Your Oakland Athletics entered tonight’s game versus the lowly Chicago White Sox just barely ahead of the Brewers for MLB’s worst record, and walked off the field with the worst record in baseball.
In their last ten, the A’s are 2-8. On social media, the drumbeat has already begun to give up on 2015, trade off high-return veterans, and stock Oakland’s 23rd-ranked farm team with bigger bats and younger arms.
Season previews had the A’s infield as having been upgraded — in spite of losing considerable firepower from Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss — but to date, the team has committed more errors than any other in the majors, with one-third of them coming from first-year Athletic Marcus Semien. But when the A’s make an Error, things unravel & they unravel fast — the White Sox netted five runs unearned as bullpen pitchers came & went tonight, adding to the A’s unbelievable 27 unearned runs this season.
Bob Melvin likes to blame fans’ heartache and Oakland’s losing record on the team’s ‘inconsistency’, but the team has been very consistent: Build a lead, let the starter pitch almost into the 7th, phone in the bullpen, and watch them eliminate the lead.
Game Over. With the closure of Game 37 at Home, here’s how your White Elephants stack up:
- The Athletics’ hottest hitter is Marcus Semien, who’s nearly made up for all those E’s with a streak of red hot hitting. Over the course of the week, he hit .400, had three home runs, and five runs.
- The A’s (13-23) are now in last place in the AL West race. The team has lost an unexplainable number of one-run games (12), and their bullpen has given up an incredible 60 ER thus far. Discounting Ike Davis, relievers for the A’s have an ERA ranging anywhere from 1.69 to 33.75 and are accountable for 10 of the team’s losses.
- Oakland’s pitching situation is either a Comedy or a Tragedy, I don’t know which. Sonny Gray has produced a Cy Young-esque start to the year that pundits expected of him, and Scott Kazmir has been a very good No. 2 guy. But the bullpen has been disastrous, and no other starter than Jesse Chavez can claim “consistency” on their resume for the 2015.
- The A’s reinstated LHP Sean Nolin today, the club’s No. 7 prospect, and optioned him to Nashville. Former All-Star reliever Edward Mujica was traded over from the Red Sox, and that team is rumored to be in the running for the services of Scott Kazmir now with the team tanking.
- The A’s made five transactions this week. LHP Sean Doolittle is on rehab assignment, OF Alex Hassan was released, C Blake Forsythe was traded to the Phillies, and RHP Jarrod Parker was placed on the 60-day DL after the awful injury to his surgically repaired elbow.
- Here’s a fun fact: The A’s have one player in their history with 10 RBI in a single game. That player? Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson. It happened on June 14, 1969.
White Elephant Weekly is edited by Emily Thompson, who translates, writes, and processes archives in Seattle, WA.