Elephant Rumblings: A’s “sweep slump” continues

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

Riddle me this: What do you get when your home run hitting club visits a home run friendly ballpark?

If you guessed “a sweep,” I’m sorry to say you are wrong. But that was my guess, too. And it seemed like a safe bet.

Indeed, there was no shortage of heroics from the Athletics yesterday. Nine runs scored. Another three dinger day for Lawrence Butler. A 5-for-5 day from JJ Bleday topped off by a spectacular double play from the A’s center fielder. But lose the game the Athletics did nonetheless.

Nine runs should always be enough for the win, but J.T. Ginn, Joe Boyle, and Grant Holman combined for six walks, two hit batters, and ten runs allowed to squander a boatload of run support. I can’t count how many times I yelled “get him out of there” at my phone (as if Kots could hear me). Sometimes you’ve just got to let the young ones learn the hard way, I guess.

Now, we mustn’t forget that the A’s are having a terrific summer.

Despite this overall success, the A’s are 0-6 in sweep opportunity games since the break. But those opportunities wouldn’t have presented themselves at all if the team wasn’t winning a lot of games.

So while yesterday’s game was a thrilling but ultimately disappointing affair, we can still celebrate the resurgence of an A’s offense that scored 23 runs through three games in Cincinnati after scoring just 24 through their recent 9-game homestand.

Let’s see if the A’s bats can carry that momentum to Arlington this weekend. Let’s go, Oakland!

A’s Coverage:

• Reds walk it off against A’s to avoid sweep
• Odds And Ends On A Cloudy Thursday
• Former Kansas City Royals Pitching Prospect Turning Corner with Oakland

MLB News & Interest:

• Eno Sarris’ starting pitcher rankings for the final month of the season ($)
• Rangers Place Robbie Grossman, Travis Jankowski On Outright Waivers
• Cardinals To Place Tommy Pham On Waivers
• Giants tried to make offense younger, more athletic and it only became mediocre ($)
• This MLB veteran hits more batters than anyone, so why do they like him anyway? ($)
• Will Gerrit Cole Get To Free Agency?
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Ladies and gentlemen: Lawrence. Evan. Butler.

Felicitations from France.

Major League props to Seth Brown, who was outrighted back in June.