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Game #43: Winner Winner! Homeruns By Donaldson, Rosales Back Parker's Strong Start

2013-05-18T05:19:39Z

For six innings tonight, it looked for all the world that Jarrod Parker would end up the hard-luck loser in yet another 1-0 game, despite a brilliant start, as the A's offense was stymied by James Shields for most of the night. Racking up 9 strikeouts and only 6 hits against Shields in his complete game outing, the A's managed to get two hittable pitches, and would capitalize on both.

Jarrod Parker threw only 98 pitches, 60 of them strikes, as he kept the Royals off-balance all night, striking out 5 and allowing only 4 hits in his seven strong innings. The only run he allowed came on a bloop double by the just-called-up David Lough, who had two of the five total Royals hits, and also threw out Brandon Moss at second in his bid to open the fourth with a double. Parker would also help his own cause, inserting himself into a rundown and sacrificing his body to get outs.

The A's literally did not rally all night against Shields. The closest they came was a Donaldson single and a Norris walk in the second inning, but they wouldn't score their first run until the seventh. Josh Donaldson, leading off the seventh inning, ran the count to a favorable 3-1 and blasted a homerun to tie the game at one. Sean Doolittle replaced Parker in the eighth inning and with the help of a brilliant double-play by second-baseman Lowrie, shut down the Royals and set the stage for the A's second homerun.

Adam Rosales, leading off the eighth inning, absolutely rocketed a homerun of his own on a 1-1 pitch. This one needed no replay and no guessing; it was gone off the bat, and so was Rosales, sprinting around the bases with the eventual game-winner. Balfour mowed through the heart of the Royals' order (and on an interesting note, Butler can drop the F-bomb as loudly as Balfour himself; impressive!) and preserved the win for the A's. Jarrod Parker hasn't yet earned a win in his excellent starts, but I think everyone on the field, and here at home, is just happy the A's won, period.

The best thing about tonight's A's win is that the rest of the AL West lost; Texas, Anaheim, and Seattle all went down, and so did the Royals, in really the most painful way possible. Watch that clip at your own risk; it's horrifying in a Bad News Bears kind of way. So the A's pull themselves back into second place, close the gap to 6.5 games behind Texas, and are just one game under .500. They play the Royals again tomorrow; Milone vs. Santana. I'll be your host again; let's go for the series win!

Game Thread 43: Oakland Athletics vs. Kansas City Royals (2)

2013-05-18T03:50:15Z

Well, Parker is pitching an absolute gem, and true to form, the A's are wasting it in every way possible. LET'S GO OFFENSE!!!!! We go to the bottom of the sixth; 1-0 Royals.

Game 43: Oakland Athletics vs. Kansas City Royals

2013-05-18T03:48:34Z

Your third-place Oakland Athletics (I know, swallow that pill, as Seattle overtook the A's with wins yesterday and Wednesday) take the field against the Royals, who have a better record than the A's, but have almost been equally awful in their last ten.

Aside from calling a do-over, I don't know what else to do with this season. Today brings news of doom, as Brett Anderson is sidelined for at least another month, and that's being generous. Also, the A's called up Hideki Okajima and to no one's surprise, DFA'd Chris Resop.

Let's take a moment here. No, we're not the Angels (that's very bad). No, we're not Houston (that's even worse). But we are not playing well by any measure; even by the "race to the cellar of the AL West" standards. I'm as frustrated as anyone. But no one, and I mean no one, gets to call out our team to be finished in May.

Starting to look like lost and luckless season for Los Elefantes. RT @susanslusser: Brett Anderson out for month-plus w foot stress fracture
— Ray Ratto (@RattoCSN) May 17, 2013

You really think he'd learn. But there is comfort in realizing that Ray Ratto thinks we are finished. This probably means we're in for a huge power surge and stellar pitching, because if there's one thing the A's love doing, it's showing up Ray Ratto.

It's still May. The A's have twenty wins, which is more than twelve other MLB teams, and with a little hard work, we could be right back in this. And now that Oakland's focus returns to the A's, let's see if we can't make this a summer to remember.

Fun tweet of the day:

Jeff Francoeur came out to tailgate with us #BaconFriday twitter.com/AnsonCasanares…
— Anson Casanares (@AnsonCasanares) May 17, 2013

Oh Royals. Don't make me love you when we really, really need to beat you.

So, let's see who we have on the docket today. The A's lineup will be facing (looks it up)....Royals ace James Shields (insert expletive here). Jarrod Parker will counter for the Athletics. Parker, who showed signs of life in his last start, has been pitching with a neck injury.

