Last trip to Oakland, July 5-7, 2024

[Frobby]

Looks like the A’s will be in Sacramento next year, so this should be the last trip the O’s ever make to Oakland.  I went to a game there in 1980 and it was a dump then; I can only imagine what it is now.  

Coming into tonight, the A’s are 33-56 but coming off a 3-game sweep of the Angels.   It’s definitely seared in my memory that Oakland took 2 of 3 against the Orioles back in April, with Craig Kimbrel blowing two saves.   I’d really like to see the O’s take some revenge this weekend. It appears the pitching matchups will be:

Albert Suarez (4-2, 2.43 ERA) vs. Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18).  Suarez faced Oakland on April 28 and did poorly, allowing 4 ER in 4 innings.  Harris has never faced the Orioles.  He has generally pitched well, but was roughed up in his last start, allowing 3 runs on 10 hits in 3.1 IP.

Cade Povich (1-2, 4.05 ERA) vs. Luis Medina (1-1, 4.80).  Povich has never faced the A’s.  The O’s saw Medina last year and treated him rudely, scoring 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits in 3 innings.  Medina is coming off a very good start in which he held the DBacks to 1 run in 6 IP.

Grayson Rodriguez (10-3, 3.45) vs. Mitch Spence (5-4, 4.15).  Grayson’s only game against Oakland was the second start of his career, and Oakland pounded him for 5 ER in 4.1 innings.  Spence threw 3 no-hit innings of relief against the O’s on April 26 and picked up the win in that game.

Oakland has a pretty decent bullpen that has the 9th best ERA at 3.55, a 14-16 record, and they’ve saved 17 of 30 (57%).  Their closer Mason Miller is terrific (14 saves,  2 blown saves, 2.39 ERA, 15.8 K/9).  The Orioles’ pen is 12th at 3.64 ERA, 19-12, and they’ve saved 29 of 43 (67%).   

Offensively, the series is a mismatch on paper.   The A’s are 28th in MLB in runs per game at 3.63 and 21st in OPS+ at 94.  Brent Rooker (154 OPS+) was a thorn in our side in Baltimore, and there a couple of other decent hitters in their lineup.  The O’s are first in R/G at 5.14 R/G and OPS+ at 123.  But, we know Oakland is a tough place to score runs and especially to hit home runs.   Hopefully the O’s will show some patience this weekend.

Overall, the A’s are a poor-hitting team, but their pitching is capable of keeping them in games and we obviously can’t take them lightly after what happened in Baltimore.  

[HowAboutThat]

SWEEP…because why the hell not?

Meanwhile, take some long looks at the guys on the Shelf at Oakland-Mart.

Id love to have Rooker( even though we don’t really need him)as well as some of their pitching, and we match up with Oakland better than any other team, because we have a plethora of solid prospects who are a year or two away and wouldn’t be wasted before Oakland’s next window.

 

[eddie83]

I feel bad for the Oakland fans. Lost the Raiders, Warriors moved to the other side of the bay and now the A’s. 
 

That said it feels like the Orioles always struggle out there. Not a fun place to watch a game on TV either. Be nice to see the Orioles sweep but I’ll gladly take 2/3. Glad I don’t have to watch anymore games from that stadium.  

[dtk9119]

Always wanted to go to a game at the Coliseum. Will never get there now.

The O's should have swept Seattle. At a minimum this series should be 2/3 if not a sweep. Both for revenge and because of the mismatch.

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, dtk9119 said:

Always wanted to go to a game at the Coliseum. Will never get there now.

The O's should have swept Seattle. At a minimum this series should be 2/3 if not a sweep. Both for revenge and because of the mismatch.

Trust me, you missed nothing by missing the Coliseum.  

Why “should” we have swept Seattle?   They’re leading their division, playing in their park.  I’m really happy to have taken 2 of 3.  Losing the 2-0 lead was disappointing but the offense just didn’t do much in that game and obviously the pen had a bad day.  

More generally, I never “expect” a sweep of any opponent.   Sure, I hope for some sweeps, and we’ve had some.  But even a team like Oakland wins more than 1/3 of its games, and the odds basically never favor a sweep even when a really good team faces a really bad one.   Just win the game in front of us, that’s my plan.   

[dystopia]

Want to sweep this series. But 2/3 isn't the end of the world.

[O's84]

A sweep would be ideal, but 2 out of 3 would be fine.  Anything less than that would be disappointing.

[sportsfan8703]

Luckily for us Phil “Babe Ruth” Nevin isn’t playing for them anymore.

