Game Day Diary – Oakland @ Cleveland, 8/29/12

We’re live from the couch for tonight’s game against the Indians, the third in a four game series.  I wish we could play the Indians for another week.  It has been a few weeks since the last game day diary and the A’s have been on another roll, with great pitching and good hitting. 

A quick piece of news from this past weekend that is worth mentioning – The A’s won the season series over the TB Rays, providing Oakland with the tie-breaker if it is needed.  So that’s one tie-breaker in the books as we close in on meaningful September baseball! 

Tonight’s match-up has Travis Blackley against someone named Corey Kluber.  Again, can we play the Indians a few more times this year?  The effort they put on the field last night was close to embarrassing.  The A’s have outscored the Indians 42-0 over the first two games … OK; it is actually 10-0.  I think I’ve provided enough of a jinx for this game.  Play ball!

7:09pm US EST – First pitch is a strike to Coco Crisp, who is back in the lineup today.  Nice!  So much for that, not even a minute later and Coco is down on three pitches. 

7:10pm – Stephen Drew comes to the plate and this allows for a quick blurb on my opinion that it is great to have this guy at SS every night.  Upgrade!  As I finish that sentence, Drew lines out to his counterpart at SS. 

7:12pm – Cespedes pops out to end the 1^st inning and shattered a bat in the process.  This also reminds me to change the poll question on the page tonight.  Go vote for this season’s roster MVP through August.

7:17pm – Glen and Ray take us through Blackley’s stats and I had no idea that he’s been this good / efficient for the team this year.  Silent assassin? 

7:18pm – Cabrera gets tossed on a badly called strike three.  That was ball four.  I’ll take it. 

7:19pm – Choo swings at the first pitch and grounds out to end the 1^st.  Let’s make this another easy win, starting in the 2^nd. 

7:26pm – The heart of the A’s lineup goes down in about 5 minutes.  This isn’t exactly what I would call “following the script”. 

7:29pm – Santana breaks up Blackley’s bid for a no hitter with a ground ball that Drew is able to stop but has no throw or play at first base. 

7:38pm – Blackley has a long inning but absolutely no damage.  “Long” is relative to how the first inning and a half had gone. 

7:41pm – Josh Donaldson breaks up the no-no and picks up a hit up the middle for the A’s.  Donaldson has been playing pretty well given his increased opportunity over the past few weeks. 

7:44pm – Derek Norris either just missed that pitch or there is a swirling wind driving the ball back into play.  That sounded like a HR and wound up 15 feet in front of the warning track. 

7:48pm – Coco with a blooper into RF and that brings up 1^st and 3^rd with 2 outs (Pennington fouled out).  Let’s go Drew!

7:52pm – No avail as Drew grounds out to end the top of the 3^rd.  He isn’t taking my earlier compliments to heart apparently. 

7:54pm – Jason Donald homers and the Indians go up 1-0.  I’m getting a bit worried about the earlier jinx. 

7:55pm – That’s followed by a triple in the gap.  (Gulp)

7:58pm – Nice defensive play by Pennington to get the runner out at first, but the A’s give up another run and go down 2-0.  Yes, that was a compliment for Cliff.  They haven’t come often around here. 

8:03pm – Thankfully that inning is over with no more damage after another walk and a relatively deep fly ball to CF to end the inning. 

8:06pm – Cespedes gets his first hit with a ground ball up the middle.  Let’s go Oakland!!

8:08pm – For at least the second time this season, Glen and Ray rip out Cleveland’s sports fans’ hearts by discussing the on-going saga of failure for the city.  Let’s hope Indians fans have had the option of a home broadcast. 

8:11pm – Chris Carter comes through again with a double down the LF line and the A’s are in business with runners on 2^nd and 3^rd!

8:14pm – Reddick waves at an off-speed pitch and goes down on strikes. 

8:18pm – Josh Donaldson!!  Home … run!!!  3-2 Oakland

8:22pm – Cliff Pennington strikes out after Norris hit a follow-up double after Donaldson.  The A’s lead 3-2 as we head to the bottom of the fourth. 

8:28pm – Donaldson makes a nice defensive play on a slow dribbler down the line at 3B.  Josh is having a night! 

8:33pm – After Blackley leaves a welt on LaPorta’s body, Donaldson has another opportunity and fires the ball across the diamond to end the inning. 

8:37pm – Nice, a Ray Fosse montage!  At the same time, my vote for team MVP (Cespedes) hits another missile off the bottom of the wall. 

