A's Beat Felix Hernandez as AJ Griffin Deals

The A's found a way to beat Felix Hernandez and the Mariners tonight and end their three game losing streak. Beating the Mariners in the second half of the season has not been the easiest tasks for most ball clubs let alone beating Felix Hernandez. AJ Griffin, the A's bullpen and George Kottaras provided all the fire power they needed.

The A's scored early on a error by Eric Thames that was pretty inexcusable especially with two outs. He let a single get by him allowing Seth Smith to score from first.

Seattle would tie it in the second on a Brendan Ryan single to Josh Reddick,  which would be the only run allowed by Griffin tonight. Griffin did a great job giving the A's another solid start. His ability to mix pitches and keep batters guessing will keep him in the majors for a long time to come. I'm guessing he will sleep easy tonight knowing he beat Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez.

The big turning point in the game came on a three run home run by George Kottaras. He's making a great push to be the everyday catcher just based on his ability to be the power catcher the A's have lacked for a few years. The A's would add a few more runs on a Josh Donaldson double and Stephen Drew single in the fifth.

A shout out to Cliff Pennington (4-4) and Stephen Drew (2-4) who are continuing to play like their career numbers say they should.

The A's played like the better team and this is something they will need to do the rest of the season in order to make it to the Playoffs.

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How Does the A's Pitching Staff Deal With the Loss of Brandon McCarthy?

First and foremost all of our thoughts are with Brandon McCarthy and his family. Based on a statement released by Billy Beane and the Athletics, it appears McCarthy is in stable condition.

In the past thirty days the A's have lost their two most veteran pitchers on the staff. After losing Bartolo Colon, it was easy to say things were okay as Brett Anderson stepped up and took on the role as the ace of the staff. Now that McCarthy appears to be out as well, the big question is who will step up and provide the depth that McCarthy added to our staff?

The current staff looks like this:

- Brett Anderson
- Jarrod Parker
- Tommy Milone
- AJ Griffin

The easy choice is to convert Travis Blackley back to a starter and have him make four starts in September. Based on the current schedule, he is likely to face the Angels, Orioles, Yankees and Rangers, respectively.

While he's pitched well this year, I'm not thrilled on throwing him out against teams with extremely potent offenses.

One other possibility to fill the void is the "king of strikeouts", Dan Straily. People are clamoring over the fact they want to see him pitch, but we must realize that he is a rookie pitcher that will exceed his innings pitched in a season. The Dan Straily from three months ago might not be the Dan Straily of September.

In short, while the pitching staff has fallen on hard times there's enough viable replacements to make 4 starts in September and help carry the Oakland Athletics back to the playoffs.

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A's Swept by Angels in 7-1 Loss, Brandon McCarthy Exits Game

 It was a disappointing loss for Oakland today, for a few reasons.  Not only did they score just 1 run in today’s game, but were stifled to just 5 runs through the whole series with the L.A. Angels.  Another concerning factor was Brandon McCarthy leaving the game in the top of the 4th inning after being struck in the head off a line drive.  Another sad fact is that they were swept

But hey, teams are going to get swept, right?  Oakland certainly knows about this, as they came into this series with the Angels after completing two series sweeps in a row against Cleveland and Boston (whom they accumulated the most wins they ever have in a season against the BoSox), respectively, and were standing tall.


Unfortunately for Oakland, Angels co-ace Dan Haren pitched a 6 innings gem, allowing only 1 run off of 3 hits.  He did walk 3, giving Oakland a few chances to score, but also had a healthy 7 punch-outs.

It was the top of the 3rd, and after a leadoff single by Alberto Callaspo, McCarthy was able to get the next two outs via sacrifice, moving Callaspo to third in the process.  Torii Hunter would get the first run on the board by knocking Callaspo in.  Pujols doubles to left sending Hunter to third base.  Kendrys Morales steps to the plate and takes an intentional walk, bases now loaded.  It was a bad move, as Howie Kendrick would knock a single in to right field to score Pujols and Hunter.  More damage could have been done, but Morales was thrown out at third, getting greedy.

In the bottom of the same inning, it was looking as though Oakland would answer right back after getting two walks and a throwing error, but had to settle for a lone run thanks to Seth Smith bringing Derek Norris home.  3-1 Angels.

The next few innings were pretty evenly matched, as both teams went down just about in order until the bottom of the 7th inning when Oakland was able to put two men on with only one out.  It would be for naught, as reliever Nick Morande proceeded to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.

