Tag: Oakland A’s

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: A’s is it Oakland or Las Vegas? The case for both sides

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Las Vegas Aviators Stadium at dusk, the Oakland A’s possibly could end up playing here while they wait for their new ballpark to be built if they come to an agreement with Vegas officials and if they don’t get an agreement in Oakland (file photo by the Las Vegas Review Journal)

A’s is it Oakland or Las Vegas? – The case for both cities

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–The 2023 season just began and the clock is doing the job the Commissioner expected. Most games are way less than three hours. Last Sunday in Seattle the Guardians and the Mariners played a game in 2 hours and 3 minutes. 2023 is also the year to fish or cut bait for the Oakland A’s franchise. Do they leave Oakland after over half a century and four World Series titles in this city (that is one more than the Giants) or like the Sinatra standard “Come Fly With Me” they leave for Las Vegas?

The case for Oakland: The City of Oakland is not a huge metropolis with just over 400,000 residents inside their city limits, but it is the third largest city in the nine-county Bay Area, only San José and San Francisco have a larger population. It doesn’t matter because we have between 6 to 7 million people in this area and two major league teams. One (Giants) have played in San Francisco since 1958 and the A’s since 1968.

Yes, the A’s are rooted in Oakland, and common sense tells us this is where they should stay. They already have a planned ballpark, Howard Terminal. Oakland is not famous for keeping their pro teams; they lost the Raiders to Las Vegas and the Warriors to San Francisco.

The track record of keeping their teams in Oakland is not that good. Yet, it makes sense since they are already ahead with the plan with a designed new park ready to go. But then there are the problems with the funding for affordable housing at the Howard Terminal area a plan that would change Oakland forever, a $12 billion project.

As of today, the Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao says it is all fine and that they are optimistic, but they do not even have a binding agreement and it might never happen because not everybody in the city council is in favor of Howard Terminal and some will say they want the team to stay in Oakland and build a new place at the same location. But the Commissioner says that is a “no go”.

The case for Las Vegas: Nevada is a desert, sometime in the future they could run out of water, the chance of running out of water, that is their biggest problem, but they have the room and they could have the will and the money if the State decide to use funds to help the construction of the A’s park.

Joe Lombardo, Governor of Nevada did not rule out public funding for the A’s. Team management has been traveling to Vegas and has looked at three different sites; with the Rio Casino Hotel might be the one preferred location. Sooner or later, Las Vegas is going to get a major league baseball franchise, maybe by expansion, but it is not that easy.

Expansion might take more than two or even three or more years to happen. The A’s seem to be hanging on a tree like a ripe mango to take. There are other cities like Portland and Nashville (ex-A’s great Dave Stewart is involved with Nashville trying to get an expansion team).

However, and very important is that the A’s know Nevada legislation will not meet in 2024, they have to get a deal done this year, 2023. If not, then what? Oakland/Bay Area is the 5th media market in the US, Las Vegas is 40th. Even Sacramento is a larger media market than Las Vegas, as the State Capital comes in as the 19th media market.

These three famous ex-players, the first two in the Hall of Fame, had said publicly that Las Vegas would be the place to the A’s to relocate, George Brett, Greg Maddux and Jason Giambi. This is what they said:

George Brett “They should come here,” he said. “I was talking to some guys earlier, and I said if I was in the Oakland organization, I’d rather play Triple A than in the big leagues.

Greg Maddux – Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux said he’s all for bringing an MLB team to Las Vegas, be it the Oakland Athletics or an expansion team. “Any team would be great as a fan,” said Maddux, a longtime Las Vegas resident.

Jason Giambi played for the A’s from1995 to 2001, then came back to play for the A’s in 2009 and on the 23rd of May hit a home run in Oakland against the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was the 400 home run of this career.

I called it in Spanish for A’s radio and remember giving him a disc with the recording which he appreciated. This is what Giambi said “the affordability of living in this area compared with California will be a big draw for free agents”.

In conclusion: I want the A’s to stay in Oakland. I have been a resident of the Bay Area since 1969 and I have worked for both the A’s and Giants calling many of their games, with the Giants doing all 162 games home and away traveling with the team.

I am afraid Oakland is playing with fire as they might take it for granted (that they will stay), but I am not sure. The city of Oakland has big problems; crime, they’re short of cops, all you have to do is watch the news every day, homelessness is a tough problem to resolve.

They need to build more affordable housing and projections now show a growing potential current year deficit of $72M. This is one of the most serious financial challenges the City of Oakland has ever faced. Also, Oakland never got the $182 million grant they needed from the Federal Transportation Department’s Mega projects.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play announcer on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Open But Not Ready For Business: A’s go down quietly in 6-0 loss to the Angels

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–In 2022, the A’s were last in the American League in hits, and second to last in runs scored. If nothing else, rule changes instituted to perk up offenses throughout the industry figured to give the A’s a needed boost.

