Athletics Nation - Game #30: Oakland Athletics at Baltimore OriolesAn SB Nation blog for Oakland Athletics fanshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47025/an-fave.png2016-05-07T13:24:58-07:00http://www.athleticsnation.com/rss/stream/113805052016-05-07T13:24:58-07:002016-05-07T13:24:58-07:00Game #30: Athletics 8, Orioles 4
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<figcaption>Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p dir="ltr">Victories that are hard fought and well earned are much more satisfying and compelling than a victory that is more or less inevitable. Rooting for the underdog that has overcome adversity is a near-universal quality in people globally. It is why people root for the tortoise and not the hare in Aesop's Fables, it's why people cheer for the noble stable boy and not the powerful king, and it's why people revel in the successes of teams like the A's and relish in the failures of teams like the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a>. But to be an underdog, there has to be something to prevail over, and it is usually something that seems insurmountable. To fight off this insurmountable obstacle, a common trope throughout storytelling is the idea of the hero retreating into a hideout or getting induced into a deep sleep, before emerging later, stronger than ever and ready to take on their greatest challenge.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In today's 8-4 victory over the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Baltimore Orioles</a>, the A's, both by individuals and by the team itself, channeled the spirits of many of those heroes to lead the team to a decisive victory in game one of this double header.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Rich Hill's</span> journey is not entirely unlike that of Luke Skywalker. After a harrowing experience at Hoth in which Luke was barely able to escape the clutches of the evil empire, Luke effectively removes himself from the fight for a long time in order to train with Yoda so he can best hone his innate abilities with the force. When he re-emerges from his training with Yoda, stronger than ever, Luke was, though he still wasn't his strongest self, and is able to face bigger and greater challenges. Rich Hill has always had powerful stuff, but until he was removed from the majors and played in an independent league, he wasn't able to properly hone his stuff. Due to presumably lots of training and hard work, Rich Hill emerged from the independent leagues a new man, though still not fully in control of his arsenal, and has been consistently getting better from start to start since his return to the fight. In today's game, Rich Hill was superb in just under six innings of work, relying more and more on his curveball as the game went along, allowing just two hits, one run, and five strikeouts (occurring on both fastballs and curveballs) to go along with three walks and a hit batter. Rich Hill has been the best starter for the A's this season, and his past few starts have finally seen him flashing his capabilities of pitching deep into games and lessening the stress placed on the A's bullpen.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Josh Reddick's</span> journey is not entirely unlike that of Link, the Hero of Time. Link was always a special warrior, one who was always destined for greatness and who had passed every test of his ability thrown at him, but was forced to hide away when a swell of demons invaded the land of Hyrule overmatched him. When he finally ventures back into his homeland, it is desolate and downtrodden, but he now holds the power within him to make it all better again. The narrative against Josh Reddick for a long time was that he got too easily overmatched in high pressure situations, and because of that he wasn't mentally mature enough to capably lead an offense, or the team. However, over the years Josh has matured extremely as a hitter, and now has gained a more slump-proof stronger batter's eye and approach to go along with his strong inherent abilities on the field. Without Josh Reddick, the A's lineup is much weaker and thinner, and without Josh Reddick the future of right field in Oakland looks quite bleak and desolate. In today's game, Josh Reddick managed three hits- a bunt single against the shift, a booming double to center, and a sharp single to center off of a left-handed pitcher. With Josh Reddick hitting smarter, his bat is strongest the team has to offer and is plenty capable of leading the lineup to its best possible self.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The A's offense, as a whole, is not entirely unlike Princess Aurora, or Sleeping Beauty. Princess Aurora was beloved by most all those she came across, beautiful, and capable of greatness. However, due to forces outside of her control, Aurora is cursed and forced to sleep until the curse is lifted by her own true love, whoever that is. The A's offense was supposed to have all the elements of beauty that a major league offense could have- hitters capable of putting up above average numbers 1-9, mixes of power and speed and contact throughout the order, the easy ability to mix up left-handers and right-handers in the lineup, great versatility in positions the starting nine could play, and capable bench players. But despite all that, the A's offense had been sleeping for most of the season, having a major league worst on-base percentage and having drawn the fewest walks in the majors. The A's just needed a Prince Charming to come along to sweep them off their feet and lead the team. That Prince Charming could be Josh Reddick, but who knows, it could come in the form of <span>Yonder Alonso</span>, who is finally showing signs of life by reaching base four times in today's game (three times via the walk and one time via an against-the-shift single) after hitting the ball hard, but right at people, multiple times in his previous games. It could also be <span>Marcus Semien</span>, who hit yet another home run today as well as drove in three runs out of the ninth spot, or <span>Jed Lowrie</span>, the team's most clutch hitter to date, who had a sharp two-RBI single to center. Anyone could be the man who wakes the offense up for good and leads it to be the best offense it can be, and who that man is will likely reveal themselves in the next coming weeks.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It should also be noted, in general, that, apart from <span>Khris Davis</span>' 0-5 game, every player on offense contributed, though <span>Danny Valencia</span> didn't look as sharp as he can be, as he hit into a double play, struckout, and made a throwing error on the field, but since this was his first game back from injury he was likely just shaking off his rust. Apart from the aforementioned Valencia error, the A's also had a mostly smooth game on defense, though the Orioles did manage to tag up and take third on a couple of fly outs left field, but that is likely just a reality the A's will have to cope with this season rather than a fixable problem. The bullpen also performed well, as should now be expected, apart from a poor 9th inning from <span>Liam Hendriks</span> following a very well pitched 8th inning on his behalf, but with the game so far out of reach, his struggles had little impact on anything.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Stories from all eras will let us know that just because the hero is down, they are not necessarily out. They could just be biding their time, slowly building up strength and preparing to emerge stronger than ever, and not willing to look back.</p>
