Author Archive
Davis and Hannahan? Our Up-and Coming Heroes
Yesterday’s Game Against the Twins: Trevor Cahill pitched well initially, but in the top of the 4th inning got into some trouble and gave up a 3-run homer to Joe Crede. Oh, no, not again, must have been going through the fans minds. Not another long losing streak, please? Thankfully, after that Cahill pitched 3 more scoreless innings. Meanwhile, Twins’ starter, Nick Blackburn, completely befuddled the A’s for the first 7 innings, allowing no one past 2nd base.
Jack Hannahan and Adam Kennedy Man Up: In the bottom of the 8th inning, Jack Hannahan, batting in the 9 hole, led off with a triple (has he finally solved the riddle of hitting?) He scored when Orlando Cabrera stroked a single to center field, making the score 3-1 Twins. Then Nick Blackburn left a pitch up in the middle of the strike zone and Adam Kennedy sent the gift over the right field wall to tie the game at 3-3. Brad Ziegler, who had pitched the top of the 8th inning, worked a 3-up, 3-down 9th, keeping the game tied.
Things Start Going the A’s Way: In the bottom of the 9th, Jason Giambi led off with a walk, and was replaced by the speedy Chris Denorfia. Suzuki tried to bunt Denorfia to 2nd base but was unsuccessful in 2 attempts. Then Twins relief pitcher, Matt Guerrier, hit Suzuki, which accomplished the same result. Daric Barton laid down a nifty bunt in front of home plate and the runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd. Now, there were 2 on and 1 out.
Rajai’s First Walk-Off Hit: Manager Bob Geren had told Rajai Davis in the dugout before he went out to the on-deck circle, ”You’re gonna win the game.” After Barton was thrown out at first after his great bunt, Raj stepped into the batters box. 
He dumped the first pitch he saw into right field for a walk-off single, scoring Denorfia and giving the A’s a 4-3 victory and a split of the series at 2 games apiece. That shut down the losing streak at 2 games.
The Battle of the Young Guns: Tonight the A’s move across the Bay to begin a 3-city interleague road trip. The pitching matchup for the first game is stellar: Tim Lincecum (5-1. 2.96 ERA, Opp. BA .235, WHIP 1.211) is going against Vin Mazzaro (2-0, 0.00 ERA, OBA .170, WHIP .923). For those of you who are not familiar with the WHIP statistic, it stands for Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched. It’s a truer measure of a pitcher’s effectiveness than ERA. In all those categories, Mazzaro has the better stats, but he’s only pitched 2 games in the Major Leagues. It should be fun to watch.
Who is This Team and You Can Keep the Old One!
Everything is Clicking: Wow! 6 wins in a row! Everything appears to be working well: terrific starting pitching, great bullpen, the bats have heated up, and sterling plays in the field abound. This is exciting stuff and makes me want to go out to the Coliseum to see a game. I’ll have to wait until Tuesday.
Mazarro is Magic Again: Vin Mazarro pitched 7.1 shutout innings in today’s game against the Orioles. He looked like veteran pitcher on the bump today:
His fastball was in the mid-90′s, he painted the corners, and batters looked foolish. In short, he was awesome. After giving up a hit in the top of the 7th inning, Geren came out the mound and asked for the ball. As he walked into the dugout, all 17,208 fans were on their feet cheering wildly. “When I got off the field, I had goose bumps,” Mazarro said. “That was the longest walk off the field.” He now has pitched 13.2 innings of scoreless inning in his short major league career.
The Bats Cool Off: The A’s only managed 2 hits in the game today, but scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first on a hit, 4 walks, a hit batsman and a sacrifice. That was all they needed as Mazarro and the bullpen (Michael Wuertz, Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey) kept the O’s scoreless. Hopefully, the guys will find their strokes and get the hits they need tomorrow.