That boost hasn’t kicked in yet.

The A’s concluded an implosive, opening weekend by being shutout 6-0 by the Angels in which they managed just two occasions with runners in scoring position. In the three game series, the A’s lost twice, while compiling three runs, one homer three doubles while striking out 26 times.

Not good.

Four of the A’s five hits on Sunday were singles, and none of the four exited the infield at above 90 mph. Esteury Ruiz, the promising infielder with top-of-the-order potential, had a slow weekend with just one hit. Jesus Aquilar, who hit 35 home runs with Milwaukee in 2018, did a little more. But the total wasn’t enough, not with the pendulum swinging back towards offense.

“Offense is momentum, and we haven’t been able to put it together and string hits together,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We haven’t had a big inning yet this year.”

The A’s again looked for signs of improvement from starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk, who had a rough spring in which he struggled with his pitch command. On Sunday, Waldichuk produced three scoreless frames and then saw things unravel with three Angels’ homers over the next two innings.

As an illustration of how far the A’s must travel, Los Angeles superstars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout homered back-to-back in the fifth to put the visitors up 6-0. Both had gone homeless in the series before they connected against Waldichuk.

The Angels were clearly frustrated on Thursday after they squandered Ohtani’s pitching performance and fell 2-1 to the A’s. But the response was to score 19 of the remaining 20 runs in the series and win easily on Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re swinging at the right pitches,” Angels’ manager Phil Nevin said. “That’s the thing. I like the way we’re controlling the zone. Keep hitting balls on the barrel, and we’re gonna score a lot of runs. We’re deep and want to be relentless and keep coming at you.”

Adrian Martinez stood as the A’s bright spot. The A’s reliever threw the final three innings scoreless, allowing just one hit.

On Monday, the A’s get a second difficult opponent in the Guardians to begin the season. Cleveland’s Zach Plesac and Oakland’s James Kaprelian are the announced starters.

Anderson and Angels throw shutout against A’s 6-0 at Coliseum; Halos win the rubber game

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Top of the fourth Los Angeles Angles catcher Logan O’Hoppe gets the home run Golden State Warriors hat in the Angels dugout after hitting a three run homer in the top of the fourth inning against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum on Sun Apr 2, 2023 (@Angels photo)

Los Angeles. 003 300 000. – 6. 11. 0

Oakland. 000 000 000 – 0. 5. 1

Time: 2:32

Attendance: 14,638

Sun April 2, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–In three short days, the Oakland Athletics (1-2) have transformed themselves from gritty, come from behind, and victorious underdogs into just plain underdogs. The biggest disappointment in Saturday’s thrashing by the Los Angeles Angels (2-1) was Shintaro Fujinami, the once a week worker around whose schedule the A’s were willing to distort the rest of the rotation’s scheduled starts.

On the bright side, two of the relief pitchers Oakland used, Jeurys Familia and Sam Moll, were effective, and the other one, Adam Oller, was, came to come back from from a disastrous first two-thirds of an inning to reach an acceptable level of functioning. The bullpen also was the only ray of hope in Sunday’s 6-0 drubbing.

It was up to Ken Waldichuck, who had a pre-season record of 0-4, 10.54, with 12 walks and 13 strike outs. 0-4, 10.54, to hold the Angels off long enough to give the weak hitting Oakland bats and the possibly successful bullpen a chance of taking the rubber game of the season’s opening series. One cause for optimism was Waldichuck’s strong five start against Kansas City in one of the team’s last Arizona warm-ups on March 16.

He pitched four scoreless frames that afternoon before giving up two runs on a single and a home run in the remaining third of an inning of his start. Another positive factor is the one regular season game in which Waldichuck faced the Anaheim crew. Last October 5, he pitched seven scoreless frames against the Angels, holding them to three hits and a walk and getting credit for Oakland’s 3-2 victory.

This afternoon, the 25 year old southpaw from San Diego faced a couple of difficult situations in the early going, but he overcame them. With Mike Trout on second and one down in the top of the first, he retired Shohei Ohtani on a liner to center and Hunter Renfroe on a grounder to short. Two frames later, he fanned Ohtani runners on second and third and two men away.

The water the Oakland starter was in got hotter in the third. Hunter Renfroe led off with a squibbler in front of the plate, and Shea Langeliers’ throw almost hit him as Jesús Aguilar was jumping out of the way of the charging Renfroe. It went as a hit for Renfroe and a throwing error by Langeliers to allow him to advance. It looked as though Waldichuk then hit Luis Rengifo with a pitch. But Renfroe had advanced to third on what he thought was a wild pitch.

