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!!