Tagged: Josh Donaldson

Game 64: A’s vs. White Sox

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via the @Athletics

Game Notes:

Tommy Milone (6-5) vs. John Danks (0-2)

1:10PM @ U.S. Cellular Field

Milone looks for his seventh win of the season and his fourth in his last five starts as the A’s look to make it 19 out of 22. Chris Young is sick and will be unavailable today.

The Lineups:

A’s

  1. Crisp CF
  2. Reddick RF
  3. Céspedes LF
  4. Donaldson 3B
  5. Lowrie 2B
  6. Freiman 1B
  7. Young DH
  8. Norris C
  9. Rosales SS

White Sox

  1. De Aza LF
  2. Ramirez SS
  3. Rios RF
  4. Konerko DH
  5. Dunn 1B
  6. Viciedo DH
  7. Keppinger 3B
  8. Bekcham 2B
  9. Flowers C

The Reading List:

  1. The A’s won their fifth straight over the White Sox and pushed past the Rangers into first place as Josh Reddick made a game-saving grab in the ninth. Ryan Cook said he’d never seen anyone rob a home run “so nonchalantly.”
  2. Josh Donaldson provided all the offense the team would need when he cracked an opposite field grand slam in the sixth. He’s now 6-for-8 with the bases loaded and during BP Reddick had told Donaldson that “he wasn’t strong enough to go the other way.”
  3. Jarrod Parker has now won five of his past eight starts after losing four of his first five.
  4. Grant Balfour discussed his in-game routine and his feelings on the Ragin’ Gnome with John Lund and Greg Papa on 95.7 The Game.
  5. The Athletics Farm provided a rundown on the team’s top 12 picks. The draft concludes today.
  6. Hiro Nakajima was 1-for-5 as the River Cats exploded for 14 runs last night. Jemile Weeks was 4-for-5 with a double and two runs as he played short stop.

The Monthly Review: May

May Record: 16-12

  • A’s were also 16-12 in April
  • Home: 7-3
  • Away: 9-9
  • 33-24 as of June 2

Pitching:

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Player of the Month: Grant Balfour

  • The Australian racked up 15 K’s in 10.2 innings, had a 0.87 ERA, was a perfect 9-for-9 on save opportunities, and limited opposing batters to a .139 batting average over 11 games.

Worth Noting:

  • Bartolo Colon and A.J Griffin each collected three wins in the season’s second month. Colon currently leads the staff with six wins and innings pitched (70.1).
  • Sean Doolittle has continued his impressive start to 2013. The lefty recored a 1.38ERA in May. Bullpen mate Pat Neshek had a 1.08ERA and Jerry Blevins has yet to allow a run in any of the 12 night games he has appeared in this season.
  • Tommy Milone lost three games and also allowed a staff-high of 19 earned runs.

Hitting:

Josh Donaldson

Player of the Month: Josh Donaldson

  • The A’s third baseman cracked six home runs with five of them coming in night games. He also added 8 doubles. He continues to make a strong case for an All Star spot despite a crowd of talented rivals at the hot corner.

Worth Noting:

  • Nate Freiman led the team with a .351 batting average in May after hitting .148 in the season’s first month. He also leads the team with a .474 batting average (9-for-19) with runners in scoring position.
  • Coco Crisp scored 10 runs in 14 games this month and has now scored 34 runs in 38 games.
  • Brandon Moss (.153), Chris Young (.195) and Derek Norris (.164) all hit under .200 during the month of May. Moss also K’d a team-high 30 times.
  • Adam Rosales ended the month on a 1-for-29 (.034) skid. On the season Rosales has hit 14-for-49 (.286) against lefties but 5-for-40 (.125) against right handers.
  • Eric Sogard is hitting .284 (29-for -84) against righties and is batting .187 (4-for-22) against left handers.
  • Jed Lowrie is hitting .371 (23-for-63)  and OPSing 1.039 with two outs in 2013.

June Preview: 13 home games, 14 away games

6/1: 2 games vs. White Sox

6/3: 3 games @ Brewers

6/6: 4 games @ White Sox

Off Day

6/11: 3 games vs. Yankees

6/14: 3 games vs. Mariners

6/17: 4 games @ Rangers

6/21: 3 games @ Mariners

Off Day

6/25: 2 games vs. Reds

Off Day

6/28: 3 Games vs. Cardinals

Game 56: White Sox vs. A’s

Game Notes:

A’s: 31-24

White Sox: 24-27

7:05PM @ the O.co Coliseum

Dylan Axelrod (3-3) 4.21 ERA vs. Bartolo Colón (5-2) 3.82 ERA

Colon goes for his third win in four starts as the A’s open up a three game weekend set with Chicago. The 40-year-old right hander leads the league with an average of .59 walks allowed per nine innings.