A video review showed he was right, so Rengifo returrned to the batter’s box,k and Renfoe remained 90 feet from home. Waldichuck proceeded to strike Gio Urshela out, but then Logan O’Hoppe jumped all over a 91 mph four s eamer and launched 391 feet into the left center field seats for his first career home run and 3-0 Halos lead. Those were hard luck runs, but they were earned.

Alternating on the mound with him was another portsider, Tyler Anderson, making his first regular season start for the Angels since coming to them from the team that correctly describes itself as being from Los Angeles. Before that, Anderson had labored for the Rockies, Giants,, Pirates, and Mariners.

The peripatetic pitcher was a valuable member of the Dodgers’ rotation last year, in which he was named to the NL All Star team. He led the team in innings pitched, with 178-2/3, which resulted in a record of 15-5, 2.57 started against the Padres in the fourth game of the NLDS and shut San Diego out on two hits over five innings.

He impressed his present employers by no hitting them for 8-1/3 frames on June 15, although a post game scorer’s decision changed an error committed in the seventh to an infield single. The 33 year old veteran’s arsenal consists, in descending order of frequency, of a four seam fast ball, which he throws 38% of the time, a change up (31.6%), a cutter, a sinker, and an occasional curve (1.2%). He came to Oakland a 2-0, 1.08 record against the Athletics.

Anderson held the Athletics at bay for six innings, although they had runners in scoring position in the first and fourth, the latter owing to Laureano’s two out leg double. In his stint on the mound, the lefty allowed four hits and struck out four. He issued a pair of passports and plunked one batter. He threw 93 pitches, 59 of them strikes. His successor was Andrew Wantz. Carlos Estevez handled the A’s in the ninth

Taylor Ward led off the fifth with a single to left center, and then Trout blasted his first rounder tripper of the year, a 434 foot shot to dead center, and Ohtani, not to be outdone, whacked Waldichuk’s next offering, an 80 mph sweeper, 447 feet into the second deck in right center field.

Bingo! In 6-0 in favor of Phil Nevin’s band of angels. Waldichuk lasted three batters into. the top of the sixth, David Fletcher’s two out fly to right was ruled, on review, to be a fair ball that resulted in a single. Zach Jackson came in to pitch and promptly gave up a single, a walk, and a wild pitch before getting Ohtani to swing and miss at an inning ending third strike.

Waldichuk had gone 5–2/3 innings and surrendered six runs, all earned, on nine hits, three of them out of the park, a walk, a wild pitch, and a hit batter. He had three Ks to hi credit. 59 of hiw 96 pitches went into the record as strikes.

Jackson didn’t come out for the visitors’ seventh; that job fell to Adrián Martínez, recently recalled from Las Vegas. He had looked good in the early innings of his few starts in the Coliseum last year but always managed to fall apart as the game progressed. Using him in middle relief seemed a good idea, and it was. The righty from Mexicali allowed just one hit in three innings and fielded his position well, with two assists and a put out.

The win went to Anderson; the loss, to Waldichuk. There was no save.

The Cleveland Guardians come to town tomorrow. Monday’s game is a 6:40 start with the A’s James Kaprielian scheduled to start against fellow righty Zach Plesac for the Guardians.

MLB podcast with Charlie O: A’s Howard Terminal chances improve as Appeals Court approve environmental report

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A look at Howard Terminal in downtown Oakland the site of the proposed Oakland A’s ballpark which would seat some 35,000 fans. The park would come with retail stores, residential units, commercial space, hotel rooms and public access open space. (photo by Noah Berger and the San Francisco Chronicle 2018)

On the MLB podcast with Charlie O:

#1 This week the First District Court of Appeals ruled that the Oakland A’s Howard Terminal project met sufficient standards in a City of Oakland review that said the A’s have met limits to water and pollution requirement at the downtown Jack London Square site as ruled by Judge Brad Seligman.

#2 The issue of off shore winds that wind hazards needs to be reduced as it effects the ball park according to the court ruling. The council voted with Judge Seligman 3-0 on the wind measure. The A’s and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao are working on a plan to reduce the wind hazards.

#3 The outcome of the Court of Appeals ruling sits favorably for the A’s and can be considered a big step towards building a new ball park at Howard Terminal. The Court rejected the claims by the plaintiffs saying that the A’s did not meet the standards on air quality, pollution controls, and traffic in regards to environmental standards. This is a similar type ruling that helped the NBA Sacramento Kings move in the direction to build Golden 1 Center.

