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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Twins Take Down A's 7-2, Keep Ground in AL Wild Card Hunt

The Oakland A’s had been playing some great come-back ball, sweeping the Cleveland Indians in their previous home series, but the Minnesota Twins were not having it, as they came into town and knocked around Oakland’s starter to end their streak at four.

It was a rough outing for the A’s Brandon McCarthy, who was not sharp and labored through 3.1 innings, allowing six runs (all earned) off of ten hits.  Coming into the game, McCarthy’s ERA stood at 2.68 and had thrown five quality starts, going 3-1 over that span.  After tonight’s un-characteristic outing, his ERA now stands at a still respectable 3.16, and he was able to get a couple strikeouts, issuing only one walk.  Even if that walk did end up coming back to haunt him, and scored.

It was relief pitcher Travis Blackley that came in and actually did really well against the charging Twins, pitching 5.2 innings of one-run ball.

Darin Mastroianni was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.  Joe Mauer went 3-for-5 knocking in a pair in the top of the 4th, only to have Josh Willingham do the same but score a run as well.  It was a good night for a struggling Twing club.

Catcher Derek Norris and shortstop Adam Rosales both collected a pair of hits, but were left on.  The only runs for Oakland came off a double from Josh Donaldson to knock in Yoenis Cespedes in the 2nd,  and Coco Crisp coming in to score off a sacrifice groundout by out-fielder Josh Reddick in the 3rd.

Athletic hitters collected a mere six hits.

Minnesota’s Brian Duensing was solid, going six strong innings allowing only two runs (one earned) off of five hits, striking out seven and walking one.  With the win, he is now 3-8 and has lowered his ERA from 4.69 to 4.46.

A bit of exciting news for A’s fans, as lefty Brett Anderson will make his 2012 debut after spending the season thus far on the disabled list recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Hopefully his return to action will shake off the bad feelings from a disappointing loss to a Minnesota team that had lost its five previous games.  He will need to get ahead early of Mauer and company, because McCarthy’s location was an issue tonight, and the Twins made him pay.

The A’s will get Minnesota’s Cole De Vries, who is 2-4 with a 5.04 ERA.  Significantly enough, in his last two starts he is 0-2, allowing eleven earned runs in only five innings.

In other news, Oakland has acquired shortstop Stephen Drew from the Arizona Diamondbacks, and will report to camp ASAP.

Fortunately for the A’s, with a Baltimore loss they have lost no ground in the AL Wild Card standings, and are still half a game behind the tied for 1st Orioles and Rays.

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A's Extend Winning Streak With 7-0 Win Over Indians

Oakland was in desperate need of a win on Thursday night, and they got one. So, they figured that while the A's were celebrating the team's 20-game winning streak in 2002, they could start one of their own.

The A's finished off a sweep of the Indians with a 7-0 win on Sunday. Jarrod Parker hurled eight shutout innings and Coco Crisp drove in five runs, powering the team's fourth consecutive win. With the win, the A's are just a half-game back of a Wild Card berth.

Crisp went 3-for-5 with two singles and a three-run home run. Crisp made Justin Masterson pay for his mistakes, as Crisp drilled a pitch that was misplaced by Masterson over the left field fence. Masterson was supposed to put the pitch on the outside corner, but he threw the ball middle-in.

Brandon Moss also homered for the A's, who are now 65-55. Masterson consistently gave hitters inside pitches to hit, and Oakland made him pay. Masterson's ERA is now 4.73, and his record is 9-11. Parker is now 8-7 with a 3.48 ERA.

Cliff Pennington had just one hit, but he scored three runs for Oakland. Ryan Cook, who's been on a slump recently, pitched a scoreless ninth for Oakland. Parker threw just 93 pitches and forced a lot of ground balls and weak contact.

Brandon McCarthy (6-4, 2.68 ERA) pitches for the A's tomorrow, while Brian Duensing (2-8, 4.69 ERA) gets the ball for the Twins.

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Cespedes and Colon Lead Athletics Past Indians 8-5

Despite a four run 9th inning rally by the Indians, the A’s hung on to win the ballgame, and the series, 8-5.

Grant Balfour had to come in in the bottom of the 9th to clean up the mess Scribner and Blevins caused, to earn his eleventh save of the season, but Bartolo Colon was stellar; allowing just five hits in eight strong innings giving up his only blemish of the night to Indians catcher Carlos Santana via the long-ball, and notching his tenth win of the season.

With a man on and two outs in the bottom of the 3rd, Yoenis Cespedes smacked his 16th homer of the year, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI, now heating up at the right time.

Josh Donaldson continues to impress, putting up two more hits in five at-bats, knocking in his eleventh of the season, but it was Coco Crisp (hitless in his previous three at-bats) who broke the game open knocking in two in what was another electric 8th inning in Oakland.  He also scored a run in the A's first big inning in the bottom of the 3rd.

