Oakland Athletics

In for John Hickey, who I envision right now behind the wheel of a giant moving van somewhere around Grants Pass, Ore. … OK, flush this one. Best part of Wednesday’s 3-1 A’s loss? It only took 2 hours, 22 minutes, the shortest game of the year at Rangers Ballpark. It leaves me the rest [...]

If there were a Ten Commandments of Baseball, then one of them would be: Thou shalt always drive in the runner from 3rd with fewer than two outs. It's one of the fundamental things that good teams do and bad teams struggle with. You don't always need to mash homers to score runs; sometimes, it only takes a slow grounder to short or a routine fly ball to the outfield in a given situation. Oakland stranded a combined 26 baserunners in the first two games of this series in Texas, but they managed to win both contests. That magic did not continue this afternoon, as they wasted chance after chance to cash in on gift-wrapped scoring opportunities. This was a game ripe for the taking, and Oakland left it on the table. After the 1st inning, it didn't appear that this one would come down to a couple of missed opportunities. Jarrod Parker, who has settled down in May after a rough start to the season, was in full April form for the first four batters of the afternoon. Elvis Andrus singled sharply through the hole on the left side, David Murphy homered to the 2nd deck in right, Lance Berkman flew out, and Adrian Beltre hit a 600-foot homer to dead center. Panic! Send Parker to Sacramento! No, release him! He's terrible! Bring up Sonny Gray! Convert Cespedes to a starting pitcher! Luckily, baseball games last longer than one inning. After serving up bombs to Murphy and Beltre on a pair of plump, juicy, elevated fastballs, Parker settled down and faced two batters over the minimum through the 7th inning. After giving up hits to three of the first four batters, he allowed only three hits and a walk the rest of the way and benefited from a couple of double plays. His final line: 7 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts. That is a quality start, and it's a win more often than not. Parker pitched a good game. Unfortunately, that particular quality start is only a win if the hitters contribute. The Rangers, who are missing Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, and Alexi Ogando from their rotation, turned to a guy named R Wolf for a spot start. No, it wasn't Randy Wolf, but rather a relief pitcher named Ross Wolf who last appeared in the Majors in 2010 as a member of the Athletics. A logical person would assume that facing an unknown reliever for 5 innings would result in a smorgasbord of offense, but A's fans know better. No one gets baffled by unknown pitchers like the Oakland Athletics. Someone should really invent a device that can record a pitcher so that hitters can familiarize themselves with him before facing him for the first time. We can call it "videotape." Patent pending. Cy Wolf wasted no time in embarrassing Oakland's lineup. He was perfect the first time through the order, retiring nine straight batters in the first three innings. Granted, Coco Crisp and Josh Donaldson each smashed the ball, but BABIP The Vengeful Baseball Deity placed both hits directly in Ranger gloves. Elvis Andrus also flashed some leather (which would be one of the themes of the day), ranging ridiculously far to his right to retire Cespedes on a ball that most shortstops couldn't have reached with a lacrosse stick. The second time through the order went much better for the A's. Coco Crisp led off the 4th with a single, and Cespedes hit an absolute laser into the left field corner for a double. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Brandon Moss executed the only piece of successful situational hitting that the A's would see all night, lofting a lazy fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly. The score was 3-1 Rangers, and neither team would score again for the rest of the day. The next three innings were an exercise in absolute torture for A's fans. This game actually violated the 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and I have filed a grievance with both the league and the Supreme Court. Wolf walked Seth Smith to lead off the 5th, and Derek Norris followed with a double down the right-field line. Oakland had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobod

Righty Jarrod Parker surrendered two homers in the first inning, and that was the difference in the A's 3-1 loss to the Rangers at the Ballpark at Arlington on Wednesday afternoon that snapped Oakland's five-game winning streak.

Lefty Erik Bedard will try to end the Astros' six-game losing streak against the A's when Houston plays host to Tommy Milone and Oakland for the start of a three-game set on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

A's got down early by 3 runs, but the pitching has held up. The A's are trying to come back, but have only managed to score 1 so far, despite a 2nd and 3rd, no one out situation. It's 3-1, we're in the sixth.

