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The first threat (what I use for batters reaching 2nd base) was in the 3rd inning when Elvis Andrus, former division nemesis in Arlington (and I'm sure for the Astros too!) had a 2 out double but got left there when Mark Canha struck out swinging. Jose Altuve started the 4th with a walk, went to 3rd on a Michael Brantley double, and scored on a groundout by Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa would get hit by a pitch with 2 outs, but Yordan Alvarez flied out to end the inning. Bregman had a 1 out double in the 6th, following a Kyle Tucker walk and Correa pop up, Alvarez plated 2 runs on a double for a 3-0 lead but Yuli Gurriel grounded out to prevent any further runs. Ramon Laureano had a leadoff double after getting his AB saved on an error, stole 3rd, Matt Olsen walked, Matt Chapman plated the A's only run on a sac fly to make it 3-1, and following a walk to Mitch Moreland Jed Lowrie and Sean Murphy struck out. Brantley and Bregman had back to back home runs to start the 8th to make it a 5-1 game and salted it away seemingly for the Astros and after a ground out, the Astros loaded the bases on 2 walks and a hit by pitch, but 2 strikeouts ended the inning without any more runs coming across. Chad Pinder and Canha would have singles sandwiched around an Andrus strikeout, but Laureano lined out and Olsen struck out. Astros loaded the bases to start the 9th on an Altive single and walks to Brantley and Bregman, Tucker added the 6th run on a sac fly, a wild pitch brought in the 7th run, and Alvarez added the 8th run with a sac fly of his own. Lowrie walked with 2 outs, Murphy was hit by a pitch, but Pinder struck out to end the game. In other divisional action: The Angels beat the White Sox 4-3, the Rangers lost a football score 14-10 to the Royals, and the Mariners came back from a 6-2 or 7-2 deficit to beat the Giants 8-7 in extra innings. Angels, Mariners, Astros are all out in front at 1-0 while the A's and Rangers are 0-1 and 1 back.
Game 2 of the series goes on Friday. Cristian Javier (5-2, 3.48) starts for the Astros while the A's will hand the ball to Jesus Luzardo (3-2, 4.12) one of the only MLB players from the South American country of Peru. Game time slated for 9:40.
Yuli Gurriel and Myles Straw had back to back 2 out singles, but the game remained scoreless when Jesus Luzardo struck out Martin Maldonado. Jose Altuve walked to begin the 3rd, Michael Brantley doubled, and Alex Bregman put the Astros on the board with a 3 run home run. Gurriel made it 4-0 with a homer to lead off the 4th, and following a fly out and strike out, Altuve singled and Brantley doubled to make it 5-0 with Luzardo avoiding further damage ending the inning striking out Bregman. Mark Canha started the A’s half of the 4th with a single, Ramon Laureano tripled to make it 5-1, Matt Olson was hit by a pitch and following a strike out a sac fly by Mitch Moreland, Jed Lowrie singled, but the A’s would get no more than the 2 runs as Elvin Andrus grounded into a force out. Olsen singled with 1 out in the 6th, Matt Chapman walked, but Moreland ended the 6th with a double play ball. Altuve walked to start the 7th, went to 3rd on a Bregman single, and scored on a Kyle Tucker sac fly. Jed Lowrie walked to start the bottom half, and scored on Chad Pinder’s home run to make it a 6-4 game. Yordan Alvarez doubled to start the 8th, Gurriel followed with a walk, but a pop out and double play left those runners right there. Olson doubled to start the bottom half, went to 3rd on a Chapman ground out, and scored on a Stephen Piscotty ground out to cut the Astros lead to 1 at 6-5. Altuve singles to start the 9th, went to 3rd on a Brantley double, Bregman was intentionally walked to load the bases, Tucker brought 2 home on a single, and following strikeouts to Carlos Correa and Alvarez, Gurriel walked to reload the bases, and the 9th Astros run scored on an error with Straw batting. Aramis Garcia walked with 1 out in the 9th, Tony Kemp singled 2 batters later, but Ryan Pressley ended the game with a force out with Olson batting. Cristian Javier allowed 2 runs on 3 hits with 4 strikeouts in 3.2 (with 1 hit batter), Bryan Abreu (1-0) had 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout in 2.1 scoreless to get the win, Joe Smith (1st hold), and Blake Taylor (2nd hold) allowed 1 run on 2 hits with a strikeout in 1.2 innings. Luzardo (0-1) allowed 5 runs on 8 hits (2 home runs) with a walk and 8 strikeouts in 5 innings. In other West action on the day the Rangers had a day off in KC before resuming the series against the Royals Saturday, the Angels lost to the White Sox 12-8, and the Mariners lose to the Giants 6-3. Astros remain atop at 2-0, Angels and Mariners are a game back at 1-1, Rangers are 1.5 back at 0-1, and the A’s fall 2 back at 0-2.
