Game #14) W 6-3 - 4/20/15 (Mon):
Highlights:
- Dan 'The Man' Otero was our hero this game, he came in in relief for Kendall Graveman who struggled in his 3.0 innings of work. Otero - 4.0 IP 1 H 0 ER 0 BB 4 K
- We can hit RHP, but LHP not so much... Fuld 1-3 2R RBI BB 2B SB, Canha 1-4 with 3 K's struggling a bit, Vogt HOT 1-3 3 RBIs HR, Butler 2-3 2B BB, Ike RBI Sac-Fly runner on 3B less than 2-outs, Semien 1-4 HR
- Ike Davis - an excellent pick-up by Billy Beane, he's been superb on the offensive end, and even better on the defensive end. 2 diving stops and an over-the-rail catch in foul territory
- Evan Scribner - looks like a lock as our set-up man for the 8th inning
- A's are still making plenty of errors... 12 Errors in 14 games... really need to clean it up
- Graveman struggled lots of pitches in very few innings, looking to bounce back in his next start
- Clippard - very scary as closer, Doolittle should be back by mid-May
Game #15) L 1-14 - 4/21/15 (Tue):
Highlights:
- ...
- Ike Davis pitched! Only A's pitcher who didn't allow a hit, walk, run, baserunner
- Billy Butler homered to center. Almost robbed by Super-Trout
- Basically everything...
- Everyone sucked. Pomeranz, Alvarez, Abad
- Pomeranz wasn't locating his fastball well at all...
- Alvarez gave up 6 runs in one inning... but somehow managed to strike out the side
- Abad gave up a HR to Kole Calhoun
- A's committed 3 errors 15 total in 15 games, most in the majors
- Ugly, Ugly, Ugly game... I turned it off in about the 7th inning
- Very embarrassing loss
Game #16) W 9-2 - 4/22/15 (Wed):
Highlights:
- Sonny Gray pitched extremely well, he is a solidified ACE. 7.0 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 BB 7 K
- 4 stolen bases was a huge factor in the win - Fuld, Semien, Canha, Sogard
- A's are above .300 with RISP
- Vogt super hot, Butler super hot
- Season high 18 hits - very impressive against the Angels bullpen (not easy to do)
- Arnold Leon! Major League Debut, got to face the reigning AL MVP, Mike Trout, and former MVP Albert Pujols - great experience for Leon, very happy for him
- A's have yet to find their identity as a team
- They still can either blow a team out, or get blown out of the water (the very next game)
- Hitters aren't necessarily streaky, but are more hit-and-miss
- Canha, and Lawrie not hitting
Game #17) L 0-2 - 4/23/15 (Thur):
Highlights:
- How does this even happen?... A's pitchers gave up 1 hit... one freekin hit, and still managed to lose
- Jesse Chavez showed that he belongs in the rotation, one mistake to Calhoun HR
- Scribner and Clippard were solid in the pen
- A's had 8 hits, but couldn't convert
- 1st and 3rd in the 2nd inning, 2 outs and nothing
- Semien 1 out double in the 5th and nothing
- 1st and 3rd in the 7th, 2 outs and nothing
- 1st and 2nd in the 8th, Reddick about 10 feet away from hitting a 3-run HR to put us on top...
- Zobrist PH that's a good sign, he needs to be healthy
- Zobrist. Something's up with his left knee and he hasn't played at all this series.
- Nothing else really... Nick Tropeano shut us down... somehow... sigh.
