Jack O’Connell: Yanks’ bats silent against Athletics

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 jam. With runners on first and second and two out, Cano made one of his patented wide-ranging to the left grabs and across-the-body throws from the left side of second base to throw out Jed Lowrie at first base, a dandy of a run-saving play.

CC threw 118 pitches over six innings and allowed two runs, eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts and a wild pitch. He left on the losing side but had been effective enough to keep the Yankees in the game.

So did Adam Warren, who was one of the few bright spots for the Yankees. The righthander came out of the bullpen and supplied three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief with two walks and four strikeouts.

Moss’ HR in 19th ends A’s-Angels marathon; longest game in Oakland history

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 error by Angels first baseman Albert Pujols.

Pujols homered twice earlier in the game and finished with four hits. Mark Trumbo also went deep for the Angels and added a two-run double.

All that baseball took a toll on both teams.

Angels center fielder Peter Bourjos was removed with a strained left hamstring and third baseman Luis Jimenez came out with a bruised left shin.

Oakland lost center fielder Coco Crisp to a strained left hamstring and outfielder Chris Young to a strained left quadriceps.

Thanks to CV.

Can anyone explain why the A’s are good?

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 warning track.

After another rough start, A’s Parker says he’s ‘just a tick away’

‘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. In addition, as manager Bob Melvin noted, Parker has walked eight and recorded just four strikeouts, a year after he led the A’s with 140 strikeouts in 181 1/3 innings.

“I’m just a tick away, I feel like,” Parker said. “It’s something where I’ve just got to keep working hard and not dwell too much on what’s done is done.”

What exactly is troubling Parker, though, seems tough to pinpoint. Against the Angels, he said his fastball command was poor. It was better Sunday, but Parker said he “didn’t have much off-speed today,” all the more reason for the Tigers to key on the fastball—which they did, including several that Parker left up in the zone.

“I think today he was trying to pound the zone early on with the fastball,” Melvin said. “And he was. They were just hitting it.

“After what we saw last year and what we’ve seen at times this year, it’s puzzling when he gets hit because his stuff is so good. He’s just kind of been giving up a lot of hits.”

Bobby Valentine says things will improve for Oakland A’s shortstop

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 that I managed,’’ Valentine said. ``He’s a quality player, a quality major league player. I’m not sure that he’s going to be able to go to his right and be a great shortstop. But I think he could be a good player.

``I don’t know that he’ll play great for the Oakland A’s. He has world class abilities. His challenge will be his arm. He has to learn the speed of the runners and adjust to the length of the grass. The skills don’t always translate.’‘

Nakajima played mostly on artificial turf in Japan. With the A’s, he’ll play his home games, and most of his road games, on grass. He’s going to have to acclimatize to that difference. And that’s not all.

``The hardest thing will be adjusting to the community — but he probably should,’’ Valentine said. ``He’s a very vivacious guy. He’s really smart.

``I had a lot of guys playing in Japan that were very successful in the United States and they came to Japan and couldn’t acclimate to the culture — and they stunk. It’s all about acclimation.’‘

Jonah Keri on the art of stealing bases

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.

Ostler: Colon and Cabrera: No shame in steroids

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 players who crossed picket lines were marked forever as “scabs.” But if you’re a convicted juicer, hey, play ball.

Colon and Cabrera are doing fine. Cabrera, now a Toronto Blue Jay, is tearing up the Grapefruit League, .361 with power. If he carries that bat into the regular season, how long before Moose-Melk Men appear?

...If any of Colon’s or Cabrera’s teammates have a problem with a teammate who just got sprung from the PED slammer, those complaints have not been heard.

And I wonder if Cabrera and Colon - and other juicers - might even earn a little quiet, dark respect from other players. Hey, he loves the game so much he’s willing to take risks. If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’, and I want teammates who are tryin’.

As for fans, there will be the odd catcall on the road, but it’s doubtful we’ll see anyone toss a giant syringe at Colon or Cabrera.

...The moral, I hope, is not that juicing is OK, even beneficial. Reputations and legacies are still tarnished, bodies are harmed in ways we don’t entirely know yet, team and individual triumphs are cheapened, character is compromised.

Juicing is not the way to go, kids. But punishment-wise, it beats robbing banks.

Cohn: Melvin’s philosophy of baseball and managing the A’s

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 the roof of the dugout.)

Melvin: He’s a little different. Last year, I never saw him. I never laid eyes on him until he pitched against the Giants. (Griffin won 4-2 on June 24.) We followed him.

We knew the potential of him coming here was getting greater and greater. He’s a free spirit, he enjoys playing the game, he’s very confident. If you’re looking at one, two, three guys who embody what we’re all about he’s one.

Melvin: He’s young. Our front office does a great job in not only getting guys here when they’re playing well, but giving young players opportunities in prominent roles. They all feed off that. They see the success Tommy Milone had or Jarrod Parker or Sean Doolittle. Guys know they have a chance to be put in those types of roles in this organization, more so than some other organizations.

Professional athletes cash in on California’s workers comp.

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.

MLB give A’s tentative guidelines for move

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.

Grant Balfour out 4-6 weeks

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 Sentenced To Ten Years In Prison

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.

A’s ask Oakland for an extension of their lease for 5 more years.

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.

AZ Republic: A’s, Mesa near deal for Hohokam Stadium

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 Scott Smith said. “When I was in junior high and high school, the A’s were the team in Mesa with Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Rick Monday — the ASU trio.”

Oakland has trained at Phoenix Municipal Stadium since 1984. But their lease expires at the end of 2014, the same year the Phoenix stadium turns 50, and the team couldn’t reach an agreement with Phoenix about upgrading the ballpark.

Phoenix Muni is now seen as the most likely future home for the Arizona State University baseball team, which would be displaced if ASU moves ahead with plans to redevelop the site of Packard Stadium.

Lower in the story, there’s this weirdness:

Wolff said Phoenix had told the A’s it couldn’t afford to upgrade Muni to match the team’s desires. “We really needed a major remodeling of the Municipal Stadium,” he said. Lacking that, “we started looking for another option.”

The expiration of Oakland’s contract with Phoenix was perfectly timed, he said, with the Cubs’ departure from Hohokam, leaving a window during which Hohokam can be renovated before the A’s begin playing there.

“We try to fulfill all of our contracts,” Wolff said. “Sometimes we wish our players would do the same.”

Now what’s THAT about?

Kettman: Talk of A’s to San Jose Gets Unlikely Boost

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 baseball take action to resolve the absurd situation?

The facts are very simple: Years ago when the Giants were playing at Candlestick Park and desperate they asked to be granted so-called territorial rights to the San Jose area so they could pursue moving their franchise down there. Instead, they built a swank new ballpark in San Francisco that is the envy of baseball and yet, for reasons not one person can explain, they are being allowed to perpetuate the fiction that they “own” territorial rights to San Jose.

I grew up in San Jose. Back then it was the pathetic cousin of San Francisco. Now it has a larger population and it also boasts great weather for baseball: Anyone who is open-minded agrees it makes sense for the A’s to move there—since Oakland, sadly, is clearly no longer an option—and build an intimate new stadium. I was covering the San Jose Sharks for the San Francisco Chronicle when the team started playing its first games at a new arena in San Jose and the fans went wild. Something similar would happen if the A’s moved to San Jose. It would be good for baseball. It would be good for the Giants, since everyone loves a good rivalry and it’s always much more fun and interesting to have two lively franchises in a market.

So when someone like Boras, who I think of as always having a single agenda (Boras), takes his time to make some obvious points on the subject, I think it’s a good sign.