Third game of the 4 game series is on Saturday. Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 3.93 last year) starts for the Astros while the A’s scheduled starter is Cole Irvin (0-1, 17.18 in ’20) with first pitch scheduled for 4:07.
With 1 out, Michael Brantley was hit by a pitch, went to 3rd on a Aledmys Diaz double, and scored on a Kyle Tucker single, and Cole Irvin and the A’s were lucky to not allow even more runs that inning as Carlos Correa ripped a ball down to RF that would’ve scored at least 1 run a couple pitches before he hit into an inning-ending double play ball. Mark Canha and Matt Olson would start the bottom of the first with back to back walks, following a strikeout Mitch Moreland got the A’s only run of the game on a single, but Lance McCullers Jr struck out the next 2 A’s batters. 2 singles and a walk to start the 2nd loaded the bases for Houston, following a strikeout, Jose Altuve gave the Astros the lead for good with a single to LF, but a strikeout and groundout prevented any further runs from crossing the plate. Olson singled with 1 out in the 3rd, Matt Chapman followed with a walk, but Moreland and Chad Pinder would strike out which effectively ended the A’s chances on the day, they only got 1 other batter to second base the rest of the game I believe in the 7th inning. Chas McCormick started the Astros 5th with a hit by pitch, Diaz singled, following a pop up and strike out, Yordan Alvarez had a 3 run homer and the ‘Stros were well on their way to victory #3 on the campaign. Correa had a leadoff double to start the 8th, but 2 pop ups and a lineout left him there, and in the bottom half, walks to Canha and Chapman sandwiched around an Olson single loaded the bases, but Jed Lowrie struck out and Pinder flied out to end that. Martin Maldonado started the 9th with a single, Altuve walked, McCormick had a double to make it 6-1, Diaz had an RBI single, a wild pitch scored McCormick and moved Diaz to second, and another one in the same AB to Tucker moved Diaz to 3rd, and a Tucker sac fly moved Diaz around the bases and completed the scoring for the 9th run, but Correa singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, moved to 3rd on a groundout, but Yuli Gurriel lined out to prevent Correa from scoring the 10th run. McCullers Jr (1-0) allowed 1 run on 2 hits with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts in 5 innings while Brooks Raley (1st save) had 1 strikeout in 1.2. Irvin (0-1) allowed 4 runs on 7 hits with a walk and 2 strikeouts in 4.1. In other West action on the day: The Rangers lose to KC 11-4, the Angels beat the White Sox 5-3, and the Mariners beat the Giants 4-0. The Astros remain in the catbird seat at 3-0, Angels and Mariners are a game behind at 2-1, Rangers fall to 2.5 back at 0-2, and the A’s are 3 behind at 0-3.
Astros go for the 4 game sweep on Sunday: Jose Urquidy (1-1, 2.73 in 20) starts for the Astros against Sean Manaea (4-3, 4.50 in ’20) with first pitch scheduled for around 4:05.