- Had a chance to have some momentum coming home, and take the series, but nope
Game #18) L 4-5 F/11 - 4/24/15 (Fri):
Highlights/Concerns/Ugh:
- Tonight was one of the more frustrating games of the season for A's fans. On a cold, and misty night, the A's lost in extras (11) by the final of 5-4. The game started out as a pitchers' duel between two of the best pitchers in the AL, Dallas Keuchel for the 'Stros and Scott Kazmir for the A's. The game was knotted at 0 after 9 innings of play. The Astros left a total of 11 batters on base after 9, while the A's only left 3. Keuchel was nearly un-hittable. The A's missed a big opportunity in the 4th when they had the bases loaded, one out, with #3 hitter Big Ben Zobrist at the dish, but unfortunately he grounded in to a double play ending the inning. Both Kaz and the pen had to maneuver out of trouble multiple times, fortunately the Astros didn't do any damage. In the top of the 10th, the Astros took a 2-0 lead on a clutch 2-out double by Marwin Gonzalez off A's reliever, Dan Otero. But the resilient A's battled back in the bottom of the 10th. Sam Fuld and Stephen Vogt (both PH), both reached base on a few gift singles. Fuld's single clanked off the glove of former Athletic, 1B Chris Carter, and Vogt's single, which would have been the third and and final out of the game, was juggled by AL batting champ, Jose Altuve at 2B. Next up was Josh Reddick. Down to his last strike he pounded a laser double into the gap in left-center, scoring Fuld and Vogt; Reddick tried to score on the play because the ball got by the catcher Hank Conger, but was thrown out at the plate. The A's were inches away from walking-off, and sending everybody home happy. But the Astros weren't done yet, or should I say, the A's bullpen decided to give away another close game. This time, again, yes, again, struggling reliever Eric O'Flaherty gave up 3 runs in the top of the 11th inning. Robbie Grossman and George Springer had key RBIs. Did the A's have one last push in them to keep the game going, or walk-off? No. But they came pretty darn close. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Eric Sogard started off the inning with a solid single to center off of former A, Pat Neshek. Marcus Semien then hit a 2-run HR to left, making it a 5-4 ballgame. Ike Davis (PH), hit an opposite field base hit to keep the A's hopes alive, but Ben Zobrist and Billy Butler failed to move Ike over or drive him in. The Astros put Tony Sipp (LHP) in to face the lefty Sam Fuld who was the last hope for the A's. Fuld worked a 7-pitch walk, putting the game in the hands of Brett Lawrie. The Astros put in the A's MVP, Chad Qualls. Yes, Chad freekin Qualls. The A's have had so much success off this guy, it's incredible. As did many A's fans, I thought this was going to be another fairy-tale ending. Another mistake by the Astros putting in Qualls against the A's. But no. Lawrie, with 2-strikes, drove a ball deep to straight away center, but was put away by Colby Rasmus. The A's bullpen blew it. Twice. The A's hitters, again, showed lots of heart, and resiliency, but came up just short. This game was a real heart breaker. The A's will have a chance to even up the series tomorrow.
Game #19) L 3-8 - 4/25/15 (Sat):
Highlights:
- Reddick went 2-2, he's had a really good series so far
- Sogard 2-run triple in the 8th
- Bassitt, who was called up for R.J. Alvarez after that 14-1 loss in Anaheim, did very well in the long-man role. 4.1 IP 2 H 1 ER 3 BB 3 K.
- GRAVEMAN: 4.2 IP 9 H 6 ER 1 BB 1 K - He's got a ton of movement on his pitches, but he can't control it. I suggest that they send him down to mature some more and put Jesse Chavez in the rotation. Graveman had a total of 1 year in the minors. There's no need to rush him, especially since we have Jesse available. He needs confidence, and control. Pretty surprising and disappointing to see him do so poorly after he had an amazing Spring.
- The A's couldn't hit Scott Feldman... they've had a lot of success off of him in the past, but credit Feldman for making adjustments (something Graveman did not do), he threw many more fastball and cut-fastballs to A's hitters instead of (hanging) curveballs.
- This one felt like it was gonna be over early, and it sure was.
Game #20 L 6-7 4/26/15 (Sun):
Highlights:
- Again, the A's BATTLED. Had good ABs. Had CLUTCH hits, but still came up short.
