Game Day Diary – Mariners @ Athletics, 9/28/12

Straight from the “it was a long week” department, I now have the distinct pleasure (or the complete opposite) of providing a summary paragraph of the A’s four game series that just past with the Rangers as we go into tonight’s game vs. the Mariners.  By now, you are well aware that the A’s and Rangers split the series at two wins apiece, signaling that the team made no ground in the divisional race.  However, the glass half full approach would say that the team didn’t lose ground either.  While this series was going on, the Angels won two out of three against our opponent tonight and they are now two games behind us for the last wild card spot (with Tampa). 

The best one word descriptor I can come up with for the series against the Rangers is “uncomfortable” because that’s how I felt throughout most of it.  Game 1 was infuriating and felt like a game that the A’s gave away.  Milone and Parker pitched great in games 2 and 3 respectively (both wins) and it felt like momentum was on our side.  Then yesterday’s afternoon game took place.  When the A’s score 7 runs and lose, you know it was a difficult game to watch.  They fought back a few times, only to see the pitching staff give it right back in the next inning (or two).  Let’s just move on before I start whining. 

In the good news department, Coco is apparently going to be back in the lineup tonight.  Would you like some more good news?  The Mariners are in town and we are avoiding King Felix.  The A’s must sweep this series in my opinion.  Not to make the playoffs per se, but from a confidence perspective.  We need to beat up the M’s this weekend and carry over some of that when Texas comes to visit Oakland to close out the season.  According to this article, the A’s own the tiebreaker against the Angels and that isn’t going to change.  The A’s and Rangers are tied head-to-head at 8 wins apiece right now.  So … if the Angels take a few from the Rangers while the A’s sweep … you know what, forget it.  I won’t go any further.  Let’s enjoy tonight’s game and just take care of our own business.  Please and thank you. 

10:01pm EST: We’re (not really) live as MLB.TV has yet to turn on the broadcast.  Someone flip the switch!  In the meantime, I made a terrible mistake – just click here and know that I’m kicking myself for even peaking. 

10:02 – We’re live and I have to admit that I was expecting more from Glen for the introduction.  Where’s the conviction?!  

10:03 – The Orioles are still amazing / baffling to me.  Unrelated, Coco’s back and it is time to go back to the Bernie Lean!  By the way, my nerves are shot and I have the Angels/Rangers game going on my tablet (Google Nexus 7 – go get one!) at the same time. 

10:10 – Griffin K’s the Mariners leadoff hitter!  How many times can or will I type “Let’s go Oakland!!” tonight?

10:12 – Moss catches a foul ball pop up and we have two down.  I’m a little surprised at how quiet the Coliseum is right now.  Hopefully the offense can get things going early. 

10:13 – Griffin’s no hitter is gone thanks to Seager.  The Angels go up 6-1 against the Rangers around the same time (just noticed out of the corner of my eye).

10:15 – Griffin walks Montero and we have 1^st and 2^nd.  Let’s end this.  Now!

10:17 – Jaso flies out and we’re going to the bottom of the 1^st.  Well done.

10:19 – The Angels are blowing open the game in Texas.  7-1 Angels … and I can never figure out who to root for when these teams play. 

10:20 – There we go, the Bernie Lean gets things going with Coco coming up to the plate.  As an added bonus, CSN shows it from the get-go. 

10:21 – Here comes the crowd!  Cowbells, drums, 3-1 … and now 3-2 count to Coco.

10:22 – Coco!!!!  Crisp!!!!  Home … run!!!  Let’s go Oakland!

10:24 – Stephen Drew drives the ball to the wall and it’s caught.  So close!

10:25 – Cespedes drives the ball right at the right fielder.  Two outs but everyone is making good contact. 

10:30 – Seager makes a nice play to catch Redick’s foul ball and that ends the inning.  By the way, I failed to mention in the opening paragraphs that Redick broke his 0-for slump yesterday in Texas with two HR’s.  Hopefully that bat stays alive over the course of the next week. 

10:33 – Phew, Smoak just misses a HR as the ball carries foul.  That ball was crushed.  Come with the curveball. 

10:34 – Smoak flies out on the next pitch. 

10:37 – Another opportunity for a shutdown inning and the A’s fail at it.  HR by Robinson ties the game at 1. 

10:39 – Groundout to end the inning but the damage is done. 

10:41 – MLB.TV just went down on both feeds and came back on one source with grainy video from Oakland.  Oh boy, I really have enjoyed the service this year.  They couldn’t come up with a worse time to really strike a nerve. 

10:46 – The A’s go down in order and my connection on MLB.TV is less than superb right now. 

10:50 – I only know that the A’s got through the inning because I have switched over to the radio broadcast.  #Firstworldproblems … and really, really annoyed.

10:54 – Pennington leads off the inning with a hit.  The TV portion of MLB.TV is about 2 minutes behind the radio broadcast right now.  Annoying, but I’m going with the TV version and staying off Twitter.

10:57 – Stephen Drew gets that one over the wall, 3-1 A’s!

11:01 – Moss grounds out to end the inning.  Scoreboard alert – Beltre hit another HR to bring the Rangers to within three, 7-4 in the 8^th. 

11:06 – Moss makes a nice play at 1^st to turn a double play to end the inning!  We’re on to the bottom of the 4^th. 

11:09 – Redick smacks a ball to RF but Wells makes a nice play/catch.  1 out 

11:15 – Smith strikes out to end the inning, with the A’s still on top 3-1. 

11:22 – It’s a final from Texas, Angels win 7-4.  Three words: Let’s go Oakland!

