Kuzul

85 years ago in 1925 Ty Cobb wrote a series of articles for the New York Evening Journal recapping his 20 years in baseball.

I just read those same memoirs in book form published by Dover Press in 2009. Before reading this book I had a mindset that Cobb was a great baseball player but a dirty baseball player who would go to any length to win a baseball game regardless of any injuries he may have to impose on his opponents.

The book is written in his own words telling how he played in an adult baseball league at the age of 12. It tells of how supportive his father was of his efforts to play baseball at a time when baseball players were looked down on and were not yet the role models they would become later.

Popcorn Crackerjack Incident

He tells of a minor league game when he was munching on a popcorn crackerjack in the outfield during the middle of the game. A ball was hit his way and he said he didn’t want to drop the popcorn ball or the ball coming toward him in the air.

As fate would have it the popcorn crackerjack and the baseball both fell to the ground as he attempted to multi-task by eating the popcorn crackerjack and catch a baseball at the same time.

Needless to say his manager was not too happy about his outfielder dropping the baseball and he had a talk with his  outfielder that was more interested in keeping his popcorn ball than catching the baseball.

George Leidy his manager while Cobb was playing for Augusta in the South Atlantic League taught him a life lesson he would never forget.

He told Cobb that he needed to take baseball seriously because if every player had the attitude of Cobb baseball would die out. He learned a life lesson from his manager that would last the rest of his professional baseball career.

First Major League At Bat

Cobb goes on to tell about his first major league at bat in 1905 against Hall of Famer Jack Chesbro who had posted 41 wins in the 1904 season and no pitcher since then has won more games in a major league season in the last 106 years.

He was only 18 when he faced the 31 year old veteran Chesbro of the Yankees and was shaking when he was at the plate but he conquered his nerves and laced a double that would score two runs.

No More Headfirst Slides

In that same game Cobb learned a lesson from Kid Elberfield the Yankee shortstop. He had always slid headfirst in the minors but when he tried sliding headfirst into second base Elberfield lowered his knee which shoved Cobb’s head into the ground peeling off some skin.

That was the last time he ever slid headfirst into second base. It also taught him how to fight fire with fire as he later slid so hard into Elberfield that he knocked him five feet from the base.

Cobb’s style may not have been popular with the fans of other teams but the players on those teams knew to treat him with respect once he learned how to strike fear into the fielders by sliding with spikes high.

Attacks Heckler in 1912

The story about Cobb attacking the fan in New York on May 15, 1912 has been told many times but this is the first time I have heard it from his perspective.

Cobb had endured the heckling of a fan in New York named Claude Leuker many times in the past but Leuker was particularly abusive on this date using vulgar language with women in the stands. The fan asked Cobb what he was doing on a team with white people which infuriated Cobb.

His teammates told Cobb that if he didn’t attack the heckler he wasn’t much of a man and that they would support him. So Cobb went into the stands and struck the man several times knocking him out.

Later he would find out that the man was a crippled man and American League president Ban Johnson immediately suspended Cobb. This development angered his Tigers teammates who told Johnson in a telegram that if Cobb wasn’t reinstated they would not play in the next game.

Violin Student Pitches For Tigers

Johnson didn’t back off and neither did the players who didn’t play that day. Instead manager Hughie Jennings rounded up a substitute team by getting Allen Travers who wasn’t good enough to make the varsity team for St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia to round up a team.

He found some guys on a street corner and they became Detroit Tigers for that day as Cobbs states in the book.

Athletics Pound Tiger Team Misfits 24-2

Travers who was a violin student took the mound for the Tigers that day and the Athletics pounded the substitute Tigers 24-2. It would be the only game played by the team of misfits and Cobb was reinstated a few days later.

After reading the book I could tell Cobb was repentant for some of his actions on the baseball field and he says he would do some things differently if given the chance. The book may not sway baseball fans to his side but it does give him a chance to defend himself for his actions.

Best Hitter Ever

Cobb was clearly the best hitter in the history of major league baseball hitting .366 but Pete Rose has 67 more hits than Cobb according to baseball-reference.com. Rose hit safely 4,256 times while Cobb garnered 4,189 hits. At one time Cobb had been credited with 4,191 hits.

However, Rose batted 2,619 more times than Cobb which is more than five more 500 at bat seasons than Rose. There is a huge difference in their lifetime batting averages with Cobb hitting .366 while Rose barely hit over .300 with a .303 average with Rose listed 174th among all baseball players.