Don't look now, but since the A's last faced the Rangers in last week's series, our fearless heroes have won five in a row, have vaulted themselves to three games over .500, have already won this series, have closed the gap to 4.5 games, and go for the sweep this morning. Sometimes I wonder if all it really takes for the A's to win some ballgames is condemnation from Ray Ratto. It's been five days since I opened that game thread, with a tiny margin of hope, as the A's were collapsing all around us, both in their play on the field, and the injuries off it. We had just lost Brett Anderson, and things were looking bleak. But then, Jarrod Parker started. He didn't even win; the A's offense scored too late, but he gave them the outing they needed to start winning, and every other pitcher since: Milone, Griffin, Colon, and Straily, has followed suit. The A's have won every game in this turn of the rotation, and Parker is back on the mound today, looking to kick off a second round. The A's will be facing a inexperience major league pitcher (oh! no!) today in the person of Ross Wolf, who is making his first Major League start. Up until now, his career has been almost entirely in minor league baseball (more than 10 years in the system), with very little luck in the majors. These are the kind of pitchers you naturally root for, but I'll save my rooting for when he is facing the Angels. Here are your lineups: 1. Coco Crisp (S) CF 2. John Jaso (L) DH 3. Yoenis Cespedes (R) LF 4. Brandon Moss (L) 1B 5. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B 6. Seth Smith (L) RF 7. Derek Norris (R) C 8. Eric Sogard (L) 2B 9. Adam Rosales (R) SS 1. Elvis Andrus (R) SS 2. David Murphy (L) LF 3. Lance Berkman (S) DH 4. Adrian Beltre (R) 3B 5. Nelson Cruz (R) RF 6. A.J. Pierzynski (L) C 7. Jeff Baker (R) 1B 8. Leonys Martin (L) CF 9. Leury Garcia (S) 2B LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports Oakland Athletics shortstop Jed Lowrie is officially out of Wednesday’s lineup against the Texas Rangers with a foot contusion. That means the Athletics will have to attempt a series sweep over the Rangers in the series finale without one of their hottest hitters. Lowrie suffered the injury in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s 1-0 win. A pitch hit him directly in the right foot, which forced the designated hitter for the night to be removed from the game. The good news is X-rays showed that there were no broken bones, but unfortunately, Lowrie will have to take some time to rest. It was clear that Lowrie was unlikely to make the start on Wednesday due to soreness, especially since it is an afternoon game after a night game. It is unfortunate because Lowrie has been fantastic at the plate over his last 13 games. In fact, the sixth year player has recorded at least one hit in 11 of those contests. Since May 8, the 29-year-old is batting .294 with six RBI, four doubles and two walks. More importantly, Lowrie has hit in three consecutive games while Oakland has won five straight. The Oregon native has posted a .301 batting average with three home runs, 21 RBI, 15 doubles, 20 walks and 19 runs in 173 at-bats this season. He has also been decent at shortstop in which he has a .962 fielding percentage in 130 total chances. The following is Oakland’s lineup against Texas for Wednesday afternoon: Center Field: Coco Crisp Designated Hitter: John Jaso Left Field: Yoenis Cespedes First Base: Brandon Moss Third Base: Josh Donaldson Right Field: Seth Smith Catcher: Derek Norris Second Base: Eric Sogard Shortstop: Adam Rosales

Infielder Jed Lowrie was serving as designated hitter on Tuesday night when he took a Yu Darvish pitch off his foot in the fifth inning. He was taken out of the game for a pinch-hitter in the seventh to go for X-rays that proved negative.

Right fielder Josh Reddick remains on track to join the team in Houston on Friday to take batting practice for the first time since going on the DL with a sprained right wrist. As long as all goes well, he'll do it again Saturday, and from there the A's will decide if he's ready for a rehab assignment.

Every lineup, every day, as they are made public by the clubs.