11:23 – With a little help from the home plate umpire, Griffin strikes out two more and we go to the bottom of the 5^th. 

11:31 – Coco with another hit, this one with 2 outs.  The bad news, I just saw a reported attendance of 16,376.  Hopefully everyone in the area is prepping for a weekend at the stadium?!

11:36 – After a Drew walk, Cespedes hits a rocket to SS and we have bases loaded.  Seriously, what percentage of the time does the ball fly off of Cespedes’ bat?  He’s going to become one of the most exciting players in the game to watch over the next couple of years. 

11:39 – Coco scores on a wild pitch from Oliver Perez, who was “adored” by the local media here during his time with the Mets.  Nice to see things haven’t changed much. 

11:40 – Moss shatters his bat but winds up grounding out.  4-1 A’s as we go to the 6^th. 

11:45 – Griffin’s given up a hit, a wild pitch, and now a walk to start off the 6^th.  Let’s fix this immediately and get someone up in the bullpen just in case.

11:47 – Seager strikes out on three pitches, all of which were out of the strike zone.  Thanks

11:51 – Jaso gets hit on the hand and barely reacts to it.  How is that possible?  In any case, with two outs and the bases now loaded, Doolittle is replacing Griffin.  Nice outing from Griffin, but he’s going to need a large helping hand right now. 

11:55 – Doolittle gets Smoak to fly out to end the inning.  4-1 A’s still.  Phew. 

11:59 – Redick leads off the inning with a hit.  He’s out of his slump, right?

12:07 – A’s go down quickly and quietly after Redick’s leadoff hit.  We’re going to the 7^th, 4-1 A’s.

12:10 – Saunders takes the first pitch deep against Doolittle, 4-2 A’s.  Doolittle seems to be coming back to earth a little over the past few weeks.  He needs to be the reliable left arm in the bullpen. 

12:16 – After the leadoff HR, Doolittle puts the Mariners down quickly.  7^th inning stretch time

12:22 – A’s are looking to pad the score here a bit.  Pennington walks, gets to second on a wild pitch, and is followed by Coco’s infield single. 

12:26 – Drew walks to bring up Cespedes with the bases loaded and no outs.  Before that happens, we have another pitching change. 

12:33 – Cespedes walks after a number of pitches and the A’s force in a run.  5-2

12:36 – A’s get a gift run on a terrible throw home from the M’s second baseman.  6-2 A’s. 

12:37 – Donaldson shoots one right up the middle and the A’s score two more!  Game over?  8-2 A’s

12:49 – Cespedes lays out to make the catch in an 8-2 game?  Yes.  That should inspire the entire dugout. 

12:57 – A’s go down quickly and quietly in the bottom of the 8^th.  We go to the 9^th …

1:01 – Jim Miller is in to pitch the top of the 9^th.  This may make or break Miller’s time with the A’s and whether or not Melvin goes to him anymore.  Smoak gets a leadoff single.

1:03 – Cook is up in the bullpen again, as Miller goes 3-0 to the second straight batter.  Miller walks him two pitches later. 

1:06 – Robinson strikes out again and probably should have been tossed for arguing again.  1 out

1:07 – Moss makes a nice play on a foul ball.  2 outs

1:08 – Another foul out and the A’s win!  3 back of Texas and they remain 2 ahead of the Angels.  Let’s go Oakland!

I’m going with the returning Coco Crisp as the player of the game! 

Game Day Diary – Athletics @ Yankees, 9/21/12

We’re live to start off the birthday weekend from the couch instead of Yankees Stadium.  I’ve grown incredibly lazy in my old age and had no interest in rushing to the Bronx for a Friday night game.  This was the only game that there was any chance to get to and we passed.  Tonight, we have the distinct displeasure of not listening to Glen and Ray and will be subjected to either Michael Kay or John Sterling.  I’m assuming it is Kay since it is a Yankees home game.  I don’t have a preference on either, as they are both torture.  Someone should actually create a Twitter parody account for both of them.  I would do this but I have absolutely no interest in listening to either of them beyond the handful of games a year when the Yankees play the A’s. 

Updated standings from last night’s games have the A’s and O’s tied for the first wild card spot, one game behind the Yankees.  The A’s are four games behind the Rangers for the division lead, but have a 4.5 game lead on the Angels.  I’m not saying anything about how this relates to the A’s chances of making the playoffs, given the amount of bad karma coming this week – postseason tickets went on sale and the national media finally picked up on the team.  Stop! 

Coco remains out of the lineup tonight, with Cowgill leading off and playing CF.  Rosales is at 2B tonight, but I have a feeling we’ll see Weeks in the lineup this weekend.  No, really, please make this happen.  Let’s get him back in the lineup please.  It’s Parker vs. Sabathia on the mound tonight and I’m on record from last night (see below) predicting a win.  (Gulp)

7:02pm US EST – We’re live two minutes late because I forgot to change the channel.  We’re off to a good start here.  In the booth tonight on My9 (don’t ask) is apparently going to be Michael Kay, Ken Singleton, and Paul O’Neill.  Oh boy.  Before even finishing those thoughts, they go to commercial.  The Yankees broadcast personified and we’re only in our first time-stamped entry.  (Shaking head)

7:05 – You can’t make this up – we’re going to our second commercial break.  They were in the booth “dissecting” this game for approximately 45 seconds.  Good grief.

7:09 – Cowgill strikes out but had a decent at bat, seeing a few pitches.  Sorry, I took my own commercial break while the announce booth talked throughout the entire at bat.  This is going to be a long, sarcastic diary.  There’s your warning. 

7:12 – Gomes draws a walk after our first pink eye joke from the booth. 