Eleven Batting Titles

Cobb would win eleven AL batting titles and would have won in 1922 when he hit .401 but George Sisler hit .420 that season. Pete Rose only won three batting championships during his career.

He only hit 117 home runs in his career which was mostly during the deadball era but drove in 1.938 runs which is seventh on the alltime list so he was more of a slugger than given credit for. He led the AL in slugging eight times and in OPS ten times.

Cobb won the Triple Crown in 1909 when his nine home runs led the AL and was voted the 1911 AL MVP. His 897 stolen bases is fourth best with only Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock and Billy Hamilton having more in their lifetime.

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Larry Ellison may not have been able to purchase the Golden State Warriors from Chris Cohan, but there’s another opportunity for Ellison. In fact, the team he can buy is in a lot better shape than the one he was going after. 

The Oakland A’s would be the perfect team for Ellison to buy. For one, he would make an immediate impact for the A’s because it would mean that there is no more Lew Wolff ownership. 

Under Wolff’s direction, the franchise went from a perennial playoff team to a team that struggled to stay out of the American League West cellar. Another issue with Wolff was his unwillingness to allow the signing of free agents. 

Only one deal for a premiere player has been made recently by the A’s. That was the acquisition of Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies and even then, the A’s were the losers in that trade. 

Over the years with Wolff as owner, the A’s have watched Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, and Barry Zito leave via free agency. The A’s have also seen the like of Dan Haren, Tim Hudson, Joe Blanton, and Mark Mulder traded because Wolff wasn’t going to open his wallet to sign any of them.

So, as the seasons have progressed with the trades that were made, the A’s have been able to develop some solid young pitchers such as, Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and coming into his own right now is Vin Mazarro.

The same question remains: What happens in a few years when it comes to re-signing them? Will Wolff continue the same habit of letting players develop but when they become free agents or close to free agency will he trade them or will he let them go because he won’t spend the money?

Wolff is supposedly hoping for a new stadium for the A’s, but it won’t be in Oakland. It will be in San Jose. While Wolff tries to figure out how to get a stadium built in San Jose, A’s fans are subjected to a team that has some solid talent, but won’t be making the playoffs without help.

As in taking on some salaries so the team can be successful, but Wolff won’t do it because he’s too busy wanting to move the team.  

This is where Ellison comes in, because he has the money to buy the team. Hopefully, he would do a better job of trying to find a place in Oakland to build the stadium, not have some secret agenda to get the team to San Jose. 

Even if the team did move to San Jose, Ellison wouldn’t be afraid to open his wallet to field a competitive team. Meaning not only locking up key young players like Kurt Suzuki, Cliff Pennington, Anderson, Cahill, Gonzalez, and Mazzaro, but also going after the teams needs. 

This season, the A’s need a big bat in the lineup. That means going after Jayson Werth, Corey Hart, and Prince Fielder. An owner like Ellison would try to put the best team on the field even if it means spending money. 

According to ESPN, the A’s payroll is at just under $51 million. Only Arizona, San Diego, and Pittsburgh have a lower payroll. 

Ellison just made an offer to buy the Warriors for nine times that amount! There’s no question that Ellison could afford to buy the A’s. The only questions is would he be willing to? 

As an A’s fan, one can only hope. There’s nothing like thinking about the A’s putting a team on the field with a credible lineup because with the A’s pitching right now they’d be running away with the American League West.

It also would go from a different direction as well where Wolff was counting every penny he made and keeping the payroll down the exact opposite can be said about Ellison. 

Ellison didn’t get to where he is today as the sixth richest man by counting pennies. 

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It’s been rumored that Ryan Sweeney is undergoing knee surgery that will end his season. There’s no question that Sweeney is a valuable asset for the A’s playing excellent defense in right field, but more importantly versatile enough to play all three outfield positions, and he possesses a strong arm as well. 

Defensively he’ll be missed although Gabe Gross does have a very good arm in the outfield as well. Offensively is where the A’s will miss Sweeney the most though as he had the highest batting average, among the team leaders in RBI, and doubles. 

The injury though could be a blessing in disguise for Sweeney. At 6’4 225 he has not shown any signs of being the power hitter he was projected as. On the season before his injury he hit just one homerun.