The A’s Have a Closer: Even thought Manager Bob Geren won’t call him so, Andrew Bailey is the A’s closer. He throws wicked mid-90′s fastballs, paints the black, and hitters look silly either swinging wildly or slumping as they watch the ball cross the plate with their bat still on their shoulders. Andrew pitched his way onto the A’s at Spring Training, completely bypassed triple-A. By the way, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson also skipped triple-A. If Bailey continues to dominate, he could be named pitcher of the week before too long.
Yankees-Giants Game Today: No, it wasn’t an MLB Interleague game. It was the championship game of the San Ramon Double-A Little League. Our neighbors son, Jack Holt, plays for the winning Mighty Yankees, and his parents invited us to cheer him on. It was wonderful to experience the young end of the baseball spectrum, and see these boys demonstrate the nuances of the game, play their hearts out, and show moments of brilliance at the plate and in the field. So support your local little league. That’s where the future major leaguers will come from. It’s fun to watch.
The Future is Now
Last night A’s fans were treated to something very special: Vin Mazarro made his major league debut for the A’s in Chicago.
The 22 year-old pitcher from Rutherford, New Jersey was called up yesterday to join the starting rotation, whose oldest member is a mere 25 years old. That would be Dallas Braden, whose total MLB experience consists of 35 starts over the last 3 seasons. He’s the veteran in the rotation! The next younger is Josh Outman at 24, and Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson are both 21 years old. This is the youngest rotation in all of major league baseball.
Mazarro didn’t disappoint. He struggled a bit in the first 2 innings, but made quality pitches when he needed to and was helped out by stellar defense, including his great wheel and pickoff of Scott Podsednik as the latter strayed off 2nd base in the 1st.
From the 3rd inning on, Vin got his nerves under control and pitched 4.1 innings of shutout ball with ease. Craig Breslow came in and got a double play to end the 7th inning and Brad Ziegler pitched the 8th and 9th innings. Neither gave up a run, preserving Mazarro’s 1st major league win, a 5-0 shutout of the White Sox.
Mazarro was also helped by two great catches in the outfield. Ryan Sweeney did a face plant into the padding in centerfield padding as he caught a long fly ball near the top of the wall, robbing Paul Konerko of extra bases. Matt Holliday made a nice shoe string catch as well.
Vin had a couple of dozen family members and friends from all over the country in the stands to cheer him on. They could be heard making lots of noise with every strike and out that Mazarro rang up. His dad hardly sat down for the 6+ innings his son pitched.
After he settled down, Mazarro’s pitches looked like those of a seasoned veteran, with great movement and velocity in the low to mid 90′s and he located his pitches very well. “He kept us off balance. He had good stuff,” said Scott Podsednik. ”You can see why their organization was high on him and brought him up and gave him a shot.”
When manager Bob Geren announced Mazarro’s call up a couple of days ago, he said, “The future is now!” Vin certainly put paid to Geren’s words. In short, Vin Mazarro showed us that he is the complete package, and I am sure that his success and poise on the mound, in what must have been a nerve-wracking pressure-packed situation, will rub off on the other young pitchers on the staff.
Last night was truly special, for Vin, the A’s and the fans. It was a glimpse into what is possible in the very near future, and gave the fans what they need most right now: legitimate hope. Maybe–keep your fingers crossed–it will translate into more butts in the seats at the Coliseum the rest of the season.
On that note, the A’s ran another hit promotion last night, taking a dollar off a plaza-level ticket for Saturday’s game against the Orioles. The A’s got 8 hits last night so a $24 dollar ticket will now cost $16 each. Go to the A’s website to order tickets and use the discount code “Hits” to get the reduced price. Oh, and the game starts at 6:00 pm because there’s a free Jordan Sparks concert immediately following the game. Such a deal!
River Cats Win a Gem!