Edit - Tyler. Haha

Edited Friday at 17:28 by sportsfan8703

[Frobby]

21 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Luckily for us Phil “Babe Ruth” Nevin isn’t playing for them anymore.

Edit - Tyler. Haha

Do you know something I don’t?  He’s still on their roster so far as I know.  He last played on June 30.   

[Aristotelian]

Rooker is severely underrated. I was also really impressed with Gelof when we played them last year. He hasn't been as good this year. Need to get 2 of 3 at least. Yanks have a tough series with BOS so could be an opportunity to extend our lead.

[dystopia]

5 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Rooker is severely underrated. I was also really impressed with Gelof when we played them last year. He hasn't been as good this year. Need to get 2 of 3 at least. Yanks have a tough series with BOS so could be an opportunity to extend our lead.

Oriole killer. Hopefully we don't pitch to him in big situations unlike last time (we will).

[SteveA]

40 minutes ago, dystopia said:

Oriole killer. Hopefully we don't pitch to him in big situations unlike last time (we will).

Hey, he's a decent player, and having a very good year.   But he's not Aaron Judge.   I don't think one of the best teams in baseball should be afraid to pitch to him.

We're the ones who knock.

[e16bball]

Would like to see us roll these guys after they snuck two on us in OPACY. Hopefully the boys are locked in after having gone sweepless in Seattle yesterday.

One thing worth noting about Hogan Harris is that he was terrible in the minors last year (6.47 ERA), came up to the bigs and was terrible (7.14 ERA), and then started this year back in the minors and again was terrible (7.67 ERA). This recent run of success at ML level is among the more unpredictable things you’ll see from a guy.

Everything in his profile seems to suggest that the cliff is coming. Tonight seems like a good night to push him over. 

[Roy Firestone]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

Looks like the A’s will be in Sacramento next year, so this should be the last trip the O’s ever make to Oakland.  I went to a game there in 1980 and it was a dump then; I can only imagine what it is now.  

Coming into tonight, the A’s are 33-56 but coming off a 3-game sweep of the Angels.   It’s definitely seared in my memory that Oakland took 2 of 3 against the Orioles back in April, with Craig Kimbrel blowing two saves.   I’d really like to see the O’s take some revenge this weekend. It appears the pitching matchups will be:

Albert Suarez (4-2, 2.43 ERA) vs. Hogan Harris (1-2, 3.18).  Suarez faced Oakland on April 28 and did poorly, allowing 4 ER in 4 innings.  Harris has never faced the Orioles.  He has generally pitched well, but was roughed up in his last start, allowing 3 runs on 10 hits in 3.1 IP.

Cade Povich (1-2, 4.05 ERA) vs. Luis Medina (1-1, 4.80).  Povich has never faced the A’s.  The O’s saw Medina last year and treated him rudely, scoring 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits in 3 innings.  Medina is coming off a very good start in which he held the DBacks to 1 run in 6 IP.

Grayson Rodriguez (10-3, 3.45) vs. Mitch Spence (5-4, 4.15).  Grayson’s only game against Oakland was the second start of his career, and Oakland pounded him for 5 ER in 4.1 innings.  Spence threw 3 no-hit innings of relief against the O’s on April 26 and picked up the win in that game.

Oakland has a pretty decent bullpen that has the 9th best ERA at 3.55, a 14-16 record, and they’ve saved 17 of 30 (57%).  Their closer Mason Miller is terrific (14 saves,  2 blown saves, 2.39 ERA, 15.8 K/9).  The Orioles’ pen is 12th at 3.64 ERA, 19-12, and they’ve saved 29 of 43 (67%).   

Offensively, the series is a mismatch on paper.   The A’s are 28th in MLB in runs per game at 3.63 and 21st in OPS+ at 94.  Brent Rooker (154 OPS+) was a thorn in our side in Baltimore, and there a couple of other decent hitters in their lineup.  The O’s are first in R/G at 5.14 R/G and OPS+ at 123.  But, we know Oakland is a tough place to score runs and especially to hit home runs.   Hopefully the O’s will show some patience this weekend.

Overall, the A’s are a poor-hitting team, but their pitching is capable of keeping them in games and we obviously can’t take them lightly after what happened in Baltimore.  

I always worry about the Orioles playing down to. the level of poor or mediocre teams...the fact that we dont have out BEST pitching in this series is one issue...but somehow we struggle with the A's and every game last year in Oakland went down to the wire...anything can happen...I'd love to win 2 of 3...but I'm not convinced we will dominate the A's....also our bullpen is  taxed and some of our pen is poor or mediocre...thats a concern in the late innings..

[clapdiddy]

"Last trip to Oakland" sounds like a country song title.