Sweeney’s career high in homeruns is just six. Also, notable career highs are the 53 RBI he had last year and the 31 doubles also set last year. He was on pace to surpass those highs just not the homeruns.

What has made Sweeney an effective hitter is that he can take the ball the other way, he rarely if ever pulls a pitch. He does have the ability to turn on a pitch, but it’s a rare circumstance. 

The fact that Sweeney is normally batting third in the lineup says something as well. He’s a consistent hitter but if he does turn on a pitch it’s normally not in the air and it tends to be on the ground which means if there’s a runner on base he has the propensity to hit into double plays. 

With power hitters that hit third or fourth in the lineup that’s not a huge drawback, but for the A’s it is because of the lack of power in the A’s lineup. 

As for Sweeney it’s bad news for the A’s because they do lose their best hitter average wise and of course his defense. But, in the long run it could be a blessing in disguise for Sweeney and the A’s. 

For Sweeney he swings a good bat he knows how to take the ball into left field. The hope is thought during the time off rehabbing is that he continues his approach to hitting the ball to the opposite field, but more importantly learning to turn on pitches more. 

There’s no excuse for why Sweeney right now is not hitting 15-20 homeruns a year. He has the size to take the ball out of the ballpark, but he just doesn’t do it. When he first came to the A’s they thought that Sweeney was just learning how to hit at the Major League level and give him a few years and he’d be hitting homeruns. 

Well it’s been a few years for Sweeney and in fact his power numbers have not shown up yet. When Sweeney comes back healthy here’s hoping that the rehab process and his recovery will lead him to discovering that he can hit for power while still taking the ball to left field. 

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After beginning the second half with a three-game sweep against the Kansas City Royals, the Oakland Athletics are ready to make a run at their first American League West title since 2006.

The A’s are currently 46-46 and seven games back of the division-leading Rangers. This may seem like a lot of ground to make up, but Oakland has their schedule and their pitching on their side.

Thirty-five of Oakland’s final 71 games are at home, with 42 of those games against teams .500 or better. This does make the schedule look hard for the Athletics because of the fact that the majority of the second-half games are on the road, but the A’s will benefit from having the second easiest second half schedule in the division.

The only division team with an easier second half schedule is Seattle. This means the A’s will have an advantage over both the Rangers and Angels, the two teams they are chasing in the standings.

The problem with the A’s schedule is the Athletics’ final seven games are on the road. Oakland is six games under .500 on the road so far this season and these seven games could decide the division winner.

The Athletics will count on one of the best pitching staffs in the majors to help carry them the rest of the year. Oakland has a 3.83 team ERA, which is second best in the American League. They lead the AL in shutouts and have allowed the second fewest runs.

Although Ben Sheets has not been worth the $10 million Billy Beane gave him for the 2010 season, his veteran leadership has helped develop the young arms of Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, and Vin Mazzaro .

The only thing that could hold back the 2010 Oakland Athletics is the disabled list. Recently acquired Conor Jackson is currently on the DL, along with pitchers Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden. The A’s used the disabled list 17 times this year, which matches their season total from a year ago.

If the A’s can stay healthy have the talent to content for the 2010 AL West title, if the injuries keep piling up, they will not win the division for the fourth straight year.

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The newest sports movie to hit the pre-production stage, titled Moneyball,  is a story that tracks the Oakland A’s baseball team and its unconventional general manager Billy Beane, played by none other than Brad Pitt.

Beane is infamously known for using computer-generated analysis of statistics to draft players, which brought the A’s organization success both on and off the field.

The script was rewritten by Steven Soderbergh in an attempt to include more authentic scenes. Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra will both be making appearances in the movie.

The film also stars Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. They have begun shooting scenes of real day and night games at the coliseum to include in the movie.

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The Oakland A’s have had an up-and-down season so far.

They were in first place in the American League West at the beginning of June.

At the All-Star Break the A’s are now 43-46 and seven-and-a-half games out of first place and three games out of second.

Now is time to take a look at the grades for each player the A’s have had at the break. I’ll start with the infield, then outfielders, relievers, and then the starters for the A’s.

Begin Slideshow

Bob Geren does not belong with the name Albert Einstein, but he does have something in common with him. That is Einstein’s definition of insanity, which is doing the same things over and over again expecting a different result. 

