The concourses were buzzing Sunday, with Athletics fans eagerly putting on their giveaway jerseys commemorating a World Series championship 50 years ago against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There was spectacular sunshine and a cheerfulness and excitement in the crowd of 18,491 that was welcome but at the same time out of place. A handful of the 1974 A’s were saluted, then the current version struck out 16 times against Pablo Torres and Griffin Jax in a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins.
That was one day after striking out 10 times in a 10-2 loss to the Twins and Bailey Ober, with the A’s swinging the bats as if facing Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens on consecutive days.
The fleeting feel of normalcy is unlikely to return to the Coliseum as the Athletics hit the midway point of the season with their 81st game Monday night in a 5-1 road loss to the Los Angeles Angels and Griffin Canning. At 29-52, the A’s are eight games better than the 2023 A’s (21-60) and three better than 2022 (26-55), seasons that ended with 112 and 100 losses, respectively.
The A’s have lost four of their last five, 13 of their last 16 and 16 of their last 21 games. A 17-17 record on May 4 — a .500 mark that was the stated training camp goal of manager Mark Kotsay — has been 12-35 ever since.
The loss Monday night began a six-game road trip to Anaheim and Arizona before coming back to Oakland and the final countdown of 40 home dates at a home venue that was allowed to fall into disrepair under John Fisher’s ownership with an eye toward Las Vegas by way of Sacramento.
The grand finale is against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 26, at which point they will have likely lost 100-plus games for the third straight season. The last time that happened was 1919-21 when the franchise was in Philadelphia and the manager was Connie Mack.
Good news for the local fan base — those who attend and those won don’t out of principle — is the A’s are considerably more competitive than they were a year ago. They’ve been outscored by 101 runs at the halfway point, as opposed to 223 in 2023 and 116 in 2022.
The A’s are second in the league in one-run decisions with 28, having won 12 of them.
“We are what our record says we are,” general manager David Forst told reporters last week. “If you watch us play, if you watch the Greek tragedy we’ve been stuck in the last two weeks finding ways to lose one-run games . . . you don’t get any trophies for competing every game, but we’re in there almost every night.
“We just can’t find a way to win, and that’s frankly a part of development. It’s part of being a good major league team and we’re obviously not there yet.”
Some things to watch as the A’s play out the string:
Who’s the All-Star?
Closer Mason Miller has 14 saves …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