Jump ahead to the top of the 9th, when things got completely out of control for the A’s.  With the bases loaded, thanks to Grant Balfour, reliever Jim Miller would walk Maicer Izturis to score Peter Bourjos, 4-1 Angels.  Aybar and Callspo came in to score off a single to center from Torii Hunter.  Izturis would then steal home to put the score where it would stand at the end, 7-1 Angels.

So it was a bad day for Oakland.  They failed to hit with bases loaded multiple times throughout the series, and, as fate would have it, failed to score first in any of the games against the Angels. 

Brandon McCarthy going down right now is not something the team can afford to gut, as this stretch run will be very important, especially with the Rangers really picking it up.  Brandon Inge going down for the rest of the season was also a tough blow, but not one the A’s can’t overcome, as this is a very special and talented team.

The Athletics now stand 4.5 games behind Texas in their division, and are now a half game out in the AL Wild Card standings.

A.J. Griffin (4-0 with a 2.26 ERA), who was phenomenal in his last outing, will take the mound on Friday at 7:10PM against the Seattle Mariners.

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A.J. Griffin Sensational in A's 7-1 Series Win Vs. Boston

Well, for a team that was written off before the season even started, the Athletics are doing a tremendous job in breaking expectations and continuing to win games, in commanding fashion.  Tonight, they won 7-1 behind a strong starter, and an offense that just continues to click.

The city of Oakland continues to celebrate.  The A’s are on an offensive tear, scoring 27 runs in their last two games, 20 of them alone coming from last night’s series opener against Boston.  They took the series, and added on to their winning streak, now at 8. 

Rookie sensation A.J. Griffin was very impressive in his first start since missing most of August with a shoulder injury, actually taking a perfect game into the last two outs of the 5th inning, when he gave up a fast-rolling bunt towards third base from Jarrod Saltalamacchia (who would be stranded to end the inning).  Things started to turn around in the top of the 6th, however, as some lucky breaks on the base-paths for Boston and a controversial call at home plate ended up being the only run Griffin would give up.   3 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, and 5 strikeouts later, Griffin would go 7 strong innings to earn his 4th victory of the season, still without a loss.

It was the bottom of the first inning, and Coco Crisp wasted no time in getting Oakland on the board, blasting a solo shot to left field.

In the bottom 3rd, Red Sox starter Felix Dubront would get hit hard to allow 4 earned runs:  After getting the first two outs with two men on, Yoenis Cespedes got it going with a single to left scoring Jonny Gomes, 2-0 Oakland.  Cespedes would then steal second, and third, and eventually be driven in with Chris Carter off a double to deep right from newly activated Brandon Inge.  4-0 Oakland.  It wouldn’t stop there, as catcher Derek Norris slices a single into center field to score Inge, making it 5-0.  Still Oakland.

The A’s were threatening to score in the 4th, after new pitcher Alfredo Aceves made a terrible decision to back-up his catcher and 1st baseman by dropping the ball after running into them.  Luckily for him, he would get out of the inning with no runs scoring.

In the bottom of the 5th, a single and a steal later, Cliff Pennington get’s driven in by Norris, making it 6-0 Oakland.

Jump ahead to the bottom 7th, 1st baseman Chris Carter leads off the inning by blasting a solo homer into left center field.  7-1 Oakland.  Cliff Pennington then gets his second hit of the night to follow the leadoff homerun, but would be left stranded.

Pat Neshek came in in the 8th, and pitched the rest of the game to an Oakland victory, no save necessary.

Brandon Inge left the game in the top 4th with a shoulder injury.  Hopefully it is nothing serious, but according to skipper Bob Melvin, Inge has re-aggravated the injury.  

Let’s see who did what tonight:
Coco Crisp: 3-for-4 with an RBI, a homerun, a walk, and two stolen bases.  He was a triple shy of the cycle.

Derek Norris: 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.

Brandon Inge: 1-for-2 with 2 RBI and a run scored.

Chris Carter: 1-for-3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored (one from a leadoff homerun in the 7th).

Yoenis Cespedes: 1-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base.

Cliff Pennington: 2-for-2 with a run scored, and 2 stolen bases.

The Athletics are now only 3 and a half games back in their division, and 1 and a half games up in the AL Wild Card standings.  Needless to say, it’s been an exciting time for Oakland fans, and September will surely continue to fire up the A’s in their drive for the post-season.

Tomorrow, Brett Anderson (2-0 with a 0.64 ERA) will make his 3rd start of the season, and look to sweep an utterly floundering Boston team.  Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-3 with a 5.10 ERA), who was dominant in his last start, will take the hill for his Red Sox at 1:05 PM in Oakland.

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