Tag: Oakland A’s

Oakland A’s preview: A’s open two game set in San Diego; A’s take an interest in Rangers’ Gallo

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A number of clubs have taken an interest in Texas Rangers Joey Gallo, the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland A’s so far have all stepped up to the plate in the Gallo Sweepstakes (file photo USA Today)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s continued to flounder as they lost three of the four games played against the Settle Mariners this past weekend. The A’ continued to fail to get clutch hits with runners in scoring position. Since June 18th, the A’s are 13-18. Yes, they are playing a lot of one-run games.

Yes, they have had chances to win. Yet, they fail to come through. On June 18th, the A’s were in first place in the AL West. They are now 5 and 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros. They led the Seattle Mariners by 3 and 1/2 games in the second AL Wild Card race.

That was before the weekend series. They now lead the Mariners by 1 and 1/2 games. They have lost seven of the last ten series played. They won two and split one with the Texas Rangers. The only team in the AL West that they can beat has been the LA Angels. The Astros, Rangers, and Mariners all have a winning record against Oakland.

The A’s missed the boat by not trading for Nelson Cruz. Tampa Bay sent two prospects to Minnesota for the slugger. Oakland could have worked out a deal. The A’s have not gotten the production they hoped for from the two guys in right field.

Mitch Moreland has been on the 10-day IL twice. Moreland has hit seven dingers and driven in 24. The A’s are rumored to be interested in acquiring Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers. The New York Yankees are also interested in trading for Gallo. Maybe Billy Beane and David Forst probably would go after Khris Davis. He is available.

The A’s are on their way to San Diego to play two against the San Diego Padres. The Padres are in third place in the NL West. They trail the San Francisco Giants by 5 and 1/2 games and are 3 and 1/2 games behind the LA Dodgers in the Wild Card Chase.

The Padres made several moves over the off-season to bolster their starting pitching. They acquired Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs and Blake Snell, a former Cy Young Award winner, from the Tampa Bay Rays. Their general manager, A.J. Preller, engineered a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates to acquire second baseman/ outfielder Adam Frazier for three prospects. The deal hasn’t been finalized but is expected to be announced soon. Preller is working on a deal to get pitcher Jose Berrios from the Minnesota Twins.

The Padres have not announced their starters for the series with the A’s. Chris Paddack (6-6, ERA 5.17) last pitched on July 21st, and his next turn would appear to be against the A’s. Lefty Blake Snell (4-3, ERA 4.93) would go on Wednesday. Oakland will send James Kaprielian to the mound Tuesday night. Kaprielian is 5-3, and his ERA is 2.53. Lefty Sean Manaea (7-6, ERA 3.16) will pitch for the A’s Wednesday afternoon.

The A’s pitchers will have their work cut out for them against a very potent San Diego offense. They have two guys on the left side of the infield that can hammer the baseball. Third baseman Manny Machado, in his tenth season, is hitting .275 with 17 homers and 68 RBIs.

Machado has hit 240 homers so far in his career. At shortstop, the Padres have the 2-year-old phenom, Fernando Tatis, Jr. The young man from the Dominican Republic is hitting .289 with 30 home runs and has 67 RBIs.

Eric Hosmer will be at first base for the Pads. Hosmer owns a .266 batting average, and he has hit eight dingers in driven in 48. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth is hitting a solid .275. Jake has hit 13 big flies out of the park and knocked in 24 mates.

The Padres have four players they use quite a bit in the outfield. Tommy Phan will probably start in leftfield. Pham is batting .260 and has hit 13 dingers. Trent Grisham will patrol centerfield. Grisham is at .262, 11 homers, and 39 RBIs. Will Myers (.254, 12 homers, 45 RBIs) will be in right. Jurickson Profar, who was an Oakland Athletic in 2019, will be the backup outfielder.

