Your 2021 Oakland Athletics

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Lastplaneout

Holy crap! Send them back to little league.

I don't understand it at all... it seems he has a 12 (of 20) rating at catcher. At least I can understand Little, with a 1 at third base but still. No wonder Atlanta is floundering, their starting catcher averages an error per game!

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

I don't understand it at all... it seems he has a 12 (of 20) rating at catcher. At least I can understand Little, with a 1 at third base but still. No wonder Atlanta is floundering, their starting catcher averages an error per game!

I'm quoting myself, so you know this can't be a good post!

I forgot to check which position Navarro was actually playing. Despite him being listed as a third baseman (I overlooked this) he only has a defensive rating at catcher! Despite that, he has actually started 53 games at third base, committing those 44 errors there!!! He's 36, has no range, can't turn a double play, a rating of 1 (out of 20) at infield error. Instead of going outside the organization (there are plenty of decent defensive third baseman available through free agency including Greg Dupree, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner) they converted a broken down catcher to play third!

This should go to general discussions so I'm going to go there with this one.

I'm just going to keep going with this season and am forced to pretend that whatever discrepancies between what I've already posted and what the reality is now in terms of the game world with that 6-game difference is just what has happened all along.

[Curtis]

That's sad, purple guy. Tough luck.

And DON'T trade Yamasita! Or if you do, trade him to me. I could use him on my Nippon Ham Fighters team. And I think I might have a second baseman who would interest you…

[thehatfield]

Here are the results of the "make-up" games to bring this back up-to-date:

Thursday, May 27, 2021
Game 48 vs. Cleveland Indians
3-1 Win; 20,797 in attendance
W: Nakamura (8-1) L: King (5-6) H: Rogers (3) SV: Mathis (15)
PoG: Oakland SP Nori Nakamura

Friday, May 28, 2021
Game 49 vs. Cleveland Indians
8-5 Win; 20,446 in attendance
W: von Schoening (2-0) L: Lima (2-3) H: Rogers (4) H: Leverett (3) SV: Mathis (16)
PoG: Cleveland LF Lennie Mager

Saturday, May 29, 2021
Game 50 vs. Cleveland Indians
1-0 Loss; 21,885 in attendance
W: Hewlett (2-1) L: Basnett (0-2) SV: Cole (2)
PoG: Oakland SP Rowley Dickson
Note: Game went 11 innings

Sunday, May 30, 2021
Game 51 at Minnesota Twins
2-0 Loss; 44,582 in attendance
W: O’Honan (7-3) L: Knisley (5-4) SV: Cabral (12)
PoG: Minnesota SP Dorey O’Honan

Monday, May 31, 2021
Game 52 at Minnesota Twins
5-1 Win; 41,836 in attendance
W: Leverett (2-2) L: Abbinett (3-3)
PoG: Oakland 3B Dome Guevaro

Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Game 53 at Minnesota Twins
10-0 Win; 42,292 in attendance
W: Dickson (8-2) L: Cardoza (1-5) SV: von Schoening (2)
PoG: Oakland LF Teddy Revelez


Current Oakland Record: 35-18

[thehatfield]

In an interesting note, Mumbles Yamasita was named American League Batter of the Month for May before the crash forced me to re-sim the last 6 games. Whatever happened during those match-ups was enough to swing the award over to 28-year old Chicago White Sox left fielder Brandt Wurz. Wurz, famously, is one of two big-time players the AL Champ White Sox took from the World Series Champ Mets in the off-season. Wurz hit .378 for the month with 11 home runs and was hitting .354 on the year with 18 home runs and 57 RBI.

31-year old career Boston Red Sox Eloy Furse took the AL Pitcher of the Month award after a 5-1 month and a 2.87 ERA. The immensely popular Boston left-hander is 9-3 overall on the season with a 3.58 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 75 innings pitched.

Baltimore’s 25-year old Chinese left fielder Ming Chew took AL Rookie of the Month honors hitting .290 with 6 home runs and 18 RBI. The lefty holds a .300 batting average, .389 on-base percentage and .459 slugging percentage in 207 at-bats this season with 9 home runs and 29 RBI.

As if they needed to, the 40-13 Mets sent another warning about their young talent to the rest of the National League as 22-year old shortstop Jose Cortes was named NL Batter of the Month and 26-year old Winthrop McDonnell was given his second straight NL Rookie of the Month award. Cortes, in his second full year at the big league level, had a great month of May hitting .372 with a .432 OBP and a .752 slugging percentage with 11 home runs and 40 RBI in 113 at-bats. McDonnell hit .318 with a .387 OBP in May with 3 home runs and 11 RBI and is hitting .338 with a .400 OBP and .546 slugging percentage in 207 at-bats the season.

36-year old Padres right hander and known Canadian Ted Batten picked up National League Pitcher of the Month honors with a 5-1 record and 1.92 ERA with 52 strikeouts in 51 innings. His turnaround in form from a 1-3, 7.58 ERA April has been one of the big reasons the Padres have been able to climb over the San Francisco Giants and out of the cellar in the National League West.

The 12-41 Atlanta Braves are in some serious danger of challenging our record for fewest wins in Major League Baseball set just last year. The A’s had just 44 wins last year and the Braves are only on pace for about 36-40 victories this year. The Braves are being led in their futility by 36-year old Venezuelan third baseman Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s .214 batting average is 10th worst in Major League Baseball among regular starters and he is on pace to destroy the all-time record for most errors in a season by a third baseman with 44 errors in 53 starts. Navarro, a lifetime catcher, is finding the hot corner a bit of a hard adjustment.

“When the ball gets close to me, I just close my eyes and try to smash it away with my glove or my throwing hand or a leg,” Navarro has been quoted as saying in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his controversial fielding techniques. “The manager loves it. He tells me every day this is how he wished the whole team would play. Of course, I do have a home run this year so my bat probably plays a factor in why I’m out there, able to give it my all, every day. Hell, put me in center field I’ll play there too.”

[thehatfield]

They Said It…

“I got a call from ESPN asking me what it felt like being named the American League Batter of the Month and I hadn’t heard anything from anyone so I told them I’d get back to them. Then I go to check the website and it says Brandt Wurz got the award so I was like, ‘what’s going on here?’”
-Oakland center fielder Mumbles Yamasita comments on the controversy over the American League Batter of the Month award for May.

“Yes, it’s true, I cannot look at the ball when I’m about to field it so I do close my eyes and just sort of hope things will turn out okay with my wild full-body flailings. It’s like I have a seizure every time the ball is hit to me is the best way I can describe it to you.”
-Atlanta’s new third baseman Dioner Navarro comments on the possible cause of his Major League-leading 44 errors.

