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How about that Matt Olson, huh? The rookie has hit a home run in 4 consecutive games, bringing his season total to 22 in fewer than 200 plate appearances. That’s 1⁄2 as many as Aaron Judge in only about 1⁄3 of the plate appearances, and he has hit the most home runs by a rookie in September ever with 11 games left to play. Between Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, and Matt Joyce, the Mattletics really have something special going.
Meanwhile, news on the stadium front is also mostly good. Local leaders have started to express their support for a new ballpark in the Eastlake neighborhood, and while there is still a loooooooooong way to go before ground is broken, things look pretty good so far.
Basically, it’s the last two weeks of the season and even though we’re miles from contention, things are better than they’ve been in years. This is hopefully the beginning of the Golden A’sge.
Pitching for Oakland tonight is Daniel Gossett, who has slowly but surely lowered his ERA over the course of the last couple of months. Initially solid, then terrible, and now decent again, Gossett is showing the kind of growth you want out of a young pitcher, and hopefully can finish out the season strong in these last few starts of the season.
On the mound for the Tigers is lefty Chad Bell, who has been performing quite poorly since transitioning from bullpen to starter. Maybe Olson can extend his homer streak even without facing off against a righty?
Game time is 4:10 PT. Go A’s!