The Padre bullpen is solid. Their closer, the veteran Mark Melancon has been solid all year. Melancon has recorded 30 saves so far this year. Two former A’s are in the Padre pen. Emilio Pagan, who was with Oakland in2018, and Drew Pomerantz, a starter for Oakland in 2014 and 2025, have done well for the Padres. Other relievers that will see action include left Tim Hill, righties Craig Stammen, Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, and Nabil Crismatt.

Since the game is being played in a National League Park, the A’s will be without the designated hitter. The A’s will have to figure out a way to put runs on the board. Since resuming play after the All-Star break, Oakland has put slightly more than three runs per game on the board.

After the two-game set with the Padres, the A’s play four against the Angels. The A’s have had their way against LA so far. However, the Angels would love to turn the tables on their foes from the Bay area. After the Angel series, the A’s return home to play two more against the Padres.

The Texas Rangers, in last place in the AL West, will play three more in Oakland. They have not been kind to the A’s this year. The A’s then go on the road to play three in Cleveland, three more with Texas, and four against the Central Division leaders, the Chicago White Sox. After that trip, the A’s host the San Francisco Giants for three, the Mariners for two, and the Yankees for four more games.

The A’s do not have an easy road to the playoffs. They need help to strengthen the offense. Lou Trivino has done a reasonably good job as the closer. Lefty Jake Diekman has had some control issues. Diekman has not been as effective as he was last year. Sergio Romo has regained his form and has been quite a surprise. Yusmeiro Petit has also done a good job.

It will be interesting to see if the A’s get active before the July 30th trade deadline. They need to upgrade the offense. First baseman Matt Olson is the A’s most valuable player. The big guy is hitting .287 to go along with 27 home runs and 66 RBIs. Mark Canha, Jed Lowrie, and Tony Kemp are the only other hitters above the .250 mark. Seth Brown is at .201, Stephen Piscotty at .205, Sean Murphy .212, Matt Chapman .218.

Hopefully, the A’s can get the offense going. If they don’t, they may not make the playoffs. Let’s hope they can make a couple of deals and they get back on the winning track.

Oakland A’s podcast with Barbara Mason: Padres can swing the bats as A’s head to San Diego Tuesday

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San Diego Padre’s Fernando Tatis Jr thanks the good Lord for hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins in the first inning but it wasn’t enough as the Padres fell to the Marlins 3-2 on Sat Jul 24, 2021. The Oakland A’s travel to face Tatis and the Padres in San Diego for a two game series on Tue Jul 27, 2021 (AP News photo)

On the A’s podcast with Barbara:

#1 Barbara, after the A’s were able to string three wins together two against the Los Angeles Angels and the first of the four games against the Seattle Mariners the A’s struggled on Friday and Saturday against the M’s losing 4-3 and 5-4 and lost another one run game on Sunday 4-3.

#2 Last three games one run loses and it’s something that A’s manager Bob Melvin is hoping to make a difference on by moving runners over and getting them to score but sometimes the M’s relief pitchers can work themselves out of a jam.

#3 The A’s lead off hitter Mark Canha returned he started off his first game back going 0-4 but it wasn’t long after that he Canha said “The first day back was a little uncomfortable and I felt a little rusty. But on the second game I felt like I was right back.”

#5 Canha since his return has hit safely in all of his last six games. He gone 7 for 20, walked three times and what would Canha be if he didn’t get hit three times by pitches.

#5 The A’s head to San Diego to face the Padres. The Padres are a team loaded and just some 4 1/2 games out of first place in the NL West. They have some hitters in their line up Fernando Tatis Jr, Jake Cronenworth, and Manny Machado. Tuesday is the start of a two game series at Petco Park in San Diego.

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

A’s drop another one in Seattle, have competition for 2nd wild card spot

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By Morris Phillips

Only one major league club is neither currently holding a postseason spot or tethered to an uninspiring .500 won-loss record or below. Increasing the growing interest around that club: they haven’t made a postseason appearance since 2001. That only one club would hold this distinction so close to the trade deadline is unusual.

