With baseballgirl "nowhere near a computer" today, I am taking over the Friday slot, and as an extra treat, the Evil side of me makes his game thread debut later this evening.
In the meantime, I am going to get the jump on Sunday's ShowerGate with a smorgasbord of all things A's. Don't forget to tip your waiter.
(First things first, welcome home Steph. Now on to some baseball-y things).
In a series in which the A's were nearly no-no'd, and had a batter hit into a triple play for the first time in sixteen seasons, it was Dallas Braden who earned top billing. Battling the flu and a potent lineup, Braden made like Mike in helping the A's avoid the Broom. But it was his "stay off my lawn" tantrum that thrust Braden into OMCS (Official Man Crush Status) around these parts. Not that he had a long way to go in the first place.
Hey, speaking of first place, the A's extended their stay atop the American League West with yesterday's victory. And any day I can type that is a good day, indeed.
Oakland is now 5-2 lifetime when hitting into a triple play, and if you can find me a more useless stat, I'll eat my hat. More triply-fun:
- It wasn't until May 1979 that Oakland recorded its first TP, and then the A's turned two more the following month, in a four-day span, no less. This one was extra rare:
RANGERS 4TH: Gamble singled to first; on a bunt Sample singled to first [Gamble to second]; Grubb hit into a triple play [Gamble out at third (third to center), Sample out at second (center to shortstop to center)]; 0 R, 2 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
- The last player to turn three for the A's was Randy Velarde, and he required no help from the center-fielder. Or anyone else for that matter.
- Of the seven A's to hit into triple plays, only the last two- Kurt Suzuki and Geronimo Berroa- managed to hit safely in any of their other at-bats that day. It is yet unknown how many players have homered in the same game that they've been tripled up, which Suzuki did yesterday, but I can tell you who the last one was: Matt Holliday.
If the A's face CC Sabathia next April 22nd, the former Cy Young Award winner might want to call in sick, especially if Suzuki is in the Oakland lineup. For two straight seasons on the exact same date, Zooks has hit a three-run homer off Sabathia.
Injury update:
Michael Wuertz (right shoulder tendinitis) has made three rehab appearances for Triple-A Sacramento, but in the words of manager Bob Geren, "is not quite ready to perform at this level." Geren said Wuertz is experiencing something "of a dead-arm feeling," but should have another rehab outing Sunday.
And some parting words from yesterday's exchange:
"He just told me to get off his mound," Rodriguez said. "That was a little surprising. I'd never quite heard that, especially from a guy that has a handful of wins in his career.
Silly A-Rod. A pitcher's worth is not measured in wins. Take us home, Dallas:
"I don't go over there and run laps at third base," he said. "I don't spit over there. I stay away. He ran across the pitcher's mound, foot on my rubber. No. Not flying."
Huh. And they say our team is boring. The Yankees are back in town on July 5-7. Expect some fireworks.
Tonight it's the A's and the Indians at the Coliseum. If you're not going there, join us here.