Well, for the Oakland A’s and their bullpen, Geren continues to make the same errors in decision making or in some cases the lack of decision making process. Tonight’s another perfect example of Geren’s insanity. 

Craig Breslow came into pitch and I have no problem with Breslow being used in the eighth inning as long as he doesn’t have to face a powerful right handed bat. He got Erick Aybar a switch hitter batting right handed on flyball to right. 

Howie Kendrick was the next batter in the inning and he gave ball a good ride to right center field. If the A’s outfielders hadn’t been playing deep it could have been trouble, but Coco Crisp easily made the running catch. 

Bobby Abreu came to the plate and he hit a soft groundball to Cliff Pennington that he had to make a tough play on and wasn’t able to get Abreu at first. Next up, Torii Hunter, a dangerous aggressive hitter.

The kind of hitter that no manager should want their left handed pitcher to be facing in a situation where if Hunter takes Breslow deep. Geren did have Curt Young the A’s pitching coach go out to talk with Breslow. 

That didn’t work out so well because Hunter unloaded on a pitch and took it opposite field for a line shot over the right field fence. The game goes from being tied at 3-3 to the Angels winning 5-3. 

Luckily for the A’s they made a comeback of their own and tied the game up 5-5, but imagine if Geren actually did what he is paid to do! Would it have been a reasonable decision to bring in a right hander to face the aggressive Hunter? Absolutely! 

Of course this isn’t the first time that Breslow has been taken deep by a right handed bat in a close game either. 

The next lack of a decision came in the top of the 10th inning. Instead of relieving Andrew Bailey, Geren left him in to go two innings. Still the move was questionable at best. 

It’s understandable that Geren wanted to get Bailey some work after all he hadn’t pitched since July 4, but one inning should have been sufficient. Considering that the A’s have two more games to play against the Angels and the games are normally very close. 

What’s even worse though is that the A’s could have built momentum going into the all-star game if they had swept the Angels who had been struggling of late. The A’s were 41-45 coming into the game and the Angels were 46-42. 

Meaning that the A’s were four games back at the start of tonight’s game if they had won the A’s could have been only three games back of the Angels for second place in the American League West.

Instead the A’s are now five games back and can only hope to win the next two games of the series and be three back when the A’s had a chance of being only a game back at the break. 

Tonight’s just another example of just how bad a manager Geren is. There’s no excuse for the way he manages a game and furthermore, how he has kept his job for so long is beyond any A’s fans comprehension. 

Yes, Geren’s General Manager Billy Beane’s best friend, but there comes a point in time where Beane has to man up and fire his best friend. At the all-star break would be a great time to do it. 

Also, along with Geren hitting coach Jim Skaalen can go too!  

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After a miserable June, A.J. Burnett has apparently returned to form.

Burnett limited Oakland to two runs over seven innings as New York topped Oakland, 6-2, Wednesday night at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

New York won their fifth straight while sweeping a three-game series in Oakland for the first time since May 13-15, 2005. Oakland only totaled four runs and 16 hits as they suffered their fourth three-game sweep of the season.

Coming off 6.2 scoreless innings last Friday against Toronto, Burnett (7-7) allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings. He struck out three and walked two and earned his first victory since defeating Cleveland on May 30.

Gio Gonzalez (7-6) suffered the loss after allowing five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and five walks in four innings. He entered the game only allowing one earned run over his last 19.2 innings.

The game did not start well for the Yankees, however, as New York was unable to take advantage of early scoring opportunities.

In the top of the first, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out, but Gonzalez struck out Jorge Posada and Marcus Thames. Derek Jeter hit into an inning-ending double play with runners at first and second in the second inning. With Nick Swisher at third, and one out in the third inning, Alex Rodriguez and Posada struck out to end the inning.

While the Yankees struggled to take advantage of scoring opportunities, Oakland grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third.

Burnett retired the first two hitters before walking number nine hitter Cliff Pennington. After a wild pitch, Pennington scored on Coco Crisp’s RBI single. Crisp entered the at-bat 1-for-14 in his career against Burnett.

After Francisco Cervelli hit into a double play in the top of the fourth, Brett Gardner walked and then stole second. Gardner came around to score on Ramiro Pena’s RBI single.

After a wild pitch advanced Pena to second, Jeter delivered his second RBI in as many days. Prior to Tuesday’s game, Jeter had not driven in a run in 19 consecutive games.

