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Recap: Bears Fly, Tofu Dogs are Consumed, A’s win 1-0

2013-05-22T03:47:49Z

There are some rare feats in baseball. Once or twice a year, someone throws a no-hitter. Another couple times, someone hits for the cycle. But even rarer than both of those is a 1-0 victory by the away team at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. John Shea has the record:

It's the 13th 1-0 game in Rangers Ballpark history.
— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) May 22, 2013

Since its opening in 1994, this has been known as a place of horrors for the A's and any other visiting team. The A's once lost a game 17-16 in 2000 that they led 15-7 at one time. Bill King famously did not travel on road trips to Texas at the end of his career. He hated the heat and the crazy "alcoholic-filled nightmare" games.

Today, with Yu Darvish starting for Texas and thunderstorms threatening above, it had nightmare all over it for the A's. He's the best pitcher in the American League, and he did have a decent start today. He threw 100 pitches over 6 innings, K'ed only 5 A's and walked 3. The A's helped him out, again leaving double-digits on the basepaths (and the bases loaded in the 8th) and 8 in scoring position, and not adding on when they could. Indeed, despite the win, the most frustrating sequence of the game came in the 5th inning. Eric Sogard led off with a walk, and Adam Rosales bunted. Not only that, but to confound the stupidity, Rosales did not do his normal all-out hustle out of the box. What resulted was Darvish alertly throwing to second to get Sogard, and Elvis Andrus making an off-balance throw to get Rosales by a step at 1B for a double play. It was a good play on both ends for Texas, but equally dumb for Rosales to assume they would throw to second and nothing else.

Before that, however, in the battle of Eastern Hemisphere vs. Western Hemisphere imports, the Western Hemisphere won. Yoenis Cespedes crushed a Darvish pitch with two outs in the top of the 3rd to give the A's the only run they would need. This was because Dan Straily had his best MLB outing today. Over 7 innings, he faced only one over the minimum, allowed 2 hits, and struck out 5. Most importantly, he allowed no walks.

Perhaps visual forms are better. Here is Dan Straily's location diagram from today, courtesy of Brooks Baseball:

via www.brooksbaseball.net

And here is it from his start, last Wednesday:

via www.brooksbaseball.net

As you can see, he worked down in the zone more often and was overall in the zone more often. That is what he will be need to do consistently to be successful in a big league rotation. With any luck, he builds on this start, and Sonny Gray is allowed to stay down in AAA where he belongs to get more seasoning.

That was pretty much it. Between Straily, who finished the 7th on 6 pitches, and Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour, the Rangers were kept quiet all night. Doolittle struck out 2 of the 3 men he faced, and Balfour got Profar to groundout, struck out Elvis Andrus, and got David Murphy to fly out to Cespedes - fittingly- to end it.

This was the A's 5th consecutive victory, and their 6th of the last 8 games they've played. Having now won two consecutive series, the A's will look to finish off a road sweep of Texas tomorrow. At 11:05 AM PST, Alex Hall will host your game thread.

Edit: Lowrie will live. Barely.

Lowrie had an X-ray on foot. No break but he won't be in there tomorrow.
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) May 22, 2013

He was one of 3 HBPs the A's received today (two on Moss)

Game Thread #47: A's at Rangers (2)

2013-05-22T01:39:18Z

A's are up by 1 on a Yoenis Cespedes HR to dead center. They also squandered an opportunity to add on with terrible base running on a terrible tactical decision to bunt after Sogard led off the 5th with a bunt. Hopefully that won't come back to bite...

Game Thread #47: A's at Rangers

2013-05-22T01:36:37Z

The real 2013 A's have appeared to show up for the last week or so. The A's will attempt to take the series today against a tough customer in Yu Darvish.

Yu Darvish is not a good matchup for the A's. He is leading the world in K% at 36.3. He's my personal Cy Young pick, and probably the best pitcher in the American League right now. He took a perfect game on opening day against the Astros through 8.2 innings before Marwin Gonzalez broke it up.