Kyle Tucker had a 1 out homer in the top off, Mark Canha went to 3rd on a wild pitch, Matt Olson followed with a fly out to shallow center, but Jed Lowrie picked up the runner from 3rd with an RBI double to tie the score at 1. Mitch Moreland walked, and Matt Chapman followed with an infield single to load the bases, but Stephen Piscotty struck out, and Ka’ai Tom grounded out to keep it at 1-1 after 1. Myles Straw walked with 2 outs, and Jason Castro followed with a home run to put the Astros in front 3-1. Jose Altuve doubled to lead off the 3rd, Tucker and Alex Bregman would follow with back to back strikeouts, Yordan Alvarez walked, and Yuli Gurriel had a 2 run double for a 5-1 Astros lead before Carlos Correa ended the inning with a strikeout. Canha had a 1 out triple in the 5th and scored on a Olson ground out. Gurriel and Correa started the 6th with singles, with Gurriel coming around to score on a Jason Castro fielders choice, and Chas McCormick homered to put the game away and a 9-2 Astros lead. Jose Urquidy allowed 2 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in 4.1 and Brandon Bielak had 4 strikeouts in 4.2 hitless innings. Sean Manaea (0-1) allowed 5 runs on 6 hits (2 home runs) with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in 4.2. In other west action; the Mariners had a rare Sunday day off, the Rangers picked up their first win of the season 7-3 in KC and the Angels beat the White sox 7-4 on a Jared Walsh walk off 3 run homer. Astros are first at 4-0, Angels are 2nd at 3-1 a game back, Mariners are 2-1 a game and a half back, Rangers are 1-2 2 and a half games back, and the A’s are 4 back at 0-4.
Astros stay in state and head down to Anaheim for a quick 2 game series with the Angels at the Big A which begins on Monday night. A’s stay at home and welcome the Dodgers into the Coliseum for 3 games beginning on Monday night. Dodgers scheduled starter is Dustin May (3-1, 2.57 last season) while Frankie Montas (3-5, 5.60 in ’20) starts for the A’s, with first pitch scheduled for 9:40.
I just can't do it this year. Ownership gets worse and worse by the year, and by the decade. There's zero loyalty to players or fans, and no pennants to show for all the roster shuffling over the years/decades. Unless there starts to be some form of stability within the franchise, I'll no longer call myself an A's fan.
Mark Canha had a leadoff single, 2 batters later Matt Olson had a walk, but Mitch Moreland struck out and Matt Chapman grounded out to end the inning. Max Muncy, Chris Taylor both had 1 out singles, Edwin Rios walked to load the bases, Zach McKinstry put the Dodgers up 1-0 on a sac fly, Mookie Betts reloaded the bases on an infield single, Corey Seager had a bases clearing double for a 4-0 lead before Justin Turner ended the inning with a ground out. Elvin Andrus reached on a 2 out error and Tony Kemp walked in the bottom half, but Canha ended the inning on a force out. Will Smith had a 1 out home run in the 3rd, Muncy followed with a single, Taylor reached base on a hit by pitch, McKinstry added an RBI single, a 7th run scored on a wild pitch, Betts walked, but AJ Puk, replacing the ineffective Frankie Montas (90 pitches to record only 8 outs), was able to strike out Cody Bellinger to end the inning. 2 walks and a single with 2 outs in the 4th loaded the bases, but Edwin Rios struck out, and in the 7th AJ Pollock lead off with a single, moved to second on a Rios ground out, and scored on a McKinstry single for an 8-0 lead. Turner had a homer to lead off the 8th, Smith walked, would go to 3rd on an error, but Pollack popped out, and Rios grounded out. Canha homered to lead off the bottom of the 8th, Jed Lowrie walked, moved to 2nd on a ground out, moved to 3rd on a Stephen Piscotty single, scored on a Chapman single, and Piscotty came around to score on a Ka’ai Tom single, but Andrus ended the inning with a groundout. McKinstry doubled to lead off the 9th, 2 outs followed, but he came around to score on a Turner single another single and walk would load the bases but Matt Beaty struck out. Dustin May (1-0) had 2 walks, 2 hits and 8 strikeouts in 6 scoreless innings while Montas (0-1) allowed 7 runs on 7 hits (1 homer) with 3 walks (1 hit batter) and 4 strikeouts in 2.2. In other West action this year, the Angels host the Astros for 2 games, the Rangers open their home portion of the schedule with what was a full house in Arlington for 3 against the Blue Jays, and the Mariners hosted the Chicago White Sox for 3 games. All 3 series started on Monday, meaning the Angels and Astros will be off on Wednesday.
Game 2 of the 3 game series is Tuesday and pits a pair of opening day starters….who you may not have expected. Clayton Kershaw (0-1, 7.94) still got the nod for the Dodgers despite probably only being the 3rd best starting pitcher on the Dodgers staff after Walker Buehler and new addition Trevor Bauer while Chris Bassit (0-1, 5.06) starts for the A’s. Game time slated for 9:40.
