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KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Gwreck Jun 23 2014 08:07 PM

Oakland sits atop the AL West standings, 47-29 (best record in the majors) and is 5 games ahead of Los Angeles. Oakland won the division each of the last two years before being eliminated in the division round in 5 games by the Tigers. This could be their year, though. This will be Oakland's first visit to a National League park this year. The Mets will be visiting the Athletics in August, their first trip to Oakland since 2005. Mets are 6-3 all-time against Oakland. (9-7 if postseason is included). Pitching Matchups: The Mets will fortunately miss Oakland ace Sonny Gray (7-3, 2.91 ERA, 1.18 WHIP). Tuesday, June 24: Scott Kazmir (L) v. Bartolo Colon Kazmir flamed out with the Angels a few years back and spent 2012 pitching in the independent Atlantic League with the Sugar Land Skeeters. He signed with Cleveland for 2013, made the team out of spring training, and had a serviceable season, with 29 starts and a 4.04 ERA. Got a 2 year deal with Oakland this offseason. He's 9-2, with a 2.08 ERA. He's leading the American League with a 0.947 WHIP and has a 4.0 strikeout/walk ratio. You may recall Kazmir striking out 12 against the Mets in an early September game last year in Cleveland. He has never pitched at Citi Field or Shea, so all of those "Kazmir returns to Queens" stories are of course inaccurate. Wednesday, June 25: Brad Mills (L) v. Zack Wheeler Mills was acquired from the Brewers on June 17 for $1.00. Yes, that is not a typo. The deal (officially for "cash considerations") was due to an opt-out clause with in his minor league contract with the Brewers getting no compensation if Mills made another team's 25-man roster. He had a 1.56 ERA in the PCL before being called up. This is his second start; he went 4 innings last time out. He replaces Drew Pomeranz in the rotation, who broke his right (non-pitching) hand punching a char in frustration after a bad outing. Athletics Lineup: C - Derrick Norris (R) Having a breakout year at age 25. .302/.405/.509 1B - Brandon Moss (L) .261/.353/.521 with 17 homers. Moss was originally drafted by Boston and was traded away with Manny Ramirez. He bounced around the Pittsburgh and Philly systems before catching on with the Athletics in 2012 and he's hit 68 homers from 2012-present for them. 2B - Eric Sogard (L) Sogard was the runner-up to David Wright in the "Face of MLB" contest this past offseason. I have no idea why, as he can't hit. (.501 OPS). I also have no idea what that contest was about or why it mattered. (Here's guessing it doesn't/didn't). 3B - Josh Donaldson (R) .252/.335/.480 with 18 homers. SS - Jed Lowrie (S) One of the few batters in this lineup not hitting much (.653 OPS) LF - Yoenis Cespedes (R) .266/.318/.514 with 14 homers and 19 doubles, and an AL-leading nine outfield assists. You may recall the Angels learning the hard way that what Cespedes may lack for grace in fielding the ball, he can make up for with a cannon arm. CF - Coco Crisp (S) This is now Covelli Loyce Crisp's fifth season in Oakland. At age 34, some of the speed is going (led the AL in steals back in 2011) but he's still 13-for-15 stealing bases this year. .814 OPS but the lack of speed is hurting his defensive metrics. Probably won't match the 4.3 (career-high) WAR he had last year. RF - Stephen Vogt (L) / other Josh Reddick is on the DL. Vogt has been hot (.883 OPS) in 55 plate appearances. DH/Utility - Alberto Callaspo (S) Callaspo played at first base both Saturday and Sunday against the Red Sox so don't be surprised if he's playing there against the Mets, with Brandon Moss in the outfield. John Jaso (L) is the backup catcher/DH and also has 200 plate appearances on the year and a .817 OPS. Athletics Bullpen Sean Doolittle (L) is closing the games now: 10 saves and a 2.00 ERA (0.583 WHIP) in 36 innings. Luke Gregerson (R) was acquired via trade in the offseason from San Diegoand is as tough as he was with the Padres. Dan Otero (R) is the other key setup man. Former Orioles closer Jim Johnson (R) started the year as Oakland's closer (on a 1 year, $10 million contract) but lost the job and owns a 5.58 ERA in 30 innings. Ex-Mets: No players Chip Hale is the bench coach A's GM Billy Beane of course was the Mets' first-round draft pick in 1980. Ex-Athletics: Bartolo Chris Young was in Oakland last year: 12-40-.200/.280/.379 Anthony Recker came up in the Oakland farm system and got 50 PAs in 2011-12 with them. Dana Eveland was in Oakland's rotation in 2008 and their bullpen in 2009.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 23 2014 08:13 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

nice work! Chip Hale is the best.