He's not unbeatable, though. Last year, the A's won two of the three games in which he faced them. Darvish gets his K's, but he has so much movement has can be prone to bouts of wildness. Dan Straily last faced the Rangers in his previous start. He had control issues of his own, walking 4, hitting 2 more, and only striking out 2. It wasn't his finest start, as he only last 4.1 innings. Overall, Straily faces on average just under 5 batters per inning. He'll have to keep the ball down and make sure the HR issues don't manifest themselves today in order to be successul.

The weather could also be an issue, so it may also be a puddleball game. Jane Lee has your forecast:

Lots of rain and thunder here in Arlington right now. Seems like it could continue off and on through the night.
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) May 21, 2013

Here are your currently dry lineups:

1. John Jaso (L) C

2. Jed Lowrie (S) DH

3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF

4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B

5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

6. Seth Smith (L) RF

7. Chris Young (R) CF

8. Eric Sogard (L) 2B

9. Adam Rosales (R) SS

1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS

2. David Murphy (L) LF

3. Lance Berkman (S) DH

4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B

5. Nelson Cruz (R) RF

6. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B

7. Craig Gentry (R) CF

8. A.J. Pierzynski (L) C

9. Jurickson Profar (S) 2B

DLD 5-21-2013: Texas edition

2013-05-21T18:08:19Z

Did I mention that the A's are playing the Astros starting on Friday? They could use some Houston-style cooking, hopefully after they polish off the Boomstick.

via cdn3.sbnation.com

Speaking of food, there is a great feature on MiLB.com about minor league foods. If you haven't had a chance to catch an MiLB game, you should. Not only do you find some unique foods, but it's a great way to spend a lazy afternoon knocking down some beers and seeing some organization's young talent. Or a no-hitter against the Ports, if you're me and go to Lancaster to catch them on Mothers' Day.

Someone else is also fond of Texas food:

@susanslusser I'm not sure what will be the death of me in Texas - the heat, or those prepackaged press box cookies
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) May 21, 2013

As far as yesterday's game is concerned, the A's could have done more:

"You get frustrated during the game at some of the opportunities when you leave some guys on," manager Bob Melvin said, "but we continued to fight through the at-bats the whole game; it was good."

The A's collected 15 hits, six for extra bases, beginning with Seth Smith's solo homer in the second inning. In the fifth, Coco Crisp, Yoenis Céspedes and Brandon Moss doubled to highlight a four-run rally.

Colon, however, did all that he could while he is still in his 30s:

Asked about any drop-off this year following Colon's suspension, Melvin said, "We've been monitoring that pretty closely, watching the velocity. Everything seems to be similar. So, no, he looks the same to me."

There wasn't a thought to let Colon pitch the eighth inning even though he needed 95 pitches to get through seven.

"He's 40," Melvin said, "and we want to try to get him through the season. Anything over 100 for me is starting to get a little uncomfortable. And to give us seven and just short of 100 is just terrific."

Cue "He's a man" jokes here starting Sunday

Dump away!

A's breeze to 9-2 victory over Rangers

2013-05-21T03:58:29Z

The A's mission was simple tonight - get a quality start out of Bartolo Colon and tag the pedestrian Josh Lindblom and a tired Rangers bullpen. Done and done. Eight out of nine starters got at least one hit, and Colon pitched 7 innings, allowing just two runs.

The early going did not look great for the A's. Seth Smith hit a solo homer, but beyond that, the A's left five on base in through the first three innings against a very hittable Josh Lindblom (who featured a below-average fastball and a straight change up). The first inning had Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes reaching base and stealing bases, with no runs scored. In the third, the A's left the bases loaded. The Rangers, meanwhile, were tagging balls all over the field but running into outs, hitting into 3-6 double plays to end the first and second innings. This had the makings of a "missed opportunities" game.

Yet, the game was tied at 1 until the A's eventually got to Lindblom in the 4th. Coco Crisp, who had at that point reached base twice on infield singles to second baseman Jurickson Profar, knocked a hustle double to left fielder David Murphy to start the rally. After Jed Lowrie was retired, Cespedes and Brandon Moss hit back to back doubles. 3-1 A's, and Ron Washington had seen enough given Lindbom's early struggles.