Justin Turner doubled with 2 outs in the first, Max Muncy was hit by a pitch, but AJ Pollack struck out. Jed Lowrie and Ramon Laureano had back to back 1 out doubles in the bottom half, but Matt Chapman and Sean Murphy both struck out to keep it at 1-0. In the second, Edwin Rios started the inning with a single, Gavin Lux walked, Austin Barnes doubled to tie the score, but Zach McKinstry lined out, Mookie Betts grounded into a fielders choice, Betts stole second, but Corey Seager ended the inning with a groundout. Turner lead off the 3rd with a single and Muncy followed with a 2 run homer for a 3-1 Dodgers lead, and Rios would also add his own home run later in the inning. Stephen Piscotty doubled with 2 outs in the 7th, but Mitch Moreland grounded out to end the inning. Tony Kemp walked with 1 out in the 8th, stole second, but Mark Canha struck out and Lowrie flied out. Mookie Betts homered in the 9th, Laurenao lead off the bottom half with a single, stole second, went to 3rd on a groundout, Piscotty walked, went to second on defensive indifference, but Moreland ended the game on a fly out. Clayton Kershaw (1-1) allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 8 strikeouts in 7 innings, and Blake Treinen (1st hold) had 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 strikeout in 1 inning. Chris Bassitt (0-2) allowed 4 runs on 9 hits (2 home runs) with a walk and 4 strikeouts in 6 innings.
The finale of the series is on Wednesday. The Dodgers new shiny toy in the rotation, Trevor Bauer (1-0, 5.68) makes his second start for LA while the A’s will hand the ball to Jesus Luzardo (0-1, 9.00) with first pitch scheduled for 3:37.
Chris Taylor and Corey Seager drew walks to begin the game, Justin Turner and Will Smith followed with strikeouts, AJ Pollock gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with a single, Max Muncy walked to load the bases before Austin Barnes flied out. A single, forceout and single put Dodgers on first and second to begin the 2nd, but a strikeout and fly out ended the inning. Ramon Laureano started the 4th with a hit by pitch, stole second, stole 3rd, and scored on a wild pitch by Trevor Bauer to tie it at 1. Taylor doubled to lead off the 5th but a fly out, ground out and strike out kept the score at 1-1. Muncy walked with 1 out in the 6th, a Barnes single moved him to 2nd, a groundout moved him to 3rd, and he scored on a Zach McKinstry groundout when he crossed the plate before McKinstry got tagged out. Chris Taylor started the 7th with a hit by pitch, a single and double scored Taylor to make it 3-1, Smith struck out, Pollack popped out, Muncy was intentionally walked before Austin Barnes lined out. Matt Chapman homered to lead off the bottom of the 7th, Stephen Piscotty singled with 1 out, Sean Murphy walked with 2 outs, but Mark Canha struck out. A single and a walk in the 9th put Dodgers on first and second, 2 lineouts followed, Muncy walked to load the bases but Edwin Rios struck out. The A’s started the 9th with a single and walk, a sac bunt and an Elvis Andrus sac fly tied the score at 3, Murphy walked, but Canha grounded out so we went to our first extra innings game of the year. Rios started at 2nd for the Dodgers (as he made the last out of the 9th), but the Dodgers went down 1-2-3 on 2 fly outs and a strikeout, Canha started the bottom half on 2nd, and 3 batters later came around on a Mitch Moreland single to give the A’s their first win of the season! Bauer allowed 2 runs on 3 hits (1 home run) with a walk (2 hit batters) and 10 strikeouts in 6.2. Corey Knebel (1st hold), Victor Gonzalez (2nd hold), had a walk and a strikeout in a hitless 1.1, Kenley Jansen (1st blown save) allowed 1 run on 1 hit with 2 walks in 1 inning, and Jimmy Nelson (0-1) allowed 1 unearned run on 1 hit with a walk in 1/3 of an inning. Jesus Luzardo allowed 2 runs on 5 hits with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts in 5.1 and Yusmiero Petit (1-0) had a strikeout in a hitless inning of work for the win. In other west action this week: The Angels and Astros split 2 games at the Big A, the Rangers won 2 of 3 against the Blue Jays, and the Mariners lost 2 of 3 to the White Sox. That leaves the standings at Houston on top at 5-1, Angels 1 back at 4-2, Mariners & Rangers are tied at 3-3 and 2 back, and the A’s at 1-6 currently have the largest deficit in baseball at 4.5 games.