7:13 – The booth is now talking facial hair and haircuts.  Reddick drives one that is just foul and misses a HR.  Ugh!

7:16 – Reddick strikes out after a decent at bat as well, as Sabathia is already at 20 pitches. 

7:18 – Cespedes strikes out as well and I think we have a theme for the evening. 

7:21 – Jeter swings at the first pitch and we have one out.  Nice pace for Parker …

7:21 – It is still 7:21 and we have two pitches and two outs.  That joke was a lot funnier 25 seconds ago before Kay said something similar. 

7:24 – Parker is dealing in the first and Cano goes down on strikes!  Note that I’m restraining myself from touching my phone and passing along any text messages.  For now …

7:28 – I had no idea the Yankees had Ichiro in left field.  He just caught a nice pop off of Donaldson’s bat. 

7:29 – Derek Norris swings at the first pitch and pops out to Ichiro.  We’re going to the bottom of the 2^nd. 

7:34 – A-Rod strikes out and I immediately give Parker a three clap salute.  Thankfully, the wife is out. 

7:35 – Granderson goes down on strikes too.  (Remain silent, stay off your phone)

7:37 – Martin grounds out and we’re going to the third inning.

7:40 – Drew smacks the ball 55 feet and into Sabathia’s glove.  No emphasis on the word “smack”.

7:43 – Rosales strikes out on a clear ball.  We’re back to the top of the lineup. 

7:44 – Eric Chavez, playing first base, beats Cowgill to first on a slow grounder.  Let’s think about that as we go to the bottom of the 3^rd. 

7:47 – Chavez dribbles out to Norris - I still can’t root against Eric (he was my favorite Athletic during his tenure).

7:48 – Parker gives up his first hit to Ichiro and it’s a ball that gets stuck in his jersey.  Naturally, this had to happen against Ichiro, who I still don’t like from his Mariner days. 

7:53 – Ichiro steals second and I feel like the Yankees booth is stealing signs and relaying quick signals.  At the same time, the pitch is called a ball and that was another terrible call. 

7:55 – The umpire makes up for it and calls Jeter out on strikes.  Thanks

8:00 – Reddick strikes out on a pitch that hit the dirt.  That feels like another missed call.  Seconds later, Cespedes pops up to quickly end the inning.  Ugh. 

8:07 – Swisher gets the first ‘real’ hit of the game.  Why does it feel like Swisher punishes the A’s? 

8:09 – A-rod hits a blooper to CF and the Yankees have 1^st and 3^rd with 1 out.  Sudden illness is coming over me. 

8:14 – Granderson gets a sac-fly to Cespedes.  Yankees take the lead 1-0. 

8:16 – Martin grounds out to end the inning and we’re on to the 5^th.  The A’s desperately need to get a few base runners, at the very least, in this inning. 

8:24 – Michael Kay stresses the “Al” in Alzheimer’s and I immediately hate him more.  He does mention that he was touched by it too and that makes me feel a bit bad about the joke.  Let’s move on. 

8:25 – In the spirit of the Yankees, I’m taking a commercial break as well to point out that Casey Pratt pointed out that a guest appearance in the game day diary a few weeks ago (vs. Cleveland) had a Twitter account.  Follow “The Mauler” here on Twitter. 

8:29 – A beautiful play from Cespedes on an Ichiro blooper and they get him caught between 1^st and 2^nd.  Two outs in the inning.  That was the worst effort at a rundown I’ve seen in quite some time.  Thanks Ichiro!

8:30 – Nunez grounds out to end the inning and we go to the 6^th.  Hey Oakland, let’s get some base-runners please.

8:34 – Drew breaks up the no hitter from Sabathia, thankfully!

8:35 – Rosales flies out to right field.  In Yankee Stadium there’s always some potential for that carrying out. 

8:36 – I’m calling it now before it happens.  Gomes goes long. 

8:39 – So much for that, Gomes strikes out looking.  I even time-stamped a text message just in case for future proof.  I’m losing my touch. 

8:45 – Parker gets Cano to ground into a double play to end the inning.  Let’s go Oakland!!

8:50 – Reddick strikes out again.  Please move him to anywhere else in the roster.  Try him in the two hole or the five hole.  Please!

8:53 – Cespedes strikes out on ball four.  At the same time, I realize that CC threw about 20 pitches in the first inning and is only at pitch 90 through 6.2 innings. 

8:56 – Carter walks and that brings up Donaldson.  Let’s go Oakland!

8:57 – Singleton throws out a bizarre stat that has Donaldson hitting over .400 on Friday nights and just above .200 the rest of the week.  It’s time to put that theory to the test.

8:58 – Well, so much for that, as Nunez robs Donaldson.  Ugh.  Seventh inning stretch

9:05 – Would the A’s bats please help Parker out?!  He’s through 7 with virtually no damage.  Give this guy some run support please!

9:07 – The wife is back and handed me a birthday present – A’s pajama pants.  I’d put a picture up of them, but I am also wearing a throwback Reggie Jackson jersey and this combination is downright scary and I have a legitimate concern of this going viral.  Let’s move on and score some (blank) runs please!

9:09 – Cano has Norris played perfectly and we have one out in the top of the 8^th. 

9:10 – Stephen Drew with another hit.  Come on!!

9:12 – Rosales has made some nice contact but it continues to land in the glove of Yankees. 

9:15 – Cowgill beats out a slow grounder and I think I see an A’s runner at 2^nd base!  Let’s go Oakland!

9:16 – Gomes gets HBP and here comes Reddick with 3 K’s on the night.  Please, please, please is about all I can come up with. 