I am just back from the River Cats game and what a pleasure it was. River Cats starting pitcher, Chad Reineke, pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, and the bullpen (Jerry Blevins and Ryan Webb, who got the win) were similarly flawless. The Las Vegas 51s starter, Fabio Castro, went 6 innings without giving up a run and reliever T.J. Beam was unscathed in the 1 1/3 innings he pitched. A real pitchers duel that was fun to watch.
River Cats reliever, Ryan Webb, who played the entire 2008 season at Midland, Texas (AA), came in for the top of the 8th and gave up a hit before getting the third out. In the bottom of the 8th, the 51s’ Bill Murphy replaced Beam after the first out. Murphy faced three batters and couldn’t get anyone out, giving up 2 runs. He was replaced by Bryan Bullington who allowed 2 more runs to score (1 Murphy’s, and the other his), which brought the score to 4-0 River Cats. Webb pitched a 3 up-3 down 9th inning for the win. The River Cats have now won 10 out of their last 11 games.
Before ending this post, I must comment on going to a game at Raley Field in Sacramento. Yes it get’s very hot in the summertime, but today’s temparature barely got above 80 degrees with a nice breeze. The stadium is intimate (today’s attendance a little under 6,000) and is very fan and family friendly (no rowdy drunk fans and lots of entertainment between innings). The food is varied and delicious and there are lots of different beverage choices. So different from the MLB experience, where the players are kept apart from the fans and many players won’t sign autographs. There are few big egos among the minor league players as they get paid next to nothing. The whole atmosphere in the stadium doesn’t have the commercial overtones so prevalent at the major league level.
Here’s an example of what I am talking about: before the game began, I went in search of James Simmons, one of the River Cats starting pitchers who was the A’s top draft pick in the First Year Player Draft of 2007 (26th over all). He has graciously agreed to read my novel and I always try to say hi to him when I am at a River Cats game. I finally found him charting pitches in the stands right behind home plate with another starting pitcher, Gio Gonzales. I sat and chatted with them for an inning. They very nicely dispatched the seat police with a “She’s with us” comment. I bid them adieu when the next inning started so they could concentrate on their assigned task. This kind of player contact would never be possible in a major league park.
So, if you want to see where real baseball is played and feel like you are part of the action, you need to go to a minor league game. It doesn’t matter which level you see, although the ability of the players is the highest in Triple A. Minor league and independent baseball is where baseball is played for the shear love of the game. Yes, the players are all trying to advance, ultimately to the majors. But these guys haven’t yet become jaded and they play their hearts out. Their energy is infectious. So, if you live within striking distance of a minor league park, go to a game. You won’t be disappointed, even if the home team loses. It’s just pure fun.
River Cats Win While Oakland Loses
Texas Hurts the A’s Again and Again and Again: The A’s need Orlando Cabrera to hold another meeting and kick some butt. After dropping a double header to the Rangers Friday and losing shamefully yesterday by the score of 14-1, the A’s need a swift kick in the pants. Not to mention that the Ballpark at Arlington took its toll on the health of A’s players once again. The last time they were there, 4 guys went down. This trip Travis Buck, who was beginning to get his swing back, is now on the DL, and the two Jacks (Cust and Hannahan) have sore backs and are day-to-day. Let’s hope we don’t lose anyone else today.
The River Cats Are on a Tear: The bright spot in the A’s orgaization is their Triple-A team, the Sacramento River Cats, who have won 9 out of their last 10 games. In about 90 minutes, I am headed up to Sacramento for their 1:05 start today against the Las Vegas 51′s, who are currently in last place in the PCL Southern Division. Hopefully, I can witness some good baseball and another River Cats win. They now lead their division with a 31-18 record. Not too shabby! I’ll keep you posted. Go Cats! And Go A’s!
Jason Giambi (and I) are back
I have been MIA on this blog since May 1st. Can it really be that long? I was preparing for and attending my major landmark high school reunion in Western Massachusetts. Every day I would say to myself: I have to put up a new blog post, but I was far behind where I needed to be in the preparations for the reunion and it didn’t get done. Well, I’m home now and plowing out from under 3 weeks of life’s other demands that also got put on hold since May 1st. But I’m back and ready to write on all things A’s.
