#1 With the Oakland Raiders playing just one preseason game in the Oakland Coliseum surface, the outfield always gets scuffed up. How much of a role does that play in the A’s injuries?
#2 The A’s have three players that were out due to injuries that are back in the lineup: First baseman Matt Olson (hand), DH Khris Davis (oblique), right fielder Stephen Piscotty (knee), and center-fielder Ramon Laureano (shin). Laureano was not in the lineup on Wednesday night against the New York Yankees.
#3 The A’s starting pitcher from Wednesday night Mike Fiers has one of the best records in the American League and pitched against the Yankees. Tell us about how Fiers does it all season long.
#4 We’ve talked about Chad Pinder has just about done it all covering for open positions and has pulled it off. Talk about how valuable Pinder has been for Oakland.
#5 The starters for Thursday for the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka (9-6, 4.56 ERA) for the Oakland A’s Tanner Roark (7-8, 4.01 ERA) to conclude the series in Oakland.
— Sports Radio Service (@SportsRadioSrvc) June 18, 2017
by Charlie O. Mallonee
As Butch Cassidy asked the Sundance Kid in that now timeless movie as they were being pursued by a posse who would not give up, “Who are these guys?” Who are these guys indeed? The Oakland Athletics have come home and looked like an entirely different team against the powerful New York Yankees.
The A’s have won the series
The 5-2 win on Saturday guarantees the Athletics will win the four-game series. In a four-game series you pray for split. You fear a 3-1 loss. Your worst nightmare is being swept.
On Father’s Day Sunday, the A’s will have the opportunity to sweep the Yankees in this four-game series. Oakland leads the season series 4-2.
The Athletics are 20-12 versus the Yankees over the last five years. That is the best record against the “Bronx Bombers” by an American League team over that period of time.
Jesse Hahn picked up the win but struggled early on
Jesse Hahn worked hard for the win on Saturday Photo Neville E Guard USA Today Sports
Jesse Hahn got the start for the A’s and it looked like it was going to be a very short outing. He threw 31 pitches in the first inning while walking two New York hitters. He worked out of that jam and managed to work 5.0-innings in the game.
Hahn gave up two runs (both earned) on three hits. He struck out six and walked three. Hahn threw 105 pitches (69 strikes). His record improves to 3-4 with a 3.56 ERA.
Liam Hendriks, Josh Smith and Ryan Madson each worked an inning of scoreless relief.
Sean Doolittle came on in the ninth to earn his second save of the season.
Santiago Casilla was not going to pitch on Saturday but he was hit in the left shoulder by a foul ball while standing in the dugout. X-rays proved negative so he will be fine.
Ryon Healy had a monster day
Healy hit two round-trippers on Saturday — one in the first inning and one in the third inning. He now has 17 home runs for the season.
This was is third multi-home run game. All three have come in this month of June.
Healy finished the game going 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double, two runs and two RBI. His batting average currently stands at .288.
Matt Joyce also had a big game
Joyce led the game off for Oakland by hitting the first pitch from Tanaka over the right field wall for his eighth home run of the year. Joyce came to the plate five times — hit a home run, a double, a single and walked twice.
He also raised his batting average 13 points from .211 to .224.
Rookie Matt Chapman continues to be hot
Chapman who joined the A’s from Triple-A on Thursday had a 2-for-4 day. He hit a double, a single and scored a run. Chapman also had the opportunity to show off his speed on the base path and it is quite impressive.
His batting average is now at .273.
They all stood but the Judge did not rule
Aaron Judge went hitless for the fourth time this month Photo Neville E Guard USA Today Sports
The Yankees young superstar — Aaron Judge — caused a stir in the big crowd every time he came to the plate. Fans were hoping to him display the power that has allowed him to record 23 home runs so far this year.
Judge walked in the first inning and was stranded at first base. He then struck out swinging twice and went down on strikes looking in his final at bat in the eighth inning. Yes fans — he is human.
Tanaka had a strange day on the mound for New York
Tanaka had a rough start taking the loss for the Yankees Photo Neville E Guard USA Today Sports
Masahiro Tanaka (5-7, 6.34) started the game for the Yankees. The right-hander has been struggling recently and Saturday was no exception.
He worked just 4.0-innings giving up all five runs (all earned) on eight hits. Three of those hits were home runs — all solo shots. Tanaka walked one and struck out 10. He had a double-digit strike out game and took the loss. That is a rough start.
Domingo German entered the game in the fifth inning to relieve Tanaka. He pitched four scoreless innings giving up just four hits, walking three and striking out six. German earned himself some more pitching time with his performance on Saturday.
Where the teams stand after the game
Oakland
The A’s are 30-38 on the season and have won three consecutive games. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games. The A’s are in last-place in the American League West 15-games behind division leading Houston. They are 2-games behind the fourth-place Mariners.
Yankees
The Yankees are still in first-place in the AL East with a record of 38-28 and will probably stay there as Boston is losing as this story is being written. They started the day with just a one-half game lead over the Red Sox.
