Oakland Athletics fans have grimaced at the paltry crowds that attended the A’s three-game series with the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum earlier this week.Though the above picture was taken during a rain delay, the crowd didn't get much bigger than this last Tuesday night. It’s not surprising to see small crowds at A’s games, but the past week saw one of the worst crowds for an early season three-game series in the recent memory of many Major League Baseball fans.The wet weather may have played its part in deterring people from coming to the ballpark for the Royals ...
New general manager Reggie McKenzie took the reins of the Oakland Raiders and has reworked the defense in what would be considered a very short period of time by NFL standards.Next on McKenzie's agenda is the draft, then he'll go back to work on free agents before coming back to the players currently on the roster that deserve long-term contract extensions.We'll save McKenzie some trouble and create a list and some reasons these players deserve to be Raiders for years to come.Begin Slideshow
The Oakland Raiders have come to an agreement with free-agent tight end Andre Hardy, but don't bother scouring the Internet for information about his football career because your efforts will prove futile. That's because Hardy is the latest in a line of college basketball players attempting to successfully transition into a career as an NFL tight end, following the path trail-blazed by Antonio Gates and more recently Jimmy Graham.Hardy was a two-year player on the basketball team at Cal State Fullerton after starting his college career at Oral Roberts University. His father, Andre (but not Sr.), is a former NFL running ...
As to be expected, the Oakland Athletics are dead last in the AL West—but fans still learned quite a bit about the A's this week, specifically about new face Yoenis Cespedes. Oakland entered the season with a ton of question marks. In just a short span, they seem to have answered a few of them already. Here are five things we've learned so far about the Oakland A's.Begin Slideshow
The heart of the Oakland A's lineup has the potential to improve an offense that did very little in 2011.The 411 on the Oakland A's in 2012 seems to be that they downgraded their pitching and didn't improve their bats. At first glance, both might be true.The A's are pretty darn good at making fans forget about lost arms, but the bats have been harder to replace in general manager Billy Beane's system. Let's concentrate on the A's bats. In case no one noticed, runs were at a premium in 2011.Questions after TwoThe top two spots in the A's lineup are ...
Billy Butler's go-ahead double with two outs in the 12th inning appeared to be the difference in the rubber game of this three-game series.But the A's, without the benefit of a hit, scored twice in the bottom of the 12th to win 5-4 in front of an announced crowd of 12,390 at the Coliseum.Royals closer Jonathan Broxton appeared to have the first two men retired until shortstop Alcides Escobar's error allowed pinch hitter Seth Smith to reach first. Jemile Weeks and Eric Sogard both walked to load the bases. Coco Crisp then grounded out to tie the game. Then, Broxton ...
Tim Brown proved to be one of the great wide receivers in NFL history over his 17-career with the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There is no question about it.Not only did he match up statistically with the all-time greats, but his personality off the field made him one of the more respected players during his playing days.However, it is a travesty that Brown has never received recognition as one of the better players during his generation. He is struggling to receive support for his induction into the Hall of Fame.Clearly, the voters must be looking beyond Brown's ...
The Raiders franchise has one of the best and brightest histories in all of professional football. Much of this history is largely due to a string of drafts from 1967 to 1974 that produced Gene Upshaw, Ken Stabler, Art Shell, Art Thoms, Raymond Chester, Jack Tatum, Phil Villapiano, Dave Dalby, Cliff Branch, Ray Guy and Dave Casper, among others.Unfortunately, for every bust the Raiders have displayed in Canton, they've drafted a bust.Most of these selections focus on the first round, where the talent is the best and where teams should expect the players to start at the very least.The biggest draft ...
This is starting to become a bad habit for the A's offense. As the rain poured down, Oakland was unable to do much of anything with Royals starter Danny Duffy and were shut out 3-0 in a game shortened by steady rain in the Coliseum.Graham Godfrey pitched well, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk in six innings of work. However, the two runs he surrendered in the fourth inning were more than enough for Duffy to cruise, as the A's looked largely punchless. Cliff Pennington's double in the bottom of the third was the A's only hit of ...
After the first weekend of the season the Oakland A's find themselves where many predicted them to be: the AL West cellar. What most people probably didn't expect, however, was how quickly Yoenis Cespedes would emerge as a legitimate middle-of-the-lineup threat. Through five games, Cespedes is tied for the league lead in home runs with three and is only one RBI short of the league lead as well.Surely this should be news that would make A's fans want to rejoice, but one thing that always comes along with being an A's fan is the fear of the unknown, the fear ...