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Nice opening day for new callup Ramon Laureano. After failing to call off Jed Lowrie on a Jose Inglesias pop up, he gunned Inglesias out at 3rd to end the top of the 13th inning, and than in the bottom half ended a scoreless tie with a 2 out, 2 strike hit. First MLB hit, first MLB RBI, first MLB walk off hit, first MLB outfield assist, first MLB game. Can't get too much better then that can it??
And a shout out to Inglesias for keeping that game tied! After his pop up, he loafed it down the line thinking the ball was going to be caught so couldn't get to second. He then preceded to steal second and when the throw went into the outfield he tried to go to 3rd, but halfway there turned around to see where the ball was, which slowed him up just enough, and gave Laureano just enough time to throw him out. When you are going well, the breaks go well for you! Mariners lose again to the Blue Jays, so now they lead the Mariners by 1.5 for the second Wildcard, but are only 4.5 behind the Yankees for the top spot in the Wildcard and remain 5 back of the Astros in the division.
Nice opening day for new callup Ramon Laureano. After failing to call off Jed Lowrie on a Jose Inglesias pop up, he gunned Inglesias out at 3rd to end the top of the 13th inning, and than in the bottom half ended a scoreless tie with a 2 out, 2 strike hit. First MLB hit, first MLB RBI, first MLB walk off hit, first MLB outfield assist, first MLB game. Can't get too much better then that can it??
And a shout out to Inglesias for keeping that game tied! After his pop up, he loafed it down the line thinking the ball was going to be caught so couldn't get to second. He then preceded to steal second and when the throw went into the outfield he tried to go to 3rd, but halfway there turned around to see where the ball was, which slowed him up just enough, and gave Laureano just enough time to throw him out. When you are going well, the breaks go well for you! Mariners lose again to the Blue Jays, so now they lead the Mariners by 1.5 for the second Wildcard, but are only 4.5 behind the Yankees for the top spot in the Wildcard and remain 5 back of the Astros in the division.
Hilariously bad night for Inglesias. Earlier in the game, with a runner on first, he broke behind secondbase to snare a grounder. He had plenty of time to get the batter going to first, but instead decided to go for the acrobatic double play. He tried to flip the ball to second, backwards out of his glove. The ball plopped to the ground and went rolling toward first, everyone safe.
Something else in the game that impressed me. A's starter Brian Anderson had a perfect game going after five. Leading off the sixth, Brian McCann laid down a bunt. McCann runs with the speed of a catcher and was easily thrown out, but there it was...a gross violation of the unwritten rules...you do not bunt to try and break up a no hitter.
The A's reaction? No reaction at all. I knew that Bob Melvin wasn't the sort who did not in for that "Gotta teach that SOB a lesson, drill em and maybe he will show some respect in the future etc" stuff, so any retaliation would come from the players on their own. But none of them did anything and I credit Melvin for getting them to rise above some distracting personal battle when there is a game to win.
Also some of it probably had to do with the game itself (0-0 tie), and with how well they had been going. You don’t want to put on unnecessary base runners by doing something stupid I.e retailiating. Plus a smart move by McCann too, 6th inning 0-0, the first run likely going to be huge, so can’t fault him for trying to get on base, a smart baseball play.
Also some of it probably had to do with the game itself (0-0 tie), and with how well they had been going. You don’t want to put on unnecessary base runners by doing something stupid I.e retailiating.
I suspect that the above is exactly what Melvin told the team after the incident happened. If this had been the Giants, Kuip and Kruk would have spent the rest of the game talking about paying the Tigers back, and if McCann had been plunked by a Giants pitcher leading to a brawl and ejections, they would have expressed pride in how the team pulled together and avenged this insult etc. On the A's broadcast, Fosse and Glen Kuiper never even mentioned it.
The A's haven't lost since getting swept by the Rockies in Denver. They took three from the Blue Jays and completed a sweep of Detroit today, 6-0. The A's had previously swept both of those clubs in four game series, so for the season Oakland is 14-0 against Toronto and Detroit.
What has been an A's weakness, starting pitching, was suddenly a strength this week. The whole staff pitched well, giving up just seven runs in the six games.
Before the series started with the Jays, the A’s had only swept a season series with a minimum of 7 games twice in their history: they swept a 12 game series with the Yankees back in 1990, and than 7 games with the Orioles back in about 2004 or 2005; they can now add the Blue Jays & Tigers in 2018 to that list. They were never really threatened in the Jays series as they got out to early leads in all 3 games, but the Tigers made them work the first 2 games before the A’s got a couple late inning home runs in the finale Sunday. After the Yankees blew a 4-1 9th inning lead in Boston the A’s are only 2.5 back of the Yankees for the top Wildcard spot, cutting 5.5 games off the Yankees lead in the last 5 days.
A 5 game week folllowing a Monday off day the Dodgers will come in for a quick 2 game home stand and folllwing another off day Thursday they’ll fly to Orange County for 3 against the Angels beginning on Friday.
Split the 2 games with the Dodgers, and won 2 of 3 in Anaheim. 6 games all at home this week, and maybe one of the biggest homestands in the last 5 years at the Coliseum; Monday to Wednesday against the Mariners who are coming off a 4 game sweep in Houston, and than following a Thursday off day the Astros come in for the weekend. With the Mariners sweep of the Astros, the Wildcard lead over the M's is now down to a game and a half, but the deficit to the Astros in the division is only 2.5 games, so by this time next week the A's could be in 3rd place in the division, or in sole possession of the division lead or anywhere else in between. Should be a fun week!
The A's survived a super hairy ninth to take the first game from Seattle, 7-6. They took a 7-1 lead into the 8th, but gave up two runs in that frame. In the 9th Familia walked the bases loaded with no one out. Treinen was brought in and it was:
K
wild pitch, runs scores, now 7-4
Single, two runs score, now 7-6
K
Single, first and second with Cruz due up
K
The A's are now 2.5 games ahead of the Mariners for a wild card spot.
All that anyone cares about is whether you got the win. The A's did.....barely.....but a win is a win nonetheless and pull to within 2 games of the Stros for the division lead.
Another 1 run A's win, this time 3-2 but without the 9th inning dramatics. Oakland now has a 3.5 game lead over Seattle for the wild card, and....whoda thunk it...they are but one game behind the Astros for the division lead.
James Paxton started for the Mariners but got whapped on the arm by a line drive in the first. Seattle had to go to its new long reliever....King Felix. He wasn't terrible, two runs in 5.6 innings. He throws pretty much nothing but junk, but did a good job of hitting the corners of the strikezone.
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