OAKLAND -- Just a week ago, the Athletics were 9.5 back of the division-leading Angels and their postseason prospects were looking grim. They had just been swept by the Blue Jays in Toronto and there was mutiny in the clubhouse: players buckled under Maty McNeil's stern managerial approach. Jeremy Giambi was dealt, Mike Holtz was designated, Frank Menechino was optioned to AAA. And finally, after a break in the schedule that saw them play the Orioles and Devil Rays, Oakland stepped up with a 6-0 homestand, outscoring opponents 39-23.
Today, Oakland won their 6th straight behind home runs by Miguel Tejada and Randy Verlarde at the top of the lineup. Tejada is finally heating up: he's hit .290 with 3 home runs and 3 RBI's in the past week.
The A's finished their homestand, sweeping the Devil Rays 6-5. Billy Koch had another...shitty performance. He continues to work with pitching coach Rick Andersen on his secondary pitches.
Maty McNeil announced that today's start was Erik Hiljus' last start of the season. From now on he will be used solely out of the bullpen and then probably designated by June 1.
"Dissapointing," said Hiljus, "Especially because I was finally getting it together."
"We're shedding dead-weight. Hiljus can't be relied upon. We're not losing anymore ground to the Angels the rest of the way. With all due respect to Hiljus, he's a liability," said McNeil.
The Angels lost their game today against Minnesota, 2-6. The A's will now travel to Baltimore and Tampa Bay before starting inter-league play.
| Around the League: • Cleveland's Omar Vizquel had a 4-hit performance last night, falling short of the cycle by a triple. The Indians' shortstop smashed his 6th home run of the season in the 4th inning. Vizquel has also converted a mind-blowing 94.7% of his chance plays at shortstop this season #goldglove. • The New York Yankees lead the AL Wild Card by a mere 2 games over Oakland. Minnesota is 2.5 back, Cleveland 3, and Texas 3.5 back. • Kansas City catcher Brett Mayne simply halts the running game. Mayne has thrown out 65% of would-be base-stealers, the best mark in the American League. Surprisingly, Mayne's arm is considered simply "average." • The Tampa Bay Devil Rays cannot find luck. They're 0-5 in extra inning games and 5-15 in one-run games. Their record stands at an MLB-worst 11-37. • The Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox are the only teams in the Majors to have not lost 3 games in a row at any point this season. The longest winning streaks are owned by the Red Sox and Yankees (11). |
BOXSCORE: 2002 Tampa Bay Devil Rays At 2002 Oakland Athletics 5/26/2002
Devil Rays AB R H RBI AVG Athletics AB R H RBI AVG
R.Winn CF 4 2 2 2 .297 S.Hatteberg DH 4 0 1 2 .299
B.Abernathy 2B 5 0 1 0 .272 R.Velarde 2B 4 1 2 2 .229
S.Cox 1B 5 0 2 1 .205 M.Tejada SS 3 1 1 1 .241
B.Grieve RF 3 0 0 0 .243 E.Chavez 3B 4 0 0 0 .278
J.Sandberg 3B 3 1 1 0 .215 J.Dye RF 3 1 0 0 .262
G.Vaughn DH 1 2 0 0 .254 J.Mabry LF 4 0 1 0 .375
C.Gomez SS 4 0 1 1 .256 O.Saenz 1B 4 0 1 1 .351
B-J.Tyner PR 0 0 0 0 .279 R.Hernandez C 2 2 1 0 .280
C-F.Escalona SS 0 0 0 0 .241 T.Long CF 0 0 0 0 .190
J.Conti LF 2 0 1 1 .337 A-E.Byrnes PH,CF 3 1 1 0 .190
T.Hall C 4 0 1 0 .218
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 31 5 9 5 Totals 31 6 8 6
A-Pinch Hit For Long In 3rd Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Gomez In 8th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Tyner In 8th Inning
Devil Rays...... 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 - 5 9 0
Athletics....... 0 0 3 1 0 0 2 0 - 6 8 0
Devil Rays (11-37) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
J.Kennedy LOSS(3-6) 6 8 6 6 2 3 2 115 3.30 A1 D1
D.Creek 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 21 2.55 D2
Totals 8 8 6 6 2 5 2
Athletics (26-23) IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA SCORESHEET
E.Hiljus 4 1/3 7 3 3 5 1 1 91 7.34 A1 C5
J.Mecir WIN(1-1) 2 2/3 0 0 0 0 3 0 31 2.03 C6 D4
B.Koch SAVE(9th) 2 2 2 2 1 2 0 27 6.75 D5
Totals 9 9 5 5 6 6 1
ATTENDANCE- 41,581 DATE- Sunday, May 26th 2002 TIME- Day WEATHER- Good
UMPIRES- Chris Guccione, Rich Rieker, Paul Emmel, Gerry Davis
T- 2:48
LEFT ON BASE- Devil Rays: 7 Athletics: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Devil Rays: 1 Athletics: 1
DOUBLES- S.Hatteberg(10th), O.Saenz(2nd), R.Hernandez(6th)
HOME RUNS- R.Winn(8th), R.Velarde(1st), M.Tejada(8th)
STOLEN BASES- R.Winn(10th), S.Cox(3rd)
SACRIFICE FLIES- R.Winn, J.Conti
WALKS- B.Grieve, J.Sandberg, G.Vaughn-3, J.Conti, J.Dye, R.Hernandez
HIT BY PITCH- M.Tejada
STRIKE OUTS- B.Abernathy, B.Grieve, J.Sandberg, G.Vaughn, J.Conti, T.Hall,
M.Tejada-2, J.Dye, J.Mabry-2
GIDP- E.Chavez
WILD PITCHES- D.Creek, B.Koch
WEB GEMS- Bot 5th: Chris Gomez robbed Randy Velarde of a base hit.
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