The Oakland Athletics are not considered to be a big draw in baseball these days. They rank 12th out of 14 teams in American League attendance and the top decks of The Coliseum (or whatever it is called this week) remain tarped off.Their park is probably the ugliest one in baseball not located in Tampa Bay, and the team does not have the cool quality of the division-leading neighbors across the bay, the San Francisco Giants.But A's fans who do show for games up are getting a great show. Oakland has won 12 of 14 games this July. With a ...
A dominant Oakland pitching corps is back in Oakland for the first time since the original big three of Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito were around way back in 2000-2004.Back then the A's were consistent playoff contenders and were always feared when any of these three pitchers were on the mound. That memory is long gone in the city of Oakland; however, there are three young pitchers that can bring the magic back.The pitching corps of Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker and Brandon McCarthy have a combined record of 21-13 with an average ERA of 3.08. They are ...
For the third year in a row, the Raiders have a rookie receiver making noise. Last season, Denarius Moore was being compared to 2010 rookie Jacoby Ford. Now, Arizona product Juron Criner has the NFL wondering if the Raiders did it again.Criner was the talk of organized team activities and minicamp after making several acrobatic plays. He's not your typical Raiders' speed demon at receiver, but for his size, he's quick. Outside of the buzz he's generated this offseason, Criner, Moore and Ford are about as different physically as they could be, considering they all play the same position.Despite coming ...
No one wants to go to three different locations to find the training camp roster, preseason schedule and camp battles. We've put that together for you along with the team's biggest question marks, players to watch, analysis of the 2012 rookie class and a 53-man roster projection so everything you need is all in one place.Training camp information is here, and so are players on the roster bubble and a preview of the preseason games. There's really no need to go anywhere else: Bleacher Report has you covered. Begin Slideshow
The Boston Red Sox offered their one-time superstar homegrown hero Kevin Youkilis to many different teams this June.The market was evidently so poor that they sent Youkilis off to the Chicago White Sox for utility man Brent Lillibridge and minor league pitcher Zach Stewart. Boston is also paying a big chunk of his contract.The trade looked bad for Boston then. It looks worse since Lillibridge was designated for assignment and Youkilis killed his former team this past week.But it is odd that the suitors for Youkilis, whose numbers rebounded since changing his socks from Red to White, did not seem ...
The Oakland A's became a winning team in the past few weeks in exciting and powerful ways, crushing their way to a road series sweep over the Minnesota Twins and splitting a pair of games with the Texas Rangers, the latter in walk-off fashion.What's it going to take for the A's to maintain an above .500 record in the next few months? They have to do these three things: Keep the power numbers upThere is no need to sit and debate what got Oakland the sweep over the Twins. Nine home runs in three games just stampeded Minnesota. It's hard to ...
The Oakland Raiders are some of the most passionate fans in the NFL. They love great rivalries and love to hate some of their biggest foes.For this story, I hit the beat and talked to Raiders fans via social media as well as at my local sports bar.I asked one simple question: "As a Raiders fan, what NFL players do you hate the most?" Some of the answers I got were surprising, and some included players from their own favorite team!Let's get started with ranking the 25 players Oakland Raiders fans ...
The Oakland Athletics have long been known to obsess over statistics. From glorifying on-base percentage to Brad Pitt's Oscar nomination, crunching numbers is king in Oakland.Well no matter what numbers one might use, when Brandon Hicks came up to bat yesterday afternoon in the bottom of the ninth, he could not be looked upon as much of a threat.Hicks entered the game in the seventh inning as a pinch-runner for Chris Carter and scored in the game-tying rally. In the ninth he came to bat against the two-time defending American League champion Rangers.Into that at-bat, Hicks had played 11 games ...
It's a strange time to be an Oakland Raiders fan, caught in between feelings of optimism birthed in 2010 and 2011 and pessimism swirling throughout the offseason.On one hand, the Raiders are coming off (easily) their best two seasons in a decade, winning eight games and competing for the division title in each of the last two seasons. In fact, in 2011, the Raiders were 7-4 before losing four of their final five games.Then, the offseason happened.Needing to shred bad contracts and still paying the price for risky trades, the Raiders were forced to part with numerous 2011 difference-makers. Among ...
The Oakland Athletics have had the worst production at shortstop in the American League this season, but acquiring Yunel Escobar from the Toronto Blue Jays would drastically change that. Cliff Pennington has been the starting shortstop in Oakland for the majority of the season and has been atrocious. In 80 games, Pennington is hitting .201/.263/.287 with three home runs, 16 RBI and 30 runs, and he has a WAR of 0.3. Brandon Hicks has accounted for the other 11 games at shortstop this season and has been even worse, hitting .147 with just five hits. The A’s are only a ...