It has been the theme of the season for the 2012 Oakland Athletics: situational hitting, or lack thereof.Failing to plate the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth, the A's fell to first-place Texas 7-6 Thursday night in a nearly four-hour game. Tyson Ross took the loss as the Rangers rallied in the fifth inning to score four and take the lead for good. The game started promising as Josh Reddick smashed his team-leading 18th home run off of Texas starter Scott Feldman in the first inning. The Rangers immediately responded as Josh Hamilton knocked in Ian ...
With the Oakland Athletics 10 games back in the AL West coming up on the halfway point of the 2012 season, it's never too early to look at who will be in the lineup next year. Typically, the A's are sellers. It's not uncommon for the team to ship a player or two out around the trade deadline, then make a few more trades around the winter meetings. Then there's the matter of who among the arbitration eligible players will be offered a contract and who will be allowed to walk. The 2013 season could literally go either way; per the norm, ...
Last night Jarrod Parker was once again brilliant for the A's, going seven strong innings against the Seattle Mariners, allowing only one earned run while racking up nine strikeouts. Barring any arm problems (knock on wood) he figures to be a constant at the top of the A's rotation for some time, but in A's terminology that unfortunately turns out to be only a few years.One thing's for certain however, by now Billy Beane has been through this situation more than enough times to know exactly what the best course of action is to ensure that Parker remains in the ...
Much like the first game of this series, the Oakland Athletics did not do very much offensively for a long stretch of their matinee against the Seattle Mariners. But thanks to another great start, this one from Jarrod Parker, the A's won 2-1 to take the series at Safeco Field.Parker got the win because Yoenis Cespedes hit a laser out into the left-center field seats in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie. His ninth home run, Cespedes' hit was one of only two that the A's had in the game, but they were both home runs.Ryan Cook overcame ...
It’s about one month before the July 31 MLB trade deadline and the Oakland A’s are one of teams known throughout the league to make deals as the time comes close. Billy Beane would be crazy to split this A’s squad, especially when it’s won 10 of the last 13 games and is just two games below .500 with 12 games left until the All-Star Break. Even if the A’s have the lowest batting average in the majors, even if they struggle to finish off saves (Google Brian Fuentes) and even if they can’t finish five-run comebacks in the ninth ...
Normally a run on three hits will not win you many games, but tonight it did as Seth Smith's solo home run was the only tally in the A's 1-0 victory over Seattle.Despite being shut down by Seattle starter Erasmo Ramirez, Oakland won because Tom Milone threw seven shutout innings against Seattle's punch-less lineup. Grant Balfour and Ryan Cook closed the door with Cook notching his fifth save of the season.Early on, Milone wiggled out of a couple of jams.In the first, he induced an inning-ending ground out from Justin Smoak with runners on the corners. In the fourth with ...
Five-tool player budding with talent? Check. Promising numbers and efficiency through first half of rookie season? Check. Long-term tenure with a small market team? Check. Ironclad to injury? Uh oh. The last thing a struggling A’s franchise needs is another Eric Chavez DL-saga. Yoenis Cespedes has certainly lit up the Coliseum with his eye-popping moonshots when he’s been in the lineup this season, but unfortunately for the 26-year-old Cuban defector, minor injuries have limited his play in 2012.Cespedes has already been sent to the dreaded disabled list in his young career, and both the A’s and the front office alike ...
Three games and three thrilling finishes in Oakland.In the finale, the A's finally ended up on the positive side.Rookie Derek Norris hit a two-out, walk-off three-run home run to give the A's a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants to salvage the finale of the Bay Bridge series at the Coliseum.For the A's, it was sweet justice, considering an egregious call on an apparent Seth Smith double left the score 2-1 until Norris' big blast.Sunday's matinee began with the same type of fireworks the first two games had.Buster Posey's monster two-run home run in the first off rookie A.J. ...
Ryan Cook has been almost lights out for the A's this season. Tonight was not one of those nights. The San Francisco Giants overcame a 3-1 deficit with four in the ninth to beat Oakland 5-4 and take the opener of the Bay Bridge series in Oakland. Cook took the loss, while Giants reliever Clay Hensley got credit for the win. Former A's reliever Santiago Casilla allowed Josh Reddick's 16th home run in the ninth, but picked up his 20th save.A's starter Jarrod Parker went six-plus innings, allowing only a single run on four hits and two walks while striking ...
Derek Norris, the top catching prospect who was part of the Gio Gonzalez trade, made his major league debut this afternoon. Look at this guy. He's what a catcher is supposed to look like. Stocky. Tough. Grizzled. Possibly angry. Just in terms of visual aesthetics, this bearded intimidating figure is what you want in a catcher.In his first game in the bigs, Norris threw out a base stealer in the ninth inning with the scored tied at one. The A's were criticized for trading away young pitchers like Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Bailey this offseason, reinforcing a ...