Oakland Athletics

Oakland Athletics rookie Dan Straily outpitched an ace in his last visit to Rangers Ballpark. Read more Dan Straily news

Jed Lowrie collected one of the most difficult walks of his career in the ninth inning Monday. Squared off with the Rangers’ Joe Nathan with a man on second, Lowrie went to 1-2 quickly, then had to fight his way back to get a walk off Nathan, who had only walked eight men all year. [...]

The A's squandered a three-run lead to fall to the Rangers, 8-7, on Monday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in the opener of a four-game series between the division rivals.

Games like this are why the late, great A's broadcaster Bill King famously refused to travel to Arlington. In a game that was billed as a matchup of potential rookie of the year candidates, both starting pitchers exited early while Nelson Cruz and the Rangers bullpen did just enough to escape with a victory, snapping their six game losing streak. Dan Straily had been dominant over his past five starts and had not allowed a home run in over a month. That quickly changed in the second inning. Adrian Beltre led off with a sharp line drive to left, and AJ Pierzynski immediately followed with a two run blast off the right field foul pole. Straily was clearly having trouble locating pitches and was leaving the ball up. Maybe the 89 degree heat was getting to him, because the stuff he displayed in his 7 shutout innings just a few weeks ago in the same setting was absent tonight. Straily was again tagged in the third inning, by a Leonys Martin double and an Ian Kinsler single. 3-0 Rangers, and with the way Straily was pitching the A's were lucky it wasn't worse. Meanwhile, the A's offense was stinging the ball all over the field against Nick Tepesch with little to show for it. That would change in the fourth inning, which saw the A's bat around, scoring six of their seven baserunners. SAVG! The inning started off with a John Jaso double (he has now reached base in sixteen straight games). Yoenis Cespedes then lasered a groundball that was too hot for gold glover Adrian Beltre to handle. The ball ricocheted off of his leg right to Elvis Andrus. Jaso took off for third as Beltre kicked the ball, and Andrus saw an easy out at third. Except that Jaso somehow eluding Beltre's first tag, oversliding the base, and escaping the second tag attempt. Replays showed that he was probably out on the second tag, but between this and his crazy run in the Yankees series when he should have been dead to rights, I think he has some sort of baserunning voodoo going on. That was huge, because Brandon Moss smacked a mildly breaking slider over the middle of the plate for a line drive RBI. Tepesch then walked Josh Donaldson to load the bases, bringing Seth Smith to the plate. Smith stroked an easy grounder between first and second, plating two runs to tie up the game. For some reason, Ron Washington had infield playing in, as if expecting the red-hot Jed Lowrie to bunt. Lowrie lined a hanging curveball for a double; 4-3 A's. It wasn't over yet. The runners moved up on a Josh Reddick groundout, and again the infield played in, with second and third, one out, in the fourth inning. I will not pretend to understand this move, but I can safely say this wasn't a Joe Maddon mad genius shift. Harry Potter stroked a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3. Coco Crisp had a solid single to right to cap the scoring, as Jaso made the third out on his second time at bat in the inning. Unfortunately, Straily and the A's bullpen couldn't hold on to the 6-3 lead. Straily was lucky to escape the bottom of the fourth only allowing a solo home run to Nelson Cruz. He coughed up a double to David Murphy, a walk to Martin, but got Jurickson Profar to fly out to end the inning. At that point it was clear that Straily was not settling down, but Melvin sent him back out for the 5th inning. While I admire the sentiment of trying to get the starter through five, Straily really did not have it today and he probably should have been replaced earlier. He got the first out, but Ian Kinsler singled and advanced to second on a rare Josh Reddick error. He flirted with disaster with Adrian Beltre but his line drive safely ended up in Smith's glove. However, AJ Pierzynski struck again, smacking a double to score Kinsler. Suddenly the 6-3 lead was sitting at a precarious 6-5, with certified A's killer Nelson Cruz at the plate. Jesse Chavez, last week's hero, was sent in to get the crucial out. The last time this happened, Cruz crushed a grand slam off Chavez. C