“I know he’s old and his knees are shot and he’s a lifetime catcher and he has 44 errors in 53 games but he’s a gamer and I think he’s going to play sparkling defense the rest of the season.”
-Atlanta Braves Manager Eric Hignell defends himself against accusations of incompetence and gross negligence at allowing Dioner Navarro to continue as the starting third baseman.

“Mumbles (Yamasita) deserved it, I would say. But I really don’t know what was going on there. I thought I heard one thing and all of a sudden I’m hearing something else. You know, folks get confused sometimes.”
-Athletics first baseman Jose Arce is at a loss for words, for once.

“I don’t really know, I’m 3-2 through seven starts but the 8.66 ERA and 14 home runs just really aren’t acceptable at this level.”
-A somber Fred Cake comments about rumors that he might be sent down to AAA Sacramento.


Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Boston

The first-place Red Sox have been the most successful team in the 15 years of the new Major League Baseball with three World Series titles and five American League championships. They have one of the legendary all-time starting pitchers in 37-year old 335-game and 11-time Cy Young Award winner Zach Duke (who is 7-1 with a 1.91 ERA) and the reigning American League Pitcher of the Month and career Red Sox Eloy Furse. Otherwise, though, the Sox have a solid but unremarkable bullpen and a grinding, take a lot of pitches lineup led by first baseman Videl Mindias’ 10 home runs and 41 RBI. 24-year old third baseman Troy Calhoun is the perfect Boston dirt dog in both look and playing style, and 28-year old second baseman and Maine native Aberto Aripez leads the team in several categories including runs scored (41), stolen bases (8), and batting average (.356).

Here’s what our lineup and pitching staff was looking like these days:

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Revelez LF
4. Guevaro 3B
5. Byers RF
6. Arce 1B
7. McInally C
8. Quinenes DH
9. Page 2B

Starting Rotation
1. Knisley LHP
2. Dickson LHP
3. Glaus LHP
4. Nakamura LHP
5. Cake RHP

Relievers
Rogers LHP
Basnett RHP
Frank LHP

Setup Men
von Schoening RHP
Leverett LHP

Closer
Mathis


Thursday, June 3, 2021
Game 54 at Boston Red Sox
8-5 Win; 39,589 in attendance
W: Nakamura (9-1) L: Flemming (0-2) BS: Flemming (1) SV: Mathis (17) H: Frank (2)

Recap: Boston jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings when our starter Nori Nakamura committed two throwing errors with men in scoring position which allowed three unearned runs to score. After exchanging runs in the 5th inning we tied the game at 5-5 with a strange four-run rally in the top of the 6th sparked by a Troy Calhoun error at third base. 29-year old Boston reliever Coy Flemming allowed 2 of 3 inherited runners to score but 35-year old starter Palmer Cumberledge pitched a pretty solid game before loading the bases in the 6th. After the game Cumberledge commented that he thought outspoken Boston Manager Pancho Calderon pulled him from the game too early and he still had plenty of stuff left at the time. In the 7th inning we had a fairly magical moment: back-to-back-to-back home runs from Teddy Revelez, Dome Guevaro, and Travis Byers, the men who constituted the heart of our batting order, which gave us the final margin of victory. Revelez ended up 3-for-5 on the day with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored to be named Player of the Game. Jose Arce hit his 10th double of the year to drive in a run off of Cumberledge in the 5th inning. Boston shortstop Aberto Aripez and first baseman Videl Mendias each had 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Red Sox.


Friday, June 4, 2021
Game 55 at Boston Red Sox
8-6 Win; 39,499 in attendance
W: Cake (4-2) L: Duke (7-2) SV: Mathis (18) H: Basnett (3)

Recap: On paper this should have been a classic mismatch: career journeyman Fred Cake squaring off against living legend and surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer Zach Duke. But we were able to nick the Red Sox early with runs in the 1st and 3rd innings to stake us to a 2-0 lead. In the top of the 5th inning we pushed 3 runs across on the strength of Jose Arce’s 7th home run of the year which gave us a 5-0 lead but just an inning later Boston had rallied for 4 runs highlighted by 34-year old right fielder and California native Allister Scaggs’ own 7th home run of the year which made the score 5-4. In the 8th inning we stretched the lead to 6-4 when Teddy Revelez hit his 13th home run of the season, an authoritative 417-foot shot into deep right field. Two more runs came in for the A’s in the top of the 9th on the strength of Player of the Game Travis Byers’ double. The Red Sox were able to get two runs off of reliever Gregg Basnett before closer Bill “Crunchy” Mathis came in to close out the game for his 18th save of the year. Mumbles Yamasita came out of the game in the 8th inning when a line drive hit him in the hip as he was running the bases from first to second. He’ll be forced to sit for a couple of days with a deep bruise on his left hip but Dr. Rick says this isn’t serious and Mumbles will be back feeling 100% sooner rather than later.


Saturday, June 5, 2021
Game 56 at Boston Red Sox
3-1 Loss; 39,445 in attendance
W: Furse (10-3) L: Knisley (5-5) SV: Sutton (16)

Recap: J.D. Knisley pitched really well, striking out 14 Red Sox and throwing 80 of 111 pitches for strikes, but Boston’s Eloy Furse became the first American League pitcher to 10 wins by allowing just 3 hits and 1 earned run in 8 innings of work before 27-year old closer Michael Sutton pitched a one, two, three 9th inning for his 16th save of the year. Vic Corliss, playing designated hitter while Francisco Quinenes covers center field for Mumbles Yamasita, went 2-for-4 with our only run scored in our best hitting performance of the day. 25-year old Boston leadoff man and left fielder Ed Boudy paced the Red Sox attack by going 3-for-4. It seemed like a pretty quick game and in fact it was over in 2½ hours. Boundy and Videl Mendias each had solo home runs off of Knisley. The homer bug continues to be a huge problem for the alleged ace of the pitching staff – 17 in 12 starts – and there are calls from all over the East Bay for Rowley Dickson and Nori Nakamura to both bump up ahead of Knisley in the pitching rotation.


Current Oakland Record: 37-19

By taking 2-of-3 from the Red Sox we ended up with identical 37-19 records, the best in the American League. Meanwhile, both the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies had over 40 wins and the Chicago Cubs were on the doorstep with 39. It certainly seemed like the National League was shaping up be the stronger league as we got the third month of the 2021 regular season under way.

