It’s one thing for Michael the Kay and Sen. Al Leiter to screw this up last night…but the BBWAA high muckety-muck? “Rookie shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first career home run.”

Sabathia was taken deep on the first pitch of the game. Rookie shortstop Adam Rosales smoked a first-pitch fastball to left-center for his first career home run. Sabathis settled down nicely but needed major help from second baseman Robinson Cano to get out of a fifth-inning ...

The teams were on the field for 6 hours, 32 minutes in a marathon game that ended at 1:41 a.m. on the West Coast. It was the longest game ever played in Oakland by time and the longest in Angels history as well.

Oakland slugger Yoenis Cespedes singled off the left-center wall to drive in the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Los Angeles went ahead 8-7 in the 15th on a bases-loaded walk, but the A’s tied it in the bottom half on Adam Rosales’ two-out single after a costly ...

The 2011 Oakland A’s offense was, in a word, inept. As a team, the Athletics hit .244/.311/.369. They finished 20th in runs scored and 24th in home runs. Just one player on the entire roster hit higher than .265 that season: Jemile Weeks, the team’s primary second baseman, who managed just two homers all year. On the final day of the 2011 season, with the A’s out of contention, the Mariners let Oakland hitters stand on the outfield grass for all their at-bats; not a single player reached the ...

‘just a ticket away’ (fixed)

Jarrod Parker made it through just 3 1/3 innings and allowed nine hits for the second consecutive start Sunday. The difference from his last one—when he gave up just two runs in Anaheim—was the Detroit Tigers made him pay with a career-high eight runs allowed in the A’s 10-1 loss at the Coliseum.

Parker had a rocky spring and has not fared much better in his three regular-season starts. His ERA is currently at 10.80, and he has allowed 23 hits in 11 2/3 innings. ...

The Vivacious One! (There’ll Be Some Changes Made).

It’s been a tough spring for A’s shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima, who is trying to make the transition from being a star in Japan to an every day player in the U.S.

But Bobby Valentine, who saw Nakajima play numerous games in Japan, says things are likely to get better.

...The knock on him was his defense, but from Valentine’s vantage point, Nakajima should be able to at least hold his own in the big leagues.

``He played in the same division ...

If you formed your first baseball memories in the 1980s, you’re watching a very different game than the one you grew to love as a kid. The ’80s were the time of Rickey Henderson becoming the greatest of all time. Tim Raines drove opposing pitchers insane. Vince Coleman swiped 100-plus three years in a row.

Ostlercization from the baseball community isn’t shame enough?!

Among the things that ain’t what they used to be: the shame and disgrace of being busted for steroids.

Exhibits C and C: Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera.

They’re both back in baseball - although Colon has five games left on his suspension - and will be earning nice paychecks, without having to go the Hester Prynne route (look it up, you lazy kids!) where you wear your sins forever.

When baseball had work stoppages, minor-league ...

Melvin’s colossus of destiny.

Cohn: Your starting pitchers — I’m trying to find adjectives for some of them — cocky, self-confident, a little nutso.

Melvin: I’d say the last two. Cocky I wouldn’t. Self-confident, sure.

Cohn: How about nutso?

Melvin: We have a few.

Cohn: Is it a good thing?

Melvin: It works well in our clubhouse.

Cohn: A.J. Griffin is that way. (Note: Griffin is gregarious, talkative. Recently, he chatted with some media people while hanging by his hands from ...

SACRAMENTO—California’s workers’ compensation system has awarded millions of dollars in benefits for job-related injuries to thousands of professional athletes, including many who played for out-of-state teams, according to a report.

The commissioner’s office has provided the Oakland Athletics with tentative guidelines for a potential move to San Jose, according to three people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it.

Manager Bob Melvin announced this morning that closer Grant Balfour has a meniscus tear in his right knee that will be repaired via arthroscopic surgery this afternoon. This is not a torn ligament, it’s much more minor, and arthroscopic surgery means a short recovery time; the A’s estimate he will be back pitching in 4-6 weeks. That means he very well could be ready for Opening Day.

Enrique Soto, one of baseball’s most prominent trainers in the Dominican Republic for the last two decades, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of charges of sexually assaulting two boys that were part of his academy 10 years ago, according to a report that first aired Monday night in the Dominican Republic on Noticias Sin.

Better late than never.

The Oakland Athletics on Friday asked to remain in the Oakland Coliseum for five more years, in a proposed agreement that would delay the target for their move to San Jose until 2018.

A move by the Oakland Athletics to Hohokam Stadium is all but a done deal, thanks to action Thursday by the Mesa City Council.

The council approved a memorandum of understanding sketching the broad outlines of an agreement that will bring the A’s to Mesa for at least 20 years, with options for two five-year extensions.

Oakland conducted spring training in Mesa 1969-78 — an era whose legendary teams won consecutive World Series 1972-74.

“We think they’re sort of coming home,” Mayor ...

I doubt it’s from the Ike Ferrell Advocacy Group.

Baseball’s winter meetings are a bizarre spectacle, a lot of people standing around chasing rumors with not much going on much of the time, which was why it was a big deal when super-agent Scott Boras chose the occasion to talk up the idea of the A’s moving to San Jose.

The reason it was important was this: No one else was talking about it. It generated some tweets and some headlines and focused some attention on a maddening riddle—Why doesn’t ...