9:18 – Reddick flies out to LF.  !@#$%^&*(  … I don’t know what else needs to happen to move him out of the 3 hole in the lineup. 

9:26 – One pitch to Jeter is a strike and the next in the exact same location is a ball because Jeter stretches out further over the plate.  I hate the Yankees by the way.  By the way, there are two outs in this inning already. 

9:28 – Parker strikes out Jeter to end the inning.  We’re going to the top of the 9^th.  Cespedes and Carter need to go deep.  Please?!

9:31 – Cespedes just (bleep) misses a HR and we have one out in the 9^th. 

9:32 – Brandon Moss is PH’ing for Carter? 

9:34 – Like I said, Moss is PH’ing for Carter and hits a HR!!!!!

9:36 – Martin makes a nice play as A-rod wanted nothing to do with running towards the A’s dugout.  Yes, I might be taking that opportunity to make fun of A-rod.  Two outs. 

9:39 – Norris walks and we have a Coco sighting, as he will pinch run.  Nice!

9:42 – Coco steals second base and here we go!

9:43 – Drew walks and here comes Seth Smith.  Let’s go Oakland!! 

9:47 – Smith strikes out and the A’s will have to deal with the heart of the Yankees lineup. 

9:52 – I think I hear a faint, little “Let’s go Oakland” chant from one person in the crowd.  Well done. 

9:54 – A-rod gets a hit to keep the inning alive.  Of course he does.  By the way, Doolittle is in and got the first two hitters out.

9:56 – Yes!  Extra innings live from the Bronx.  Thank god I’m not at this game.

9:59 – Pennington leads off the 10^th because he came in to play defense in the ninth.  I only know this because Kay just announced his entry into the game when he came to the plate. 

10:00 – Pennington continues to swing at high fast balls and flies out.  If he could hit home runs this would be acceptable. 

10:06 – Here’s a summary of my thoughts:

john flesta ‏@jflesta

I love Reddick and what he has brought to this team. But for the love of god, get him out of the 3 hole in the lineup! #Athletics

 10:09 – Martin with a walk-off HR off Doolittle.  Thanks Reddick!

Player of the game goes to Parker, despite the walk-off HR because I can’t stand the Yankees.  If he had any help whatsoever, this should have been a W. 

Tigers Series Wrap-up and Yankees Preview

Earlier today the A’s saved face and avoided the sweep against the Tigers, putting up late insurance runs to seal the deal as the team gets ready to head to NY for a big three game series against the Yankees. 

The first two games against the Tigers were an unmitigated disaster and that may be understating it.  Game 1 was an embarrassment with the A’s losing 12-2.  The only time it felt even remotely good was in the top of the 1^st when the A’s had a 1-0 lead.  That lead was quickly given up in the bottom half of the inning and the deficit grew in just about every inning thereafter, with the Tigers scoring in six of the eight innings they came to the plate.  Despite the score being closer, game 2 was actually worse.  The A’s have lost Brett Anderson to an oblique injury and Melvin is saying he may or may not be available for the postseason.  So that’s awesome. 

In the 3rd inning of yesterday’s game, Anderson looked awful fielding a bunt and then fell to the ground on a subsequent pitch.  He exited stage left immediately thereafter and the hopes of beating Verlander quickly fell apart.  To be honest, yesterday’s lineup card against Verlander was a bit more than puzzling and looked like we were throwing in the towel early and waiting for today’s game.  Coco remains out with conjunctivitis (pink eye) and Weeks still couldn’t find his way into the lineup.  To make matters worse, Barton returned to the starting lineup in place of Carter because Melvin wanted left handed batters in the lineup.  Hopefully, that is the last time we see that experiment, even though Barton did have a nice game at the plate. 

After today’s victory, there was a little rookie hazing in the locker room apparently:

Casey Pratt ‏@CaseyPrattCSN

The #Athletics rookies are wearing green collegiate wrestler uniforms complete with ear guards. Lookin like Rick Steiner.

Thankfully, the pictures online have been limited.  The A’s are off to NY to play the Yankees and here are the pitching matchups:

Friday, 7pm (US EST) – Parker (11-8) vs. Sabathia (13-6)

Saturday, 1pm – Blackley (5-3) vs. Nova (12-7)

Sunday, 1pm – Griffin (6-1) vs. Kuroda (14-10)

Hopefully, the A’s can take two out of three here in NY.  The teams have had two series thus far this season, with the A’s suffering a three game sweep at home in late May, but returned the favor in July by sweeping the Yankees in a four game series in Oakland.  If the A’s can pull off two victories, they’ll own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Yankees.  I’ll go out on a limb and say that the A’s will do this, with victories tomorrow from Parker and Sunday from Griffin.  It will be interesting to see how Griffin responds coming off of his first loss of the season.  If this picture means anything, I think we are OK.

Tomorrow’s game will include a game day diary with the distinct pleasure of having to listen to the Yankees announcers for 3-4 hours.  If you don’t already, you’ll completely understand after reading the diary. 

Below you’ll see the up to the minute standings, before tonight’s games take place.  The A’s are currently tied with Baltimore for the top wild card spot and 3.5 games behind Texas for the division. 

Let’s go Oakland!

Game Day Diary – Orioles @ Athletics, 9/14/12

Pregame: Friday night and complete exhaustion equals a game day diary in an effort to stay up through the conclusion of tonight’s big game against the O’s.  I doubt anyone reading this is living in a cave, so you know that these are the biggest surprise success stories in MLB this season.  The O’s come in a half game behind the A’s record wise and to state the obvious, this is another huge series for this franchise.  Tonight’s matchup pits Tommy Milone against Joe Saunders.  To be honest, I have way too much confidence in the A’s winning tonight. 