There have been a lot of calls to bring Nori Nakamura up to the #2 starter slot in the rotation but despite his 9-1 record he has a 4.33 ERA and he’s truly benefited from throwing out of the #4 slot in the rotation and facing weaker opposition pitching and Manager Jeff Hance didn’t want to mess with what was working thus far.


Dioner Navarro Watch

Atlanta third baseman Dioner Navarro, a career catcher making the switch to third at age 36, is making a run at infamy this season as his awful play at third base has him on pace to shatter the all-time record for errors by a third baseman. In the Braves’ last series, a 3-game set against the San Francisco Giants, Navarro committed 3 errors putting him at 47 errors in 57 starts. Before now he’s been pretty ignorant about the record but he’s suddenly adopted a more defiant attitude as his recent comments reflect:

“I can do better, sure,” said Navarro after a 2-error performance in the Braves’ 10-8 loss on Saturday, “but do I really want to? No! Why should I? I still start every day and, more importantly, I get paid. And even if I get released I’ll get my money. I’m going for the record whether the club likes it or not. Skip (Atlanta Manager Eric Hignell) would be really stupid to bench me at this point. People want to see if I’ll kick the ball or where it will bounce off me or if I’ll just drill it in the ground. And I won’t disappoint, I can guarantee that.”

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

The Braves are being led in their futility by 36-year old Venezuelan third baseman Dioner Navarro. Navarro’s .214 batting average is 10th worst in Major League Baseball among regular starters and he is on pace to destroy the all-time record for most errors in a season by a third baseman with 44 errors in 53 starts. Navarro, a lifetime catcher, is finding the hot corner a bit of a hard adjustment.

“When the ball gets close to me, I just close my eyes and try to smash it away with my glove or my throwing hand or a leg,” Navarro has been quoted as saying in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his controversial fielding techniques. “The manager loves it. He tells me every day this is how he wished the whole team would play. Of course, I do have a home run this year so my bat probably plays a factor in why I’m out there, able to give it my all, every day. Hell, put me in center field I’ll play there too.”

They Said It…

“Yes, it’s true, I cannot look at the ball when I’m about to field it so I do close my eyes and just sort of hope things will turn out okay with my wild full-body flailings. It’s like I have a seizure every time the ball is hit to me is the best way I can describe it to you.”
-Atlanta’s new third baseman Dioner Navarro comments on the possible cause of his Major League-leading 44 errors.

“I know he’s old and his knees are shot and he’s a lifetime catcher and he has 44 errors in 53 games but he’s a gamer and I think he’s going to play sparkling defense the rest of the season.”
-Atlanta Braves Manager Eric Hignell defends himself against accusations of incompetence and gross negligence at allowing Dioner Navarro to continue as the starting third baseman.

Dioner Navarro Watch

Atlanta third baseman Dioner Navarro, a career catcher making the switch to third at age 36, is making a run at infamy this season as his awful play at third base has him on pace to shatter the all-time record for errors by a third baseman. In the Braves’ last series, a 3-game set against the San Francisco Giants, Navarro committed 3 errors putting him at 47 errors in 57 starts. Before now he’s been pretty ignorant about the record but he’s suddenly adopted a more defiant attitude as his recent comments reflect:

“I can do better, sure,” said Navarro after a 2-error performance in the Braves’ 10-8 loss on Saturday, “but do I really want to? No! Why should I? I still start every day and, more importantly, I get paid. And even if I get released I’ll get my money. I’m going for the record whether the club likes it or not. Skip (Atlanta Manager Eric Hignell) would be really stupid to bench me at this point. People want to see if I’ll kick the ball or where it will bounce off me or if I’ll just drill it in the ground. And I won’t disappoint, I can guarantee that.”

(backing away slowly)You sure are a mean drunk, Purple Cowboy.

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by Curtis

(backing away slowly)You sure are a mean drunk, Purple Cowboy.

Naaahhh... just a little sardonic fun!

[thehatfield]

Just a quick update: been taken away this week with the holidays and whatnot. Traveling to Atlanta today for Widespread Panic's New Years Eve run (stopping in Durham tonight to take some photos of Athletic Park) but might be able to squeak something out before then.

[thehatfield]

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Florida

Halfway through our 12-game road trip we were 4-2 and were looking to build on it heading into the prolonged Interleague period of the schedule. We’d have the Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies before going home to face the Washington Nationals and the World Series Champion New York Mets. And the Dodgers were lurking near the end of the month, sandwiched between two sets with the last-placed Mariners.

Prior to the series 4th-place Florida are 21-35 however they’ve been playing better baseball of late with a 7-3 record in their last 10 games but then again the Marlins’ team ERA of 5.35 is solidly in the bottom-half of all of baseball. Outside of 28-year old closer Dario Rojas there wasn’t anyone else worth mentioning among the Marlins’ pitching staff. Rojas has electric stuff and is 2-1 with 10 saves in 15 innings of work with 20 strikeouts. On the hitting end two promising 26-year olds, catcher Bill Timpson and first baseman Belen Fern, were doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the Marlins as was 35-year old shortstop and 2012 American League Rookie of the Year Ryan Call.

With the National League lineups in effect and Mumbles Yamasita fully recovered from his bruised hip Francisco Quinenes would be bumped out of the lineup at the start of the series.

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Byers RF
4. Revelez LF
5. Guevaro 3B
6. Arce 1B
7. McInally C
8. Page 2B


Sunday, June 6, 2021
Game 57 at Florida Marlins
5-4 Win; 25,952 in attendance
W: Frank (1-1) L: Torres (0-1) H: Rogers (5) H: von Schoening (3) SV: Mathis (19)

Recap: Rowley Dickson started and despite allowing only four hits through six innings he allowed 3 runs and the score was tied at 3-3 going into the top of the 8th inning. Edgard Galdames led off the 8th working a 10-pitch at-bat against Florida reliever Gil Torres into a walk and took second after Travis Byers singled. Galdames & Byers took third and second on a strange double steal that could have potentially taken the bat out of the hands of Teddy Revelez but the Marlins pitched to the 249-pound left fielder anyway and he rapped a single that scored both baserunners. The bottom of the 8th was nearly an instant replay as Terry Rogers walked the leadoff man and gave up a single to 20-year old shortstop John Boles to put baserunners on first and second base with no outs. 24-year old Brazilian first baseman Inigo Broa singled home a runner to knock Rogers out of the game but Fairfax von Schoening came in and got out of the jam with two big strikeouts. 36-year old Florida left fielder John Sherrod hit his fourth home run of the year off of Dickson in the 4th inning.