Josh Reddick is staying hot as well, going 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

With a win tonight, Oakland pulls ahead of Detroit in the AL Wild Card hunt to stand only half a game behind the tied Tampa Bay and Baltimore clubs. 

Though Oakland is keeping pace with Texas, the Rangers took the 2-1 victory against a battered Toronto line-up.  The A’s now stand five games behind Texas in the AL West.

Jarrod Parker (7-7 with a 3.71 ERA) will take on the Tribe in the series finale at 1:05 P.M.

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A's Make Up Ground In Wild Card Race With 3-0 Win Over Kansas City

Oakland needed someone to stop them from getting swept by the Royals, and they had a rookie pitching the series finale.

Luckily, that rookie is pretty good. And, he delivered a great performance for the A's.

Dan Straily pitched six and one-thirds shutout innings and picked up his first major league win as the A's beat the Royals 3-0. Oakland is now 62-55 and just a game out of the second Wild Card spot in the American League.

Yoenis Cespedes and Coco Crisp homered for the A's, and Jemile Weeks hit an RBI single. Royals' pitcher Luke Hochevar was shutting down the A's until he left a fastball right down the middle in the 6th inning. Crisp, the batter, had an opportunity to make something happen...

And he did, hitting a home run. The hit was initially ruled a double, but after reviewing it, the call was overturned and Crisp had his first home run of the month. In the seventh, Cespedes lined a high, outside pitch into the left-field seats for a solo shot.

Straily, who is known for striking batters out, only retired two batters on strikes. However, he used his fastball to get ahead of the count and his nasty breaking ball to force weak contact, which fooled Royals hitters. That's why they only got three hits off of him.

The relievers were just as good for Oakland. Jerry Blevins forced Chris Getz to hit a harmless fly ball to center field in the 7th, escaping a bases-loaded jam. Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle also helped Oakland in the 7th and 8th, and Grant Balfour shut down Kansas City in the ninth.

Oakland needed a win, and they picked one up. Kansas City isn't a good team, and it wouldn't be good to get swept by them. Straily realized that and delivered, and now, the A's are feeling confident heading into a series with the lowly Indians.

Tomorrow night, Zach McAllister (5-4, 3.46 ERA) takes the hill for Cleveland, while Tommy Milone (9-9, 3.91 ERA) pitches for Oakland.

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3 Reasons Why the Oakland Athletics Are Contenders

At the beginning of the season, the Oakland Athletics were among the teams people left out of playoff conversations.

Now, nobody can stop talking about the Swingin' A's.

Oakland is just 5.5 games out of first place in the AL West, and they are just 0.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. The A's have a very well-rounded team and lots of players who know how to come up with big hits.

Even though the A's have been on fire, lots of people think they're pretenders and that they'll fall behind the Tigers and Angels in the wild-card race. And I'm here to say they won't. Here are three reasons why the A's are playoff and maybe even World Series contenders.

1. Well-Rounded Team

Oakland doesn't have a true superstar (although Yoenis Cespedes could make a case for being one), but they have capable players at every position.

In 281 at-bats, Cespedes is hitting .306 with 14 homers and 54 RBI. Cespedes is fast and possesses tons of power. The versatile outfielder has been amazing in the second half and he is one of the main reasons that the A's are 58-51.

Another reason is Josh Reddick. Reddick has a .261 batting average, 24 homers, 56 RBI, a .333 OBP and an .849 OPS, which all come in second behind Cespedes (although Cespedes doesn't qualify among the league leaders for BA, OBP and OPS because he doesn't have enough at-bats).
Reddick's defense has been great too, and Seth Smith has done a nice job with the glove. While no one other than Cespedes and Reddick have hit very well, the pitching has been spectacular.

Rookies Jarrod Parker and Tommy Milone have both been great, and those two and Bartolo Colon both have ERAs under four. Brandon McCarthy, the Athletics ace, will return soon, and he will return a dominant group of pitchers.

Jerry Blevins and Ryan Cook have led the way for a spectacular Athletics bullpen, and Grant Balfour and Jordan Norberto have also done a nice job. Everyone on the A's is capable of succeeding, and that's why the team has been so good.

2. Timely Hitting

The A's have been great recently, but it's taken some luck.

Oakland leads the league by far with 13 walk-off wins, and Coco Crisp leads the team with three walk-off hits. It seems like every player has delivered a walk-off or game-winning hit at some point in the year, especially in July and August.

Closer Ryan Cook has blown some saves recently, but his teammates have picked him up. As long as the starters keep the A's in the game, Oakland has a pretty good chance to win.

It seems like Yoenis Cespedes and his .366 OBP always come through, and if he (or it) doesn't, Crisp, Smith, Reddick, Jemile Weeks, Jonny Gomes, Brandon Inge or someone else usually does. Thanks to this hitting, Oakland is 58-51.