But thanks to the Oakland A’s and a string of three, consecutive one-run losses, the Seattle Mariners are picking up steam and notoriety.

“It’s been preached this rebuild so much, but I mean we’re right there on the edge of this thing,” Seattle’s Kyle Seager said. “Certainly you would like to have them make moves and get the team as good as we possibly can.”

The A’s came to Seattle looking to create space between themselves and the Mariners. Instead they won the opener, and spent an additional three days in the Emerald City being miserable.

“Last night stung,” said Sunday’s A’s starter Cole Irvin. “Anytime you lose a one-run game against a team in your division, and on top of that, fighting for the Wild Card spot in your possession, it’s not easy to swallow. We’re gonna have to bounce back here and collect ourselves.”

So for now, the AL West is a three-team battle, and that increases intrigue with the trade deadline approaching this week. The Mariners in particular have players that have tremendous value on the trade market, most notably slugger Mitch Haniger and resurgent, remade reliever Kendall Graveman. Now with the longest playoff drought in the game hanging over their heads, they’ll have no choice but to hang onto their assets, as well as look to add a couple of pieces.

“The teams that feel like they have a chance to go after a division title or a Wild Card berth, there’s going to be a lot of movement,” manager Scott Servais said. “I think it all comes down to the last 72 hours, and being a part of a lot of those discussions, in my past, I realize how that all works.”

Marco Gonzales pitched into the sixth inning for Seattle, and left with a 4-2 lead courtesy of a four-run, third inning that saddled Irvin with the loss. Kyle Seager, Luis Torrens and Tom Murphy came up with RBI hits in the inning, and the A’s found themselves unable to mount a suitable response. Seth Brown’s solo shot off Casey Sadler brought the A’s within 4-3 in the seventh, but that was all they could muster.

The Mariners improved to 23-8 in one-run ballgames, and pulled within a game-and-a-half of the A’s for the second wild card. Seattle started fast two seasons ago–the last time they were as many as eight games above .500–but then they went into the tank. By the All-Star break, their 2019 season had already fallen apart. Since 2001, Seattle has won 90 games twice and finished second in the AL West three times. In that same span, the A’s have made nine postseason appearances, but have advanced to the ALCS only once.

Now both teams are in each other’s cross hairs. It figures to be exciting.

“As tough as it’s been, we know we’re a team that can get hot or ride it out. We just need a big hit or a big game,” Matt Olson said. “Something to spark us a little bit and get rolling.”

A’s drop another game to Mariners 5-4

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Seattle Mariners’ Mitch Haniger (17) does the forearm bash with Jake Bauers, center, after Haniger hit a two-run home run to score Bauers in the fifth inning on Sat Jul 24, 2021 at T Mobile in Seattle (AP News photo)

A’s Drop Another Game to the Mariners 5-4

By Barbara Mason

After splitting the first two games of the series the Oakland A’s and the Seattle Mariners met Saturday night in Game Three at T-Mobile Park.

Oakland had a very good game until the seventh inning of yesterday’s game. A horrible relief appearance by Jake Diekman throwing back to back wild pitches resulting in the winning run was the low light for Oakland. In the game there were 5 wild pitches thrown and three of them belonged to Diekman. The A’s had fallen behind in this game 3-0 but tied up the game. It was the seventh inning that spelled the difference.

In Game Three the A’s had their ace Chris Bassitt on the mound and Seattle called upon Logan Gilbert. Seattle took the early lead in the first inning when Mitch Haniger scored.

Oakland started stringing together hits in the third inning. Andrus, Kemp, Lowry and Laureano all had singles in the inning taking a 3-1 lead. There was a pitching change for Seattle in the latter part of the inning with JT Chargois taking over and getting the Mariners out of the inning. In the bottom of the third Mitch Haniger unleashed a 402 feet home run cutting the A’s lead to 3-2.

In the bottom of the fifth inning Seattle’s Mitch Haniger struck again hitting his second home run of the game giving Seattle the lead 4-3. In the seventh inning Aramis Garcis would tie up the game with a 336ft home run.