Here are your lineups:

1. David Lough (L) RF

2. Alcides Escobar (R) SS

3. Alex Gordon (L) LF

4. Billy Butler (R) DH

5. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B

6. Lorenzo Cain (R) CF

7. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B

8. Salvador Perez (R) C

9. Elliot Johnson (S) 2B

1. Coco Crisp (S) CF

2. Jed Lowrie (S) 2B

3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF

4. Brandon Moss (L) RF

5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

6. Seth Smith (L) DH

7. Derek Norris (R) C

8. Daric Barton (L) 1B

9. Adam Rosales (R) SS

Bottoms up, everyone! Happy Friday!

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

The Hits Keep Coming: Brett Anderson Reevaluated In Another Four Weeks

2013-05-17T22:12:39Z

From 95.7 The Game:

The A's have announced that SP Brett Anderson has been diagnosed with a navicular stress fracture of his right foot. He will be reevaluated in FOUR weeks. Your reaction?

Obviously, this is a blow for the A's, as Anderson never pitched better than right before he went out with the injury. He's not even being evaluated for another month.

And a side note: nothing makes me want to win more than this:

Starting to look like lost and luckless season for Los Elefantes. RT @susanslusser: Brett Anderson out for month-plus w foot stress fracture
— Ray Ratto (@RattoCSN) May 17, 2013

Okajima selected from Sacramento; Resop DFAed

2013-05-17T21:42:47Z

As usual, we hear about it first from Twitter:

#Athletics select Hideki Okajima from Sacramento; designate Chris Resop for assignment
— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 17, 2013

Nothing against the Reverse Poser himself, who served his role admirably for a few weeks there, but he was allowing far too many baserunners to be even a serviceable reliever over the past month. With 34 baserunners over 18 innings, that just won't cut it. I assume he will catch on with another team.

Okajima last pitched in 2011 for the Red Sox, appearing in 7 games and pitching 8.1 innings. He's 37 now, and may not have much left in the tank (or his shoulder), but the A's are hoping he has a good season left in him. He pitched very well for the 2007-2009 Red Sox teams, making around 65 appearances a year and striking out about 8 batters per 9 innings. Last year, for Softbank (NPB), he had a 0.96 ERA in 56 games and 47.2 innings.

Also, the A's have already put out the lineup card for today, and it does not appear Chris Young is on it. Perhaps tomorrow?

Podcast & Links: S.O.S. - Save Oakland's Starters

2013-05-17T21:33:35Z

With the Warriors bowing out of the NBA playoffs last night, it's time for all of us to turn our undivided attention back to the Athletics. To save your gentle eyeballs, I would like to offer you today's episode of the Phil Naessens Show. I'm leading off today, so you can just press play, enjoy Centerfield by John Fogerty, and listen to my 14-minute segment:

Direct Link (will start playing when page loads)

Page where you can download to your mobile device

In today's episode, we talk about Oakland's starting rotation and I make my case for Jesse Chavez to get a spot start. We also look into Jed Lowrie's defense, and the infield arrangement that I would like to see on an everyday basis. Check it out, and leave some love in the comments!

A couple more links and a tweet for you:

#Athletics select Hideki Okajima from Sacramento; designate Chris Resop for assignment
— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 17, 2013

Read Cuppingmaster's take on this roster move.

- According to Susan Slusser, Yoenis Cespedes got some sliding tips from Rickey Henderson, and Grant Balfour is now the Ragin' Aussie/American.

- It doesn't look like Brett Anderson is coming off of the DL anytime soon. He's obviously not starting tonight, and it's not clear when he'll be back from his sprained ankle.

- With the A's lineup posted, it would appear that Chris Young is not coming off the DL today.

Jarrod Parker takes on Kansas City's James Shields tonight at 7:05. I'll be at the Coliseum for the game - will you?

Remembering Glenn Burke

2013-05-17T20:00:13Z

“If you have the man right, you’ll get the world right.”

- Matthew Kelly

One thing I enjoy when a player is chasing a long-standing record is that it re-opens the story of the player being chased; it thrusts that player back into the limelight.

Jason Collins was not chasing Glenn Burke’s record. For one, they didn’t even play the same sport. Chances are Collins never heard of Burke. He’s hardly alone in that regard.

But when Collins came out a couple of weeks ago as “the first openly gay active pro athlete in a major men's sport”, the interwebs were filled with stories about Burke, who 36 years earlier had openly expressed his sexual orientation to teammates, managers, and media alike.

