Axford makes pitch for ‘Moonlight’
But reliever with expertise in film says ‘La La Land’ is the likely Oscar winner
MESA, Ariz. — There are people who know more about films and the Oscars than John Axford, just not many.
The A’s reliever got a degree in film and television at Notre Dame and is a serious movie buff. He knows his stuff.
In 2013, he correctly picked 17 of 18 major-category Academy Award winners. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, in 2014, he was a perfect 18 for 18. That earned him some street cred, including being on the Oscars prediction panel last year for ABC’s Good Morning America.
He has hit a rough patch the last two times around, although by going 20 for 24 in 2015 and 2016 — batting .833 — one could argue that he was still among the best at knowing how Oscar voters will trend.
In the next 24 hours, Axford will be finalizing his picks for Sunday’s Oscars and posting them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In his heart, he says he would like “Moonlight” to win, but he thinks he’ll pick “La La Land.”
“It’s an interesting year for films,” Axford said. “For a pick to win, I would like it to be ‘Moonlight.’ But I think I will be going with ‘ La La Land.’ I’ve been wrong two years in a row voting for films that I wanted to win.
“This year, I’m going with a film I don’t want to win and just
hoping that ‘Moonlight’ wins. I just think Hollywood is not going to be able to shy away from ‘La La Land.’ It has the most nominations. And it’s Hollywood looking at itself.”
To get tuned up, Axford and a bunch of his A’s teammates took in a special screening of “Moonlight” Thursday night in the Mesa area.
Mahershala Ali, one of the film’s stars, who was born in Oakland and raised in Hayward, contacted the A’s about giving the club the special screening.
Axford, who has already seen the movie, planned to go again. That’s what happens when you are a regular contributor to the Milwaukee Film Festival and have an executive producer credit for a documentary about the Canadian rock band The Reason, a film he introduced in Milwaukee two years ago.
There will be no Good Morning America panel for Axford this year. He says he’s just going to post his picks on social media “and we’ll see how that goes.”
The common wisdom that pitchers are ahead of hitters in early spring took a bit of a beating Thursday as the A’s held a couple of intrasquad games.
Two games, played simultaneously on Fields 1 and 4 at the Lew Wolff complex, saw the hitters consistently hammer the pitchers.
The first man singled out by manager Bob Melvin was infielder/outfielder Mark Canha, who picked on a low breaking pitch from Sonny Gray and blasted a run-scoring double.
“That was a tough pitch to hit from Sonny, down and in,” Melvin said of Canha. “He looks good. I threw batting practice to him today. He looks good. He’s healthy, strong and probably in better shape than he’s ever been in.”
Canha missed most of the 2016 after hip surgery.
“When you come off a surgery like that, you’d better work hard to rehab it, and he certainly did,” Melvin said. “It’s good to see him get a good swing right away.”
The rosters for the two games were roughly split between veterans on Field 4 and the prospects on Field 1. Melvin bounced between the fields to see as much as he could.
“There were some really good at-bats; you don’t expect that good of at-bats to start,” Melvin said, singling out Rajai Davis, Stephen Vogt, Khris Davis, Trevor Plouffe, Alejandro De Aza, Matt Chapman and Jaff Decker. “There were a lot of good at-bats today. Especially because the stuff I saw was really good.
“Sonny’s ball was moving all over; he had a really good breaking ball for a strikeout. He threw a pretty good pitch to Canha down where he likes it and he ended up hitting it in the gap.”
Kendall Graveman, who gave up a booming triple to Rajai Davis and two runs, was limited to 15 pitches by design.
“We cut Kendall short because he’s got two days off,” Melvin said. Graveman starts Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. “It was like a bullpen for him.”
Yairo Munoz, who can be picked out in a crowd because of his colorful yellow hair, “hit a bomb” in the Field 1 game.
Sean Manaea and Zach Neal, both of whom pitched in the Field 1 game, got thumbs-ups for their performances from Melvin.
Franklin Barreto, who has been moved into center field at times in the minor leagues, will be kept at shortstop and second base this spring, with Melvin saying that the club has plenty of outfielders for the moment.
There is a decent chance that Santiago Casilla will be at the A’s camp Friday. He was signed late, so the paperwork requirements to get him from the Dominican Republic to Arizona have taken a while. When Casilla, the longtime Giants closer, arrives, Melvin said he will be in no rush to get him into a game.