#4 Mayor Thao who is on board with the project and said the city intends to upgrade the infrastructure and that the city and the A’s are one step closer to getting the project done after two previous court rulings in their favor. Further Thao plans to meet with the A’s regarding some of the other sticking points namely affordable housing and the court expects the A’s to get the wind hazards worked out.

#5 Charlie, we know San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer as in past discussions is opposed to the A’s moving to San Jose as the Giants claim that is their territory which put a huge road block in the way for the A’s to build in the South Bay. Fast forward how ironic would it be if the Howard Terminal project was approved and was able to move forward and front the Port of Oakland that could clearly be seen across the bay at Oracle Park?

Charlie O does the MLB podcasts each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Fujinami gets lit up in two plus innings as Halos thrash Oakland 13-1

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Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after hitting an RBI-single against the Oakland Athletics during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. First base coach Damon Mashore, left, looks on. (AP News photo)

Los Angeles 0. 0.11 0 0 1 o o-13 11 2

Oakland 0. 0. 0.0. 1.0 0 0-1. 5. 2

Time: 2:24

Attendance: 15,757

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–This afternoon’s contest between the Angels and the Athletics promised to be an interesting one. It end up being a no contest, with Oakland on the short end of a 13-1 score. The long awaited debut of Shintaro Fujinami turned out to be a dud.

Fujinami is no Shoei Ohtani–who is?– but he is, or at least was , in the same class as the Angels’ star. Four Japanese teams chose him as their first pick in the 2012 amateur draft, a draft that included Ohtani, who pitched a brilliant six innings of two hit shutout ball in Thursday night’s season opener against the A’s, a coda to his MVP performance in the World Baseball Classic and possibly a prelude to an historical season.

Although the 28 year old Fujinami technically is a rookie, he has 10 years’ experience in the Japanese major leagues, all of them with his hometown Harshen Tigers. In that span, he compiled a record of 57-54, 3.41. 154 of his 189 mound appearances was as a start for him. Lifetime, he issued an average of 4.15 free passes every nine innings. He is a strike out pitcher, averaging 9.15 Ks an inning, for a total of 1,001. His virtues were on display for two innings .

Fujinami’s counterpart on the Angels doesn’t have the cosmopolitan cache that Fujinami brings to the game. Patrick Sandoval is a native of Mission Viejo, a suburb of Anaheim, and he still lives in that town. That the Halos’ starter is a lefty puts an additional touch to the contrast. He had an excellent season in 2022, when his ERA of 2.91 gave the line to his won-lost record of 6-9.

He allowed less home runs per innings than any other AL hurler who worked 100 innings or more He has been especially effective against your Oakland A’s, again, in spite of an unprepossessing W-L of 2-3. His ERA, against the green and gold is a meager 1.84, and is 1-1, 0.87 at the crumbling pleasure dome on the Nimitz. He has a particularly nasty and effective change up.

The game began as a pitcher’s duel. The only man to reach base safely in the first two frames was Ramón Laureano, who got to first on a two out error by Rendon in the bottom of the second. The game opened up after that. Luis Rengifo led off the third with a full count walk and advanced to second on Gio Urshela’s single to center.

Number nine hitter Logan O’Hoppe followed up with a double to the base of the right field fence that scored Rengifo and moved Urshela to third. A walk to Trout loaded the bases with Ohtani coming to bat.

He sent a fly to left, near the foul line that fell for what looked like it would be a double, but the Angels played it conservatively, and the bases stayed full as O’Hoppe crossed the plate with their third run of he inning. Rendon then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-0. Jake Lamb’s single to center with Ruíz’s error in fielding the hit made it 6-0 with runners on the corners. It also ended Fujinami’s work day.

Adam Oller took over and promptly walked Rengifo, throwing a wild pitch in the process. You don’t want to hear the rest, and I can barely stand writing it. Before the inning was over Taylor Ward had hit a 392 foot home run and the Angels held an 11-0 lead over Oakland

Fujinami’s debut consisted of 2-1/3 innings on the mound, in which he surrendered eight runs, every one of them earned, on five hits and three walks. He struck out four and threw 55 pitches, 33 for strikes. His MLB ERA stands at 30.86.

After his atrocious failure to limit the damage in the third, Oller stayed in the game, giving up a a run in the sixth and another, this one unearned, in the seventh, thanks to an error by Aguilar at first, an infield single, and an RBI single by Ward. That made it 13-1 Jeurys Familia relieved Oller to start the eighth. He set the Halos down in order. Sam Moll pitched a perfect ninth, with the help of some spiffy fielding by Kemp.