The score remained 4-4 into the bottom of the ninth inning. Lou Trivino loaded the bases in the inning. He walked two and allowed one hit and again a wild pitch allowed the winning run to score the walk off for the Mariners.

It was more trouble for the bullpen. Another loss for Oakland when relief pitching let the team down.

Tomorrow the A’s play their fourth and final game of this series attempting to tie up the series. They will need improved play from the bullpen to pull this off.

First pitch tomorrow is scheduled for 1:10 PT. We will see Cole Irvin on the mound for Oakland and for Seattle Marco Gonzales will get the call.

M’s grab second inning lead as A’s lose one run game to M’s 4-3

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Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, right, gets a forearm bash by Luis Torrens (22) as Raleigh comes home to score after hitting a two run homer against the Oakland A’s in the second inning at T Mobile Field in Seattle on Fri Jul 23, 2021 (AP News photo)

Oakland Loses Game Two To Seatle 4-3

By Barbara Mason

Friday evening the Oakland A’s (56-43) and the Seattle Mariners (52-46) clashed in Game Two of the series. Thursday’s game saw a slow start for both teams offensively but Oakland’s Sean Manaea had a spectacular game on the mound with a record 13 strikeouts in seven innings. This was probably his best outing this season which is saying a lot. He has been very good this season.

Ramon Laureano drove in two runs in the 4-1 win against the Mariners. For awhile it looked as if the A’s would win the game without a single home run but in the seventh inning Sean Murphy hit one out of the park. Mark Canha had a couple of hits after the long layoff due to injury. He got back on task in record time.

Friday night the teams were back at it with Oakland looking for another win. On the mound for Oakland was Frankie Montas and for Seattle Yusei Kikuchi.

It was a rough second inning for Montas. Seattle’s Cal Raleigh homered with a runner on base to take an early 2-0 lead. The very next at bat was Luis Torrens who sent one out of the park and just like that the Mariners were cruising with a 3-0 lead. The next three batters struck out swinging to end a very costly inning for the A’s as the M’s made it stand up for a 4-3 win at T Mobile Field in Seattle.

Oakland has been very good on the road and this visit to Seattle was no exception. In the third inning Matt Chapman homered and not to be outdone Matt Olson homered in the fourth inning. Mark Canha continued his offensive excellence hitting a double in the fifth inning to score Wilson and the A’s had tied up this game 3-3.

Oakland had a great opportunity in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases but Elvis Andrus struck out to put an end to taking the lead in this game for the moment. The A’s are leaving the bases loaded and coming up empty far to often this season.

Diekman came in to relieve Montas in the seventh inning. It was an absolute disaster. Two stolen bases and two wild pitches by Diekman resulted in a run for Seattle by Dylan Moore who easily scored on one of those pitches. Seattle had taken back the lead 4-3. Diekman threw a third wild pitch in the inning. The A’s finally got out of the seventh but had some work to do if they wanted to win this game. The Astros had won earlier and Oakland needed this win to keep pace with Houston.

Seattle really put on the pressure in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and only one out. Petit had come in to relieve Diekman. Another wild pitch and a tough night for Sean Murphy. There were five wild pitches in this game for the A’s. Oakland got out of the eighth inning unscathed and had one more shot in the ninth inning.

An uneventful ninth inning for the A’s resulted in a Seattle win 4-3. Murphy flied out, Chapman walked, Brown struck out and Kemp also struck out. Game over.

So the loaded bases in the seventh inning came back to bite Oakland big time and coupled with the horrific seventh inning this game was one to forget.

Oakland will try to put this behind them and get back on track in Game Three. First pitch will again be at 7:10.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jeremiah Salmonson: Olson going deep and hitting for average

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Eye on the ball as the Oakland A’s Matt Olson hits for an RBI single in the seventh inning during Tue Jul 20, 2021’s ball game against the Los Angeles Angels at the Oakland Coliseum (AP News photo)

Oakland podcast with Jeremiah:

#1 Matt Olson is seeing the ball well he hit a home run against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday for his 25th home run of the season.

