Angels  110 040 100 000 001 000 0

A’s        000 101 041 000 001 000 2

WP - Jerry Blevins  LP- Barry Enright

Brandon Moss hit a walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom of the 19th.

Interesting stats

At-bats: Angels, 70; A’s, 71

Worst night: Angels - Josh Hamilton, 0-8, 3 Ks

                    A’s - Yoenis Cespedes, 1-8, 4 Ks

Pitchers used: Angels, 8; A’s 8

Time of game: 6:32 (longest game in A’s history)

The game ended at 1:42 PDT. And the A’s still had a post-game show.

Random fact: The Mets and Marlins played a 15-inning game that lasted 5:32. The Marlins won 4-3 on a sacrifice fly.

Random, depressing fact: The Angels are off to their worst start in history, 9-16.

Get suspended for cheating. Let down your team. Pitch for them the next year.

Seems reasonable.

The numbers aren’t released yet. If it’s more than $20 I’m disappointed.

(Oh and the Marmol/Haren deal fell through. After this summer’s Dempster debacle I’m not posting another Cubs trade until the man shows up at a press conference.)

Here are the most interesting pieces of info:

• If the Yankees lose and the Orioles win, one-game playoff tomorrow (Thursday). So, yes.
• If the Yankees lose the and A’s win the A’s are the number one seed. The. A’s. are. the. number. one. seed.
• If the A’s beat the Rangers they win the AL West. Only the fifth team to win a division after being back by at least 13 games (June 30) in a season. (1914 Braves, 15 games; ‘78 Yanks, 14; ‘51 Giants, 13; & ‘95 M’s, 13) Three of those four went to the World Series, two won it.
• Neither the Tigers nor the Orioles can be the number one seed.

via Wahoo Sam

the A’s are now 3 games back of the Rangers. The A’s and Rangers have four more games against each other, including this afternoon’s contest. They finish the season with a three-game set.

In between, the A’s play three at home vs. the Mariners. The Rangers will host the Angels for three.

Schedules for the AL playoff contenders:

Yankees

12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning % (as of 9/4): .497 

Orioles

13 home, 14 away - opponents’ winning %: .512

Rays

15 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .529

Tigers

12 home, 16 away - opponents’ winning %: .487

White Sox

16 home, 12 away - opponents’ winning %: .483

Rangers

13 home, 15 away - opponents’ winning %: .502

A’s

11 home, 17 away - opponents’ winning %: .546

Angels 

16 home, 11 away - opponents’ winning %: .530

In one of those great baseball coincidences, the Yankees (2), Rangers (3), Tigers (7), and Angels (8) are all in the top ten in per game attendance. While the Orioles (23), White Sox (24), A’s (29), and Rays (30) are in the bottom ten.

Do you choose….

A’s vs. Rays - two teams in the playoff hunt playing well

OR

Phillies vs. Reds - which is actually Cueto vs. Hamels, classic pitcher’s duel

For some perspective, 1943 was the middle of World War II. All the stars were in the Pacific or Europe. It was so bad that teams used one-armed outfielders (Bats: Left, Throws: Left) and fifteen-year-old pitchers. (OK it was in 1945 and 1944, respectively, but still.) The Browns made it to the World Series for goodness sake.

So to suck against the best of the best is one thing. To suck against the 3rd string, that’s something altogether different.

The last time the A’s swept four from the Yanks was 1972. Guess who won the World Series that year? Go on, guess.

It was the Athletics fifth straight one-run win - the first such streak since the franchise was founded in 1901.

Information courtesy of KGMZ

(The A’s won the 1972 Series…the first of three straight. I’m just sayin’.)

It’s obvious now that Jordan Noberto Tonya Harding-ed Brian Wilson in order to claim the rights to “Best Beard in the Bay Area, 2012.”

(Image copyright MLB and YES Network)

Welcome to the 2012 baseball season folks.

The Red Sox & A’s have completed a 5 player trade, with closer Andrew Bailey moving East, to anchor the Boston bullpen.

The full trade involves Bailey & OF Ryan Sweeney leaving Oakland, with OF Josh Reddick heading out in return, along with prospects IF Miles Head & Raul Alcantera, a pitcher.

Now, full disclosure, I’m a Sox fan. That said, I love this deal. Bailey had been a guy linked to Boston for a while now. With the departure of Jonathan Papelbon to the Phillies & the expected move of stretching out last year’s set up man, Daniel Bard, to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, the Red Sox have a huge void to fill in the back end of their ‘pen. What new G.M. Ben Cherington has been trying to do is collect quality pieces on the cheap —avoid big ticket purchases like Ryan Madson or making deals that ship out any of their top 10 prospects— to put together a staff with depth & flexibility. This deal does exactly that. While Bailey has injury concerns, Reddick, the headline piece Oakland is getting back, was considered more of a 4th outfielder type in the A.L. East.

Boston will now focus on getting another starter & maybe a veteran power arm to compete to be a part of the Sox 25-man Opening Day roster. I’ll write more later on just how the Red Sox staff shapes up now from top to bottom, providing a pretty good glimpse into what Boston has as it tries to rebound from the epic collapse that was September, 2011.

While Reddick was not considered a major piece of Boston’s future, he should offer Oakland a bat that has a ton of potential, as long as he can overcome his issues with plate discipline. The A’s are essentially hoping he becomes a major upgrade over Sweeney & that the prospects they are receiving are future pieces that can come up through their system and be on the big league roster in 2014. Where as Head projects as a MLB average 1B, Raul Alcantara may be the guy that Oakland looks to as the player we one day consider the best player in the trade. He’s raw, only 19, but has the ceiling of being either a middle of the rotation pitcher or a 30+ saves closer.

Overall the deal boils down to this: Boston dealt from areas where their organizational depth resides & the A’s are selling high on a closer. Both are savvy moves by these two front offices. This time next year we may see it from a different angle, but today this deal breaks as a win for Boston.