Oakland Athletics

Both the Royals and A's are looking to turn the corner after losing eight of their last 11. On Saturday night, Royals right-hander Ervin Santana matches up with A's lefty Tommy Milone.

The A’s had an amazing 2012 season culminating in an AL West Crown. Their recipe was simple yet executed to simplistic perfection; pitching, defense, and clutch hits from the entire lineup, 1-9. Fast forward to this season. The Green and Gold have been hit hard by what is seemingly the injury plague in 2013. This forces the lineup to be altered nearly daily to make the best possible match ups occur. However, one part of the lineup continues to struggle and it could cost the A’s their chance at October baseball this season if it does not change their production quickly. May 10, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris (36) waits for the pitch during the game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco FIeld. Seattle defeated Oakland 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports The main problem starts with Derek Norris. After an 0 for 2 night with a walk Norris’ average has dropped to a dismal .218 and his on base percentage has dropped to .364. Now some may argue the above average on base percentage makes Norris have at least some value offensively. However, when you are a slow base runner and have no one hitting behind you either your value is exponentially diminished. Coupled with those numbers for Norris comes the more alarming stats that show Norris has become a rally killer. With runners on base Norris is hitting .243. With runners in scoring position he is hitting .263. With the bases loaded Norris has not gotten a hit in his three plate appearances. The only positive that comes from a Norris at bat it seems is that he averages over four and half pitches per at bat. That accounts for over 14 pitches a game. That is one player costing a pitcher an entire inning worth of pitches on one hitter. The rest of the lineup behind Norris has been a revolving door of disappointment recently as well. This includes Nate Freiman, Adam Rosales (who has been getting hot in his defense), Eric Sogard, etc. When the top of the lineup is getting on base the bottom of the lineup has to be fundamental in their approach. They need to start getting runners into scoring position or simply moving them up 90 feet closer. Good things happen when runners get on base for most teams, but for the A’s it seems to be a non issue of leaving them stranded. Through 33 games played the A’s had left 233 runners on base good for a Top 10 worst in baseball standing. For a team who has to scratch runs to win leaving men on base at that rate has to change. The A’s offense, mainly Derek Norris, has struggled as of late. With the pitching staff struggling too the disaster radar is starting to flicker a little. The A’s need the 7-9 hitters to begin to produce. This does not necessarily mean getting on base or driving in runs, though that would be nice obviously. More so this means they need to continue to move runners forward thus giving the top of the lineup the chance to do what they are supposed to do.

If you want an unsung hero for Friday’s 2-1 Oakland win over Kansas City, look for the man who made out the lineup. Manager Bob Melvin did something Friday he hadn’t done all season. He had Adam Rosales, who generally starts only against left-handed pitching, start “because I liked the right-handed matchup there’’ against K.C.’s [...]

Adam Rosales and Josh Donaldson each hit solo home runs as the Oakland Athletics surged late for a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

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!

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.

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!

Left-hander Hideki Okajima, who compiled a 3.11 ERA with the Red Sox from 2007-11, was called up from Triple-A Sacramento on Friday.

Outfielder Chris Young, who strained a left quad muscle during the A's 19-inning game on April 29, expects to be activated soon.

The news that Brett Anderson will miss another month, and possibly a good deal more time, is the latest indication that Anderson’s health will be an ongoing concern in Oakland. For the short term, however, the immediate question his just how the A’s will address the hole left in their starting rotation by Anderson’s stress [...]