Swisher then walked to keep the inning alive with runners at first and second. Mark Teixeira followed with a homer over the center field wall.  This was Teixeira’s second home run of the series (15th of the season) and it gave the Yankees a 5-1 advantage.

New York increased their lead in the top of the sixth on Swisher’s solo home run. It was the 14th home run of the season for Swisher, who finished the game 3-for-4, a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. He entered the game only hitting .211 (15-71) against his former team. 

Oakland answered with a run in the bottom of the sixth. With runners at first and second and two outs, Jack Cust’s RBI single cut the Yankees lead to 6-2. Cust had been 1-for-15 in his career against Burnett prior to his run-scoring single.

New York will start their final series before the All-Star break in Seattle on Thursday. Andy Pettitte (10-2, 2.82) will start the first game of the four-game series.

The Mariners will counter with Jason Vargas (6-4, 3.22). First pitch is set for 10:10 p.m. ET.

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There was a point in time in the season where the Oakland A’s could have made a surprising run at the American League West division title, but all hope are pretty much gone after another dreadful performance against the New York Yankees. 

So, what is there for the second half of the season for the A’s? Well there’s five things the A’s have to have to show they could become a contender in the American League West division. 

First, regardless of the batting average of Chris Carter he needs to be called up to provide a big bat in the lineup. For the Sacramento Rivercats, Carter has hit 17 homers and driven in 60. Along with the 17 homers he also has 22 doubles and two triples. Meaning in 83 games 41 of his 74 hits have gone for extra bases. 

Those numbers are something that the A’s are in desperate need of a big bat. 

For the second thing that has to change is Daric Barton needs to stop taking so many pitches and start swinging the bat more.

He’s leading the league in walks, but I don’t know how many times I’ve seen him get a pitch to hit and he’s either taking it or fouling the ball off or in a big time situation he gets caught looking at a close pitch. 

That happened against the Yankees. The A’s were trailing 5-1 at the time and this was a game changing situation. With the bases loaded and a 3-2 strike count in the bottom of the fifth inning.

CC Sabathia threw a fastball on the outside corner instead of fouling the pitch off like he did on the previous pitch he didn’t swing. Mike Winters the man calling balls and strikes ran Barton up. 

Barton was upset and immediately slammed his helmet down and was ejected. When hearing the call on the radio I thought hey here’s another example of the Yankees getting the benefit of the doubt.

But, today when I saw the replay of that inning with Barton taking the third strike. I could only shake my head and think to myself what was Barton thinking? That was a perfectly placed pitch by Sabathia it was a strike and even if it was a ball that pitch was way too close for Barton to be not swinging. 

The third thing the A’s need to see is Gio Gonzalez continue to mature. When he gets in trouble in games he lets it bother him. Against the Yankees there’s another perfect example of the growth that needs to be shown from Gonzalez. 

For the game he had way too many baserunners. In the top of the fourth he let his concentration get away from him even after he got a double play. 

Gonzalez allowed a single to Brett Gardner with the two outs. He attempted to throw over a number of times, but none were successful at keeping him from stealing second. 

Ramiro Pena was the batter and he fell behind him and with a 3-1 pitch threw a fastball to the outside corner which Pena blooped into shallow right and Gardner scored easily. 

Pena was able to take second on a wild pitch by Gonzalez. Derek Jeter then with his patented inside out swing hit a groundball past Barton for a single allowing Pena to easily to score from second. 

Nick Swisher was up next and again he was wild getting to a 3-1 count. Gonzalez got lucky on a ball hit down the leftfield line but fortunately it went foul for him. Next pitch though was not even close, walking Swisher. 

The very next hitter Mark Teixeira didn’t have to wait long to get a pitch to hit. He drove a fastball out to dead center. So, the A’s came into the inning winning 1-0 by the end of the inning the A’s were then trailing 5-1. 

The inning started for the Yankees with two outs. All Gonzalez had to do was get the third out. After Gardner got on and stole second, that’s when Gonzalez should have gone right after Pena instead of pitching him carefully. 

I get the fact that the Yankees have a scary lineup, but Pena doesn’t exactly strike fear into many pitchers and it shouldn’t have happened to Gonzalez. 

The fourth thing relates to Gonzalez’s meltdown. This has to do with both Curt Young and Kurt Suzuki. 

