- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,194,269
- Reaction score
- 59
The Elvis Alvarado as A's closer experiment may already be over. In his past two games, he gave up the go-ahead home run to Zach Neto of the Angels in the A's 9-7 loss on Sunday, and then on Wednesday entered with a 1-0 lead to protect against the Giants before allowing two solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Other than his most recent outings, he's been pretty good this month, giving up one earned run in 8 1/3 innings of work while striking out 13 batters. The blue dots in these pictures are where the home run pitches were located.
Devers Home Run
Victor Bericoto Walk-Off
"Just mistakes in the middle," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "It doesn't matter how hard you throw, the velocity is still there. When you make mistakes in the middle of the plate, these are big-league hitters and they can do damage."
But we're at the point in the season where Alvarado isn't the first or the second choice the A's have tried in the ninth.
To varying degrees, Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Barlow, Joel Kuhnel, Hogan Harris, and Jack Perkins have all been given opportunities. Justin Sterner received a couple of chances early as well.
Leiter is on the IL, Barlow and Kuhnel have been designated for assignment, Harris is pitching big in spots but not relegated solely to the ninth, and Perkins is now in the starting rotation.
The next guy who could get a look would be Luis Medina, though he is brand new to the relief role and the team has been rolling him into higher-leverage spots slowly. On Wednesday night he pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but he walked two of the first three batters he faced, which is the final piece of his game that the A's coaches would like to see smoothed out.
Medina struck out the final two batters and kept the score where it was. For now, that's enough to keep him in the conversation.
Back on May 12, Jacob Wilson landed on the IL with a left shoulder dislocation that kept him out of action for exactly one month. In that time, the A's defense seemed to fall apart around the diamond.
On Wednesday in San Francisco, he may have re-injured the same shoulder on a play that shouldn't have happened.
This is a ball that was thrown down the left field line, and by the time Wilson was rounding third, it appeared as though the left fielder had picked the ball up and was tossing it in. The throw beat Wilson by quite a bit, but he was trying to get a run on the board in a scoreless tie but instead landed hard on his left shoulder.
He'd stay in the game until his at-bat in the ninth inning, but with the A's threatening with two on and two out and looking to add to their slim 1-0 lead, Kotsay would go with pinch-hitter Jonah Heim instead.
"He hurt his shoulder again," Kotsay said. "I don't have a report on how bad it is, but enough to where he couldn't swing a bat."
Kotsay also mentioned that in his previous at-bat, Wilson's swings were "not good. He gave us everything he had. In that situation with an opportunity to add on to the lead, without him being able to swing, I made the decision to take him out of the game."
Heim would stay in the game at third base in the bottom of the inning, with Max Muncy sliding from third to shortstop.
Zack Gelof was injured in Tuesday night's game in San Francisco when Giants third baseman Matt Chapman stepped on his right hand. He was immediately removed with what was later deemed a laceration and a contusion.
After the game, Kotsay said that he was considered day-to-day and that they would be monitoring the swelling.
Before Wednesday's game, the A's skipper told reporters that Gelof is sore and that they were going to give him another 24 hours to see if he could make more progress.
"We'll determine the direction at some point before [Thursday's] game."
With the swelling of Gelof's hand not subsiding as much as they had hoped, the thought process here is that if there is progress, he could still be available within a couple of days, which would be good enough news to keep him off the IL. If the swelling is still substantial, then a move may have to be made.
We should know more before Thursday's game just by whether the A's announce a roster move or not.
JOIN Athletics Roundtable to discuss the latest news with our staff, and fans like you!
Continue reading...
Other than his most recent outings, he's been pretty good this month, giving up one earned run in 8 1/3 innings of work while striking out 13 batters. The blue dots in these pictures are where the home run pitches were located.
You must be registered for see images attach
Devers Home Run
You must be registered for see images attach
Victor Bericoto Walk-Off
"Just mistakes in the middle," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "It doesn't matter how hard you throw, the velocity is still there. When you make mistakes in the middle of the plate, these are big-league hitters and they can do damage."
But we're at the point in the season where Alvarado isn't the first or the second choice the A's have tried in the ninth.
To varying degrees, Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Barlow, Joel Kuhnel, Hogan Harris, and Jack Perkins have all been given opportunities. Justin Sterner received a couple of chances early as well.
Leiter is on the IL, Barlow and Kuhnel have been designated for assignment, Harris is pitching big in spots but not relegated solely to the ninth, and Perkins is now in the starting rotation.
The next guy who could get a look would be Luis Medina, though he is brand new to the relief role and the team has been rolling him into higher-leverage spots slowly. On Wednesday night he pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but he walked two of the first three batters he faced, which is the final piece of his game that the A's coaches would like to see smoothed out.
Medina struck out the final two batters and kept the score where it was. For now, that's enough to keep him in the conversation.
Jacob Wilson Pulled After Bad Send Around Third
Back on May 12, Jacob Wilson landed on the IL with a left shoulder dislocation that kept him out of action for exactly one month. In that time, the A's defense seemed to fall apart around the diamond.
On Wednesday in San Francisco, he may have re-injured the same shoulder on a play that shouldn't have happened.
This is a ball that was thrown down the left field line, and by the time Wilson was rounding third, it appeared as though the left fielder had picked the ball up and was tossing it in. The throw beat Wilson by quite a bit, but he was trying to get a run on the board in a scoreless tie but instead landed hard on his left shoulder.
He'd stay in the game until his at-bat in the ninth inning, but with the A's threatening with two on and two out and looking to add to their slim 1-0 lead, Kotsay would go with pinch-hitter Jonah Heim instead.
"He hurt his shoulder again," Kotsay said. "I don't have a report on how bad it is, but enough to where he couldn't swing a bat."
Kotsay also mentioned that in his previous at-bat, Wilson's swings were "not good. He gave us everything he had. In that situation with an opportunity to add on to the lead, without him being able to swing, I made the decision to take him out of the game."
Heim would stay in the game at third base in the bottom of the inning, with Max Muncy sliding from third to shortstop.
Zack Gelof Update
Zack Gelof was injured in Tuesday night's game in San Francisco when Giants third baseman Matt Chapman stepped on his right hand. He was immediately removed with what was later deemed a laceration and a contusion.
After the game, Kotsay said that he was considered day-to-day and that they would be monitoring the swelling.
Before Wednesday's game, the A's skipper told reporters that Gelof is sore and that they were going to give him another 24 hours to see if he could make more progress.
"We'll determine the direction at some point before [Thursday's] game."
With the swelling of Gelof's hand not subsiding as much as they had hoped, the thought process here is that if there is progress, he could still be available within a couple of days, which would be good enough news to keep him off the IL. If the swelling is still substantial, then a move may have to be made.
We should know more before Thursday's game just by whether the A's announce a roster move or not.
JOIN Athletics Roundtable to discuss the latest news with our staff, and fans like you!
Continue reading...
