury is Olson didn’t miss a game all last season. He played in all 162 regular season games for the A’s. This was game two and already the talk was he could be out for a few months.

#4 The other big news was that Ichiro played in his very last game for the Seattle Mariners and his baseball career. Ichiro failed to get a hit and has hit .086 in spring training.

#5 The A’s host the Los Angeles Angels for a four-game series at the Oakland Coliseum starting on Thursday afternoon on March 28th. The A’s had a huge media contingent last season opening day when Shohei Ohtani and the Angels came to Oakland. This season Ohtani who had off season Tommy John surgery will not be back until June or July and will only be a DH.

Jerry does the Oakland A’s podcast each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: A’s Golden Pillars–Chapman and Olson

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Photo credit: @Athletics

By: Amaury Pi-González

The dictionary definition of “pillars” is a firm upright support for a superstructure.

The Matt Dudes are those pillars in the corners for the A’s superstructure. Third baseman Matt Chapman and first baseman Matt Olson won their first (of many in the near future) Gold Gloves for their defensive excellence. The A’s infield was one of the best defensively in the game, second-baseman Jed Lowrie, who enjoyed his best season ever, was the runner up to Ian Kinsley of the Angels and Red Sox for the Gold Glove at second base in the AL.

Chapman’s first Gold Glove came as he ended as #1 in all of MLB (at any position) with 29 defensive runs saved. Chapman is so good that he might also win the Platinum Glove Award, which is given each year to the best player in the Majors among all positions. In other words, the best fielder in baseball,period. Since he came to the A’s, we knew of his reputation with the Gold Glove and he showed it this 2018 season. Olson won it on his third season in the Majors and his first full year of play. Olson ended as #1 among all first basemen with 14 defensive runs saved.

While the A’s will announce soon where their new ballpark is going to be build in Oakland, the organization already building a solid team that won 97 games last year who advanced into the playoff as a Wild Card team. Two of those young stars have been awarded with respective Gold Gloves. Chapman and Olson have an innate ability for fielding. Those types of players are adored by pitchers, because they can do stuff with their gloves that pitchers appreciate and many times are the difference between a win or a loss.

Chapman and Olson, who are also very good friends, both deserve the award. Usually there is less controversy when it comes to fielding, and these two showed us why.

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.