It was 13-1 because the A’s finally put a run on the board when Laureano led off the home fifth with his first hit of the year, a 396 foot drive over the left field wall off an 82 mph change of pace that, this time, was as devastating as it had been in the past. Oakland at that point trailed, 11-1

That was the last inning of the day for Sandoval. He had lasted five frames, enough to earn him the win. Laureano’s round tripper was one of the only two hits he allowed, along with a pair of free passes. He struck out two A’s and threw 86 pitches, 56 for strikes. Tucker Davidson replaced him on the mound.

The win went to Sandoval; the loss, to Fujinami. Davidson, because he pitched three innings or more (in this case, four) got the save.

The Angels Anthnoy Rendon who grabbed a fan by the shirt after last Thursday’s game at the Coliseum told reporters that he cannot talk about the incident. Rendon would not confirm or deny what took place.

The rubber gem of the series is slated for 1:07 Sunday afternoon. Oakland’s Ken Waldichuk will face the Angels Tyler Anderson in a battle of southpaws.

Oakland A’s podcast with Daniel Dullum: Angels Rendon grabs A’s fan and takes swing at him in post game confrontation

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Los Angeles Angels star Anthony Rendon was having none of it Thu Mar 31, 2023 following the Angels 2-1 loss to the Oakland A’s on opening night. Here Rendon grabs a fan by the shirt and accuses him of calling Rendon a bitch which the A’s fan denied. Oakland Police are reportedly investigating the incident. The fan has not been identified. Rendon plans to speak with the media before the game Saturday (photo stills from TMZ)

On the A’s podcast with Daniel Dullum:

#1 Following Thursday’s opening loss to the Oakland A’s Los Angeles Angels star Anthony Rendon held an A’s fan by the shirt pulling him down by the railing saying “you called me a bitch huh?” The fan said he didn’t. Rendon saying afterwards to the fan “yeah you did. Yeah, motherf*****.” Then released the fan and took a swing and a miss at the fan.

#2 According to reports the Oakland Police did not received any complaints regarding Rendon’s swinging on the fan however as of Friday they have seen the video and are conducting an investigation. The unknown fan has not filed a complaint and the Angels had no comment of the confrontation which took place at the Oakland Coliseum after Thursday’s game.

#3 Speaking of Thursday’s game it was a fine pitching duel between Angels starter Shohei Ohtani and A’s starter Kyle Muller. Muller went five innings, four hits, gave up the only run of the game, and struck out three batters. Ohtani six innings, two hits, no runs, three base on balls, and struck out ten hitters.

#4 Daniel the Angels and A’s could be competitors this season they have a good back up catcher in Logan O’Hoppe and reliable hitters with Mike Trout, Ohtani and Rendon. The A’s veterans in the line up Tony Kemp, Ramon Laureano and Seth Brown can provide help to the younger players and provide some punch in the line up.

#5 Daniel, the Angels will start Patrick Sandoval he’ll be opposed by the A’s Shintaro Fujinami talk about this match up and you know the Angels want to get in the win column after losing on Thursday but the A’s might be better than most people think this season and give the Angels a run for their money how do you see it?

Daniel does the A’s podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: “The Clock Rules” A’s Win Opener in 2 Hours and 30 minutes

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After ten years in professional baseball Oakland A’s starter Shintaro Fujinami will be making his MLB debut pitching against the Los Angeles Angels on Sat Apr 1, 2023 at the Oakland Coliseum (file photo San Francisco Chronicle)

“The Clock Rules” A’s Win Opener in 2 Hours and 30 minutes —

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

OAKLAND–In 2022 Top Gun “Maverick” officially was the #1 move worldwide in the box office, beating out Avatar. Maverick movie length was 2 hours and 11 minutes. On March 30, 2023, the Oakland Athletics Home Night Opener lasted 2 hours and 30 minutes as they beat the western rivals Los Angeles Angels by a 2 -1 score.

These two teams have played very long games through the years, I remember calling a game on April, 2013 in Oakland, which the A’s won in a 19-inning marathon, that lasted six and a half hours. Of course, there will be games that go into extra-innings, and those will always beat the clock.

The Oakland Athletics opened their 2023 season (their 56th in Oakland) in front of over 26,000 euphoric fans at the Oakland Coliseum. There was a large contingency of Angels Othani’s and Trout fans behind the Angels dugout who came to watch the A’s come from behind, scoring late, and won 2-1 over the much more talented-loaded, expensive salaried players like Mike Trout, Shohei Othani, and Anthony Rendon’s Angels.

However, a place that traditionally has held long, long games was done in just 2 hours and 30 minutes of play. Meanwhile, the other Bay Area team, 3,000 miles away in New York City, the Yankees opened their season blanking the San Francisco Giants 5-0, in all of 2 hours and 33 minutes. What is going on?