The Lineups:

White Sox…

A’s

  1. Crisp CF
  2. Lowrie 2B
  3. Céspedes LF
  4. Smith DH
  5. Donaldson 3B
  6. Jaso C
  7. Reddick RF
  8. Moss 1B
  9. Sogard 2B

The Reading List:

  1. Coco Crisp collected three of the team’s five hits yesterday as they dropped the finale 5-2 to the Giants. Crisp is now hitting .359 in his past 10 games.
  2. Josh Reddick returns to the A’s tonight as Luke Montz is optioned back to Sacramento. In four games with the Ports and River Cats Reddick was 3-for 14 (.214) with three walks, five runs, two stolen bases, but zero extra base hits.
  3. Jane Lee tweeted that the A’s are now 8-12 in day games and 24-12 at night.
  4. Casper Wells returns to the Coliseum tonight. The outfielder was 0-for-5 during with three game stint with the Athletics earlier this year before getting DFA’d for third time this season. With the White Sox Wells is 3-for-17 (.176) in 10 games.
  5. Mychael Urban returns with a new iteration of “Urbs Unchained.”
  6. The team has released a new commercial featuring the duo of Grant Balfour and Sean Doolittle.
  7. Tomorrow is Yoenis Céspedes Replica Jersey Day:

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Game 53: Giants vs. A’s

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via @MikeSelleck

Game Notes:

Giants: 28-23

A’s: 29-23

Mike Kickham (0-0) vs. Jarrod Parker (2-6)

7:05PM @ the O.co Coliseum

Parker has pitched 7 innings in each of his past two starts while allowing less than three runs, but did not pick up a win in either outing. It’s the second straight start in which Parker is opposed by a pitcher making a season (and in this case, career) debut.

The Lineups:

Giants

  1. Blanco CF
  2. Scutaro DH
  3. Sandoval 3B
  4. Posey C
  5. Pence RF
  6. Belt 1B
  7. Torres LF
  8. Crawford SS
  9. Noonan 2B

A’s

  1. Crisp CF
  2. Young RF
  3. Céspedes LF
  4. Donaldson 3B
  5. Lowrie 2B
  6. Freiman 1B
  7. Norris C
  8. Montz DH
  9. Rosales SS

The Reading List:

  1. Josh Donaldson launched his eighth home run of the season in game one of the series as he continues to make his All Star push.
  2. Josh Reddick was 1-for-3 last night for the Stockon Ports. He’s scheduled to continue his rehab with the River Cats tonight in Sacramento.
  3. Tonight Yoenis Céspedes will look to extend a career best nine game hitting streak.

Game 48: A’s vs. Rangers

Game Notes:

Jarrod Parker (2-5) vs. Ross Wolf (0-0)

11:05AM @ Rangers Ballpark

Parker takes the mound today in Arlington as the A’s look to complete a three game sweep. The team has won five straight and allowed seven runs during that streak. The right hander has lasted at least 6 innings in each of his last two starts and will be opposed by Ross Wolf, who last pitched in the Majors in 2010 when he appeared in 11 games for the A’s.

The Lineups:

A’s

  1. Crisp CF
  2. Jaso DH
  3. Céspedes LF
  4. Moss 1B
  5. Donaldson 3B
  6. Smith RF
  7. Sogard 2B
  8. Rosales SS

Rangers

  1. Andrus SS
  2. Murphy LF
  3. Berkman DH
  4. Beltre 3B
  5. Cruz RF
  6. Pierzynski C
  7. Baker 1B
  8. Martin CF
  9. Garcia 2B

The Reading List:

  1. Jed Lowrie is out of the lineup today, but X-rays on his right foot came back negative after he was hit by Yu Darvish in the fifth inning last night.
  2. Grant Balfour has converted 27 straight save opportunities. He last blew a save on April 29, 2012. Sean Doolittle has racked up 21 strikeouts over his first 20 innings pitched this season, and has held opponents to a .132 batting average. Josh Donaldson leads the team in batting average, hits, doubles, RBI, BB, OBP, SLG and OPS. The trio is making a strong case to be included in this summer’s All-Star game in New York; vote for Donaldson and the rest of the A’s position players to make the trip.
  3. Hiro Nakajima played third base last night for the River Cats. Nakajima was 1-for-5 with a double. It’s his fourth two-base hit of his rehab assignment.