Again, we’ll be keeping an eye on the out of town scoreboard.  At around 9:45, the Angels and Rangers both have 1 run leads about half way through each game.  In the AL East, the Yankees are down 5-2 against the Rays and I don’t have any feeling one way or the other on who to root for in that series.  Ultimately, I would prefer to play Baltimore in the play in game vs. either NY or TB.  There’s way too much baseball left to start thinking about this. 

Finally, two quick updates on the A’s injuries mentioned last weekend.  The A’s twitter feed announced that Brandon Inge had successful surgery on his right shoulder and there isn’t a timetable for his return, which is obviously not this season.  Second, from Mrs. McCarthy, the McCarthy’s are at the stadium tonight!  A little extra inspiration never hurt anyone, right? 

10:01pm US EST – We’re live for Glen Kuiper’s opening montage!  Kuiper and Hatteberg sitting with the crowd for tonight’s game.  Fosse is still in the radio booth and will be there until Tuesday?  Come on!  We want Fosse!  Nothing against Hatteberg, he’s been good, it is just … just … Fosse!  Who doesn’t want this …

10:09 – The Orioles starting lineup has just as strong of an average as the A’s.  That’s not a compliment and they don’t play in this albatross of a stadium.  What a bizarre year of baseball. 

10:12 – After two quick outs, Adam Jones breaks up Milone’s no hitter with a double to the corner. 

10:15 – Josh Donaldson with a nice play at third to end the inning without any damage.  At the same time, scoreboard alert – The Royals put up a few runs on the Angels and take the lead in the bottom of the 6^th!

10:18 – An early “Bernie Lean” with Coco leading off the game for the A’s!

10:21 – A’s go down pretty quickly and in order and we’re scoreless after one. 

10:27 – Milone gets through the second without any noise at all.  A quick game would be nice here. 

10:31 – Cespedes is back in the lineup but gets called out on strikes.  If the prior pitch wasn’t a strike, I have no idea how that one was.  See: make up call. 

10:32 – Chris Carter is back in the lineup and flies out on the first pitch.  It’s good to see Carter back in the lineup though. 

10:33 – Donaldson breaks up the no hitter with a single.

10:34 – Derek Norris flies out to end the inning though and we’re scoreless through two. 

10:40 – Teams are now openly tagging up from first base against Coco’s arm.  Ugh

10:46 – Hardy hits a ball to Donaldson that ricochets off of him and to Drew.  However, the play at first isn’t in time and the Orioles are able to take the lead, 1-0 on the error. 

10:47 – The inning ends there with another fly ball to Coco.  Scoreboard watching – KC is up 7-5 on the Angels, while Texas still leads Seattle 2-1. 

10:53 – Again, CSN must do more to show the outfield bleachers when Coco is coming up to the plate.  As I finish that complaint, Coco lines out to end the inning.  1-0 O’s through 3 innings. 

10:59 – After a walk, Carter makes a nice over the shoulder catch for the first out. 

11:00 – Donaldson makes a potential low-ranking web gem (does ESPN still do that, I feel like I haven’t watched ESPN in seven years) to start the inning ending double play.  Nice play!

11:06 – After Gomes leads off the inning with a single, Glen sends it to the studio.  Is it just me or does MLB.TV never show this? 

11:07 – After a terrible Reddick at bat, Cespedes hits a HR to left field!!  Yes!!  2-1 Oakland

11:08 – Carter walks on four pitches.  Let’s go Oakland!

11:14 – After Donaldson flies out and Carter doesn’t tag up on it, Norris gets an infield hit so we have 1^st and 3^rd with 2 outs. 

11:17 – Stephen Drew strikes out for the second time tonight, leaving the score 2-1 at the end of the 4^th inning. 

11:20 – Milone gives up the lead quickly, with Davis hitting a leadoff HR to tie the game.  Joy.

11:21 – Machado quickly follows the HR up with a single to RF.  Let’s get someone up in the bullpen. 

11:23 – Thankfully, Milone gets the 6-4-3 double play to clean this inning up a bit. 

11:25 – Milone gets his first strikeout in the game to end the top of the 5^th. 

11:27 – First: Rosales leads off the inning with a double.  Second: The “2” key on my keyboard is misbehaving and I have to pound on it to get it to work.  #Firstworldproblems 

11:30 – Coco gets a single putting runners on 1^st and 3^rd with no one out and the heart of the lineup coming up!  Let’s go Oakland!

11:33 – Gomes comes through with another single, and the A’s retake the lead 3-2!  (Annoying key)

11:35 – Reddick can’t catch a break right now.  He crushes a ball and it’s grabbed by the first baseman.  That had two runs written all over it.  Instead, runner on seconds with two outs and they are intentionally walking Cespedes. 

11:36 – Glen makes a “Cespedes for the restivus” joke and I immediately hate that I didn’t think of that first.  Meanwhile, Carter grounds out to end the inning.  That rally was short lived. 

11:45 – Milone is not doing a good job of producing ‘shut down innings’ after the A’s give him the lead.

11:47 – Donaldson starts another double play and CSN cuts to someone in the crowd banging a bell almost the size of the Liberty Bell.  How and why did he bring that into the stadium?

11:54 – Scoreboard alert: Angels and Rangers both won tonight, making tonight’s game that much more important. 

11:57 – It might be a good time to give Drew a couple days off and put Weeks back at second base.  Drew strikes out for the third time tonight.

12:05 – Melvin comes and pulls the hook on Milone after 6.1 innings of pretty solid pitching.  Nice job Tommy!  Neshek is on his way to the mound. 

