Posts Tagged ‘Oakland’

Split? Yes. Even? Maybe not. Posted by Ken Jones in Texas Rangers, The Bullpen July 17th, 2008

So after 4 games in Arlington with the Angels of WhereEver, each team takes 2 wins and the Halos keep the seven and a half game lead. The Rangers didn’t gain any ground, so the series was an even split, right? Maybe not. On paper, (where the games are rarely played because of the way the cleats tear it up), the Angels should have come in and crushed Texas. The 4 pitching match-ups in the series looked more like bows-and-arrows vs. F-16’s. Heck, on Wednesday night, the Rangers didn’t even have a starter, using the bullpen from the first inning.

What did we learn from the series? The Rangers aren’t afraid of the Angels. Texas can win a close game like the Tuesday night, one-run victory in a low scoring affair. They can beat K-Rod, as Josh Hamilton so eloquintly proved with his bomb on Wednesday night. The Texas offense is never done, racking up 20 hits while taking Thursday night’s game to extra innings after being down 10-4 in the 7th. Catcher Max Ramirez is not going to drop the ball at home no matter how hard you hit him. The Rangers aren’t going to go away. And maybe, just maybe the Angels know that.

Seven and a half back is still a lot to overcome, especially since Texas has to pass Oakland in the standings before they can really take sight on the Angels. And there are less than 70 games left in the season, so time is going to start playing a bigger and bigger role. The Rangers need to get their first sweep of the season sometime soon, then maybe add a few more. Because while you can reach 100 victories by winning or splitting every series, you can’t do that if you take the month of April off. But for the moment, it looks like the Rangers are going to be doing more in the second half than just trading players away. Sometimes a split isn’t just a split, and sometimes a team doesn’t walk away from it even.

Does playing for the A’s lead to the Hall of Fame? Posted by Jason Farmer in Oakland Athletics May 27th, 2008

What is it about the Athletics franchise and the Hall of Fame? I was thinking about this the other day when Mike Piazza announced his retirement. What I wanted to know was how many players in baseball history played for the A’s franchise and were also enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame. What I came across was outstanding.

In the A’s 41 year history in Oakland, 11 players, coaches, or managers have passed through the green and gold before going on to the Hall of Fame. In addition to them, at least five (Mark McGwire, Tony La Russa, Rickey Henderson, Frank Thomas, and Piazza) more have made stops that are not eligible yet or are on the ballot but have yet to be selected.

Some of those players spent long portions of their career in Oakland (Reggie Jackson, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter and Dick Willliams) while others were here for anywhere from a season to few months to a couple of games (Joe Morgan, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Don Sutton, Goose Gossage and even Joe Dimaggio). These players are not all there is though. This is just the Oakland side of it. DiMaggio was a coach with the A’s after he retired and Williams was a manager for the A’s.

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Random Rangerness Posted by Ken Jones in Uncategorized May 3rd, 2008

So, I was at the Rangers game on Thursday, talking with former Mavs coach Avery Johnson. “Avery,” I said, “what do you make of this Brandon Boggs kid? I mean, he wasn’t even on the radar, and all he does is come up and start his major league career off by reaching base five straight times. He really looks like a player, and he came out of nowhere. Isn’t baseball great?” Do you know what Avery said? “$4.50 for the bag of peanuts, man.” I nodded knowingly and handed him a fiver. “Keep the change, coach. Keep the change…” Just a few more random thoughts from the week:

Speaking of Thursday - Wow. Sidney Ponson, SIDNEY PONSON, climbs out of Mr. Peabody’s WayBack Machine and throws 8 innings, allowing one run and six hits. CJ Wilson comes in and takes care of the ninth. A couple of solo shots for Kinsler and Vazquez. And it was in the win column. IN TWO HOURS AND TEN MINUTES. No lie, I checked 4 different clocks to see if I was reading them right, and then rechecked the start time. The Texas Rangers do not play games in 2 hours and ten minutes. Now, they occasionally will let the Tigers score 11 in an inning that runs over two hours…

Well done, Mr. Hamilton. On a team that had to scramble to reach 10 wins, setting a new record for the month with 18 losses, Josh Hamilton hit .330 with 6 HR’s and 32 RBI’s. Puts him in the Rangers record book to start the year around names like Juan Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez. Nice April.

Managers often like to split up their starters to throw a righty, a lefty, then another righty. Or stagger starters with different styles to keep batters off balance. (It always seemed kind of unfair in the late 80’s for the Rangers to trot out fastballer Nolan Ryan, followed by knuckleballer Charlie Hough, followed by fastballer Bobby Witt.) Having said that, I don’t know about throwing “Undecided” in back-to-back games at Oakland this weekend. But Mendoza, Gabbard, and Jennings on the DL will make that choice for you. How bad is the season when you hit May 1 and are saying “Thank goodness for Sidney Ponson and Vincente Padilla”? If anymore starters go down, well, I don’t know if Bobby or Nolan could go, but I’m pretty sure Hough could still trot out there a mess with batters for seven innings.