In came Joseph Ortiz and out went any hope the Rangers had of winning the game. This was an interesting decision as Washington could have intentionally walked Smith and used Lindblom to pitch to Chris Young, whom he had struck out twice at that point. On the other hand, Lindblom looked terrible and had just got smacked for three doubles. However, the lefty-lefty matchup failed to get the intended result. Seth Smith went the other way, singling home Brandon Moss and moving to second on a bobble by Murphy. Chris Young immediately knocked in Smith with a broken bat line drive, and the rout was on.

Colon, wise beyond his weight, knows that no lead in Arlington is safe. And with his even keel and consistent fastball, he tends to pitch well with a solid lead. After giving one run back on a Profar sacrifice fly (the phenom went 0-2 with 2 RBI in his 2013 debut), he cruised through the bottom of the seventh.

Meanwhile, the A's were ready to add on against the overworked Rangers bullpen. In the 6th, Lowrie doubled, Cespedes reached on an intentional walk (his second walk of the game) and Moss drew a 5 pitch walk to load the bases with two outs. Alas, the AN rain dances were ineffective and Josh Donaldson flew out to end the inning.

Nevertheless, the plucky A's picked up where they left off in the 7th. Smith walked, Young singled up the middle, Sogard gritted a grounder up the middle, and it was rally time. Crisp drove in Young on a groundout. With Lowrie at the plate, Sogard used his elf magic to induce a Cory Burns wild pitch to score himself. The only shame was that Sogard didn't go long on maybe the best chance he'll have all season.

In the 8th the A's again left the bases loaded. Norris, the only starter without a hit, struck out after swinging and missing on three straight pitches to end the inning. After loading the bases for Donaldson once more, the Bringer of Rain came through with a run-scoring single. Lowrie misread the ball and stayed at third, leaving the bases loaded. Smith flew out, ending the threat.

The A's got 15 hits and 8 walks (yay!), yet left the bases loaded in a staggering four innings (wtf?). Leaving that many on base probably won't work tomorrow against Yu Darvish, but I'm not here to pick nits. The A's hit well, pitched well, ran well, and throughly beat down the division leaders. And oh yeah, four game win streak. A's nation should be very happy.

Also, adioslucca's grandpa is a total badass - happy birthday!

GameThread #46: A's at Rangers (2)

2013-05-21T02:01:10Z

We go to the 6th, A's 5, Rangers 2. Bartolo Colon pitching stellar. Lindblom out, Rangers pen the rest of the way.

Our big hitters are coming through so far. Sogard HR watchers remain unfulfilled.

GameThread #46: A's at Rangers

2013-05-20T23:56:21Z

Fueled by Tex-Mex, Bartolo Colon takes the mound against Josh Lindblom (who?) in Arlington.

Welcome to another edition of A's baseball! The A's lost a hard-fought series against the Rangers last week, with the extra inning backbreaker in Game 2 proving decisive. After that, AN collectively demanded that heads roll. Billy Beane happily obliged, cutting game 2 loser Chris Resop (2 HRs in the 10th inning) and Daric "Zombie" Barton. They were ably replaced by Hideki Okajima and Chris Young. A pretty substantial upgrade by anyone's measure.

The A's outfield looks much better than it did in that series, with Coco Crisp and Chris Young back in action. Plus, Yoenis Cespedes seems to be finding his stroke again. Hopefully he will draw a walk from the inexperienced Josh Lindblom. I expect him to be pitched carefully given that the Arlington winds in the Rangers-Tigers series were carrying flyballs all the way to Dallas. Eric Sogard also has picked up his production with the bat, going 4-7 with 3 doubles in his last 3 games. He's coming to the site of one of his four MLB home runs so perhaps he can get lucky.