Jason’s Got His Groove Back: Jason Giambi has finally started doing the main thing the A’s wanted him to do this year: take some of the pressure off the VERY young starting rotation by hitting homers and driving in runs. Yesterday (Saturday) he stroked his 400th long one and went 2 for 5, scoring 2 runs. He got a standing O from the fans and came out for a curtain call to a huge cheer. Welcome back, Jason!
Garciaparra is Back too: Nomar Garciaparra, who came off the DL a few days ago, matched Jason’s line exactly yesterday. He loves to swing the bat and rarely misses an opportunity when the pitch is anywhere near the strike zone. We’re happy to have him back too, ticks and all.
The Planets Are Aligned: The A’s got everything they wanted today. Josh Outman pitched into the 8th inning, giving up only one run in the 1st, and saving the tired bullpen who pitched 6 innings last night. The bats also did their part with Landon Powell hitting a 2-run blast in the 6th to put the A’s ahead 3-1.
Landon gave Kurt Suzuki the day off, even though he pulled his hamstring on Monday. After he hit the dinger, he tired not to limp (unsuccessfully), bringing back memories of Kirk Gibson’s infamous limp around the bases after his homer off Dennis Eckersley in the World Series. Is that a grimace of pain on Landon’s face above?
In the 7th, Jason Giambi hit a monster blast extending the A’s lead to 4-1. He definitely didn’t gimp but looked like he had just shed 10 years as he sprinted around the bases.
Final score: A’s 6, D-Backs 2. Now that’s my kind of score!
That’s all for now. See you next time. Go A’s!!
Sweeney Saves the Day and Holliday Strokes a Dinger
I apologize for not posting an entry in over a week. I have been under the weather for that period and we are without a hot water heater, because the old one decided some time ago to leak and rotted out the floor underneath it and the 2 nearby furnaces, which now have to come out so that the floor can be fixed. GI showers with cold water are no fun! Also, in less than 2 weeks I leave for a milestone high school reunion in Massachusetts which I am running, so I am tearing my hair out trying to get ready for that.,
Sweeney Saves the Day and Holiday gets a Dinger: I hope you all saw Ryan Sweeney time his jump perfectly and reach over the wall to rob Ian Kinsler of a 3-run homer in the eighth inning yesterday in Texas. It was a thing of beauty and saved the A’s lead. I’m sure it made ESPN’s Web Gems last night. Here is his being congratulated by Matt Holliday after making the spectacular catch.
In the top of the ninth, Holliday finally hit his first homer as an A. I hope this opens the floodgates and he starts pounding the ball out of the park with regularity.
Eric Chavez to the DL? Eric is one of the nicest guys on the planet and his presence in the clubhouse and the dugout are invaluable. Having won more gold gloves than he can carry certainly speaks to his talent. That being said, can he be healthy enough to contribute on the field or at the plate? I just don’t know. Last night, Bob Geren hinted that he might be headed for yet another stint on the DL.
What Happened to Our Infield? Yikes! The infield was decimated in Texas. Garciaparra and Ellis went down with calf injuries, Willy Casilla stepped down wrong on the mound and injured his calf and Brett Anderson got a blister on one of his pitching fingers, which is not a wimpy injury if you’re a pitcher. It was a very bizarre game on Tuesday night in Arlington. Jason Giambi gave his hanstrings too much of a workout in the same game and now he is day-to-day. I guess it’s back to the drawing board to raid the River Cats, once again. Maybe we should activate Mike Gallego!
Things were so bad last night that no one was available to warm up Michael Wuertz in the bottom of the ninth inning, so Manager Bob Geren, a former catcher, donned a mitt and crouched down behind the plate for a few pitches until Kurt Suzuki could get his gear on and relieve him. Way to go, Bob. I hope your hammies can take it.