Ashie62 Jun 23 2014 08:18 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Nice series on tap...

Edgy MD Jun 23 2014 08:22 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Great job. I feel like my enemy is now known unto me. Kazmir did get introduced at Shea shortly after signing, so... . I'm trying to remember what song they played.... . Help me out.

Frayed Knot Jun 23 2014 09:26 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Oakland has a ridonculous +135 RS/RA differential not yet at the halfway point. It's the best in the majors by far and one that says that their league best 47-29 record should even be five games better than it is. They do a lot of platooning. Norris is their #1 catcher but has started only 43 of their 76 games, John Jaso has started 29 Also 4 different players have started at least 10 games at 1B. Sogard has started just over half (44 of 76) their games at 2B, and they'll switch things up at several other positions as well. Closer Sean Doolittle's numbers are ridiculous (most notably his [u:1gas6mko]50-1[/u:1gas6mko] K/BB ratio) but even more so when you realize that he didn't start pitching until 2012. He was drafted as a position player in 2007 (41st overall out of UVA), then missed virtually all of 2010 & 2011 with injuries, and only after that did he start anew as a pitcher. He reached the majors after just 26 IP in the minors yet has a 2.00 ERA this season and a ML career ERA that's sub-3.00

Zvon Jun 23 2014 09:55 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Great job. Thank you. A 2 game series. Kinda silly for interleague IMO.

Edgy MD Jun 24 2014 05:44 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

That background on Doolittle makes almost no sense.

Frayed Knot Jun 24 2014 06:35 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Edgy MD wrote: That background on Doolittle makes almost no sense. It really doesn't, does it? He was, at least at times, a two-way player at Virginia, but that's not at all uncommon in college. The odd journey started when he was strictly a position player from the time he was drafted in 2007 through 2009 - he then got injured and didn't play at all in 2010, or again in 2011 with the exception of 1 inning as a pitcher - by 2012 he was a 25 y/o who had sat out two full years and was not only a full-time pitcher but was in the major leagues by June after a brief sprint through the minors that consisted of just 6 appearances/10 innings at A-ball (0.87 ERA); 8 apps/11 IP at AA (0.82), and 2/3.2 at AAA (0.00) Doolittle spent a season and a half (2012-13) as one of their set-up men. Over this past winter the A's traded Jemile Weeks to the O's to get their former closer Jim Johnson - but wound up switching to Doolittle to finish games before mid-April.

Ashie62 Jun 24 2014 07:04 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Beware Josh Donaldson..one of the best lesser known hitters in the game...

MFS62 Jun 24 2014 07:15 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Frayed Knot wrote: Closer Sean Doolittle's numbers are ridiculous (most notably his 50-1 K/BB ratio) I wonder if he had Angel Hernandez, who has been known to miss more than a few pitches, behind the plate in any of those games. Nice KTE. I like how they have built a lineup of players (we don't get to hear much about) that has power top to bottom. No great sluggers, but it seems almost all of them can jack one out. Later

Ceetar Jun 24 2014 09:43 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Ashie62 wrote: Beware Josh Donaldson..one of the best lesser known hitters in the game... Pretty much not hitting in June though, hope that continues 2 more days.

smg58 Jun 24 2014 11:47 AM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

MFS62 wrote: I like how they have built a lineup of players (we don't get to hear much about) that has power top to bottom. No great sluggers, but it seems almost all of them can jack one out. Fangraphs gave Oakland's home park a park factor of 92 for home runs (100 being average, higher than that favoring hitters) in 2012 and 2013, with an overall factor of 97. The shortened CitiField has an overall factor of 96, but with a a 103 for home runs (shortening the fences greatly suppressed doubles and triples, according to their ratings). Is anybody complaining about Oakland's fences hurting their team's ability to win? Between Colon's success last year and Kazmir's this year, pitching coach Curt Young should get an acknowledgment as well.

Frayed Knot Jun 24 2014 12:22 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

MFS62 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Closer Sean Doolittle's numbers are ridiculous (most notably his 50-1 K/BB ratio) I wonder if he had Angel Hernandez, who has been known to miss more than a few pitches, behind the plate in any of those games. It's actually possible to look stuff like that up these days, and the answer to that question is ... No. I did hear once that when things weren't going so well for him that Doolittle contemplated jumping to the Giants in the Japanese league but then quickly dismissed the idea. In fact they say he was over Tokyo in 30 seconds.

Vic Sage Jun 24 2014 12:44 PM Re: KTE: Oakland Athletics (June 24-25)

Frayed Knot wrote: In fact they say he was over Tokyo in 30 seconds. That one didn't even make the list: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21369