The Rangers are hitting the cover off the ball but with Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando on the disabled list, their starting pitching is suspect. Lindblom has spent his two-year MLB career as a reliever in the National League and has just been called up from AAA to start tonight. From Evan Grant at the Dallas Morning News:

Rangers RHP Josh Lindblom (first MLB start of 2013) has transitioned well from relief work to the rotation while at Triple-A Round Rock. After a poor spring that saw him lose a spot in the Rangers’ bullpen, Lindblom has been able to get the ball down in the strike zone. The results: a 4-0 record and 2.08 ERA for the Express. He held Triple-A hitters to a .173 average. If he gets the ball up, watch out for homers. He allowed 13 in 71 major league innings in 2012.

Bartolo Colon has also been prone to the longball recently, giving up 5 homers in his last three starts. The key to his start may be going to his secondary pitches slightly more often, and of course, keeping the ball down.

I expect both starters will have a tough time with two solid lineups and perfect hitting conditions. But I'll take my chances with the fat, jolly veteran over the youngster up from AAA making his first big league start.

The biggest news, however, is that certified A's killer Ian Kinsler is injured, paving the way for mega-prospect Jurickson Profar to start at 2B, batting 9th. Lots of fans around baseball will likely be tuning into Profar's first start in 2013.

Here are the lineups. Time for revenge!

5:05pm Athletics (B. Colon - R) @ Rangers (J. Lindblom - R) Gametime Forecast: 86°F • Clear • 2%PoP
	1. Coco Crisp (S) CF 2. Jed Lowrie (S) SS 3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF 4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B 5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B 6. Seth Smith (L) DH 7. Chris Young (R) RF 8. Derek Norris (R) C 9. Eric Sogard (L) 2B		1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS 2. David Murphy (L) LF 3. Lance Berkman (S) DH 4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B 5. Nelson Cruz (R) RF 6. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B 7. Geovany Soto (R) C 8. Leonys Martin (L) CF 9. Jurickson Profar (S) 2B

Down On The Farm: Prospects Coming & Going

2013-05-20T12:46:03Z

There have been an awful lot of comings and goings in the A's system over the past week or so, as always seems to be the case about this time of year. Lefty Hideki Okajima was promoted from the River Cats' staff to the A's bullpen, while perennial prospect Michael Taylor was forced to make another return trip to Sacramento. And with Jeremy Barfield laying claim to a spot in the River Cats' outfield, Conner Crumbliss was shipped back to Midland, where he'll be joined in the outfield by Josh Whitaker, who was recently promoted from Stockton. Meanwhile, righty Josh Bowman was shipped back to Stockton, where it looks like he'll be joined in the rotation by former 1^st-round draft pick James Simmons, who already made his first start for the Ports this week. And those are just some of the A's prospects who've been on the move recently! You can get daily updates on all the A's top prospects on my Athletics Farm blog and lots more details on the last week of A's minor league action right here on Athletics Nation...

SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS

(Triple-A Pacific Coast League)

Record This Week: 4-2

Record This Season: 24-19

Outfielders Michael Choice and Shane Peterson have really been anchoring the River Cats lineup for most of the year. Choice leads the team in home runs and RBIs while Peterson leads the team in walks and OBP. Choice had been playing strictly in center field, but he's recently begun getting some starts in right field as well. And one has to wonder if the A's might be prepping him just in case right fielder Josh Reddick's absence lingers for too long. Jeremy Barfield filled out the outfield picture when he arrived from Midland a little over a week ago, and he's been fitting right in, batting .310 with a pair of home runs in his first 9 games with Sacramento. Combined with his 8 home runs at Midland, Barfield now leads all A's minor leaguers in home runs with a total of 10. Things got a little more crowded in the outfield when Michael Taylor returned to Sacramento this week and, with Barfield playing well, the A's decided to ship Conner Crumbliss back down to Midland. If first baseman Daric Barton ends up clearing waivers, the team might need to make room on the River Cats' roster for him before long too. Meanwhile, in his first 10 games with Sacramento, shortstop Hiro Nakajima is hitting just .237. With Hideki Okajima's recall by the A's this week, RHP Dan Otero is the only real standout in the River Cats' bullpen at this point, having allowed just 1 walk and 1 run over his first 15 appearances while notching 10 saves. Sonny Gray has been the clear standout amongst the starting staff, posting an ERA of 2.47 while allowing no home runs and striking out 38 in 43 2/3 innings of work. But starters Bruce Billings, Andrew Werner and Justin Thomas all stepped up with impressive performances for Sacramento this week.