<p>Our heroes will be playing a second game today, starting at 4:05 pm pacific time.</p>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2016/5/7/11616974/game-30-athletics-8-orioles-4Dani Baker-Gillman2016-05-07T09:38:37-07:002016-05-07T09:38:37-07:00Game Thread #30: Oakland A's at Baltimore Orioles
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<figcaption>Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Life is wonderful thing. Not only is the Earth in the "Goldilocks zone," allowing for life to exist on this space rock in the first place, but every single person on Earth today is a product of more than a billion years of their ancestors successfully passing along their genes before dying in some horrible way, ergo, every single person on Earth today is the byproduct of evolution's winners. Not only is every person on Earth a winner, in that regard anyways, each person has survived countless individual and personal strifes to get to the point that they are today, and the sheer fact that any of us are alive ought to be celebrated daily.</p>
<p dir="ltr">But mostly what people, myself included, focus on are the constant disappointments and inconveniences that life throws at them daily. Whether it's family issues or annoying coworkers or rain-delayed baseball games, the bad stuff in life typically does a much better job of keeping people down that the good stuff in life does in keeping people up. For the Oakland A's, currently at 13-16 and four games out of first place in the AL West, while the team hasn't been great by any stretch of the word, considering how tough the schedule has been up to this point in the season and the bevy of prospects banging on the door to make exciting Major League debuts, there is a lot to be excited about for this team. But, when taking a closer look at just how the A's have gotten to this point in the season, it's much easier to feel disappointment. The offense was supposed to be full of tough outs from top to bottom, but has been one of the worst performing units in all of the majors. The A's started the first half of this tough stretch of the season in wonderful fashion, sweeping the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> and winning four straight, but have been limping along since then, culminating in an incredibly heartbreaking loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Mariners</a> in which the normally phenomenal bullpen gave away a game in which the A's scored eight runs off the the mighty Felix Hernandez. As it stands, it is very hard to watch this team currently play and not expect more.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So, while the A's shot at redemption from that horrid game and less than stellar stretch of baseball was disappointingly delayed by rain last night, the shot at turning the bad times around and potentially even starting a winning streak by nightfall starts with a doubleheader today against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Baltimore Orioles</a>. In the morning game, the A's <span>Rich Hill</span> will be taking on the Orioles' <span>Mike Wright</span>. Hill is a pitcher who, you could argue, has amazing ability that ought to be celebrated, but has largely been a disappointment throughout his career. Rich Hill, to this point of the season, has been doing his best to make up for lost time in his long career by emerging as one of Oakland's most dependable starters on the season as well as one of the Major League's top strikeout pitchers. <span>Mike Wright</span> is fairly new to the big stage, in just his second season on a major league team, but he has yet to ever really experience high levels of success in the minor leagues, consistently anyways, and is still looking to shine in the bigs, and surely looking to not disappoint himself, his team, and his fan base in the process.</p>
<p>Danny Valencia is returning to the A's lineup today, looking to return strong after very disappointingly injuring his hamstring earlier in the season. Game starts just after 10:00 am on the west coast, with rain expected to fall in the middle of the game. But after two long days, baseball is alive once again, meaning it is time to celebrate, and it is time for the A's to redeem themselves.</p>
<div class="pane sports_data_widget lineup clearfix"> <h3>Today's Lineups</h3> <div class="lineup"><table class="zebra" cellspacing="0"> <thead> <tr> <th align="left">OAKLAND A'S</th> <th align="left">BALTIMORE ORIOLES</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Billy Burns</span> - CF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Joey Rickard</span> - RF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Jed Lowrie</span> - 2B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Manny Machado</span> - 3B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Josh Reddick</span> - RF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Chris Davis</span> - 1B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Khris Davis</span> - DH</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Mark Trumbo</span> - DH</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Stephen Vogt</span> - C</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Adam Jones</span> - CF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Danny Valencia</span> - 3B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Matt Wieters</span> - C</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Coco Crisp</span> - LF</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Nolan Reimold</span> - LF</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Yonder Alonso</span> - 1B</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Jonathan Schoop</span> - 2B</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"> <span>Marcus Semien</span> - SS</td> <td class="td-first td-name"> <span>Paul Janish</span> - SS</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name"></td> <td class="td-first td-name"></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="td-last td-name">Rich Hill - LHP</td> <td class="td-first td-name">Mike Wright - RHP</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> </div>
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2016/5/7/11616340/game-thread-30-oakland-athletics-at-baltimore-oriolesDani Baker-Gillman