8:40pm – Seth Smith strikes out to end the top of the 5^th, with the A’s still leading 3-2.  Side note: I really wish more players would learn how to bunt against a defensive shift.  Please!

8:51pm – I completely dismissed the bottom of the 5^th and was watching the trailer to Sonicsgate the movie.  The Indians clearly did close to nothing as Reddick is already taking pitches in the top of the 6^th.  Reddick actually beats out a slow roller to lead off the 6^th. 

8:54pm – The Indians second basemen has Hannahan’s throw go right through him and the A’s have 1^st and 3^rd for the bottom of the lineup with only one out. 

8:56pm – The Indians look like they are filming another “Major League” movie with their play this inning as LaPorta tags first on a ground ball and forgets about Reddick at 3^rd base.  A’s take the lead 4-2. 

8:58pm – Cliff Pennington ends the A’s inning (again). 

 9:08pm – Pitching change for the A’s.  Blackley comes out after 5.2 innings, 2 BB’s, 5 SO’s, and 2 ER’s.  A nice outing from Travis, but he gives way to Neshek, who has a little Chad Bradford in him, with slightly less torque. 

9:11pm – Neshek gets the strikeout and the Indians go down in the bottom of the 6^th.  A’s still lead 4-2. 

9:14pm – Coco rips the first pitch of the inning to the wall and has a leadoff double. 

9:21pm – Cespedes strikes out after a pretty long battle on a 3-2 pitch that was likely outside and ball four.  It comes down to Smith to get Coco home here.

9:23pm – Smith comes through!  After striking out in his first three at bats, he rips the ball to left-center field and the A’s go up 5-2. 

9:24pm – Chris Carter with another hit.  He’s never seeing the minor leagues again.  A’s go up 6-2 and I think we can call this game right now.  The 27 fans left in their seats are likely heading to the exits. 

9:25pm – Reddick adds another hit with a single to RF, runners on 1^st and 2^nd with 2 outs. 

9:28pm – Donaldson strikes out to end the inning during Glen and Ray’s own random musings on the Indian Chief costume from the crowd and subsequent questioning for a “The Mauler” sighting.  If you haven’t seen “The Mauler” Athletics fan / jersey in Cleveland yet this week, he’s awesome.  (Unfortunately, I can’t find anything online to link to.  You’ll have to trust me.)

9:34pm – After 2.5 hours of silence, the Cleveland PA system lets out a handful of Ric Flair “Woooo”’s.  Those are always fun.  The two hits Neshek has given up here in the bottom of the 7^th are not.  Pitching change with the A’s going to Doolittle. 

9:42pm – Doolittle comes in and gets the job done again facing three batters and getting each of them. 

9:51pm – The A’s go down quickly and quietly in the 8^th and still lead 6-2.  Let’s get through this next inning and a half quickly please.  Deal?  Good. 

10:02pm – Bizarre inning so far with Doolittle giving up a few hits, Donaldson dropping a ball trying to put a tag on the runner (instead of going for the double play) and now the Indians put a run on the board to make it 6-3.  Melvin comes out to replace Doolittle with Blevins.  This is not the definition of “ending this game quickly”. 

10:06pm – Blevins quickly throws a wild pitch and the runners advance to 2^nd and 3^rd.  Uh-oh. 

10:08pm – Kotchman grounds out but the Indians score another run and the lead is down to 6-4.  Ryan Cook is on his way into the game. 

10:09pm – Cook gets the A’s out of the inning and we move to the 9^th inning, A’s lead 6-4.  Right before the last pitch, Glen gives us the update that the Orioles lost tonight.  If the A’s can hold on tonight, they’ll have sole possession of the first WC spot! 

10:18pm – Cespedes with another rip and it goes off the SS’s glove and into LF.  That scores Drew to make it a 7-4 game. 

10:22pm – Reddick with an RBI double to RF and the A’s go up 8-4. Nice response from the offense after the last half inning.  Let’s sit Balfour back down in the bullpen and save him for tomorrow. 

10:25pm – Donaldson strikes out to end the inning again, but I think he’s still getting my vote for player of the game. 

10:33pm – After giving up a lead-off double, Cook has struck out the last two batters and we are down to the final out of the game. 

10:35pm – Cliff Pennington throws out the runner at first and that ends tonight’s game!  The A’s are now in the lead for the Wild Card, have won 5 in a row, and are 15 games over .500!  Wow! 

The player of the game is … Josh Donaldson!  Let’s go Oakland!!