12:11 – Another double play turned by the A’s defense and we go to the bottom of the 7^th with the A’s still up 3-2!

12:15 – Pinch hitting with Cliff Pennington isn’t necessarily what I would call a strong game plan.  Rosales is out of tonight’s game and Pennington strikes out.

12:16 – Ask and you shall receive apparently, as CSN shows the right field bleachers as Coco comes to the plate. 

12:26 – Ryan Cook has a nice, quick top of the 8^th with two strikeouts and a real nice bare handed play from Donaldson.  Can you say insurance run?

12:30 – Reddick leads off with a single.  Let’s go Oakland!!

12:34 – Cespedes strikes out and then the catcher hits his arm on Cespedes’ bat and helmet, so Reddick is also out at second base.  Rally … killer.

12:35 – I think Angel Hernandez wants this game to end more than I do.  A very high strike is called on Carter to expedite the inning.

12:36 – Similar comment from directly above, two pitches later.  We’re going to the top of the 9^th with the A’s up one and turning it over to Balfour. 

12:44 – After a quick hit to lead off the inning, Balfour gets Chavez on a strikeout .

12:45 – Reynolds just missed a HR and it sounded like it had a chance on the TV.  2 outs. 

12:46 – Crowd has risen to its feet (good crowd tonight!). 

12:47 – I love when Buck Showalter does dumb things!  The O’s try to steal second base and Norris throws the runner out to end the game!  Yes!!

The player of the game is tonight’s starting pitcher, Tommy Milone!  Let’s go Oakland!!

A’s 2013 Schedule is Released

Today, MLB and the A’s released their 2013 regular season schedule.  A few questions immediately became apparent:

·         The season starts on a Monday?

·         The season starts on April Fools’ Day?  (Insert Bud Selig joke here)

·         Why does MLB continue to release the following year’s schedule in the middle of the chase to the playoffs?  You would think they would learn from the NFL & NBA and take a day where there is limited to no news for your sport and celebrate the release of the upcoming season during the long and boring offseason. 

Now that we have cleared that up, here are a few dates that caught my attention:

4/5 – 4/7 – The A’s play at Houston, our new division rivals.  The A’s play the Astros 19 times in 2013.  Side note: I love this division realignment and this should have happened years ago to even out the six divisions.  Then again, see questions 2 and 3 above for your answer as to why it has taken so long.    

5/3 – 5/5 – The A’s lone trip to this area for a three game series against the NY Yankees.  I have to miss the series coming up later this month so I’m hoping that part of my Cinco de Mayo celebrations include a trip to Yankee Stadium. 

5/27 – 5/30 – The scheduling gods managed to split a four game series between the A’s and Giants, giving each team two home games apiece.  This makes sense to anyone else?  (The A’s also have a split series vs. Cincinnati with games in late June and early August?!)

7/15 – 7/17 – The All Star break … oh wait, no one cares about this whatsoever. 

September baseball – The A’s play the Rangers in early September and again in the middle of the month.  However, after this the team has two series (home & away) with the Angels that is broken up by a four game, home series against Minnesota.  The A’s close the regular season (see what I’m doing here?) with three games in Seattle. 

I have a hard time even thinking about the 2013 schedule when the A’s are in the middle of a playoff race, further enhancing the earlier thought of – why does baseball continue to shoot itself in the foot and release the schedule in September when you can use a quiet day in the offseason to create some buzz for your league?! 

In any case - Let’s go Oakland!

A’s kickoff another series vs. Angels

The A’s kickoff a four game series against the Angels tonight, the last time we will see Anaheim this season.  It looks like Parker, Straily, Griffen, and (I imagine) Anderson will be the rotation for the series, going up against Haren, Williams, Santana, and Weaver – who looks to be returning for Thursday’s matinee game – respectively.  Let’s hope the A’s fare a bit better than last week’s terrible showing. 

The A’s made three call-ups today – Jemile Weeks, Daric Barton, and Jessie Chavez.  Weeks is a welcomed return even if Melvin has yet to commit to how or when he will be used.  Weeks also said that he used the demotion to work on his swing.  We’ll see how this goes, but I’m still more comfortable with Weeks vs. Pennington, even if the latter has been playing very well in September.  I trust that Melvin will find some more magic in pushing the right buttons at the right time.  Barton returns as a situational hitter and late game, defensive replacement.  I can’t imagine it goes much further than this plan.  Per CSN’s story, Chavez will be used sparingly from the bullpen, if at all. 

One last, quick update as Brandon McCarthy continues to make progress.  He walked a bit in the hospital today and may return home sooner rather than later.  Good luck Brandon!

With that said, let’s take care of the Angels tonight and over the next couple of days please!  Let’s go Oakland!  This won't be your player of the game ...

Get well wishes for a couple of A’s

By now, you are likely full aware of what has happened to Brandon McCarthy.  When I went to bed on Wednesday night (9/5), it was being reported that McCarthy was “OK” and being held overnight for precautionary purposes.  By the end of Thursday’s workday, things seemed to have changed and we found out that McCarthy was progressing after surgery.  Now, this morning we see that things continue to improve, but it sounds like there is still a significant risk involved.  McCarthy tweeted, or someone did this for him given the quotes:

 “

Brandon McCarthy ‏@BMcCarthy32 - "Crazy about this children's tylenol, can't believe they give it to kids.

"

So that is good to see.  I wish nothing but the best for Brandon and his wife and a speedy recovery, not necessarily to baseball, but to a regular, everyday life.  Athletics Nation has a good article up today that you should check out. 