The Rangers rallied to take the lead, 7-6. Well, time to go get it back. We head to the top of the 7th inning in an Arlington Special. via www4.pictures.zimbio.com

You can feel the fortitude and resolve pulsing with each mushy keystroke that was pressed to create MLB’s mealy-mouthed, non-committal statement on #SewerGate: “As we have stated many times, the Oakland A’s need a new ballpark. Sunday’s unfortunate incident is a stark illustration that they need a long-term solution. This industry has a long record of navigating challenging circumstances and finding solutions. The situation in Oakland is particularly complicated, evident through the years of work it has required, yet we remain hopeful that a resolution can be reached so that the A’s can secure the 21st Century venue that the franchise and its fans deserve.” That, folks, is leadership at its finest. We can look forward to something happening… sometime in the 21st Century.

The A's took the lead in the top of the 4th inning, thanks to another bizarre John Jaso baserunning spectacular (that lucky Rolex is sure coming through lately) and a Nick Tepesch meltdown (3 games in a row, fella). Also Seth Smith! Jedediah! Torrid A's offense! Bad Rangers defense! Arlington is such a hitters park that Sogard could muscle a sac fly. Way to go elfy! Coco did what he does best. Rangers bullpen the rest of the way. Whole new ballgame! Keep us on top DanK! 6-3 A's lead, we head to the bottom of the 4th. That ain't no Folex. via mlb.com

The A's travel to Texas for the first of four games in this midseason battle for AL West supremacy. Sellout crowd against the Mariners in June, solid contributions from every player on the roster, an actually good FIRST half of the season, Zubaz pants and sewage overflows...this year has been pretty unusual, even by A's standards. This series presents an interesting test, a chance to see if the A's can protect their division lead against the talented veteran team on their heels. Last year of course, the A's never had a division lead to protect. A new challenge in the development of a young juggernaut. Can they brave the Arlington heat and emerge with a stranglehold on the division? Dan Straily takes the mound against Nick Tepesch in a battle of AL Rookie of the Year candidates. Straily's candidacy is on an upswing as he sports a 2.20 ERA over his last five starts, which stretch started with his seven innings of shutout ball to get the win over Yu Darvish in Texas back on May 21. In his last start he only allowed three hits over 6 2/3 innings against the Yankees. On the other hand, Tepesch is trending downward, having allowed at least five earned runs in each of his last two starts, the most recent being a five run, five inning loss against Cleveland. The teams' performance has mirrored the recent trend of their respective starting pitchers. The A's have cooled off a bit since that 18-4 stretch, but they are still 6-4 in their last ten. Meanwhile Texas is in a freefall, having gone 2-8 primarily by getting demolished by the Blue Jays (1-7 vs. Toronto in that stretch). The A's, protecting a three game division lead before the all-star break. This is an odd, awesome season, so far. Here are your lineups: 5:05pm Athletics (D. Straily - R) @ Rangers (N. Tepesch - R) Gametime Forecast: 89°F • Partly Cloudy • 19%PoP 1. Coco Crisp (S) CF 2. John Jaso (L) C 3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) DH 4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B 5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B 6. Seth Smith (L) LF 7. Jed Lowrie (S) SS 8. Josh Reddick (L) RF 9. Eric Sogard (L) 2B 1. Jurickson Profar (S) DH 2. Elvis Andrus (R) SS 3. Ian Kinsler (R) 2B 4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B 5. A.J. Pierzynski (L) C 6. Nelson Cruz (R) RF 7. David Murphy (L) LF 8. Chris McGuiness (L) 1B 9. Leonys Martin (L) CF Let's Go A's!

For the first time since that series in Cleveland when Adam Rosales hit the homer that wasn’t, the A’s are meeting up with Angel Hernandez again. Hernandez, who ruled that Rosales’ fly ball to left-center field in Progressive Field was a double rather than the home run that the video replay clearly showed it to [...]

Athletics manager Bob Melvin said the team was fortunate the sewage flood in both clubhouses at O.co Coliseum on Sunday occurred at the end of a six-game homestand.