Bartolo is not here to talk about the past …

Another day and another major announcement from the A’s today, as Bartolo Colon has been suspended for 50 games, effectively ending his tenure with the team I imagine.  That is, unless he wants to take a huge pay cut next season and the A’s are the only team waiting on that line. 

The only positive to come out of this is that it brings closure to the talk of a seven man / cluttered rotation.  However, this isn’t necessarily the arm the A’s need to be losing from said rotation.  Naturally, Colon’s use of testosterone may have been aiding his performance this season anyway, but I digress. 

I’m scared to raise the issue that there have been two suspensions in the last week or so (Melky Cabrera being the other) and both are from the Bay Area.  Did someone reopen BALCO?  It amazes me that players are still using these drugs and willing to risk their livelihood and reputation.  Is a 50 game suspension not enough of a deterrent?  If nothing else, what about the potential damage they are doing to their bodies?

The A’s had a day game today so I’ve relied on the radio broadcast for the vast majority of it.  However, I’ll start the chant now/already; Please get Cliff Pennington out of the lineup and off of second base.  The radio team described a play in the 2^nd inning that sounded like his fault.  I then saw him screw up covering at second base.  To make matters worse, he seemed to have led to some confusion on Reddick’s error / dropped fly ball.  This isn’t going to be fun and the A’s definitely don’t need this to be a “work in progress” while in the middle of chasing down a wild card spot. 

All of that said, the A’s still managed to win the series from the Twins this afternoon and are now 11 games over .500 for the first time this season!      

Let’s go Oakland!!

Brett Anderson returns tonight and it isn’t the biggest story of the day?!

Brett Anderson returns tonight and it isn’t the biggest news story the A’s rolled out today.  Coming off Tommy John surgery, this has the potential to be a great late season addition to the roster and rotation and just as good or important as any of the hypothetical moves the team didn’t make at the trading deadline. 

However, that isn’t the big news coming out of the A’s clubhouse today, as Jemile Weeks has been optioned to Triple A.  Jane Lee (@janeMLB) has been all over this story.  With the move to pick up Stephen Drew from Arizona, I think most would have figured Pennington to be the one to be designated for assignment, but it looks like the A’s are going to go with a 2B by committee with Rosales and Pennington vs. Weeks.  I’m not sure I agree with this.  OK, I don’t agree with this move at all.  While Weeks hasn’t had a banner year by any stretch of the imagination, he still brings a much higher ‘comfort level’ for me to the lineup vs. Cliff Pennington.  Weeks’ speed on the bases and at the plate brings a dimension that very few can and Pennington certainly doesn’t. 

I’m wondering if there is more to this story than the A’s are releasing.  Is this some type of wakeup call being sent to Weeks?  His confidence doesn’t seem shattered at all given this quote from today, “At the end of the day, I’m going to be a star in this game, man”.  Umm, Jemile … ?

What do you think of the news and moves today?  Anyone have a good conspiracy theory? 

Let’s go Oakland!!

Remembering the A’s 20 Game Winning Streak

This weekend, the Athletics will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of “The Streak” – which was brought back to life due to the release of “Moneyball” last September.  There aren’t too many better memories for me beyond the 1989 World Series win and getting there in ’88 and ’90.  OK, there aren’t any better memories than “The Streak” beyond those championship runs. 

The 2002 season was a year where things were supposed to fall apart.  We just lost Giambi, Damon, etc. and knew that it was only a matter of time before Tejada was out the door as well.  It wasn’t necessarily fun whatsoever.  Then it happened, beginning on 8/13/02.  “The Streak” continued into September and I honestly remember Tejada’s home run against the Twins more so than Hatteberg’s home run to win number 20.  Why?  I have no idea. 

If you haven’t seen “Moneyball” at this point, you absolutely have to go rent/buy it.  They portray the streak pretty nicely and show a good amount of “real” footage from the actual games themselves.  Watching the movie and seeing the sign “We may never lose again”  brought back memories of how much fun baseball can (and should) be. 

The A’s have a lot going on this weekend for the streak, including a night at the park where they will show the movie on the big screen after the game.  That’s pretty awesome in my opinion.  There’s a lot of nostalgia in the air this weekend and I love every second of it. 

Not to be greedy or anything, but it would be nice to pull off a winning streak half that size over the next few weeks.

Let’s go Oakland!!

Brandon McCarthy Returns Tonight!

