A’s up-and-down season on the line as Yankees arrive.
Scott Ostler: Things aren’t going well on the field or off
No baseball team is colder than the A’s, with all due disrespect to the Orioles, who had an excuse for losing 19 in a row before Wednesday: They’re a lousy team.
The A’s have a good squad. But it’s sinking fast, four straight losses and 8 of the past 10, and here come the Yankees, on an 11-game win streak.
Big four-game series, starting Thursday. If this was a college course for the A’s, it would be pass/fail. If the A’s don’t relax soon, their season could get ugly ... er.
At least the joint will be
lively. A’s home attendance hit alarmingly low levels, in the 4,000s, the past couple of games against Seattle. The crowds will be much larger for this series, although most of the fans will be rooting for the Yankees. At least those transplanted New Yorkers will be reserved and respectful of the home team. Right?
A’s fans driving to the games will want to allow a couple of hours to park at the Coliseum. A’s management is thrown into a panic by any crowd over 5,000.
Why do I mention parking and fans? Well, for most of the season, it has been possible to keep the A’s on-field adventures separate from the organization’s off-field business misadventures. Now it feels like the two elements are becoming interrelated.
Throughout most of the season, the players seemed to distance themselves from the ballpark-project controversy and plans for a move to Las Vegas, but now it’s almost as if the team and the organization are on parallel paths.
The talks between the A’s and Oakland over the proposed waterfront project seem be stalled. Oakland officials say the negotiations are going great, but A’s President Dave Kaval says, in essence,
Yeah, no.
By the way, I doublechecked. All four of the games in this series will be played in Oakland, none in Las Vegas. Although, if you’re going to any of the games, you might want to
park in Vegas.
Even the A’s purchase of 50% of the Coliseum site from Alameda County is under state scrutiny.
Whether that outside stuff effects the players, even slightly, is unknown. But the team has fallen into a serious funk. The only good news recently has been that Chris Bassitt’s face surgery was “successful,” which is doctor-speak for “the patient survived.”
Bassitt, a Cy Young Award candidate, was hit on the face with a line drive that almost surely ended his season. Before that, the A’s lost center fielder/spark plug Ramón Laureano to a failed PED test. The A’s can’t even pee without getting into trouble.
The A’s bullpen is overtaxed, and no doubt dispirited after blowing three late-inning leads in three days, two of those on pinch-hit home runs.
The rotation is thin. With Bassitt gone, Frankie Montas steps into the ace roll, boasting 66 strikeouts in his last 49-plus innings. But Montas pitches only every fifth game.
The A’s offense during their recent skid has been reduced to a leaky faucet, 2.7 runs per game over the past 10.
“I think we need to relax,” shortstop Elvis Andrus said after Tuesday’s loss.
Manager Bob Melvin said pretty much the same thing. His players are trying too hard. So this series will be, among other things, a test of how good Melvin is at adjusting his team’s attitude and easing the tension.
The A’s had Wednesday off (as did the Yankees), but unless Melvin took his fellas on a Zen retreat, it’s hard to see how they will achieve a relaxed state against the Yankees.
The last time the Yankees won 11 in a row was in 1985, when Rickey Henderson was in pinstripes. Their last loss was in Iowa, in the dramatic “Field of Dream” game. After that, they flipped a switch, playing with playoff intensity.
On Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone used six relievers in a desperate — and successful — effort to hold of the Braves.
Aaron Judge has been hot, with 27 homers and a .900 OPS, and here comes Giancarlo Stanton, who seemed washed up a couple of years ago, but apparently didn’t get the news, and has 65 RBIs. Bash brothers.
The A’s have an even stronger one-two offensive punch, in Matt Olson (32 homers, .934 OPS) and Starling Marte (.353 in 24 games with the A’s, with 17 steals in 17 attempts).
But in baseball, it’s all about chemistry, and right now, the Yankees have the formula and the A’s can’t get their Bunsen Burner lit.
If you’re watching on TV or coming to the Coliseum this weekend, don’t leave the games early. Both bullpens are struggling, so no late-game lead is safe. The Yankees have no reliable closer. All-Star Aroldis Chapman has 23 of the Yankees’ 39 saves, but has been dealing with arm issues, has lost command of his fastball, and was pulled twice in recent save situations.
And you know about the A’s recent bullpen follies.
The A’s will have 31 games left after this series, but they can’t afford to lose much more ground in their pursuit of a playoff berth. So come early and stay late, A’s fans, and don’t mind all those folks with funny accents.