Now on to the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field: Let’s hope the A’s left the injury bug back in Texas. They open a weekend series tonight in Seattle. The Mariners are sitting in first place at the moment, although as my brother in Seattle often points out, ”They’ll fade!” I hope he’s right. The A’s are only 3½ games behind the M’s. This series could change that in a big way.
Hold it, Hot Off the Presses! The A’s just now put Chavez on the 15-day DL with a strained right forearm, retroactive to April 25th. They recalled Gregorio Petit from Sacramento. Petit was hitting a mere .238 at Triple A this season, but that is a whole heck of a lot better than Chavez’ .100 batting average. Last year Gregorio batted .348 in 14 games over three stints with the A’s.
Random Thoughts on the A’s and Baseball
Yankee Series: After 3 games in Toronto, the A’s played a rain-shortened series in the new Yankee Stadium, losing both games to the Bronx Bombers. I won’t regurgitate the details of the games as they were painful enough the first time around. I will comment on Dan Giese, whom the A’s picked up on waivers a couple of weeks ago from those dreaded Yankees. He has the dubious distinction of giving up 2 walk-off homers to end extra-inning games in his first 2
appearances. He must be shell-shocked about pitching in extras by now. The sad thing about both outings was that he pitched 2 good innings before each walk-off, and the bullpen was depleted and Manager Bob Geren probably didn’t have a choice and had to leave him out there. Maybe he’s a 2-inning guy. We’ll see in the next month or so whether it was a good move to bring him over from the Yanks. The A’s will make up the rained-out game on July 23rd in New York.
10 MLB Teams Decline in Value: Forbes Magazine recently published an analysis of the value of the Major League Baseball Teams, and the results are interesting. The teams whose values declined the most are: the Nationals (down 12%), Braves (10%), and the Tigers and Mariners (9% each). You’ll be pleased to note that the A’s declined only 1%, while the Giants’ value is down 5%. In terms of dollars, the A’s are worth $319M and rank 27th in the majors. Only the Marlins, the Pirates and the Royals are worth less than the A’s.
At the top in terms of dollars is the Yankees ($1.5Billion! ), followed by the Mets ($912M), Red Sox ($833M), Dodgers ($722M) and the Cubs ($700M). The Yankees and Mets values were up significantly due to their new ballparks which opened this season. Interestingly, the average value of an MLB team rose 1% to $482M.
What’s really itelling is that the Yankees are currently in 3rd place in the AL East, and the Mets are in 4th place in the NL East, so value doesn’t necessarily translate into standing, at least not this early in the season. Also, the least-expensive Marlins ($277M) are leading the NL East.
Gallagher to Triple A: The A’s optioned Sean Gallagher to the River Cats to get him more pitching time. He has been the long man in the A’s bullpen and hasn’t pitched much this year.
I think the move was a good one for Sean, as he’ll join the rotation that includes Gio Gonzalez, Vin Mazzaro and James Simmons, all of who are doing well right now. Sean has talent and needs to use it regularly to hone his craft. Now he’ll get a chance to do that.
Coming Up: The A’s come home for a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays tomorrow night and then go on the road again (does anyone else hear a C+W song right now?) to Texas and Seattle. Oh, the vagaries of the MLB schedule and the short shrift that the West Coast teams seem to get. 3 days at home? Give me a break.
Terrific Game Opens Toronto Series
The A’s opened a 6-game series on the road in Toronto Friday night. A’s startier Josh Outman got knocked around by the Blue Jays, starting with a screaming homer by Marco Scutaro on the first pitch of the game. Outman gave up 4 more runs in the third, two of them earned, putting th A’s in the hole 5-1. “Poor, quite poor,” Outman admitted. “Our bullpen has been excellent, but I’ve got to make it through five [innings]. I’m killing the bullpen.” Said bullpen, which shut down the Jays league-best offense for the rest of the game, ranked third in American League with a 3.19 ERA before the game. “It’s pretty impressive,” said Bobby Crosby.