Top Cats:

C Stephen Vogt (6 HR / 15 BB / 20 K / .338 AVG / .403 OBP / .579 SLG / .982 OPS)

OF Michael Choice (8 HR / 26 BB / 35 K / .288 AVG / .396 OBP / .484 SLG / .879 OPS)

OF Shane Peterson (3 HR / 33 BB / 34 K / .288 AVG / .426 OBP / .424 SLG / .850 OPS)

3B Scott Moore (4 HR / 18 BB / 31 K / .270 AVG / .367 OBP / .452 SLG / .819 OPS)

RHP Sonny Gray (43 2/3 IP / 39 H / 12 ER / 0 HR / 19 BB / 38 K / 2.47 ERA / 1.33 WHIP)

RHP Dan Otero (18 IP / 10 H / 1 ER / 0 HR / 1 BB / 14 K / 0.50 ERA / 0.61 WHIP / 10 SV)

MIDLAND ROCKHOUNDS

(Double-A Texas League)

Record This Week: 3-4

Record This Season: 20-23

First baseman Anthony Aliotti, who has been one of the most consistent hitters in the A's sytem this year, had a career night on Saturday, collecting 3 home runs and 8 RBIs for the RockHounds. Aliotti now leads all A's minor leaguers in hits, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. And if Daric Barton doesn't clear waivers and end up back at Sacramento, it might finally be time for the A's to give Aliotti a shot to show what he can do in Triple-A. Outfielder Chad Oberacker's been the second hottest hitter at Midland of late. He currently has 13 doubles and 5 triples, and even collected 2 of those triples in 1 game this week! In his return to Midland from Sacramento, outfielder Conner Crumbliss was back to his old self, reaching base 4 times in his first 9 plate appearances. Since his arrival from Stockton, outfielder Josh Whitaker has had a slightly harder time of it though, hitting .176 in his first 5 games. An even more dubious distinction belongs to RockHounds' shortstop Dusty Coleman, who currently leads all A's minor leaguers in errors with 14 in his first 43 games. The team's greatest strength has been its starting rotation, which is being ably anchored by a trio of tough righties. Murphy Smith leads all A's minor league league starters with a 2.00 ERA, Zach Neal leads the RockHounds with 38 strikeouts, and Sean Murphy leads all A's minor league starters with a 1.20 WHIP. Struggling starter Josh Bowman was sent down to Stockton this week, while the A's signed 29-year-old right-hander Erik Arnesen, who spent 7 years in the Nationals' system and had most recently been pitching in the independent Atlantic League, and assigned him to Midland.

Top Hounds:

1B Anthony Aliotti (7 HR / 32 BB / 35 K / .373 AVG / .472 OBP / .590 SLG / 1.062 OPS)

OF Jake Goebbert (6 HR / 10 BB / 38 K / .275 AVG / .323 OBP / .443 SLG / .766 OPS)

OF Chad Oberacker (1 HR / 17 BB / 35 K / .261 AVG / .330 OBP / .418 SLG / .748 OPS)

RHP Murphy Smith (54 IP / 52 H / 12 ER / 2 HR / 15 BB / 33 K / 2.00 ERA / 1.24 WHIP)

RHP Zach Neal (53 2/3 IP / 53 H / 16 ER / 4 HR / 13 BB / 38 K / 2.68 ERA / 1.23 WHIP)

RHP Sean Murphy (29 IP / 24 H / 7 ER / 0 HR / 10 BB / 25 K / 2.17 ERA / 1.17 WHIP)

STOCKTON PORTS

(High-A California League)