They just refused to talk about it, and some went to great lengths to stifle him:

Burke was so out that the Dodgers' front office finally called him in, laid a $75,000 check on the desk, and offered to pay for his wedding if he'd just get married -- soon.

Burke started laughing.

"I guess you mean to a woman, right?"

Then he walked out, without the check.

"Glenn told me he wasn't the first Dodger called in and presented a check," says childhood friend Vince Trahan. "They'd done it with gay players before. The difference was Glenn didn't take it."

Burke played for Los Angeles from 1976-78, and he was the only rookie on either team to start in the World Series in 1977 between the Dodgers and Yankees. But when it became clear that they were unable to keep Burke’s dirty little secret under wraps, Los Angeles shipped Burke up the coast to the A’s.

Things didn’t get any easier in Oakland. My brother John recalls a particularly ugly incident from his seat in the center field bleachers:

“There was a fan taunting him through the whole game. At the end of the game, Burke told the fan to meet him in the parking lot. I don’t think the fan thought he’d show. Burke was going to kill him until a bunch of us fans intervened and told him it wasn’t worth it. Soon after that, he kind of disappeared from baseball.”

Glenn Burke should have been just another ball player in a long line of “local boy makes good” of which the city of Oakland likes to boast. To name a few, Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell, Dennis Eckersley, Vada Pinson, Frank Robinson, and Dave Stewart were born and/or schooled in Oakland.

Instead baseball remembers him as the guy who is credited with starting the “high-five” and as a homosexual that the game did everything it could to silence, and in many ways succeeded in doing so.

The media in general and the sports media in particular found Burke's homosexuality an inconvenient truth. He told People, "I think everyone just pretended not to hear me. It just wasn't a story they were ready to hear."

The full story of Glenn Burke – whose post-baseball life included cocaine addiction and homelessness before losing his bout with AIDS in 1995 – was finally told in 2010 in the documentary “Out”. The announcement by Collins briefly put Burke back into the spotlight three years later, a spotlight that rejected him more than three decades ago but now speaks of him as a pioneer.

It took a while, but they finally got the man right.

Royals Series Preview: Q&A with Jeff Zimmerman of Royals Review

2013-05-17T14:03:36Z

We kept the Jeff Francoeur talk to a minimum, at least.

As of today, the Royals sit at 20-17. The Royals trials and tribulations as an organization have been well-documented. Should the Royals stay in contention for the whole year, will the fans view this season as a success and vindication of the plan in KC?

It all depends on which fans. The Facebook fans, who live from one game to the next, will be elated the team is at or near .500. The town is starving for winning baseball.

With other fans, it all depends on how Wil Myers, the main piece of James Shields trade, performs this season (and for the next 6 years). The Royals have a huge black hole of production in right field which he could fill nicely. Instead of trading for Shields, they could have spent $9M on another free agent pitcher and kept Myers.

Alternatively, if the plan fails, will any heads roll in the front office or among the coaching staff?

Heads may definitely roll, but I think 2014 is the real make or break season for Dayton and his hand picked staff. I don't even think the team needs to play .500 or better baseball for him to keep his job, just a decent improvement.

Salvador Perez is one of the best young catchers in the AL. That said, George Kottaras is a pretty capable backup, but he only has 18 PA so far this season. You'll forgive me if, being an A's fan, I'm thinking there is platoon opportunity here. Why hasn't Kottaras gotten more playing time, all things considered?

Ned Yost is an idiot when it comes to platoons and off time. Or he could just hate Perez's knees. Or Kottaras pissed in Ned's coffee.

This off-season, the A's pretty much pushed all the chips into the center, trading away guys like Brad Peacock, Chris Carter, Max Stassi, and A.J. Cole to bring reinforcements for the current team. That leaves us with Sonny Gray, Michael Choice, and Dan Straily as guys who could impact the team this year or next. After the Wil Myers trade, and Danny Duffy et al surgeries, who is left in the Royals system who could impact this team within a year or so?

Really no hitter sticks out. The Royals have another sucking void at 2B and the minor options of Johnny Giavotella and Christian Colon have been uninspiring.

On the pitching front a few options exist. Louis Coleman and Donny Joseph are good relievers who could be arms in almost in other bullpen in the league. For starters, a couple of young arms are possibly available. Left-handed, 23-year-old Will Smith has already made one spot start. Yordano Ventura is the pitcher people are most excited to see. He has quickly moved up the prospect list during spring training.

Jeff Zimmerman writes for Royals Review, as well as FanGraphs and BaseballHeatmaps. Visit Royals Review to read about the Royals.