Game 44: Royals vs. A’s

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Game Notes:

Ervin Santana (3-2) vs. Tomny Milone (3-5)

6:05PM @ the O.co

A’s Tweet-Up before

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StarWars fireworks after

The Lineups:

@athletics

  1. Crisp CF
  2. Lowrie SS
  3. Céspedes LF
  4. Moss 1B
  5. Donaldson 3B
  6. Jaso DH
  7. Young RF
  8. Norris C
  9. Sogard 2B

Royals

  1. Cain CF
  2. Escobar SS
  3. Gordon LF
  4. Butler DH
  5. Hosmer 1B
  6. Perez C
  7. Moustakas 3B
  8. Francouer RF
  9. Johnson 2B

The Reading List:

  1. Chris Young has been activated from the disabled list and goes straight back into the lineup. Daric Barton has been designated for assignment for the second time this season. The team is hopefully that he will slip through waivers again and return to Sacramento.
  2. Josh Donaldson is hitting .389 in the last 10 games as he continues to make his case for a trip to New York.
  3. John Hickey reported that Hiro Nakajima’s legs are fully healthy, but that he needs to start hitting if he’s going to get recalled.  After 9 games Nakajima is currently 8-for-35 (.229). Bob Melvin had said the short stop was likely to get “60-65” plate appearances when he begin his rehab stint with the River Cats.

A’s get rolled 9-2, swept out of Cleveland and off to Seattle

The Post Game Reading List:

  1. The A’s are off to Seattle after losing all four games in Cleveland. Today the team lost 9-2 as Bartolo Colon dropped his second straight start, and the club is now 18-18 on the season.
  2. Josh Donaldson connected for his fourth home run of the season in the sixth inning. The third baseman continues his early season charge for an All-Star berth.
  3. The upcoming edition of Athletics magazine provides the full scoop on Sean Doolittle.
  4. 95.7 The Game’s Guy Haberman discussed the upcoming Yoenis Céspedes article in S.I. with its author Ben Reiter.
  5. MLB VP for Baseball Operations Joe Torre issued a statement today regarding the non-home run call.
  6. Tomorrow at 7:10PM in Seattle Dan Straily takes the mound against Hisashi Iwakuma at Safeco Field.
  7. Brett Anderson Tweeted on his way out of Cleveland:

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A’s beat Yankees 5-4, take two of three

The Post Game Reading List:

  1. The A’s beat the Yankees 5-4 thanks to an eighth inning home run off of the bat of Josh Donaldson. Luke Montz and Yoenis Céspedes also homered. Céspedes had his mother in the stands at today’s game for the first time in his A’s career.
  2. Montz’s home run was his first in 1,679 days.
  3. Hiro Nakajima didn’t play for the River Cats again today, and he is headed back to Oakland for further examination.
  4. With a double in the ninth, Josh Reddick collected his first ever hit at Yankee Stadium.
  5. Tomorrow the team makes its second stop on this 10-game road trip, beginning a three game series in Cleveland. Jarrod Parker takes the mound at 4:05PM against Ubaldo Jimenez.

Game 30: A’s vs. Yankees

A.J. Griffin

Game notes:

A’s: 16-13

Yankess: 17-10

A.J. Griffin vs. CC Sabathia

4:05PM @ Yankee Stadium

Griffin takes the mound this afternoon in the Bronx as the A’s begin their 10-game road trip. The 25-year-old is winless in his last three starts, and has allowed 13 runs over 17 innings of work. Over that same stretch, however, Griffin has also struck out 18, including seven against Baltimore on Saturday.

The Lineups:

Yellow logo

  1. Rosales SS
  2. Smith LF
  3. Lowrie 2B
  4. Céspedes LF
  5. Donaldson 3B
  6. Norris C
  7. Reddick RF
  8. Freiman 1B
  9. Montz DH

Yankees…

The Reading List:

  1. Hiro Nakajima will play shortstop for the River Cats tonight. Bob Melvin likened the AAA rehab trip to spring training for Nakajima, and said that he is likely to get 60-65 at-bats. The team has given no specific timeline on when Nakajima will be recalled.
  2. Chris Young is once again out of the lineup and will be unavailable for tonight’s game.
  3. Vote for Josh Donaldson and the rest of the A’s to be All-Stars. The third baseman has 16 hits and has driven in 13 runs in the past 10 games.