#2 What an afternoon for Olson on Tuesday hitting the home run plus an RBI single and the Angels decided to intentionally walk Olson

#3 Olson is hitting a whopping .302 against left handed pitchers and is batting .284 against right handed pitchers. Either way pitchers are having a tough time getting Olson out.

#4 Olson had a great series against the Angels in the two game series. Olson had a homer in each game on Monday and Tuesday at the Coliseum.

#5 A’s starting pitcher for tonight’s game at T Mobile Field in Seattle for the A’s Frankie Montas (8-8 ERA 4.33) and for the Seattle Mariners Yusei Kikuchi (6-5 ERA 3.92)

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

A’s Manaea strong performance downs M’s 4-1 at T Mobile

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Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea throws against the Seattle Mariner line up at T Mobile Field in Seattle on Thu Jul 22, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s won their third game in a row behind Sean Manaea’s outstanding performance Thursday night in Seattle. Manaea broke a four-game personal losing streak as he held the Mariners to one run and three hits in seven innings of work. Manaea improved to 7-6 for the season. Sergio Romo set the M’s down in order in the eighth, and Lou Trivino closed out the ninth for his sixteenth save.

The Mariners’ starter, Chris Flexen, held the A’s to just one hit and no runs in the game’s first four innings. The A’s drew first blood in the top of the fifth. With two outs, A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus singled to start the rally. With Mark Canha at the plate, Andrus stole second. He went to third on Canha’s infield single. The next hitter, Ramon Laureano, lined a shot off Flexen’s leg to drive in Andrus with the A’s first run. 

The A’s added another run in the top of the sixth. With one out, Mitch Moreland doubled. A’s catcher, Sean Murphy, followed with a double to left to drive in Moreland. The A’s led 2-0 midway through the sixth. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Seattle’s catcher, Tom Murphy, led off the inning with a solo blast to left. Manaea settled down and retired the next three batters.

In the top of the eighth, the A’s put two more runs on the board. Singles by Matt Chapman and Seth Brown put men on at first and second with no out. Elvis Andrus executed a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Mark Canha walked to load the bases.

Ramon Laureano hit a soft line drive over the Mariners’ shortstop J.P. Crawford to drive in Chapman. Matt Olson drove in Brown with a sacrifice fly to right field. The A’s led 4-1. Sergio Romo was now pitching for Oakland. As mentioned above, he set the M’s down in order. Lou Trivino got the last three out of the game to earn his 16th save of the year. The A’s win 4-1.

Game Notes: With the win, the A’s are now 56-42 for the year. They trail the Houston Astros by two and 1/2 games in the race for the AL West crown. The Mariners fall to 51-46.

The A’s line was four runs, eleven hits, and no errors. The M’s stats were one run, four hits, and no errors.

Sean Manaea struck out 13 Mariner hitters for a new career-high. Mark Canha hat a single, double, and two walks as he reached base four times. Ramon Laureano and Sean Murphy each had two hits Thursday night.

The A’s will send Frankie Montas to the hill Friday night. The Mariners will counter with lefty Yusei Kikuchi. The game will start at 7:10 pm.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Why the Athletics should trade for Nelson Cruz

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The Minnesota Twins Miguel Sano (center without cap) hugs and congratulates teammate Nelson Cruz (with batting helmet on) after Cruz hit a two run home run against New York Yankee pitcher Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the ninth inning on Thu Jun 10, 2021 at Target Field in Minneapolis can the Oakland A’s swing a deal before the trade deadline to bring Cruz to Oakland? (AP file photo)

Why the Athletics should trade for Nelson Cruz

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The Minnesota Twins are one of the biggest underachievers this season, on their way to one of their worse seasons in recent memory. They will be sellers for sure and DH Nelson Cruz could be a very good strategic pick-up for the A’s. The Minnesota Twins last season had an identical record to the Oakland A’S 36-24. The Twins won the Central Division and the Athletics won the West.