But the real story happened when the A’s had bats in their hands: they scored 7 unanswered runs: 4 in the 4th, 1 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th, to win it 8-5.
The big hit came from an unlikely source, newly-minted utility infielder, Bobby Crosby. In the 4th inning, he stroked his 2nd hit of the season, a line-drive triple to the center field wall which cleared the bases which were loaded with A’s, That hit put the A’s back in the game 5-4. A wild pitch scored Crosby from 3rd to tie it up.
Bobby also made some nifty plays at third base. He said after the game he is getting more comfortable playing the other infield positions than his historical spot at short stop.
In the 7th inning, Matt Holliday’s double scored Orlando Cabrara to give the A’s the lead for good. In the 8th, Mark Ellis singled, scoring Suzuki who doubled. Ellie then stole 2nd and went to 3rd on a wild pitch. Sweeney hit a grounder to 3rd driving in Ellis,
to complete the scoring.
Brad Ziegler high-fives Suzuki (at right) after closing it out in the ninth.
This is the kind of game I hope we will see for the rest of the season. The guys showed that they don’t give up when the starting pitcher gets in trouble. It is a real pleasure to have some bats in the middle of the order, which has inspired everyone on the team, especially the guys at the bottom of the order.
On another note, the A’s called up Dan Giese from Sacamento. Maybe they want to get a look at him, since he was claimed on waivers from the Yankees on April 8th. Otherwise, I would have thought Jeff Gray would get the call.
A’s Demolish the Red Sox and Nick Swisher Takes the Mound
The Red Sox came into the Oakland Coliseum last night to a friendly crowd that was quickly silenced in the second inning when the A’s scored five runs off Boston starting pitcher, Jon Lester. Leading it off was Jack Cust with his second homer of the Year.
But the Swingin’ A’s weren’t done. When the dust settled the Green and Gold scored eight runs to the Red Sox two. In the fifth inning, Nomar Garciaparra lined a 1-0 pitch from Lester over the left field fence to bring the score to 6-1 over the team that traded him away in 2004. After the game, Nomar shrugged the homer off, saying: “I’m just happy we won.”
The scoring started when A’s starting pitcher Dallas Braden gave up a homer to Kevin Youkilis in the second inning. Ho wever, The A’s handed Braden a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, something very unfamiliar to Dallas in the past. He kept the Red Sox at bay until the seventh when he tired and allowed a leadoff single by Jason Bay, earning him a trip to the showers.
Braden gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three on 95 pitches. Michael Wuertz and Santiago Casilla pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, and Brad Ziegler closed it out in the ninth.
The win was particularly meaningful to the A’s who were swept by the Mariners over the weekend. They needed to halt the skid and they did it with terrific hitting and pitching. They also got key hits with runners in scoring position, something that was sorely lacking in the Seattle series. A’s fans can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for one day. Dice-K is on the mound for the Bosox tonight against Dana Eveland.
In what was perhaps the most hilarious thing to happen in baseball last night, former A’s outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher pitched an inning in the Tampa Bay Rays 15-5 drubbing of the vaunted and very expensive Yankees.
If you want to check out the video of this humorous event, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUp7mMdxE48.
What’s amazing and very telling is that Swish was the only Yankee pitcher last night who didn’t give up a run. Not only that, he struck out Gabe Kapler! All the while, Nick was trying to stifle his laughter.
Chen Ming Wang had a terrible night to start it off, and it was 9-0 Rays in the second inning. The bullpen didn’t fare much better, giving up another six runs before running out of relief pitchers. Then came Swish to the rescue. Too funny!
Picture Credits:
1. Contra Costa Times (Dan Honda/Staff)
2. Courtesy of Jane Heller’s blog: http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
Bee Hylinski - Author and Baseball Fan
Jake W.
Recent Comments