An Open Memo: Dear Jason Botts, your disgust at being sent to minors would be bolstered a little if you had hit better than .158 so far. Nelson Cruz has hit 10 HR’s in 29 games at AAA this season, and he got skipped over so that Saltalamaccia, Boggs, and Shelton could come up to Arlington. So get to the back of the line, Jason, start hitting, and hope you measure up to the “You must be this tall to ride this ride” sign next time it’s your turn. Then we’ll feel bad for you.

Ah, Oakland. It took a full-month, but the Rangers finally got around to playing the division-rival A’s. It’s not really baseball season until you hear the announcers discussing the amount of foul territory at McAfee Stadium. Due to an obscure 1977 FCC regulation, both TV and radio crews must mention this at least twice a game, every game. I would have pointed this out to Avery, but he’d moved on. But that’s okay, because he really doesn’t like to talk about things that happen out in the East Bay anyway.

First Series Win Posted by Jason Farmer in Oakland Athletics April 7th, 2008

Two series into the 2008 season and the A’s (3-4) are off to what I would call a decent start. After splitting the Japan series and dropping both games in Oakland to the Red Sox, the A’s came back to win two of three against the Cleveland Indians (3-3).

After taking the first two, the A’s were hoping for the sweep. Unfortunately, things were not to be. After scoring six runs in each of the first two games, the A’s were only able to manage one in the series finale.

After another outstanding performance from Blanton, the A’s failed to give him any run support for the third game. This is the second straight game that Blanton has lost by a score of 2-1. If things continue on this path, Blanton could be this year’s hard luck starter.

In the past that has been reserved for players such as Time Hudson and Danny Haren. However, since both were traded away, a new pitcher has to step up and acquire that role…unfortunately.

On Friday, Justin Duchscherer started the first game of the series, but left with a strained bicep in his pitching arm. He did however pick up his first win of the season. He collected six strikeouts in five innings in his first start in five years.

On Saturday, Dana Eveland notched his first win as well. He went seven innings with seven strikeouts and allowed just one run in a match-up against Cleveland ace CC Sabathia. Second basemen Mark Ellis hit his team leading second homerun of the season in the victory

Next up for the A’s are the red hot Blue Jays (4-1). Toronto is coming off a three game sweep of the defending champion Red Sox. The A’s probable starters are Rich Harden (1-0), Justin Duchscherer (1-0), and Dana Eveland (1-0).

While in Toronto, the A’s will get a chance to play against several former A’s. Frank Thomas, Matt Stairs, Marcos Scutaro, and Shannon Stewart are among those now playing for the Jays.

Home Opener Posted by Jason Farmer in Oakland Athletics April 7th, 2008

I always love opening day. There is something to be said about going to opening day and smelling the fresh cut grass. There are all the fans tailgating in the parking lot with their BBQs, playing catch, and hanging out with friends they haven’t seen in six months. Then there is being able to watch the players take batting practice and hearing the crack as the ball jumps off the bat.

For most baseball fans, the offseason can be very long. I have many memories of when my friends and I were the regular crowd in the left field bleachers in Oakland. Every year on the last day of the regular season, it was my job to have a count down to the next year’s home opener. We always showed up several hours before each game because Oakland bleachers are first come-first served. We would mark our place in line then play catch, talk, go get food and more. It was a great way to spend my youth.

Now, years later I find myself missing what we had back then. With work, my own kids, and other obligations, it is hard to find the time to spend going to 50-60 games a year. Opening day however, is like you can do it all over again.

With my job in the Navy, I actually missed the A’s home opener this year for the first time in four years. Not to bad considering I am stationed in San Diego!

Did I miss much by not making it to Oakland this year? Well, if you pay attention to the offseason, one would say no. One would think the A’s are going to be a bottom feeder as they rebuild this year.

But that is the wrong attitude to take into a long season. Billy Beane is one of the best GM’s in baseball. Just because he is rebuilding, doesn’t me his team won’t be competitive. Just look at the spring training results, 20 wins and 8 losses. The best record in both the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues!

Opening the season against the defending World Series Champion Red Sox is tough. However, the A’s managed to split the two game series they played in Japan. Now back home to finish off the four game series that was split between to different countries, the A’s again lost the first game. Today’s game will decide whether Oakland will split or loss the series.

Like yesterday, the starting match up today will be a rematch of game two from Japan. If Rich Harden can duplicate his performance from Japan, the A’s show be in for a good game.

On a side note, Daric Barton’s Oakland rookie streak came to an end last night. Before yesterday’s game, Barton had reached base in 19 straight games to start his career.