Record This Week: 3-3

Record This Season: 21-22

Top prospect Addison Russell was the top story at Stockton this week, as he really started showing a little pop. The shortstop hit 2 home runs, 2 doubles and a triple this week to raise his slugging percentage to a respectable .429. He also went 8 for 25 to lift his batting average back over 200. Meanwhile, outfielder Rashun Dixon homered in his first game after his arrival from Beloit. And first baseman Max Muncy continues to lead all Ports' regulars in hits, runs, walks, home runs, total bases and on-base percentage. RHP Drew Granier has been the one reliable member of Stockton's starting rotation, maintaining a nifty 2.28 ERA in the hitter-friendly California League while leading all A's minor leaguers in strikeouts with 63 in 51 1/3 innings. His fellow righty, Tanner Peters, came through with an impressive performance for the Ports this week, allowing just 1 run while walking none and striking out 10 in 8 innings to earn his 3^rd win. Former 1^st-round draft pick James Simmons was sent down from Sacramento this week and made his first start for Stockton on Saturday, allowing just 1 hit over 4 scoreless innings. The Ports' pitching staff should also be getting a bit of a boost with the return of righty Josh Bowman, who was demoted from Midland. In other pitching news for the Ports this week, Seth Frankoff was put on the disabled list and Max Perlman was given his release.

Top Ports:

1B Max Muncy (9 HR / 33 BB / 32 K / .264 AVG / .396 OBP / .472 SLG / .868 OPS)

C Ryan Delgado (4 HR / 6 BB / 18 K / .250 AVG / .321 OBP / .474 SLG / .795 OPS)

SS Addison Russell (5 HR / 22 BB / 42 K / .206 AVG / .322 OBP / .429 SLG / .751 OPS)

RHP Drew Granier (51 1/3 IP / 39 H / 13 ER / 2 HR / 27 BB / 63 K / 2.28 ERA / 1.29 WHIP)

LHP Jake Brown (32 1/3 IP / 33 H / 15 ER / 3 HR / 1 BB / 31 K / 4.18 ERA / 1.05 WHIP)

RHP Jose Macias (24 1/3 IP / 17 H / 7 ER / 1 HR / 4 BB / 20 K / 2.59 ERA / 0.86 WHIP / 2 SV)

BELOIT SNAPPERS

(Class-A Midwest League)

Record This Week: 5-3

Record This Season: 24-18

The Snappers have been busy lately. In order to make up for a number of April rainouts, the team has played 14 games over the past 12 days. They've been playing well though, and the Snappers' pitching staff has been leading the way. Seven members of the staff currently boast ERA's under 3.20 while three have ERAs under 2.00. Former top prospect Michael Ynoa has a miniscule ERA of just 1.44 after 25 innings, while Dakota Bacus is the team's strikeout king with 36 in 36 innings, and Raul Alcantara leads all A's minor leaguers in wins with 5. Meanwhile, some of the A's top young hitting prospects continue to provide the big bats for Beloit. First baseman Matt Olson leads the team in walks, doubles and RBIs, while third baseman Renato Nunez leads in home runs and total bases, and shortstop Daniel Robertson leads all Snappers' regulars in batting average. But a somewhat overlooked hitter has been coming on strong lately. Outfielder John Wooten, who was drafted by the A's in the 37^th-round last year, currently leads the team in both hits and runs and is tied with Nunez for the team lead in total bases.

Top Snappers:

3B Renato Nunez (9 HR / 10 BB / 42 K / .266 AVG / .325 OBP / .518 SLG / .842 OPS)

OF John Wooten (7 HR / 13 BB / 33 K / .287 AVG / .344 OBP / .480 SLG / .824 OPS)

1B Matt Olson (5 HR / 21 BB / 48 K / .260 AVG / .351 OBP / .460 SLG / .811 OPS)

RHP Michael Ynoa (25 IP / 20 H / 4 ER / 1 HR / 7 BB / 25 K / 1.44 ERA / 1.08 WHIP)

RHP Derek De Young (33 2/3 IP / 31 H / 9 ER / 1 HR / 16 BB / 28 K / 2.41 ERA / 1.40 WHIP)

RHP Dakota Bacus (36 IP / 38 H / 12 ER / 1 HR / 9 BB / 36 K / 3.00 ERA / 1.31 WHIP)

You can check out my blog - Athletics Farm - for daily updates on the A's minor league teams and all the top prospects down on the farm.