Brandon McCarthy returns tonight, fresh off his stop on the DL!  McCarthy was really rolling before being shut down, winning six straight decisions earlier this season.  It sounds impressive to say that he hasn’t lost since April 21^st … until someone points out that he also hasn’t pitched since June 19^th.  I’ll choose to look at the former. 

There’s talk that the A’s might move to a six man rotation in an effort to give a little extra rest to the rookies, and to work McCarthy (and maybe Brett Anderson) a little less frequently.  I actually like this move and the logic behind it.  However, one or two 3+ game losing streaks within a few trips through the six man rotation and it would need to go away. 

We’ll see how things progress over the next few weeks as the A’s play the Central division (sans the Tigers) and the Rays through the end of the month.  As the Wild Card race rolls through August, all of these games become more important.  As always … Let’s go Oakland!!

One last, quick note; things are getting a little fancy here (sarcasm) and you may notice the poll over on the right hand side of the page.  What do you think?  Do the A’s make the Wild Card?  

Game Day Diary – Toronto @ Oakland, 8/3/12

It is a disgustingly muggy Friday night here in NJ and the A’s are in the news today.  There really isn’t a better reason for another game day diary.  First, tonight we have Dan Straily’s major league debut.  Straily has been lighting the minors up over the past few months.  No reason to talk anymore about him, we’ll (hopefully) be covering that for quite a few innings. 

Second, contrary to the ground breaking news from last week’s diary below, Kurt Suzuki was traded today to the Nationals.  As I expressed last week, I really wanted Suzuki to stay on the roster and be a great presence.  However, I completely see the rationale behind the move; i.e. the A’s are moving on.  Here’s a question that I seem to ask every year; what’s the point of the MLB trading deadline if teams are still moving players after it? 

Derek Norris and Michael Taylor are back up to the majors and Seth Smith is placed on the 15 day DL.  Phew.  In any case, we’re live from la casa for tonight’s game.  GAME ON!

10:02pm EST – Glen with a riveting open for A’s, Jays, Next!!  Fireworks night!  Immediately reminds me of my sole trip to Oakland from a few years ago, when we came to see the A’s play the Indians and stayed for the fireworks. 

10:03 – Hatteberg breaks down the Suzuki trade.  I don’t mind Hatteberg at all, in fact I think he’s pretty good and can only get better.  However, I really like Glen and Ray’s in-booth dynamic. 

10:09 – Straily warming up and so is this game day diary!  (Context clues)

10:10 – 91mph fastball, right down the heart of the plate and its strike one.  Save that ball!

10:12 – Well, that didn’t take long.  Straily gets his first strike out on the first batter.  For future trivia buffs and as a reference point, that was against Brett Lawrie.

10:14 – Another nugget for trivia fanatics, Straily’s first hit given up is against Colby Rasmus (single).

10:17 – What would Eric Byrnes call Straily’s facial hair?  That is still the funniest moment in sports broadcast history if you ask me.  You’ll need to figure that out for yourself if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

10:22 – Straily gets out of the first with a hit, a walk, and runners left on.  Unfortunately, that was a lot of pitches (29).  

10:26 – Coco leads off the first and breaks up Cecil’s short bid for a no hitter. 

10:29 – Omar Vizquel is still playing in the major leagues?  How old is that guy?  (Quick search: 45 … Wow, kudos to Omar)  While searching for information that no one needs, Reddick grounds out to end the first. 

10:35 – 9 pitch inning for Straily and we go to the bottom of the second, with a 3 pitch strikeout on Jeff Mathis to end the inning.  Well played rookie. 

10:41 – Carter walks after a Cespedes infield single.  Rally time?  Inge comes to the plate…

10:42 – Yes!  Inge gets a base hit to left field and Cespedes scores on a terrible throw home from Rajai Davis. 

10:47 – A’s are hitting the ball, but unfortunately it is right at infielders.  End of 2, A’s are up 1-0. 

10:55 – Another relatively quick inning for Straily. 

11:00 – Jonny Gomes goes long after Weeks and Crisp hit the ball a combined 18 feet!  2-0 A’s. 

11:08 – A very nice Suzuki montage from CSN.  Hatteberg then enlightens me to a Suzuki pool jump.

11:17 – Rajai Davis drives in a run as Straily has gotten himself into some trouble.  2-1 A’s. 

11:19 – Straily’s third strikeout ends the inning, thankfully. 

11:22 – Chris Carter will never see the minor leagues again.  HR Carter, 3-1 A’s. 