After beating the Angels 6-0 Monday, the Athletics are enjoying a couple of days off before they re-start their engines Thursday at T Mobile Field in Seattle for the first of four-games in Rain City and the beginning of a long 10-game road-trip. Their next game at home is a couple of weeks away, on August 3 against the San Diego Padres.

Their offense has not been clicking in all cylinders and they could use Cruz’s potent bat, for the last two months and weeks. The DH spot this season for the A’s has a combined .226 average and not the power the A’s envisioned this season. Only Texas and Detroit among all American League teams have less productivity from the designated hitter slot in the lineup.

There might still be a chance that Nelson Cruz ends the season with the Twins, but that seems to be a very slim possibility. Cruz and the glove have not been acquainted much in the last few years. He is the quintessential veteran DH with that power that if inserted in the middle of this Athletics lineup could be a serious power injection to their offense.

Nelson Cruz is hitting .295 with 19 home runs and 49 runs batted-in during his first 84 games with the Minnesota Twins. Those numbers (if he came to Oakland) will make him second in home runs and runs batted only to Matt Olson. Cruz can still hit, is healthy and towards the end of his great career and seems to have something left in the tank.

During a 17 year career in the major leagues, Dominican slugger Nelson Cruz is hitting a combined .279 with 436 home runs and 1,201 runs-batted-in. The A’s are in a good position to either win the division again or advance as a wild card, the trade deadline is 10 days away. The A’s always can pull the trigger at this time in the season when they have a chance and they do. Do not be surprised Nelson Cruz wears the Green and Gold very soon.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play announcer for the Oakland A’s Spanish flagship station 1010 KIQI LeGrande San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Preview of A’s four-game series in Seattle with Mariners starts Thursday night

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Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Manaea shown here throwing against the Houston Astros in the first inning at Minute Maid Field on Wed Jul 7, 2021will be the starting pitcher of record tonight against the Mariners at Safeco Field in Seattle (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s are en route to Seattle to start a four-game series against the Mariners starting Thursday night. The A’s, 55-42 for the season and 6-4 in their last ten games, are in second place in the AL West, trailing the Houston Astros by three and 1/2 games. The Mariners are in third place with a record of 41-44 and are three games behind the A’s in the race for the second AL Wild Card.

The A’s have played the M’s six times so far this year. The teams have each won three games. The teams last met on June 4th, and the A’s won the contest 9-5 that day.

The A’s will send lefty Sean Manaea to the hill Thursday night. Manaea is 6-6 with an ERA of 3.28. Righty Chris Flexon, 9-3 ERA 3.35, will go for Seattle. Frankie Montas, 8-8 era 4.33, goes for Oakland on Friday. Seattle will counter with lefty Yusei Kikuchi.

His record is 6-5, ERA 3.92. The A’s will have Chris Bassitt going on Saturday against the M’s Logan Gilbert. Bassitt is 10-3 with a 3.31 ERA. Gilbert is 4-2 and has a 3.5 ERA. On Sunday, lefty Cole Irvin goes for Oakland. Irvin is 7-8 with a 3.42 ERA. Lefty Marco Gonzalez goes for Seattle. Gonzalez is 1-5 for the year. The M’s are hoping Gonzalez regains his form and can handle the A’s.

The A’s have been struggling at the plate this year. As a team, they are hitting .233. They have a team on-base percentage of .311 and an OPS of .716. The M’s team batting average is .219. Their on-base percentage is. 295. They have a team OPS of .712.

The A’s swept the last two games played against the LA Angels. The A’s welcomed back leadoff hitter, Mark Canha, from the 10-day IL. A’s Designated Hitter Mitch Moreland also returned to action from a stint on the IL. Moreland has not been as productive as the A’s had hoped. Rumors are swirling that the As’ are looking to trade for the 41-year -old slugger Nelson Cruz, currently with the Minnesota Twins. .