“Elementary my dear Watson” said Sherlock Holmes. And it is, elementary as the mundane clock. It is all about the clock now in major league baseball. A new era of baseball started when all 30 MLB teams played on the same day to open their season. This is the first time this has happened since the 1968 season.

This Saturday A’s rookie pitcher Shintaro Fujinami, will make his major league debut, after 10 years in the Japanese professional leagues. The Oakland Coliseum press box was inundated by Japanese reporters during the first Angels visit to Oakland and will also be there to witness their compatriot Fujinami.

The A’s have Shintaro “Fuji’ Fujinami pitching as a starter every six days, to accommodate his train of work like he was pitching in Japan. It would have been even a great spectacle if Fuji would have opened the season on Thursday against his compatriot Shohei Othani.

Fujinami and Ohtani share a history together that dates back to their days as high school phenoms. The two were both first-round selections in the 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft, Ohtani signing with the Nippon-Ham Fighters and Fujinami landing with the Hanshin Tigers through a lottery process.

Saturday’s game at 1:07pm and then Sunday at the same time, prior to hosting the Cleveland Guardians for a three-game series beginning Monday.

Although the A’s are not expected to contend this year, or in the near future, game one of the season was a memorable as the A’s began the Clock era of Baseball. At least for one-day the Oakland A’s are in first place after that very exciting opener at the Coliseum.

Clock History: In 1954 the NBA adopted the 24 seconds clock, limit to score when a team has the ball. In 1976 the NFL introduced a 30-second play clock to speed up the game, later extended it to a 40 second clock. In 2023 Major League Baseball has adopted a clock.

A’s and Angels continue series Saturday at Coliseum; Fujinami makes his MLB debut

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If you missed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani on the mound on Thursday you’ll have a chance to see him as designated hitter all weekend against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum Sat Apr 1 and Sun Apr 2. (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitrelberg

OAKLAND–Thursday, March 30th,2023, was the first day of the 2023 baseball season. Baseball fans, as well as the players, were eager to have baseball return. In 2022, the A’s and their fans suffered 102 losses. The guys in Green and Gold won just 60 games last year.

The fans were dismayed when the team traded away stalwarts like Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Sean Manaea, and Chris Bassitt. Ownership continued threatening to move the team to Las Vegas if a stadium could not be built in Oakland. The fans stayed away in droves as the A’s had the worst attendance of any team in Major League baseball.

Late last year’s season, the A’s made a trade, sending Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the New York Yankees for two lefties, Ken Waldichuk, and J.P.Sears. In the off-season, the A’s traded catcher Sean Murphy to the Atlanta Braves. The A’s acquired lefty Kyle Muller, who had been Atlanta’s number one prospect.

Muller started the season opener on Thursday for Oakland and did well. He went five innings and allowed four hits and one run. The A’s signed a right-handed pitcher who starred in the Japanese league, Shintaro Fujinami. Fujinami will pitch against the Angels on Saturday.

The A’s made a couple of key moves to strengthen the bullpen. They signed Trevor May and Jeurys Familia to go along with relievers Zach Jackson, Domingo Acevedo, and Dany Jimenez.

Other new faces that we’ll see playing this year include rookie Esteury Ruiz. Ruiz made a sensational catch in last night’s opener when he robbed Mike Trout of a potential extra-base hit. Aledmys Diaz was signed to a two-year contract. Diaz won a World Series ring last year with the Houston Astros—the A’s love his versatility, as Diaz can play three infield positions.

Another new player is first baseman Jesus Aguilar. Aguilar played for Miami and Baltimore last year. His batting average was .236, and he had 16 home runs. His best year was in 2018 with Milwaukee. He smoked 35 dingers that season. The A’s hope that Aguilar can add some power to the lineup. The A’s signed another former Milwaukee Brewer, Jace Peterson, to play third base.

The A’s have two more games with the Angels this weekend. The Angels have two players on the club that are MVPs. Mike Trout won the award three times, and two-way player Shohei Ohtani won the award in 2021. Ohtani could win another MVP and a Cy Young award as a pitcher.

The Angels, who have not been to the playoffs since 2014, have revamped their lineup, too. Their left fielder, Taylor Ward, has a lot of pop in his bat. Hunter Renfroe has sent quite a few baseballs over the fences in his days with Boston and Milwaukee. Brandon Drury is another power hitter. The Angels have former Yankee Gio Urshela as the shortstop. Another new face is catcher Logan O’Hoppe.

In his first full season as skipper, Angels manager Phil Nevin will send lefty Patrick Sandoval to the mound on Saturday to face the A’s. Fujinami will make his first start and Major League debut against the A’s. On Sunday, it will be a battle of lefties. Ken Waldichuk goes for Oakland, and the Angels will have Tyler Anderson on the mound.