New York has now lost five games in a row and are 5-5 in their last 10 games.
Up next
The final game of the four-game series will get underway at 1:05 p.m. PDT on Father’s Day Sunday on Rickey Henderson Field. The Yankees will send Triple-A call-up RHP Luis Cessa (0-0, 5.40) to mound for the series finale. The A’s will counter with RHP Jharel Cotton (3-7, 5.52).
The Oakland Athletics won their fifth-straight contest, coming from behind to beat the New York Yankees 7-4 at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night. Yoenis Cespedes mashed a pair of home runs to support starter Jesse Chavez (5-3, 3.04 ERA) while Josh Donaldson’s solo shot in the seventh inning provided the game-winning run. Sean Doolittle pitched a perfect ninth inning for his seventh save of the season to put Oakland (37-22) one win away from sweeping the Yankees.
The Yankees (29-29) scored all their runs in the bottom of the third inning with Derek Jeter lacing an run-scoring single and Jacoby Ellsbury ripping a three-run home run to right center field for a 4-0 off Chavez. Cespedes put the A’s on the board with a deep fly to center off pinstripes starter Vidal Nuno in the top of the fourth, then pounded his twelve four-bagger of reliever Matt Daley top open the sixth. Jed Lowrie and Alberto Callaspo also hit a sac fly each for the A’s to set up Donaldson’s go-ahead knock.
After Donaldson tagged Jose Ramirez (0-1, 4.50) with the loss for his team-best 16th homer of the season, the A’s picked up a pair of runs in the ninth. First came a bases loaded hit-by-pitch by Brandon Moss who played right field Wednesday for the first time since exiting Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels with an injury. Kyle Blanks added the third sacrifice fly of the night for the visitors for the 7-4 final tally.
Chavez went six innings for the green and gold, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. Fernando Abad pitched a third of an inning for the A’s in relief of Chavez, but Dan Otero did the heavy lifting with 1 2/3 scoreless innings before turning the ninth inning over to Doolittle.
The A’s send Drew Pomeranz to the mound in his first start since the Angels snapped his string of solid outings. The Halos roughed Pomeranz up for five runs after the lefty allowed only two in his previous 19 innings as a starter. He draws the assignment of facing Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees marquee free-agent signing of the offseason.
New York earned the right to sign Tanaka after paying a posting fee of $20 million to the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan, the maximum in the new posting fee implemented this offseason. Under the new reals, any team that posts the highest bid is allowed to negotiate with the player, meaning the Yankees then had to outbid numerous other teams who matched the fee to sign the international sensation to a seven-year, $155 million contract. The 25-year-old is 8-1 on the season with 88 punchouts over 78.2 innings and a stellar 2.06 ERA.
OAKLAND–You will not see any baseball owners this Christmas,going through the garbage bins behind your local Safeway searching for food.
According to Forbes Magazine(the authority in financial matters), Major League Baseball established a record of over $8 billion in revenues this 2013 season.. According to this report, Major League Baseball will see revenue double for new broadcasts deals with national network partners; FOX, ESPN and TBS, that will add an additional $788.3 million a year to the league’s coffers.
Leading the way are the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the communications giant Time-Warner, with a broadcast rights deal of over 20 years between $7 to $8 billion, to be approved soon by Major League Baseball.
I know many have written the epitaph of Major League Baseball, specially since the National Football League has become the dominant league in America, but meanwhile, baseball has been prospering like never before. As a matter of fact, during the last 18 years, Major League Baseball have seen revenues grown by an incredible 264 percent.
Many fans that follow baseball have been amazed at the signings is this, off-season, beginning with the $240 million contract for 10 years the Seattle Mariners gave ex-Yankee second baseman Robinson Canó, if you are not a Red Sox fan, Canó is the best second baseman in baseball, if you are a Red Sox fan you will say Dustin Pedroia. But, joking aside, Robinson Canó is not only the best second baseman in baseball, but one of the very best players in the game today.
And there could be soon another big deal if Masahiro Tanaka is available to sign with a major league club. The pitcher was 24-0 with a 1.27 earned run average starting in 27 games for the Rakuten Eagles. The amazement comes not for guys like Canó, (although I believe to give a 31 year old player a 10-year deal for that money is crazy), but for the mediocre players that have been signings very lucrative contracts.
Granted, it has become such a large business, that teams sometimes keep players whose numbers have been dwindling, just because they are drawing cards to their parks. Best example, the $35 million contract for 2 years the San Francisco Giants gave pitcher Tim Lincecum.
The popularity of Major League Baseball was also helped by the MLB Network, a 24X7 only baseball channel, that covers the game as good as anybody, during the past decade they have provided great coverage, including during the off season, but especially during the regular season, when they cut to the live broadcast from game to game around both leagues. Giving you(the fan)a live and instant look at different games, key moments on those games, and history records, as they happen.
Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president for the Major League Baseball Hispanic Museum and does News and Commentary each week for Sportstalk Radio
Sports Radio Service 