11:27 – Derek Norris had a nice hit to right field and ruined it by getting picked off the bases.  Why is the catcher running here?  I have no idea. 

11:35 – Straily is looking more and more comfortable as this game goes on.  We move to the bottom of the 5^th with little noise there from Toronto. 

  11:43 – Jonny Gomes smokes another pitch and it hits off the wall in left field.  1^st and 3^rd for Reddick and Cespedes; again, remember when I questioned Gomes hitting second in the lineup?  I don’t.

11:46 – Reddick gets a sacrifice fly, partial thanks to the Blue Jays center fielder taking the fly ball away from the right fielder.  However, the A’s manage to make another base running decision with Gomes trying to go to second on the throw home.  These base running errors have reared their ugly head too many times in the past few years.  Stop it!  4-1 A’s

11:53 – As has been proven a number of times this season, Cespedes is best served in center field, as a double gets just over his glove.  He didn’t look comfortable there at all. 

11:55 – Straily gets through 6 innings, goes over 100 pitches, and stands to win this game.  Well played. 

11:58 – Cespedes has two infield hits tonight.  He’s good.

12:03 – After easily taking 2^nd, Cespedes gets thrown out trying to steal 3^rd.  On the next pitch, Inge misses a HR by a few feet down the line.  Guess what happens next …

12:03:30 – You guessed it, on to the 7th

12:12 – The Aussie comes in and takes care of the Jays quickly.  We’re heading to the bottom of the 7^th.  I’d hate to throw this out there … but … I’d love to play the Jays another 20 times or so this season. 

12:15 – Rosales slides into first … and he’s out.  Has that ever worked?

12:20 – Glen announces the crowd at 30K+!  Nice!

12:22 – Scoreboard watching and the Angels lost tonight, while the Rangers won.  I’ll take it. 

12:24 – Balfour takes the one fan yelling “Let’s go Balfour” to task and ends the top of the 8^th very quickly. 

12:36 – Cespedes is apparently out of this game, with Michael Taylor hitting for him.  Uh-oh

12:38 – After a relatively nice at bat, Taylor looks at strike three to end the 8^th.  Cook is coming in to close this game with a save opportunity and I’m barely keeping my eyes open. 

12:45 – For some reason, I find it fitting for Cook to strike out Rajai Davis to end this game. 

12:46 – To no avail, as Davis gets a 2 strike hit to right field and the tying run is now up to the plate.  Come on Cook!

12:48 – So the umpire got hit in the mask and I think the A’s catch a break there with two strikes and the runners not advancing. 

12:50 – Cook just gave up a HR and this game is tied.  I believe that is Cook’s second HR given up all year.  That also ruins Straily’s win.  Awesome. 

12:53 – We go to the bottom of the 9^th … for no good reason … with the A’s looking for another walk-off win.

1:02 – Joy – extra innings as the A’s go down in order.  I’d also like to vote against the gold uniforms this weekend as I won’t be around to watch the games. 

1:09 – Jerry Blevins is not looking too good right now; hit batter and a pretty ugly walk.  If I just warm up the Keurig, that will keep the game from going much longer, right? 

1:12 – Pat Neshek checks in for the A’s and gets them out of the inning.  We go to the bottom of the 10^th and I would like nothing more than a pie celebration.

1:16 – Eric Sogard comes up because any time you can get a pinch hitter to the plate that bats .176, you have to do it.  By the way, he just struck out. 

1:17 – Weeks gets a single and so help me god if he makes a base running mistake. 

1:23 – Crisp walks, Weeks on second.  Pie … Pie … Pie …

1:25 – Wild pitch, runners advance.  Pie … Pie … Pie …

1:28 – Gomes walks to load the bases and Mr. Pie himself comes up to bat.  Pie for Reddick?!

1:32 – Reddick takes strike three and Brandon Moss comes in to PH for Taylor (thank you). 

1:34 – Well, we go to the 11^th as Moss grounds out to end the inning.  If I drank cappuccino, I’d be looking for one right now. 

1:41 – Neshek strikes out the side in order.  In the bad news department, it is being reported that Cespedes left the game earlier with a right wrist sprain.  I’m too tired to make a joke here.

1:47 – We now go to the 12^th.  Nothing for the A’s there whatsoever.  Thanks again Cook!

(zzzzzzzzzz)

2:57 – 70 minutes later and Glen just woke me up with the A’s win.  Clearly, I didn’t miss anything.  Game over … finally/thankfully ….. Let’s go Oakland!!