When Gonzalez walked Swisher to put runners on first and second. Either Young or Suzuki should have been out to the mound to talk with Gonzalez to settle him down instead of allowing the next batter to come up to the plate and then hit a three run homerun. 

It was easy to tell that Gonzalez was rattled just a bit after the stolen base to Gardner. With the Yankees you can see the difference with Jorge Posada behind the plate or even Francisco Cervelli. 

When a pitcher is struggling they’ll get up from behind the plate and either make a gesture to calm the pitcher down or they will walk to the mound to talk things over. While Suzuki is still growing as a catcher he has to do a better job of understanding when a young A’s pitcher is struggling. 

That same thing can be said for Young and even though he only had one visit to the mound, he should have been out there talking to Gonzalez at some point during the inning.

The fifth thing that must happen is that Ryan Sweeney needs to start showing that he can hit for power. Otherwise in the offseason he should be traded. It’s inexcusable that a 6’4 215 pound outfielder is a slap hitter. 

Most of Sweeney’s hits have come to the opposite field and he rarely pulls the ball. Well Sweeney in the second half must show that he can learn to take the ball out of the ballpark. 

He has just one homerun this season. For his career he has just 13 in 360 career games. 

Also, it doesn’t look good for Sweeney while Carlos Gonzalez who was part of the Matt Holliday trade from last year is having an all-star caliber season for the Colorado Rockies and has settled in hitting in the third spot. On the season he’s hit 15 homers driven in 55, has a .303 average, and 12 stolen bases.

There’s nothing wrong with Sweeney’s defense he can play any of the three outfield positions and has a great arm, but offensively he leaves a lot to be desired. 

As for the sixth thing the A’s need to do is trade Ben Sheets and Kevin Kouzmanoff. Sheets needs to go to a team that can give him the offensive support he needs.

Kouzmanoff, while an outstanding defensive third basemen is as inconsistent as they come as a hitter. For a few weeks he’ll be ice cold the next few weeks red hot, and then it’s backto being ice cold. What’s worse is Kouzmanoff’s tendency to swing at pitches nowhere near the strikezone.

Finally the seventh thing the A’s need to do is change the lineup and rotation for the second half. 

Lineup: 

1. Coco Crisp CF

2. Mark Ellis 2B

3. Chris Carter 1B/DH

4. Jack Cust DH/RF/LF

5. Kurt Suzuki C

6. Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B

7. Ryan Sweeney RF

8. Cliff Pennington SS

9. Rajai Davis LF/CF

Rotation:

1. Trevor Cahill

2. Brett Anderson/If healthy at the end of the all-star break

3. Gio Gonzalez

4. Dallas Braden

5. Vin Mazzaro

As the second half approaches for the A’s and to have a successful season they must bring up Carter, Barton needs to swing more, Gonzalez needs to learn how to control himself when he gets rattled, Suzuki needs to understand when to calm his pitcher down, Sweney needs to develop his power stroke, Sheets and Kouzmanoff need to be sent packing, and the lineup and rotation must be changed. 

On one other note. A’s fans need to start going out and supporting their team. It’s an absolute disgrace that Yankees fans dominate the A’s fans when they are in town and same can be said about Red Sox fans. 

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As the All-Star Game approaches, let’s take an updated look at Ben Sheets’ season.

Last night, Sheets had his longest outing of the season, going 7.1 innings in a tough 3-1 loss against the mighty Yankees. This was his second-best outing of the year and his best one in a month, as he faced a very deep lineup.

The game displayed the ups and downs of his season. Sheets pitched a great game, except the home run that he gave up to Mark Teixeira, but still lost.

Through the first quarter of the season, I gave Sheets a “C-” grade. Now, we can look back at his starts since May 28th.

Sheets has started eight games since then, going 1-5 with two no-decisions. That’s a rough mark for a supposed top starter.

But he has been steady, giving up three earned runs in a game five times and four earned runs three times.

He has had to struggle with run support, which also explains his recent record.

The Athletics have put up just over four runs per game over Sheets’ last eight, which isn’t too bad, but that average is distorted by a 14-4 win over the Pirates. Without that game, the A’s have only averaged 2.7 runs for him.

Sheets has been more reliable, but he’s still not winning key divisional games, including a 4-2 loss to the Angels, which blunts my praise. Overall, he stands 3-8 with a 4.89 ERA. I’ll raise my grade, but just slightly.

Grade: C

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