The Mariners, despite their lowly team batting average, have been winning. They have a solid starting rotation. Their closer is former A’s starter, Kendall Graveman. Graveman is 2-0 and has a sparkling 0.90 ERA. He has recorded nine saves so far. Rafael Montero and Kenyon Middleton have 11 saves between them, closing out games for Seattle.

The M’s Mitch Haniger will be in the lineup for the series. Haniger has been productive against Oakland in the years he has been with Seattle. Haniger is hitting .265 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs. Other players to keep an eye on are first baseman Ty France, third baseman Kyle Seager, shortstop J.P.Crawford, and catcher Tom Murphy.

The A’s have played 97 games so far this year. They had a rough stretch where they went 9-15 and fell out of first place in the West. They need to have everyone contribute if they hope to gain ground on the Astros. The starting rotation has been good all year.

Lou Trivino has found a home as the A’s closer. Yusmeiro Petit has been solid all year. A’s first baseman Matt Olson leads the team with 25 home runs. The A’s need Moreland and other players to step up to keep opposing pitchers from pitching around Olson.

The A’s do not want to make the playoffs as a Wild Card. They would be the road team if the playoffs were to start today. They have not fared well in the past in that position. The trade deadline is nine days away. Will they make a deal for Nelson Cruz? Will they trade for Joey Gallo? Will they make a deal to strengthen the bullpen? The A’s have made deals in the past at the trade deadline. I suspect they will be active before the deadline passes on July 30th.

Dealbreaker on Howard Terminal ballpark: A’s looked for two infrastructure projects Oakland Council gave them only one

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Oakland A’s owner John Fisher and team president David Kaval behind the Oakland A’s dugout in undated photo have turned down the Oakland City Council’s offer after they voted yes on Tue Jul 20, 2021 (file photo from Athletics Nation)

By Jeremiah Salmonson

The Oakland City Council held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the A’s Howard Terminal Development Proposal. The meeting took place at 9 AM local time over zoom.

Tensions were high heading into the meeting on Tuesday. The climate over the development project has been hot since Major Lague Baseball and the Oakland A’s essentially delivered an ultimatum to the city. The ultimatum was essentially, “approve our Howard Terminal ballpark plans or we are leaving town.”

MLB has stated they do not beleive the current site to be viable for the future of the MLB product. This obviously leaves the A’s with little choice but to pursue a more updated model of a downtown ballpark with other amenities.

On Tuesday after the community input section of the meeting, Councilmember Fife asked A’s President Dave Kaval a very direct question to the tune of, “If the current city proposal isn’t in consideration from the A’s what are we doing here?”

The response from Kaval drew mixed responses after the meeting. The A’s appeared very set that the council either vote on the A’s proposal or the A’s were not interested in hearing what they had to say. The council did not do so. Instead, after hours of community input and conversation with the council they decided to vote on the term sheet the city had released on the prior Friday.

One key difference between the two are the number of IFD’s (Infrastructure Financing Districts). The A’s want two in order to pay for the project while the city of Oakland only wants one. The city did appear to make the concesison of adding a BID (Business Improvement District).

However, the A’s did not appear to want to play ball at all with the city on this issue. One concession the city did seem to make is that the A’s would not have to pay for off-site infrastructure. It appears the city is willing to reimburse the A’s through taxes of these costs or at a minimum subsidise them.

The Council voted in a 6-1-1 decision to approve the preliminary term sheet the city put together. All members voted in favor excpet Councilmember Carroll Fife abstained and Councilmember Noel Gallo voted against the project. However, it will prove mute if the A’s refuse to return to the negotiating table on the approved term sheet and not the one the A’s put fourth.

The meeting did not end on an overly optimistic tone as it appears the A’s will not return to the negotiating table. Only the next few days if the A’s are headed out of town or if they are willing to try and get a deal done with the city that involves some compromise.