Oakland Athletics
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3.9K1Coliseum weekend of warm smiles and cold reality
I was at the Coliseum on Saturday for the Barry Zito vs. Tim Hudson matchup. It was something unlike I’d ever witnessed at a professional sporting event. The whole encounter felt like an exhibition, as both the A’s (especially them) and the Giants started pitchers just for kicks. The Cactus League feel continued as seemingly […]
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3.1K2Zito vs. Hudson reminds everyone that baseball is very hard
Barry Zito had already allowed four runs, and was pulled after walking Buster Posey to start the third inning. Tim Hudson was removed from the game after hitting two A’s, walking three, and throwing 21 balls out of 26 pitches in the second. Hudson’s delivery — or health, who knows — was so out of […]
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2.9K5Zito vs. Hudson gimmick is all we have left …
… but it’s better than nothing. In a season filled with promise on both sides of the bay, the local baseball franchises will spend the playoffs like the rest of us, watching them on the couch. Actually, that’s not true: pro athletes will be on vacation somewhere the minute they can rip off their uniforms, […]
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2.6KBeware the perils of batting practice
A’s catcher Josh Phegley received a concussion after being struck in the head by a bat during batting practice before Oakland’s game at Houston on Friday. It left the team scrambling for catchers, as Stephen Vogt had just returned from the DL after getting struck by a foul tip in his nether regions on Sept. […]
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3.4K4Barry Zito is back
Many times in the entertainment world, an actor or singer is denied the opportunity to have one last hurrah. And in sports, oftentimes athletes suffer the same fate of never getting to have one final moment in the sun. In some cases they’ll even resort to signing a farcical one-day contract in order to “retire” […]
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5.0K75Billy Beane needs to get over himself and let Barry Zito start against Tim Hudson
This shouldn’t be all that difficult, but this is Billy Beane we’re talking about. It’s always got to be about him. It made too much sense for the A’s to give their downtrodden fans a thrill and add Barry Zito to the active roster at some point during this lost September, but Beane wouldn’t do […]
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3.2K3What happened to the Oakland A’s rotation?
It’s been a long season in Oakland. Time flies when you’re having fun, but it definitely drags when you’re not. Fans, for the most part, realize not every season can be a successful one. The pixie dust that had been sprinkled over the Coliseum the previous three years was blown out the Golden Gate when […]
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3.3K1Bob Melvin extension: good news in a bad season
Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from the A’s which announced that a press conference would be taking place at 3:30 pm at the Coliseum. It made a point of saying that Billy Beane would attend. I initially thought it was going to be about Beane moving upstairs in the organization while Assistant GM David […]
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3.3K15Kephart clown show did more harm than good
Floyd Kephart, a private financial expert, was chosen by the city of Oakland to conjure up an investment plan for Coliseum City, an ambitious attempt to keep the Raiders, A’s and Warriors on the sunny side of the bay. The plan involved some $4 billion over 120 acres, including new sports stadia as well as […]
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3.2KOnly exciting A’s call-up is Dull
September 1st is the day each season when major league rosters are allowed to expand from 25 to 40 players. Not every franchise will add 15 additional men to the big league squad, but the option is there. After a long season of physically and mentally taxing games along with nonstop continental travel, veterans get […]
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4.5K1A lost season for Coco Crisp
Almost all of us would have to say we had a pretty good year of employment if we earned $11 million. But while the monetary compensation has been outstanding for him, A’s outfielder Coco Crisp would tell you that 2015 has been an awful year. And it’s not out of the question now to wonder […]