Monday, June 7, 2021
Game 58 at Florida Marlins
4-1 Loss; 25,045 in attendance
W: Guetieriez (5-6) L: Glaus (0-1) SV: Rojas (11)

Recap: The Marlins got all the run support they would need in the 1st inning as they jumped out to a 2-run lead when third baseman Ryan Call sent a Gib Glaus fastball 422-feet to straightaway center field. Florida starter Carlos Guetieriez threw eight strong, 4-hit innings and allowed just one earned run before handing the ball to junkball closer Dario Rojas who picked up his 11th save of the season. Player of the Game Call would add another 2-run shot off of Glaus in the 6th inning for his team-leading 14th home run of the year and ended the game 3-for-4 with the 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. Jonathan Leverett wasn’t lights out in his one inning of relief but didn’t allow a run despite giving up two hits. Mumbles Yamasita swiped his 20th base of the year and Edgard Galdames was 2-for-3 for Oakland.


Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Game 59 at Florida Marlins
8-7 Win (11 innings); 24,416 in attendance
W: Mathis (3-0) L: Rojas (2-2) H: Frank (3) SV: von Schoening (3) BS: MacCaul (2) BS: Mathis (2)

Recap: This wild game was a snooze-fest through the first 6 innings as the Marlins fell asleep at the wheel and found themselves behind 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th. But the fish rallied for four runs highlighted by 26-year old first baseman Belen Fern’s 2-run double off of our starter Nori Nakamura, who would be denied in his attempt to get to 10 wins. In the next inning with two men on base Travis Byers crushed the first pitch he saw from Florida starter Jhon Hernandez 448 feet to left-center field to put Oakland back on top 6-4 and chase Hernandez from the game. The action was just getting hot when in the top of the 8th inning Mumbles Yamasita tripled into the right field corner and then successfully completed one of the rarest plays in baseball – the stealing of home plate. Manager Jeff Hance is certainly being much more aggressive on the basepaths than usual during this Interleague series. In the bottom of the 8th inning Florida made it 7-6 after Pennsylvania Dutch Country’s Bill “Chatty” Timpson, a Lancaster native, sent a 2-run shot over 430 feet to left field. In the bottom of the 9th inning Athletics closer Bill “Crunchy” Mathis allowed a single and a double to the first two batters he faced before striking out the next two, leaving men on second and third with two outs. Ryan Call hit a line drive single over the second baseman which scored the runner from third but Byers in right field gunned down the runner attempting to score from second base sending the game into extra innings. It was only the second blown save for Mathis this year. In the top of the 11th inning Byers hit his 2nd home run of the game and 8th of the year, a dying quail barely over the left field fence, off of Florida closer Dario Rojas to give us the victory.


Current Oakland Record: 39-20

Things were looking good as another series victory kept us 6½ games ahead of the Angels in the American League Western Division. We had no game scheduled, just a full day to rest on Wednesday before finishing off our road trip in Philadelphia against the 41-18 second place Phillies starting on Thursday evening.


Did You Know?

Oakland pitchers are a combined 1-for-20 at the plate this season with 5 strikeouts.

Jonathan Leverett got the hit in his only at-bat this season, an RBI single with the bases loaded against the Dodgers' Jed Curson in a 4-2 victory back on May 22. It was the first hit for Leverett in his 4-year Major League career but it came in only his second ever at-bat.

[ifspuds]

This is freaking brilliant, Purple Cowboy. I don't know how on earth I've missed reading this until now, but you've got one more loyal reader along for the ride.

I love the detail, the variety of information, the quotes... and Fairfax Von Schoening has to be one of the all-time great names in baseball. I usually think relievers are one step above pond scum, but with a name like that, how can you not love him?

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by ifspuds

This is freaking brilliant, Purple Cowboy. I don't know how on earth I've missed reading this until now, but you've got one more loyal reader along for the ride.

I love the detail, the variety of information, the quotes... and Fairfax Von Schoening has to be one of the all-time great names in baseball. I usually think relievers are one step above pond scum, but with a name like that, how can you not love him?

Thank you!

I agree Fairfax von Schoening is emerging as a favorite. Plus he's been pretty nasty on the mound for most of the year (in a positive way!) thus far. He's nearing the top of my personal favorite players which right now include Cornelius McInally (even though the guy just can't hit despite decent stats), Francisco Quinenes & Artie Page.

[thehatfield]

Next Up: 3-game series on the road at Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Phillies are playing some of the best baseball around right now and are unfortunate to be in the same division with the defending World Series Champion New York Mets because their 41-18 record has them 3 games out of first place! It seems like this is the perpetual plight of the Phillies – with a respectable 1,339-1,151 all-time record they only have 3 division championships (and only those 3 playoff appearances) to show for it. Last season when they finished in third place behind the Mets and Braves with a 84-78 record was the first time in the last 5 years that the Phillies didn’t draw at least 3,000,000 fans for the year.

Despite the depressing downturn the fightin’ Phils had an extremely young team last year and gave a lot of experience to a lot of exciting, promising players and brought just about everyone back for this season. And it’s really been working. 33-year old left handed starter Bud Parker, one of the few new faces on the team (he signed as a free agent from St. Louis last year), has been a main contributor with his 8-2 record and 3.43 ERA. 28-year old career Phillie Collin Penney is tied for second in the National League in wins with his gaudy 10-2 mark. Philadelphia’s 23-year old phenom closer Jose Martinez has been absolutely lights-out this season – 0.00 ERA in 24.2 innings pitched with an MLB-best 20 saves. It doesn’t get much better than that for Martinez, a native of Mexico, who despite his tender age is only 30 saves shy of 200 for his career. On the other end of things 26-year old first baseman Vincent Bresnan was striking terror into the hearts of National League pitchers everywhere with his .352 average, 19 home runs, and 56 runs batted in. Dutch catcher David van Klaveren and Japanese center fielder Seiichi Takahashi each had 12 home runs and nearly 50 RBIs. Their .280 team batting average was among the best in baseball.

For us, Manager Jeff Hance let me know that Mumbles Yamasita will probably get the day off in the middle game of the series to give Francisco Quinenes a start in an attempt to get his bat back on track before heading back home where he’ll be back in the lineup.


