Oakland A’s podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: A’s honor their very best in the Hall of Fame class, then go out and beat Yanks 8-2

Photo credit: @Athletics

On the A’s podcast with Jerry F:

#1 Big night for the Oakland A’s honoring their Hall of Fame class of 2018 of ex-owner Charlie O Finley, Jim Catfish Hunter, Dave Stewart, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, and Dennis Eckersley.

#2 You gotta love it when Rickey gave his speech and said, “I’m the youngest player up here” and “I’ve been called back here four or five times already.”

#3 Everybody got one of those green jackets that were for the honorees in the A’s Hall of Fame. There’s a lot of hard work that went into earning that jacket.

#4 The A’s got an 8-2 win over the New York Yankees and got great pitching out of starter Mike Fiers to take the series 2-1.

#5 The A’s open up a three-game series with the Texas Rangers. Each series is important as the A’s are trying to chip away at the Astros and Yankees in the AL West and Wild Card races.

Jerry does the A’s podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s Podcast: Trade Deadline Special featuring Melissa Lockard of OaklandClubhouse.com with Charlie O

Photo: Bruce Kluckhorn USA TODAY Sports

• What uniform will Sonny Gray be wearing on August 1st?

• Who will the Athletics get in return for Gray?

• What will happen with Yonder Alonso?

• Should Jed Lowrie and Rajai Davis have their bags packed?

• Is Khris Davis untouchable?

• Are the Oakland Athletics really in a true rebuilding mode?

Get the answers to these questions and more on this special edition of the Oakland A’s Podcast which will focus on the MLB trade deadline. The Athletics are definitely sellers at this point and their prize player is pitcher Sonny Gray. Many teams want him, but who will be willing to step up and pay the price the A’s are going to want for Gray?

Melissa Lockard OaklandClubhouse.com & FanRagSports.com

Charlie O welcomes Melissa Lockard to the podcast to discuss all things trade deadline. Melissa is the publisher and editor of OaklandClubhouse.com and a regular contributor to FanRagSports.com on the latest news relating to the Athletics. Melissa also spends a great deal of time reporting on the A’s minor league organization, so she knows the strengths and weaknesses of the system as well as what the needs are for the future.

This podcast will not waste your time. It’s 19-minutes and 17-seconds of pure content. They jump into the questions and get to the heart of the story.

Two Homer Night for Cespedes Puts A’s in Line for Sweep Over Yankees

By Matthew Harrington

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.

A-Rod’s grand slam puts Yanks on top of Giants

By Pearl Allison Lo

Behind in the count with two outs , Alex Rodriguez changed the game and also passed Lou Gehrig for most grand slams with 24, as New York beat San Francisco 5-1 Friday.

Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum was lifted in favor of George Kontos after 121 pitches and the bases loaded.  Rodriguez entered the inning just 1 for his last 25 and was behind 2-1 when his hit landed with the spectators in deep right field, leading to a much needed win for his team.

It was a tie game since early on in the matchup.

The Yankees’ Alfonso Soriano hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to make the score 1-0.

The Giants tied the game the following inning.  Brandon Crawford was issued a leadoff walk.  One out later, rookie Juan Perez doubled Crawford back to home plate to make it 1-1.

Rodriguez’s grand slam set up came in the bottom of the seventh.  Eduardo Nunez led off with a single and stole second after one out. Brendan Ryan was then hit by a pitch and a fielder’s choice left runners on first and second once again.  Ichiro Suzuki then walked to load the bases.

Sabathia was lifted in the top of the eighth after 107 pitches and issuing a leadoff single in the game that featured two former Cy Young winners .

Lincecum threw two wild pitches in addition to his two walks in his first game playing against New York

San Francisco had a one out, runners on the corners scoring opportunity in the top of the first.

The Yankees also had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the third.

Game notes: During the game, Lincecum became the first Giants pitcher with 1,500 strikeouts since  Gaylord Perry in 1971.  Both teams get right back to playing Saturday at 10:05 am with two morning games in a row.