A’s hit the road for their first road trip of the year as they travel to Houston for the Astros home opener on Thursday. Cole Irvin (0-1, 8.31) starts for the A’s while the Astros hand the ball to Cristian Javier (0-0, 4.91) with first pitch from Houston scheduled for around 8:10. Dodgers have Thursday off before heading home for their home opener on Friday, the start of a 3 game series against the Washington Nationals, the last 2 World Series winners facing off.
It didn't make up for the opening weekend, but it was nice of them to go into Houston and bully around the Astros, like the 'Stros did to them on opening weekend. A's outscored them 15-5 from the 9th inning of game 1 on through the rest of the series, and then finished this trip with 2 wins in Arizona, so it wasn't a bad trip. 5-1 after an 0-6 start, and 4 straight after a 1-7 start. They'll have Wednesday off before they open up the 2nd home stand of the year, a 7 game with the Tigers in first for 4 closed out by the Twinkies for 3. Elsewhere in the division, the Astros have fallen off somewhat as they've lost the first 2 to Detroit, so they are on a 4 game losing streak, Angels won 2 of 3 in Dunedin, FL against the Blue Jays and so far have split 2 games in KC, Mariners won 2 of 3 over the weekend in Minnesota and just started a 4 game set in Baltimore with a double header split with 2 games still upcoming, and the Rangers got swept by the Padres (including the Padres first no hitter in team history) but rebounded to get a split of the first 2 of a 4 game series in St. Petersburg vs. the Rays. Rangers are at home for 3 against the Orioles, Mariners are in Seattle for 3, and the Angels are at home at the Big A for 3 against the Twinkies before they fly to No Cal. With the exception of the A's/Tigers all other weekend series begin on Friday.
0-6 and 1-7 start seems like it was a long time ago. A perfect 6-0 week highlight's part of an overall 8 game winning streak to get them above .500 for the first time all year as they sweep 4 at home against the Tigers. They'll stay at home for 3 scheduled games against the Twins, who are going through a bit of a Covid outbreak at the moment so remains to be seen whether those 3 games actually gets played. The Monday night game has already been postponed, but they hope to play a double header Tuesday followed by the series finale on Wednesday afternoon. A's will fly East for their first of 5 road trips scheduled to the Eastern time zone (how come they couldn't consolidate them into like 3 road trips instead??); 7 games at the Orioles and Rays beginning with 3 against the Orioles in the Charm City of Baltimore, MD beginning on Friday. Elsewhere in the division: Astros were swept at home by Detroit and then lost 2 of 3 in Seattle, Mariners preceded the Astros visit by winning 3 of 4 in Baltimore, Angels lost 2 of 3 to the Royals in KC, and the first game on Friday against the Twins before the final 2 were scuttled due to Covid, and the Rangers won 3 of 4 at the orange juice carton against the Rays, but then came home and lost 2 of 3 to the Orioles. Baseball, I tell yah . Mariners are in first at 10-6 (actually tied with the Red Sox for best record in the AL; only the Mets [by winning percentage] and the Dodgers have better records in all of baseball), Angels at 8-5 are a half game back, A's are 1 back, Astros are 2.5 back at 7-8, and the 7-9 Rangers are 3 back.
Rangers are in Anaheim for 3 beginning on Monday before heading home to play the White Sox, Angels will finish the week with a 4 game weekend series in Houston, Astros will start the week with a 2 game series in Denver against the Rockies, while the Mariners will play the ML Best Dodgers in Seattle for 2 games before heading east to Beantown for a 4 game series with Boston.
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0-3
. 45 runs allowed in 5 games, that's good, right??
. Mariners are in first at 10-6 (actually tied with the Red Sox for best record in the AL; only the Mets [by winning percentage] and the Dodgers have better records in all of baseball), Angels at 8-5 are a half game back, A's are 1 back, Astros are 2.5 back at 7-8, and the 7-9 Rangers are 3 back.