Thursday, June 10, 2021
Game 60 at Philadelphia Phillies
5-2 Win; 43,454 in attendance
W: Cake (5-2) L: Penney (10-3) H: von Schoening (14) H: Basnett (4) SV: Mathis (20)

Recap: Teddy Revelez smacked a 2-run home run with Edgard Galdames on base in the top of the first inning but then sent a floater past the catcher on a pop out to left field in the bottom of the 2nd inning which allowed 2 unearned runs to score off our starter Fred Cake, a guy who really can’t afford to have much bad play behind him. The scored remained the same until we picked up a run in the top of the 5th inning when Mumbles Yamasita walked, Galdames singled, and Revelez doubled. In the next inning Cornelius McInally hit his second home run of the year, a 427-foot home run to left-center field and Revelez added his second of the game and team-leading 15th of the season in the top of the 8th inning in an obvious Player of the Game performance. Cake made it through 6 innings with no earned runs, 5 hits, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Collin Penney didn’t have his best stuff with a 7 inning, 8-hit performance in which he walked 1 and stuck out 2. Gregg Basnett loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th inning before getting his second strikeout to end the inning and really take all the air out of Citizens Bank Park before Bill Mathis came in throwing darts in an 8-pitch, 2 strikeout 9th inning performance which earned him his American League-leading 20th save of the season.


Friday, June 11, 2021
Game 61 at Philadelphia Phillies
4-1 Loss; 42,709 in attendance
W: Rivas (7-3) L: Knisley (5-6) H: Ault (7) SV: Martinez (21)

Recap: Hard-throwing 34-year old lefty J.D. Knisley slipped to 5-6 in yet another start where he couldn’t avoid the longball. This time it went down in the 4th inning as Vincent Bresnan hit his 20th home run of the year and 28-year old backup catcher Cristo Nuntarary hit his first (and just the third in his Major League career) to give Philadelphia starter Manuel Rivas all of the runs he would need on the evening. Rivas gave up 6 hits in 7 innings of work while striking out 5 and walking 1. Knisley was actually a bit better – 6 hits through 8 innings with 12 strikeouts and 1 walk – but was perhaps a victim of his own hard throwing as both homers were straight bombs. Teddy Revelez was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Knisley, a career .140 hitter in 601 at-bats that came mostly in an Astros uniform, went 2-for-3 with a double in the best hitting performance of the year for one of our pitchers. Cornelius McInally knocked in our only run with a single in the 6th inning that plated Revelez. In addition to the Philadelphia home runs 28-year old Phillies third baseman Artie Hyatt went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. We got a close-up look at Philadelphia’s Mexican phenom closer Jose Martinez and the next time we see him will be too soon, thanks. Martinez struck out the side on 10 pitches. Center fielder Francisco Quinenes had a disappointing day going 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts in place of Mumbles Yamasita.


Trade Proposal: Cincinnati Reds

After the game I got a very interesting yet strange trade proposal from Reds General Manager Emmanuel Geyer. Interesting because it involved us receiving 32-year old catcher Lawrence Alison who would be both a defensive and offensive upgrade over anyone on our roster. The trade also included 21-year old left-handed hitting first baseman Roderick Carey who was presently playing rookie-level ball within the Reds’ organization. Geyer was willing to part with both players in exchange for our 26-year old second baseman Artie Page. With a chance to upgrade our everyday catching position and get another younger player in exchange for someone that we’ve basically labeled as an underachiever would probably be a decent move. But we’d need a couple of days to look at this to see what the organization was looking like in terms of depth at the second base position because Page was only 26 and according to our scouts he could probably develop into a really well-rounded player. A mistake here would look really bad in terms of public image for the organization if Page goes on to blossom and star for someone else for the next decade.


Saturday, June 12, 2021
Game 62 at Philadelphia Phillies
5-3 Win; 43,569 in attendance
W: Dickson (9-2) L: Baca (3-6) H: Rogers (6) SV: Mathis (21)

Recap: Phillies starter Aquila Baca, a former Oakland farmhand acquired by Philadelphia in 2019, got in trouble in just about every inning as we knocked him out of the game in the 7th after surrendering 5 runs (4 earned), 11 hits, and 4 walks in 6.1 innings en route to another series clinching victory. Teddy Revelez picked up his second Player of the Game award in this series with a 2-for-2 performance that saw him knock in 3 runs, score 1, and walk 3 times. Revelez, Mumbles Yamasita, Edgard Galdames, Travis Byers, and Artie Page each had two hits for us. Philadelphia catcher David van Klaveren tripled in 2 runs off our starter Rowley Dickson in the bottom of the third inning but we took control of the game in the next half inning with a 4-run outburst sparked by a Revelez double. Dickson wasn’t his usual self, allowing 9 hits and walking 1 in 7 innings of work, but worked his way out of trouble nicely before handing it over to the bullpen. Closer Bill Mathis is on a serious roll as he saved his second game of the series. He has allowed just 1 earned run in his last 10 appearances. Phillies relievers Roger Forrest (a California native) and Jesus Hinojoso threw 2.2 innings of hitless relief.


Current Oakland Record: 41-21

The series victory had us sitting an improbable 8 games ahead of the 33-29 Angels in the American League Western Division. An 8-4 finish to our 12-game road trip was better than we could have realistically expected. There seemed to be a tangible sense of relief that we had been able to get out of Philadelphia with two wins under the National League rules. Interleague play was still alive, though, and the World Series Champion Mets would be coming to Oakland next as we came off the road for a 12-game homestand. The local media has been getting on J.D. Knisley’s case in a major way this week after another loss put his record under .500 this season. The main argument being that at 34-year old he’s apparently aged overnight and they can’t believe this guy is signed to one of the highest salaries on the team through 2024. To be honest, I almost agree with them. What we’ve seen out of Knisley thus far are only flashes of what was expected. Despite his 125 strikeouts in 99 innings this season he’s allowed 19 home runs in 13 starts! 19!

The national media was starting to take notice too, but they were ignoring Knisley and instead going for the feel-good story of how nice it felt for the team as a whole to be in first place after being a doormat for so long. ESPN wanted to speak with Jeff Hance about our improbable start to the season and we agreed.

[thehatfield]

Top 10 Selling Oakland Athletics Jerseys as of 6/13/21

(Name/Jersey Number/Previous Position)

1. Mumbles Yamasita #34 (3)
2. Fairfax von Schoening #25 (5)
3. Nori Nakamura #35 (-)
4. Travis Byers #8 (-)
5. Teddy Revelez #12 (6)
6. Fred Cake #85 (2)
7. Rowley Dickson #10 (1)
8. Bill Mathis #29 (8)
9. Francisco Quinenes #14 (9)
10. Edgard Galdames #37 (-)

Jose Arce, Ken O’Bryant and Cornelius McInally all dropped out of the top 10. Otherwise, not very many dramatic changes aside from Nori Nakamura’s arrival on the list at #3 and Rowley Dickson falling to the #7 slot. While there is no doubt Nakamura has benefited from frequently being matched against other teams’ 4th and 5th starters, his 9-1 record out of nowhere this season seems to have inspired the fanbase to accept the former Blue Jay as a real white elephant.