- Brett Lawrie had 3 RBIs, looked better at the plate
- Craig Gentry had a big 2-out RBI, also scored a run on a Marcus Semien single that gave the A's the lead
- Abad, Cook!, Scribner - excellent
- Reddick RBI Triple, Ike 2 R 1-3 2B
- Of course they came up short.
- Of course the bullpen blew the game again
- Doesn't take a genius to figure out what's wrong with the A's - today, it was Tyler Clippard, plain and simple, Tyler Clippard lost the game for us. Had a 6-5 lead going into the 9th inning, he gave up a 2-RBI double to Evan Gattis. Clippard threw 3 balls up in the zone to Gattis, Gattis fouled one back, took a couple, but his eye-level was up. He was expecting the ball to be up, where was the ball that he mashed to center? Not down, like Vogt wanted the ball, but up. Clippard should have went to his change-up, down, but no. Clippard is to blame.
Wrap-Up & Next Week:
Like I said, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's wrong with the A's. Poor defense making a ton of errors. 19 errors in 20 games to be exact. The most in the majors. The A's have given up 12 unearned runs this year. The A's gave up 48 unearned runs all of last year. Poor starting pitching from Kendall Graveman, and Drew Pomeranz. Graveman, who is supposed to be a ground ball specialist, has not been producing ground ball outs. Not even a 'normal' amount of ground ball outs. Opponents are hitting many more line-drives and fly-balls against him more than anything else. I'm less concerned about Pomeranz. His control has been fine, unlike his past when he had lots of control issues. The A's offense definitely isn't the problem. We are scoring almost 5 runs a game (4.8), which is pretty good. I plan on doing more in-depth analysis on our hitters once this month is over, and I'll post a link of my spreadsheets and data. From what I've seen though, the A's are playing how everyone expected them to play. Young, but talented. Making errors, pitching is struggling a bit. We don't have Jon Lester anymore, or Jeff Samardzija. But our hitting is there. I give a lot of credit to them for competing, and battling when we're behind late in games. The A's hitters are having really good ABs, working the count well. So far, we've really only 'lost' to Colby Lewis, Nick Martinez, Collin McHugh, and Nick Tropeano. We've battled against King Felix, we've equalled Dallas Keuchel, we mashed Taijuan Walker, Yordano Ventura, Matt Shoemaker, the Angels' pen, Mariners' pen, the improved Astros' pen. A's hitters can compete with anyone. Even now with Ben Zobrist out to 4-6 with a ligament tear in his left knee. We're competing. Sure, we're in 3rd place. Sure, our record is 8-12, but that doesn't really exemplify how the A's have played thus far. With Cook back, I think our bullpen will improve. O'Flaherty will figure it out. Clippard will figure it out. They're both veteran guys with experience. They've struggled early on before and I have no doubt that they'll figure it out once the calendar flips over. We need to start using Abad in full innings like today because his splits for both LH and RH hitters are dead equal, as opposed to O'Flaherty's splits which are more favorable towards facing LH hitters. Spot pitch him. 8th inning should be assigned to Scribner. We desperately need Doolittle back. Coco will be back sooner than later. And Jarrod Parker, can't forget about him, will also be back sooner than later. We're banged up, still. We've hit a rough patch early on in the season. Defense needs to sharpen up. Defense is contagious, like many things in baseball. The A's need to get into a groove. A good series. A sweep. Somewhere, on the road or at home. We don't need motivation, just a groove. We're young. I think a lot of A's fans expected a lot out of these young players, especially after they had an amazing Spring, but they're still learning how to play together. The chemistry. The flow. They'll figure it out. It's early. No need to worry A's fans. I don't want to look at the 'ifs'. I want to look forward. Forward to what we have. Can't turn back the clock. Coco, Doolittle, and Parker are right around the corner. The A's have 3 at home against the Halos, then 3 on the road in Texas. If we can go 3-3, I'll be happy.