Expect it to keep coming. The A's are in the top half of the league in home runs, and their offense has been great recently. I wouldn't expect Oakland to score tons of runs, but I would expect them to get into and win close games.

After all, they're nearly unbeatable when the game comes down to the wire.

3. More Talent Than a Lot of Other Teams in the AL

Oakland needs a minor upgrade at a couple of positions, but overall, they have a lot of talent.

Milone, Parker and newly called-up strikeout artist Dan Straily anchor a strong rotation that will be rock-solid for years to come. Blevins, Cook and others are anchoring a strong bullpen, and Cespedes is headlining an offense that's on a roll.

Even though Derek Norris and George Kottaras aren't great catchers and Eric Sogard and Cliff Pennington aren't great shortstops, the A's still have a solid team. Oakland wasn't able to acquire Marco Scutaro from the Rockies, although they may still go after a shortstop.

According to Devin Pangaro of the Swingin' A's blog, Oakland went after a lot of shortstops at the trade deadline. If a shortstop goes on waivers, expect Oakland to make a move. They don't want to go on with Eric Sogard at shortstop, and they will probably upgrade. Oakland will probably platoon Kottaras and Norris at catcher, but they want help at shortstop.

Even if the A's don't upgrade, they still have a lot of talent. The Angels, who are 0.5 games ahead of the A's, probably have more talent, and both teams will compete for a wild-card spot. Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, Albert Pujols and Jered Weaver headline a talented Angels' team that's ready to compete and go far in the playoffs.

The White Sox and Tigers will also try to secure a spot. The White Sox lead the AL Central right now, but the Tigers will probably pass them. If the White Sox do fall back into the wild-card race, they'll probably be Oakland's main threat for the final spot (assuming the Angels take the first spot).

Chicago has Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko and Alex Rios, who have all done well this year. However, they aren't as well-rounded as the A's, and Oakland has much better pitching.

Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay and Baltimore, some other competitors, have good teams, but Oakland has more talent. Tampa Bay has good pitching but terrible hitting. Oakland's offense is on a roll, and they've been pitching and hitting better than the Rays recently.

Oakland has much better pitching than Boston, Baltimore and Toronto, and that alone should make them an instant favorite for an AL wild-card spot.  As long as Oakland keeps playing like this, it's likely that they will be in the playoffs for the first time in six years.

This article was first published on Bleacher Report

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A's Fall to Blue Jays, Split Four Game Series

Ben Margot/AP

After winning the first two games to start their four games series against the Blue Jays, the A's lost the final two to earn a split.

Tommy Milone struggled yet again, allowing six runs in six innings, and now has a .500 record at 9-9.

It wasn't as if the A's didn't provide him with enough offense. Josh Reddick broke a 1-1 tie in the third with a monster three-run shot into right field, putting the A's up 4-1.

But Milone gave it up quickly. He promptly gave up a two run shot to Edwin Encarnacion in the fourth, and allowed three more runs to score on a series of hits with two outs in the fifth. Just like that, it was 6-4 Blue Jays.

The A's would battle back, and cut the lead to one after a Coco Crisp RBI double in the seventh, but that would be it. The Jays bullpen allowed just the one run in three innings, and the A's fell 6-5 to the Blue Jays.

With the loss, Oakland is now 58-50 and is still tied for the top wild card spot in the AL. They have a huge series coming up against the Angels, who are trailing them by just a half game.

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A's Walk Off in Another 15-Inning Marathon

 

It was a night that started with top prospect Dan Straily throwing his first career pitch in the majors, and ended with Spiderman smashing Coco Crisp in the face with a pie. In between was fifteen innings of marathon-style baseball, with the A's PR people wondering why they chose this night to hold their fireworks show.

Things were going great until the ninth inning. Brandon Inge knocked in a run in the second, then the A's got home runs in third (Jonny Gomes) and fourth (Chris Carter). The A's held a 4-1 lead, and Straily had pitched six magnificent innings in his major league debut.

But Jeff Mathis had to ruin everything. With two on and two out in the ninth, Mathis crushed a Ryan Cook fastball, barely making it over the left field wall to tie the game at four.

Then the torture started. Although there were some good opportunities, nobody would light the scoreboard for six innings, or roughly two and half hours. The best chance was Omar Vizquel's attempt to score from first on a double in the twelfth, but he was gunned down by the A's trio of Moss-Inge-Norris to save the game.

Jemile Weeks led off the bottom of the fifteenth with a triple into the right field corner, putting the winning run on third with nobody out. Coco Crisp then promptly sent everybody home happy with s sac fly to center, and more importantly, allowing that fireworks show to take place.

Josh Reddick capped off the night in grand style, changing into a Spiderman costume and smashing a pie in Crisp's face.

With their league-leading thirteenth walk-off win, the A's are now 58-48 and sit atop the AL Wild Card.

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