Next Up: 3-game series at home against New York Mets

It was nice to be back at home after a successful 12-game road-trip even though the World Series Champions were coming to town. Despite being near the top of the league in terms of payroll over the last 15 years the Mets have, until last season, been called perennial underachievers who had won just 3 division titles with no National League Championships in their first 14 years. If you took away their baseball-best 46-17 record this season the franchise has a puzzling all-time record that is below .500 (1,211-1,219). But since they bottomed out with back-to-back last place finishes in 2014 & 2015 they have been on a slow but steady rise that saw them win a Major League-best 107 games last year.

Luckily for us it looks like we might be hitting the Mets at the bottom of their pitching rotation because they are led by 30-year old 7-time All-Star and 4-time Cy Young Award winner Brandon Radley. The 213-pound left-hander is doing it again this year, with a 9-2 record and MLB-best marks in ERA (1.83), innings pitched (113.1), strikeouts (150), and opponent’s batting average (.188). He’s also third in baseball in WHIP with a tiny 0.96. The Mets are also getting big lifts from starters James Barnes (36 years old, 7-2, 4.30 ERA, 75.1 IP), and 27-year old Gene DeVaughn (10-1, 3.52 ERA, 79.1 IP), in addition to reliever Wye Budgeford (26 years old, 4-1, 2.08 ERA, 39 IP), and 25-year old closer Rocky Trowbridge (2-3, 1.71 ERA, 15 SV, 2 BS, 31.2 IP).

The lineup is anchored by 29-year old first baseman and 4-time All-Star Hippolyte “Workhorse” Ashe who was hitting .297 with a Major League-best 28 home runs (he hit 70 last year) and 77 runs scored. His 70 RBI are fifth overall in baseball this year. Bill Cake, the brother of our starter Fred Cake, has settled into the New York lineup just fine since his trade from San Diego and was having another solid year with a .270 average, .364 OBP, 16 home runs and 54 RBI. In the third game of the series Fred Cake was our projected starter so we might get to see an interesting brother-against-brother pitcher/batter match-up on Tuesday. 31-year old second baseman Adelardo “Wild Man” Arguijo was hitting .295 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI but much more was expected of the 8-time All Star and 3-time MVP considering his talent; he was still recovering from a dreadful April where he hit just .133. 6-time All Star catcher Leith MacIlwhom, 32, was the last big-time player on the Mets with a .338 average, .456 OBP, 10 home runs, 33 RBI and 52 runs scored in 213 at-bats.

Since we were back at home after playing Interleague in the National League parks our lineup would revert back to its normal configuration:

1. Yamasita CF
2. Galdames SS
3. Revelez LF
4. Guevaro 3B
5. Byers RF
6. Arce 1B
7. McInally C
8. Quinenes DH
9. Page 2B

I was personally excited to see if the recent round of publicity and our recent strong performances would bring more bodies out to the ballpark.


Injury Update

25-year old starting pitcher Neifi Villaluazo is out for the next three weeks with a herniated disc in his back.

26-year old second baseman Ken O’Bryant is out for the season after undergoing surgery for a broken foot. He won’t be able to start serious rehab for the next 5 months.


Sunday, June 13, 2021
Game 63 vs. New York Mets
6-4 Win; 23,534 in attendance
W: Glaus (1-1) L: Limon (2-3)

Recap: A bit of a disappointing crowd for the World Series Champions but no matter as we got this series off to a promising start with a comfortable 6-4 win. The Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Leith MacIlwhom hit a 2-run homer off of Gib Glaus in the top of the 2nd inning. While it started to look like Glaus was headed for his second straight dreadful start the 27-year old lefty settled down and allowed his teammates to rally for 2 runs in the 4th and 3 more runs in the 5th. Cornelius McInally hit his third home run of the season in the 7th inning to finish the scoring for Oakland. The Mets tried to get back into the game when Bill Cake hit his 17th home run of the year off of Glaus in the top of the 8th inning and a runner scored on a fielder’s choice before Glaus wriggled his way out of trouble. New York starter Miguel Limon was ineffective in his 4.1 innings of work, giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs while walking 1 to keep his ERA above the 7.00 mark on the season. Mumbles Yamasita went 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored and Artie Page was 2-for-4 for the A’s. MacIlwhom, Cake and shortstop Terran Riley all had 2 hits for the Mets. Francisco Quinenes took home the golden sombrero with an awful 0-for-4 performance and 4 strikeouts which makes him 0-for-8 with 7 strikeouts in his last 8 plate appearances.


Monday, June 14, 2021
Game 64 vs. New York Mets
9-7 Win; 22,453 in attendance
W: Nakamura (10-1) L: Budgeford (4-2) H: Frank (4) SV: Mathis (22)

Recap: Cornelius McInally delivered the critical blow, a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 5th inning, just after the Mets had scored twice in the top of the inning to tie the game at 5-5. McInally’s homer, his second in as many days, helped continue Nori Nakamura’s run of outstanding luck as once again the 27-year old starter picked up the victory in a game where he had less-than-stellar stuff – 7 innings, 7 hits, 6 runs (5 earned) and 4 walks. We knocked 36-year old soft-tossing Mets starter Alex Lenard out of the game after he surrendered 7 hits and 5 earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work but it was Mets reliever Wye Budgeford who took the loss after he was the one that gave up McInally’s home run. New York’s Hippolyte Ashe hit his MLB-leading 29th home run of the year in the first inning off of Nakamura and went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI on the day. Mets right fielder Dave Saddler was 2-for-3 with a walk and 3 runs scored. Travis Byers, Dome Guevaro, and Teddy Revelez all had 2 hits and scored 2 runs for us. Francisco Quinenes was 0-for-3 with another strikeout which pushes his hitless futility streak to 8 strikeouts in his last 11 at-bats.

Heading into the next game, which of course was also the date of the amateur draft, Manager Jeff Hance called me up to tell me that he decided Cornelius McInally and Artie Page both needed the day off and that Tanyon Meagher and Reydel Vazquez would get the start.


Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Game 65 vs. New York Mets
6-1 Loss; 22,462 in attendance
W: Radley (10-2) L: Cake (5-3) SV: Mata (1)

Recap: A predictable loss here against Mets ace and baseball superstar Brandon Radley overshadowed the brother verses brother storyline and marked the sixth consecutive series where we ended up with a 2-1 record. Our starter Fred Cake nearly stole the show as he took a 1-0 lead into the top of the 7th inning but Hippolyte Ashe struck again with his 30th home run of the season, a 2-run shot, to give New York the 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the 7th inning with two outs and a man at third base Ashe made an outstanding defensive play at first base which robbed Mumbles Yamasita of a sure RBI when he dove to his left and snagged a sharp grounder that was hugging the right field line and tossed to Radley in time for the out. Player of the Game Radley exited the game in the 8th inning after allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 11 in 7.1 innings of work. 37-year old right-handed reliever Ramon Mata pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for his first save of the season. The Mets’ Bill Cake was 3-for-4 on the day including 2-for-3 with a double against his brother Fred. Edgard Galdames had our RBI when he plated Yamasita with a single in the bottom of the 5th inning. Francisco Quinenes broke an 0-for-14 frigid streak with a single down the third base line in the bottom of the 9th.


Current Oakland Record: 43-22

Despite the good work against the World Series Champions the Los Angeles Angels cut our lead from 8 games to 7½ games in the American League Western Division. I was pretty disappointed that we didn’t bring more fans out for the Mets despite the fact that they hit us on a Sunday through Tuesday swing and despite the fact that in the series finale we had Brandon Radley in the stadium and the brother verses brother subplot. I had actually missed the last game of the series in-person as my toady Herb Watson, Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga, longtime scout Lucio “Lucky” Ubeda and I flew into New York City for the 2021 amateur draft.

After the draft we had a day off before the 33-32 Washington Nationals came to town.

[ifspuds]

Bah. You'd have had a sweep if Nance had left McInally in the lineup. Homers in back-to-back games! Play the hot hand, Nance!

[thehatfield]

Originally Posted by ifspuds

Bah. You'd have had a sweep if Nance had left McInally in the lineup. Homers in back-to-back games! Play the hot hand, Nance!

Yeah, no kidding, especially considering that after the third game of the series we had an off day!!

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

Yeah, no kidding, especially considering that after the third game of the series we had an off day!!

Oh, Purple Dude! That's why God gives you the option of playing out the games yourself instead of simming — so you can keep the AI from making those bonehead decisions. (Though in this case it could hardly have made the difference in the game. Still, it's the principal of the thing.)

[thehatfield]

First Year Player Draft

We had lost the first overall pick in the 2021 draft as compensation for signing Rowley Dickson from Tampa Bay this past winter but other maneuvering meant we had the Chicago White Sox’ #12 overall pick. Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Detroit all had two picks in the first round while the White Sox, Florida Marlins, and St. Louis Cardinals had none.

Our draft strategy was pretty loose and we decided to remain flexible in case a talent we couldn’t rightly pass on was available at our draft slot but the organization could use replenishing at any of the infield positions and in the bullpen while our starting pitching and outfield were second-tier priorities.

Tampa Bay used our #1 overall pick to select highly-touted 20-year old Brockton, Massachusetts right-hander Marvin “Grit” Winram. Winram wasn’t exactly at the top of our charts because he’s an 88-miles-per-hour guy that relies on two changeups as his out pitches but Head Scout Gaspar Zelaga thinks with some work he’s going to be really effective because of his superior movement. The guy at the top of our pitching chart, 19-year old Arlo Marcos, went #2 overall to the Toronto Blue Jays. 22-year old center fielder Robert Roper was the first position player taken when the Royals nabbed him with the #3 overall pick.

We used the #12 overall pick on 20-year old third baseman Jonathan Jones who our scouts tell me has the potential to reach All-Star level both at the plate and in the field. In the second round we took promising 21-year old catcher Jerry Kelly who despite the Irish-sounding name is quite happy to be Mexican. In the third round we went with hard-throwing right-handed reliever and Maryland native Dacio Verjano. Undersized for the pros at 18 years old and coming straight from high school, Verjano was a project player that could possibly have a tremendous upside because of his pinpoint control. With our 4th-round pick we scooped up 22-year old second baseman Darryl Weston who is more of a hitter than a fielder. We needed to secure at least one long-term starting pitcher project before they were all gone so we drafted 18-year old Exeter, Pennsylvania native Martin Rossall with our fifth pick. Rossall’s got a sharp slider and a decent changeup that compliment a 94-miles-per-hour fastball.

The rest of our draft played out along our loose guidelines with 22-year old Aruban reliever Albert Kop probably being the most interesting of the bunch for non-baseball reasons.


Dioner Navarro Watch

38-year old career catcher Dioner Navarro has been the subject of much ridicule as his 48 errors while learning third base on-the-fly this season for the Atlanta Braves leads baseball by over 20 errors from the next-closest player. But Navarro has confounded the critics this week as he has put together a stretch of 5 consecutive errorless performances at the hot corner, his longest stretch of the year.

“My previous long was 2 games,” said Navarro from his hotel room in Arlington as the Braves prepared to take on the Texas Rangers in Interleague play, “so I’m sort of in uncharted territory here. Hopefully the ball will stay off the line and if it doesn’t, I hope I can get a glove on it.”

When asked about his controversial “full body flailing” fielding techniques Navarro sheepishly revealed that was just a joke.

“I wasn’t happy with how I was playing, no,” Navarro admitted. “But the boss had faith in me and kept me out there. I thought I could take the heat off him by acting all crazy and whatnot. But hopefully this nearly error-free week will help show his faith won’t go unrewarded.”

Braves faithful seem to still need some convincing:

“Have you seen the guy out there?” questioned East Cobb resident Travis Doolane, a 38-year old landscaper. “I know it’s a cliché but my granny could play better. You know, Odessa Doolane, founder of Grandmothers Fast-Pitch Hardball League (GFPHL)?”


Next Up: 3-game series at home against Washington

The 33-32 Nationals are not only hovering right at the .500 mark but they are 30-30 in their last 60 games after racing out to a 3-2 start this season. But that doesn’t tell the whole story as they come to the Coliseum the loser of 5 of their last 6 games in sets against the 26-39 last-place Seattle Mariners and the 30-35 third-place Cincinnati Reds.

The Nationals are not getting a lot of consistent performances from their aging pitching staff, a staff that consists of 5 players that are at least 36-years old. 36-year old lefty Demott Pecue was actually the lone strong performer leading the Washington rotation with a 7-3 record and 2.77 ERA in 78 innings pitched. 25-year old rookie and Georgia native Kanan Johnson was showing a lot of promise with his 7-5 record and 3.21 ERA in 87 innings pitched. 38-year old closer Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, who can still get the ball up around 94-95 miles-per-hour, has been inconsistent with a 4.50 ERA in 22 innings of work. However his 16 saves this season gives him 453 for his career which is just 7 behind the all-time saves leader Brad Lidge (K-Rod also has to pass #3 B.J. Ryan [454], and #2 Trevor Hoffman [458] as well).