At the same time, I want to wish a “get well” to Brandon Inge as well, who is about to have shoulder surgery.  Inge has been the recipient of a number of my sarcastic comments during game day diaries but he also showed his toughness over the past few weeks trying to play through the injury and subsequently volunteering to pinch hit after realizing that the pain was too much to play third base, but swinging was plausible.  Kudos to Inge for even offering this up, it shows a lot about his character and team spirit. 

Get well soon to both Brandon’s!  Let’s go Oakland!

A’s are swept by the Angels

This was supposed to be a fun, short week.  The A’s have significantly dampened those spirits by being completely outplayed and out-managed by the Angels.  Labor Day came and went and the A’s were smoked by CJ Wilson in game 1.  Not even yesterday’s game day diary (see entry below) and gold jerseys could stop Zack Greinke’s dominant performance in game 2.  Today, A’s fans were subjected to more of the same, as Dan Haren and the Angels bullpen put up another stellar performance. 

In case you didn’t see it already, click here for the video clip from today’s game where McCarthy got hit.  That was downright frightening as the ball careened off of the side of McCarthy’s head and towards third base.  Based on early reports, McCarthy is “OK” and was taken to the hospital more as a precaution vs. anything else.  Hopefully that is the case and he’s able to recover and return next week.  That has to be the scariest thing in baseball. 

Frankly, the A’s looked terrible in this series.  Bob Melvin didn’t push a single, right button.  The lineups, substitutions, relief pitchers, etc. all failed in this series.  The A’s offense struck out approximately 257 times during the three game series.  Note to the skipper: Josh Reddick was on fire in the sixth slot of the lineup.  Let’s move him back, or at the very least, down to fifth.  Please. 

The A’s are now playing catch-up with the AL East teams for the top Wild Card slot and the team doesn’t play again until Friday night.  This might either be the perfect time for an off day to regroup and refresh or the worst time for one, where the team now has to think about the sweep for 48+ hours before hitting the field again.  One added wrinkle – the A’s are scheduled to face Felix Hernandez on Friday night, with AJ Griffin on the mound.  Oh boy. 

Please … Let’s go Oakland!

Game Day Diary – Angels @ Athletics, 9/4/12

Earlier today I realized that the game day diary has never experienced a loss for the A’s.  Given yesterday’s result, I figured it makes some sense to try to keep the good karma alive and get this back on track vs. the Angels. 

Some early scoreboard watching before MLB.TV starts the game has the Indians up on Tigers in the 9^th, the Yankees losing again to Tampa, the Twins up big over the White Sox, and the Royals up on the Rangers.  Three out of four isn’t bad, right?  Let’s hope that remains the case over the next hour or two.  I also keep forgetting that the Orioles are in this race and they are winning over Toronto. 

10:02pm US EST – We’re live from the Oakland Coliseum (I’m still calling it that) with Glen and Ray!  A’s still have the lead in the Wild Card.  Jarrod Parker is on the mound again tonight.  The A’s have won the game in his last three starts, with Parker getting two W’s.  However, he didn’t pitch too well in his last outing against Cleveland. 

10:07pm – Hey, the A’s must have heard me last night (…) and have gone with the gold jerseys for this evening.  Cespedes is back in LF and Moss is playing 1B tonight.  Seth Smith is the DH, which means Carter has the night off.  Finally, Kottaras is catching this evening, so Norris has the night off as well. 

10:10pm – Trout decides to give the A’s a break and watches two strikes, only one of which was called, to start the game with a K. 

10:13pm – Kottaras drops a foul tip that would have been strike three and on the next pitch Pujols hits the wall.   Given that he’s running with his shoelaces tied, a good throw from Cespedes would have nailed Pujols at second.  No avail, but as that last sentence was finished, Parker gets a ground out to end the inning. 

10:15pm – Scoreboard watching and the Twins put up a 10-spot in the 5^th inning against the White Sox.  So that game is over, but technically won’t be for another two hours.  Cleveland, Baltimore, and Tampa all won already. 

10:20pm – After two very quick outs, Reddick works a walk against Greinke, who I really feared would be the acquisition that would get the Angels into the playoffs.  That was likely around the same time I gave up on the A’s season for the 17^th time. 

10:23pm – Cespedes gets a blooper to drop and the A’s have 1^st and 3^rd for Moss! 

10:25pm – Small crowd is seen behind Moss on the first base side.  Hopefully that is just a post-Labor Day drain for one night and the fans are back out tomorrow.  As long as the fans in attendance are loud and into the game, I will limit my complaints. 

10:27pm – Moss strikes out to end the inning and the score remains 0-0.  Ugh!

10:33pm – Parker gets three groundouts to quickly get through the top of the 2^nd. 

10:40pm – Greinke matches Parker and sends the A’s down in order relatively quickly as well.  I’d like to see two things: 1. The A’s win tonight and 2. This game finishing in less than three hours.  Please and thank you. 

10:45pm – Cespedes makes a nice catch in the gap and then flips the ball to Coco to throw back into the infield.  I just had visions of Rickey Henderson in LF. 

10:47pm – After a Trout single, Glen throws the broadcast to a promo and it never happens.  However, Glen says, “Thanks…”  Consider me lost and/or very tired. 

10:52pm – Parker strikes out Hunter to end the inning.  The score remains 0-0. 

10:56pm – Coco comes up after a Pennington strike out and we get to hear the Bernie Lean in the background.  Thank you again for coming up with another reason to love the A’s.  Coco grounds out before I can even finish the hyperlink here. 

10:59pm – Seth Smith doubles off of Wells’ glove / the wall.  Come on Reddick!