One game doesn’t make a season. There is a long way to go. Most baseball pundits have picked Oakland to finish last in the AL West. The A’s are in the second year of a rebuild. This writer thinks the A’s can win about 75 games this season. Their pitching, starting rotation, and bullpen are improved.

They have veteran players like Tony Kemp. Ramon Laureano and Seth Brown have contributed in the past. If the new players have good seasons, the team should be better. Will the new rules help the A’s? No one knows yet, but many think the fans and the players will like the changes.

Thursday night’s game was played in two hours and 30 minutes. There should be more stolen bases, and more hits up the middle, and more hit-and-run plays. The A’s are tied for first place in the AL West. The fans should enjoy this while they can.

Join Jerry Feitelberg for the Oakland A’s podcasts Thursdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s scratch out two runs in eighth to edge Ohtani and Angels 2-1 at Coliseum

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Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani throws against the Oakland Athletics in the fifth inning of an opening day at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland on Thu Mar 30, 2023 (AP News photo)

Los Angeles. 000010000. – 1. 5. 0

Oakland. 00000002x – 2. 6. 1

Time: 2:30

Attendance: 26,805

Thu Mar 30, 2023

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The Oakland Athletics’ come from behind 2-1 win over the team from Anaheim the Los Angeles Angels was a pleasant surprise for fans of the green and gold.

Just yesterday, the A’s had traded an outfielder with excellent defensive capabilities who has yet to prove that he can handle major league pitching for a pitcher who has yet to prove that he can pitch successfully at the minor league level.

The for the moment home team gave up Cristián Pache, who last year ranked fifth in MLB outfielders in runs saved. He did this in 90 games, 70 of which he started, while fielding for a .995 percentage. At the plate, Pache hit .157 with an .417 OPS in his first, 68 game, stint and .200 (OPS, .614) in his 23 games after returning from his demotion to Las Vegas. He went .302 with an OPS of .781 while driving in eight runs over 21 spring training games before his trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. So there was a reasonable chance that he’d turned the corner as a hitter.

In exchange, Oakland acquired Billy Sullivan, a non-roster invitee to the Phillies’ spring training camp. While there, he pitched three games for Philadelphia, all in relief, giving up eight earned runs in two innings, giving him an ERA of 36.00. Last year he started two games and relieved in another 42 for Reading in the Eastern League. Although his won-lost record was 5-1 (plus a couple of saves), his ERA was 4.59, and the on base percentage of his AA class opposing hitters was .744 . No wonder he had been signed as an undrafted free agent.

The Athletics front office is not incompetent. They know that there’s not much of a chance that the Coliseum A’s ever will have another presentable won-lost record. They’re building a team for their sparkling new stadium in Howard Terminal or Las Vegas, paid for with tax payers’ money. Sullivan is a year younger than Pache, giving him an extra year in which he can develop before being expected to show results. We’ll see ….

Meanwhile, the A’s announced their opening day roster. Right hander Adrián Martínez, who pitched for Mexico in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, and catcher Carlos Pérez were promoted from Las Vegas. Another right-handed pitcher, Chad Smith, and infielder Kevin Smith were optioned to the Aviators. Paul Blackburn, Drew Rucinski, and Manny Piña went on the 10 day injured list, and Freddy Tarnok was put on the 15 day IL Southpaw hurler Kirby Snead is on the list for 60 days.

The disparity in yesterday’s trade was reflected in this afternoon’s starting pitchers.

The visiting Los Angeles Angels sent the MVP of the World Baseball Classic to the mound to open their season. Shohei Ohtani put Japan ahead of the USA in the top of the ninth in the final game and then capped things off with a six pitch strike out of Angels teammate Mike Trout to win the game and the tournament for Samurai. He went 15-9, 2.33 for the Halos last season, and was unscored upon in his one spring training mound appearance this preseason.

The A’s chose to go with Kyle Muller, a 25 year old lefty who can boast of twelve big league appearances, 11 of them starts. He was ranked as the Braves’ top prospect when then sent him to Oakland as part of the three team, nine player swap that sent Sean Murphy to the Braves.

The rookie throws a fast ball in the mid to high 90s, a good curve that comes in at about 10 mph less, and an 87 or so mph slider. He also throws an occasional change up. He did not have impressive numbers in spring training, going 1-3, 6.50 with aWHIP of 1.889.

Muller started off in fine fettle, setting down the side in order by fanning Taylor Ward and Ohtani on either side of a lovely diving catch by Estuary Ruíz of Mike Trout’s fly to right center. Gil Urshela, leading off the top of the third with a single to left, was the first Angel reach base against the rookie.