The position players are a lot younger – just three players over the age of 30 – which gives a lot of hope to fans in the Beltway area for a successful future. 26-year old left fielder Steve Penrose, a Manhattan native, was at the heart of the lineup this season and was hitting .294 with a .410 OBP, 17 home runs, and 43 RBI. 32-year old first baseman Gary Doles is currently hitting #3 for the Nats and boasts a .318 average, 12 home runs and 31 RBI. 21 year old rookie shortstop Matt Holywood was second on the team in RBI with 39 and had a .355 OBP in 253 at-bats.

Cornelius McInally and Artie Page were back into the lineup and there were no other changes. There’s still a trade offer on the table for Page and I’m still waiting on updated scouting reports on Cincinnati before making any decisions there.


Thursday, June 17, 2021
Game 66 vs. Washington Nationals
4-1 Win; 22,877 in attendance
W: Knisley (6-6) L: Reyes (5-5)

Recap: Coming into this start at 5-6, J.D. Knisley was starting to look like a bad investment at $7-million-per-season until the 2024 season. Even though Knisley was 34-years old he still had a 97-miles-per-hour fastball and we had been banking on him being at the top of our rotation with Rowley Dickson at least for the next two years before we thought we’d start to see a decline. But his inconsistency thus far this year might force us to investigate trade possibilities next month to help give us a little more breathing room within the budget. But of course, as goes baseball, the moment we start seriously considering this Knisley goes out and tosses 9 innings of 6-hit, 1-run ball, doesn’t walk a batter and strikes out 13 in a very strong performance. Washington’s left-handed starter Natanael Reyes went all 8 innings for the Nationals and while he wasn’t bad he couldn’t avoid getting dinged a couple of times, including Dome Guevaro’s 15th home run of the year, a 432-foot bomb to left-center field. Washington left fielder Steve Penrose was 2-for-4 for the visitors. Perhaps most significantly for Knisley on the night was the fact that for the first time in I can’t remember how many starts the veteran didn’t give up a home run.


Friday, June 18, 2021
Game 67 vs. Washington Nationals
5-3 Win; 18,282 in attendance
W: Dickson (10-2) L: Garcia (4-9) SV: Mathis (23)

Recap: Edgard Galdames and Teddy Revelez scored on a Travis Byers single in the bottom of the first inning that helped contribute to an early 3-0 lead and keep the pressure squarely on Washington’s bats to deliver. It stayed 3-0 until Rowley Dickson beaned Nationals third baseman Manuel Meranza to lead off the 5th inning and Meranza later came around to score on a Raimundo Morales single. We added two more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning on the strength of Cornelius McInally’s 5th home run of the year before a tiring Dickson gave the runs right back in the top of the 8th, a Steve Penrose 2-run double doing the damage before Bill “Crunchy” Mathis came in to get the A’s out of further trouble in the inning and pitched a perfect 9th to nail down a 4-out save. Penrose and Bob Moore both went 2-for-4 for Washington but Moore was gunned down by McInally while trying to steal 3rd base in the 2nd inning. Mumbles Yamasita and Revelez went 2-for-4 for Oakland.


Saturday, June 19, 2021
Game 68 vs. Washington Nationals
6-3 Win; 24,872 in attendance
W: Glaus (2-1) L: Pecue (7-4) SV: Mathis (24)

Recap: 28-year old 217-pound lefty Gib Glaus was looking to make a statement to give us a little something to think about for when Neifi Villaluazo is ready to back from injury and he did – a 5-hit, 8-inning, 11-strikeout performance that earned him his 2nd win of the year. Like the first game of the series the Nats took the lead in the top of the 1st but the brooms came right back out as we tied it back up in the bottom half of the inning on Dome Guevaro’s 16th home run of the year, a 2-run shot to straight right. Teddy Revelez hit his 16th in the bottom of the 5th to give us a 4-2 lead and that would be all that was needed to complete the 3-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. Another 2 runs in the 6th keyed by an Artie Page double added some insurance but Bill Mathis is really all the insurance we’ve been needing these days and he got the side in order again on 13 pitches for his Major League-leading 24th save. Mumbles Yamasita walked 4 times but Washington starter Demott Pecue had nothing – 4 hits, 8 walks and 5 earned runs in 5.2 innings. 33-year old Nats reliever Matt Giles was decent in relief but surrendered the Page double that iced the game.


Current Oakland Record: 46-22

A sweep of the Nationals in front of our largest crowd of the year and it was becoming clearer and clearer to everyone in baseball that barring major injury the A’s were going to be a force to be reckoned with as the summer wore on. The Mariners were coming to town next and how sweet would a 6-game winning streak be before we hosted the Dodgers in the finale of our 12-game homestand.


Where Are They Now: Rich Harden

38-year old Rich Harden was famously traded to Baltimore for Travis Byers back in the off-season after spending 18 years in an Oakland Athletics uniform. While his record this year for the Orioles is a pedestrian 5-5 his 4.38 ERA is over a run lower than it was last year when he went 8-20 for Oakland (5.52). Harden, who allowed 27 home runs in 36 starts in his career-worst year in 2020 has allowed only 5 in 13 starts this season. Despite the promising trend in the stats Harden has been coming under exactly the same sort of criticism in Baltimore that J.D. Knisley has been coming under here, especially since Harden is earning the second-highest salary on the O’s and is signed through 2024. Harden’s 235 career losses is tied for 2nd all-time with 37-year old Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman, 9 behind all-time leader Kevin Millwood 244.

But despite the dubious mark looming Orioles fans have been supportive of Harden lately as he stands at 199 wins for his career. You can be assured more than a few A’s fans will be watching Harden this week in his quest for 200 as Baltimore goes to Yankee Stadium to take on the Yankees.

[Curtis]

I thought you were starting your record book over. How does Trevor Hoffman get 458 saves? The man must be a god.

You could actually prove that by me. For six consecutive seasons, playing for my Dodger clubs (1996-2001), he led the majors in saves, never dropping below 50 during that span.

[thehatfield]

Nah... I just went with the default settings for the career leaderboards so everyone that was active in the game world at the start of the 2006 season had their career Major League stats brought in. That was done to "preserve" the old leaderboards (bad example but in theory Hank still has his all-time record for "old MLB" even though Bonds is now the leader with 728). The idea was that a majority of the steriod generation would appear on these leaderboards to preserve the integrity of the old records.

Hoffman was out after the 2007 season in the savegame after being switched to a middle reliever.