11:00pm – Reddick fouls out to end the inning and we remain scoreless.  It isn’t worth complaining about given that Reddick fouled out on the next pitch, but the first pitch in the at bat was a terrible called strike.  Today’s home plate umpire is all over the place so far. 

11:08pm – Moss makes another nice play at 1B and Parker is dealing right now.  We’re heading to the bottom of the 4^th with no score.

11:10pm – Scoreboard alert, KC beats Texas and the A’s can get that game back from yesterday if they can pull this off tonight!

11:12pm – Moss strikes out again.  Is it too early to use Carter as a PH the next time around? 

11:15pm – After a Donaldson blooper for a hit, Drew grounds out to end the inning, with the score remaining 0-0. 

11:19pm – Watching Pennington try to track down a fly ball from his 2B position is a bit nerve-wracking. 

11:22pm – Trout drives in the first run of the game and the Angels go up 1-0.  Why is the bottom of their lineup doing so much damage?  Ugh. 

11:27pm – After striking out Hunter, Parker gets Pujols to fly out to end the inning.  Let’s start pitching around Trout please. 

11:32pm – CSN needs to do a better job of showing fans doing the Bernie Lean.  Coco quickly flies out to end the 5^th with the A’s down 1-0. 

11:36pm – Two quick hits from the Angels and Melvin needs to get the bullpen going and send someone to the mound to stall.  It doesn’t look like either is happening. 

11:38pm – Aybar lays down a beautiful bunt and the Angels have 2^nd and 3^rd.  On the next pitch, the Angels get a sacrifice fly to score another run and now lead 2-0. 

11:40pm – Wells grounds out to end the inning but the damage is done.  The A’s have to get something going here with the 2-3-4 hitters coming up. 

11:44pm – Trout leaps and makes a catch on a Reddick fly ball.  I’m really starting to dislike Trout as much as I do any other player on the Angels. 

11:46pm – Cespedes hits another ball hard but right at someone and the A’s go down in order again.  We’re looking at a bottom of the 9^th situation with Reddick and Cespedes coming up to bat, as the A’s have done about as little as possible to this point offensively. 

11:49pm – CSN shows us Hatteberg’s HR to get the team to 20 wins in a row and the last win of “The Streak”. 

11:53pm – Hunter strikes out again and we go to the 7^th inning stretch.  We’re winning the speed of the game battle but not the game itself.  This needs to work itself out. 

11:56pm – “That baby is gone” from Glen, thanks to Brandon Moss, who basically just told me to zip it.  The A’s are on the board and now trail 2-1!

12:05am – The A’s go relatively quietly after Moss’ HR and will have the top of the lineup coming up in the bottom of the 8^th, i.e. they will need to score at least a run or two then with Reddick and Cespedes (hopefully) coming to the plate. 

12:08am – Pujols welcomes Doolittle into the game with a line drive off his foot.  Thanks Albert. 

12:11am – The A’s turn a double play but don’t get credit for it.  I’m relatively positive this crew hates the city of Oakland as the last two games have left a lot to be desired. 

12:16am – Kottaras forgets what the signal is for an off-speed pitch and Aybar drives one off the wall off of Doolittle.  The Angels go up 3-1.  (What you don’t hear is me smacking the keys of the keyboard)

12:19am – 4-1 Angels with another hit off Doolittle.  We’re seeing the end of the game day diary win streak.  Melvin’s coming to the mound to bring in Scribner.

12:26am – Scribner ends the inning and the A’s are still down 4-1 with the top of the lineup coming up.  I really don’t have high hopes for this game at this point.  (Yes, that is the reverse jinx)

12:33am – Crisp ground out, PH Gomes strikes out on three pitches, and Reddick flies out to end the inning.  About that rally …

12:36am – Jim Miller is in to pitch the top of the 9^th for the A’s. 

12:38am – Miller walks the #9 hitter in the lineup to bring up Trout to start the inning.  Awesome.

12:45am – Blevins is coming in to replace Miller.  We’re getting too close to the 1am hour here on the East coast.  Let’s get to the bottom of the inning please. 

12:52am – Blevins gives up a shot into the gap and the Angels score two more times and now lead 6-1.  Melvin has lost the magic in this series thus far and that needs to be corrected immediately.  He’s been a few batters too late in making pitching changes and the lineup is not producing at all. 

12:53am – The next batter flies out and we go to the bottom of the 9^th, but this is more of a formality than anything else. 

1:00am – It is 1am here on the East coast and this seems like a perfect opportunity to get this game over with in exactly 3 hours.  Donaldson obliges and flies out to end the games.  This is not fun. 

The player of the game is, unfortunately, Zack Greinke.  The A’s absolutely have to win tomorrow to salvage a game in this series.  Let’s go Oakland!!

20 Runs to Celebrate "The Streak"

As we close in on the anniversary of the last win of "The Streak" (9/4/02), the A's managed to put up a 20 spot against the Red Sox last night.  I’m not sure what needs to happen, but the sooner this season ends, the sooner the Red Sox can hit the reset button, fire Bobby V, and pretend this season never happened.  What a mess!  Hopefully last night’s game deflates their locker room and the A’s can take advantage of that through the rest of the weekend. 

On to bigger and brighter teams, last night’s win puts the A’s 17 games over .500 and they remain in the lead for the Wild Card!  The team is only 4 games behind Texas at this point and this latest win streak (at 7 games) has provided a little bit of breathing room with Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Anaheim.  The A’s are once again the hottest team in baseball.  Bob Melvin should really consider clearing some space in the mantle for his forthcoming “Manager of the Year” award. 

Meaningful games as we start September baseball?!  Yes!!  Let’s go Oakland!!