Things got dicier for Muller in the Angels’second time around the lineup. His control, which has been a problem in his short career, seemed to have deserted him when he walked Trout on four pitches and then threw a ball to Ohtani, who then lined a single just past the glove of a diving Tony Kemp and into right field for a single that advanced Trout top second.

But the youngster showed his maturity, getting Anthony Renton to sly out to Seth Brown in left, Hunter Renfroe to line out to the spot, and indcuing Luis Rengifo to ground into a 6-4 force out The game remained a scoreless tie after 3-1/2 innings of play.

Oakland first touched Ohtani for a safety when Aledmys Diaz smacked a one out single to right center and scurried to third on Brown’s double to deep left field, near the Budweiser sign. But Ohtani fanned Jesús Aguilar and blew a 100.7 mph fast ball past Ramón Laureano to preserve the tie.

Los Angeles finally broke theat tie in the top of the fifth. After Brandon Drury grounded out to short, Kemp made a great grab of Gin Urshela’s smash up the middle and made an unwise off balance throw to first that allowed the Angel’s short stop to take second on the error. Logan O’Hoppe brought him home on a single to left center. But that was all the Angelinos could do; O’Hoppe was wiped out by the pitchers’ best friend, second to first.

That proved to be the end of Muller’s highly satisfactory start. Zach Jackson relieved him to open the visitors’ sixth. Muller had thrown five innings and allowed one run, which was ruled as earned, although I question that decision. He surrendered four hits and a walk and also threw one wild pitch.

His pitch count was 72, 44 for strikes. Jackson kept the Angels off the board in the sixth before giving way to Doomingo Acevedo, who entered the fray to hurl a perfect top of the seventh, followed by Trevor May in the eighth, who was the victim of an infield single and stolen base by Taylor Ward but wigged out of the situation by granting an intentional pass to Ohtani and fanning Rendon.

After throwing 93 pitches,, 55 of which qualified as strikes, over six innings Ohtani left off pitching to become the designated hitter. He had held the A’s scoreless on two hits and three walks while striking out ten. Jimmy Herget relieved him, and then passed the baton on to Aaron Loup for the home eighth. And that’s when Oakland knotted up the score. Ruíz led off with a sharp single to right, and Kemp drove him in with double to deep right center off a hanging curve.

Loup struck out a pinch hitting Brent Rooker but gave way to Ryan Lepera, who surrendered an RBI single to Díaz that put Oakland ahead, 2-1. Brown then singled to right, sending Nick Allen, running for Díaz to third. Brown then promptly stole second. Halo skipper Phil Nevin appealed the call, but New York upheld it. An intentional walk to Aguilar loaded the sacks, but Laureano grounded into a twin killing, second to first.

And so it fell to Dany Jiménez to try to stave off the Angels for the save. He struck out Rendon. He went to a full count on Rengifo before walking him. He went to a full count on Drury, who popped out to Nola, now playing first. Jiménez then went to a full count onUrshela. He sent a deep fly to right. Laureano caught it on the warning track.

The teams will have a day off Friday before returning to the Coliseum to celebrate April Fools’ Day Saturday with a 1:07 contest featuring portsider Patrick Sandoval, who labored on the mound for Mexico in the WBC, facing righty Shintaro Fujinama, who will be making his MLB debut.

Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: How A’s outfield shapes up after Pache trade to Phillies

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Cristain Pache made some great defensive plays for the A’s during his time in the outfield but just couldn’t hit for average and was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wed Mar 29, 2023 for right hand pitcher Billy Sullivan (file photo USA Today)

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Jerry, how surprised were you at the trade of Cristian Pache who came on the scene as the A’s centerfielder. The A’s had so many big hopes for Pache in center but his hitting suffered so he was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies for right hander Billy Sullivan. How do you see this trade.

#2 Pache was out of minor league options and he was designated for assignment and was exposed to waivers and the Phillies grabbed him. There must have been something that he had going that made the Phillies get him on Wednesday.

#3 The A’s will keep outfielders Brent Rooker and Conner Capel both players have minor league options. Capel hit 13 for 35 and hit .371 in 13 game. Rooker 28, has played in 81 MLB games and has been with three MLB teams.

#4 Carlos Perez will be the A’s back up catch to starting catcher Shea Langeliers. A’s manager Mark Kotsay said that Perez 32 signed a minor league deal last week. Perez knows his way around the A’s system playing for them in 2020 and 2021.

#5 A’s open up the 2023 season against the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels are going with their ace Shotime Shohei Ohtani and he’ll be opposed by the Oakland A’s left hand pitcher Kyle Muller. Jerry tell us how you see this match up tonight at the Coliseum.

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