Happy Thursday all! The weekend is within sight.
The team lost yesterday’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates, falling to their NL Central rivals 12-4 to secure the series loss. Not a great way to end things with the Pirates but they’re on the come up just like the A’s. Hard to root against that scrappy squad.
Now the A’s must turn their attention to the next team to come to Sacramento. The team is set to welcome the division-rival Los Angeles Angels to town for a four-game series that’ll span into Sunday. Back to work.
Los Angeles has been one of the worst teams in the entire sport under manager Kurt Suzuki in his first year leading the squad. There weren’t high expectations for them entering the season but no one thought they’d be this bad. The Angels aren’t a “poor” team as they have a 15th-ranked payroll, but they’ve been run bad over the past few years and it’s showing on the field, with seemingly no end in sight for an organization that seems stuck in limbo of trying to contend versus a complete teardown rebuild.
The Angels’ offense isn’t without solid bats. They’ve been led by future Hall-of-Famer Mike Trout, who is finally having a healthy season and has 17 home runs on the year while patrolling center field again. Shortstop Zack Neto has popped 14 long balls and 11 steals while right fielder Jo Adell, a trade candidate this summer, has 10 home runs. First baseman Nolan Schanuel and second baseman Oswald Peraza have held their own, but the rest of the Angels’ offense has been lacking, a big reason why the team is in the cellar of the AL West.
The pitching, meanwhile, has a few strong options but has overall lacked for yet another season. They’ve been buoyed by ace Jose Soriano atop the rotation, and Reid Detmers has pitched well in his conversion back to a starting pitcher. They’ve also gotten good production out of rookie right-hander Walbert Urena, who could be a staple in their rotation for years if he keeps this up. Outside of those three there hasn’t been much stability, something A’s fans are familiar with.
Tonight’s starting pitcher for the A’s will be lefty Gage Jump, who is looking to continue his hot start to his career. In four starts so far Jump has a 3.09 ERA, looking more than ready to be in the rotation long-term. At this point it’s hard to see him ever returning to the minor leagues. The A’s were hoping he’d be ready at some point this year but the coaching staff must be ecstatic with the early success the 23-year-old is having already.
Looking ahead, tomorrow the A’s will have another lefty in Jeffrey Springs on the bump. He’s faltered of late so he’ll be looking for a bounce back performance on Friday night. Then it’ll be J.T. Ginn going for the Green & Gold on Saturday night while fellow righty Jack Perkins will get the ball for the series finale on Sunday afternoon. That’ll be a hot one. We may see the ball fly a lot in this upcoming series with the sun out and the temperature in the mid-90’s.
While the Athletics’ starting plans for the coming series are set, the Angels have yet to announce their plans for the series. We’re almost certainly going to see their best starters in Soriano, Detmers, and Urena. Regardless who the Angels go with, the A’s need to hit them hard and rack up some wins against the worst team in the American League. Anything less than taking three of four should be considered a disappointment.
First pitch is at 6:40. Have a great one, y’all.
Some good news down on the farm:
Still likely to get done, but it sure hasn’t been easy:
How will the A’s do against the remaining pre-All Star schedule?
