I have got to be honest. The headline is deceiving because it sounds as if I am down on Sonny Gray. That could not be further from the truth. I think Gray is eventually going to be very good in Oakland with the A's. However, I stated that Gray is not Oakland's next great pitching star, and in my humble opinion, he is not. That honor goes to a player I have been high on since his rapid ascension through the minors last year, Dan Straily.The pitcher I felt Straily could be after observing him in Sacramento is the pitcher the ...
The criticism of the Oakland A's early season success was that it came against weak opposition, namely the Houston Astros. And that was a valid criticism before the series against the Texas Rangers from May 20th-22nd. Heading into that three-game set in Arlington, Oakland was 23-22, largely on the strength of a 14-1 record against the Astros, the Los Angeles Angels and the Kansas City Royals. Those teams are a combined 34 games under the .500 mark. After defeating the Rangers in two out of three games, the A's won their seventh, eighth and ninth straight games against Houston in 2013. That set up ...
Once upon a time, California's Bay Area belonged to the Oakland A's, and though the road back is difficult and in the distant future, it is possible to once again take back No. 1 status from the San Francisco Giants.Let's face it: the Giants are more popular than the A's.I mean, how can they not be? They've won two World Series in three years. They have a gorgeous stadium. And that catcher of theirs—already a Rookie of the Year and NL MVP—is OK too, I guess. Heck, even the Giants announcers are some of the best in the league.What isn't ...
The Oakland Athletics have won 10 of their last 13 games versus National League opponents, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Tuesday, as they take on the San Francisco Giants at the O.co Coliseum.Sports bettors will find that the Athletics are -135 home favorites in the pro baseball odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), while the total stands at 8.5 in the betting market.Let's take a closer look at this interleague matchup from a betting perspective, while offering up a prediction along the way.Begin Slideshow
If only they awarded points for how awesomely you failed.Had Yoenis Cespedes made this diving Matrix catch, a ripple in the fabric of space would’ve began in Keanu Reeves’ pants and reverberated throughout the world, revealing our perceived reality to be but a computer simulation perpetrated by our machine overlords.Maybe that’s a bit grandiose, but the believer in me likes to think Neo at least felt a twinge in his apples when the Oakland A’s outfielder went into bullet-time during Monday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants, courtesy of NextImpulseSports.I’ve seen people lay out for the ball before, but Cespedes' almost-catch reeked of ...
As a part of the MLB's new interleague rules, the Oakland A's will play the San Francisco Giants four times this season. Previously, it was two separate series featuring three games at each stadium with the six games split up. Now it will be only four meetings, and it will be played in four days.In the Bay Area, these four games will be the hottest topic of sports conversation for the week as the two professional baseball teams square off.Much like any other geographical rivalry, one has to wonder just how important these four games actually are and why they ...
The A's finished out their third sweep of the 2013 season against the predictably woeful Houston Astros this afternoon. That makes them nine for nine, so far, and pushes their record to 28-23 on the year. While I have been one to write about the A's traditional second-half surges, I am also wise enough to know that this year is unique. In other words, leaning on past results is probably not a way to assess future results completely.That is important to note, because Oakland faces an upcoming schedule that, like Mount Everest, increases in difficulty the closer it gets. The A's ...
It is time for the Oakland A's to call Jemile Weeks up from Triple-A Sacramento. With all due respect to Adam "Lewis Skolnick" Rosales and Eric Sogard, Weeks is a better option at either second base or shortstop along with Jed Lowrie. Now, if Sogard was lighting it up at second base after earning the job out of spring training, that would be one thing. But while he hasn't been inept, his .250 average, zero sacrifices and just five RBI is a lot of empty production.Compounding that lack of production is that Sogard currently does not have one sacrifice. There are ...
There's just not a more simple way of saying it: if the Oakland A's want to reach the postseason, they're going to have to improve in a few areas. Unfortunately, a change in one facet won't make the A's playoff contenders. It's not that easy. Instead, several of the 10 areas listed next must be improved upon for a legitimate shot at progressing toward a World Series. Oakland isn't awful by any means. There's just things the team could do better. Things they must do better. Should the Athletics correct these aspects of their game, October baseball will be a ...
The Oakland A’s received some bad news Friday about the ace of their pitching staff, Brett Anderson. He was already on the disabled list with a sprained ankle, but was determined to have a fractured foot and will be out for at least another month. Oakland announced that the 25-year-old left-handed Anderson has a navicular stress fracture in his right foot via their official Twitter account:
The #Athletics announced that LHP Brett Anderson has a navicular stress fracture of his right foot. He will be reevaluated in four weeks.— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 17, 2013
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser ...