Yonder Alonso Stands Out for the Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics lost on Sunday, but they did manage to take two out of three from a very good Toronto Blue Jays team.

It’s very hard to get a sweep under any conditions, but when Rich Hill,  the ace of the 2016 A’s, had to leave the game after five pitches, A’s fans knew this was going to be an especially difficult sweep.  The Oakland Athletics played very well but ended up losing 5-3.  Nevertheless, it was a very good weekend for the Green and Gold.

Friday night, the A’s won 8-7.  Josh Reddick went 2-2 with two walks.  He hit a home run and scored four times.  But Reddick was not the A’s MVP on Friday.  Khris Davis hit a homer and drove in 3 runs, but he was not the most valuable player for the Oakland Athletics.

Stephen Vogt hit a home run and drove in the winning run, but even he was not the most valuable.  Yonder Alonso turned that game around in the bottom of the fourth.  It’s all about respect.

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Stephen Vogt singled to lead off the fourth, and then Marcus Semien came up.  On a 2-2 pitch, Semien started to swing and held up.  Home plate umpire, Mark Wegner, called Semien out on the check swing.  Replays clearly showed it was not a swing.  Wegner did not appeal to the first base ump.  Semien just looked at Wegner as if to say, “You gotta be kidding.”

But Semien did not speak out.  Semien is a very good player, but this is only his third season in the big leagues.  He never argues with the umps.  Alonso was the next hitter and Wegner called him out on a pitch that was over the plate, but at least four inches below the knees.  Alonso was having none of it.

Yonder apparently said what every A’s fan was thinking about the umpire.  I’m not sure if Alonso was thrown out before or after he dropped a few f-bombs, but Wegner tossed him pretty quick.  Bob Melvin came out and he got tossed as well.  I think it is wrong to blame losses on an ump, but Daniel Mengden had started that game and he had Josh Donaldson struck out on a pitch that Wegner called ball four.

Replays showed it was clearly strike three.  An umpire can not have one strike zone for rookies and another strike zone for the MVP.  Alonzo and Melvin have enough status in the game to call an ump on horrendous calls.  They stood up for Oakland and ended up watching the end of the game from the locker room.  Somebody had to stand up!

The ejections really did seem to turn the game around.  The Oakland Athletics were trailing 7-3 when Alonso and Melvin got tossed.  They would go on to score five unanswered runs.  Jake Smolinski managed to drive in Vogt in the bottom of the fourth.

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Davis hit a two-run shot to make the score 7-6 and then Vogt followed him up with a game-tying homer.  Vogt, who had been catching all night, was well aware of Wegner’s strange strike zone.  When Vogt hit that homer, he got really pumped up.  Heck, the whole Coliseum was pumped up.

Saturday, Sonny Gray was not dominating, but he was good enough to win his first decision since April 22.  Gray has pitched a lot better than his record indicates.  It’s always good to win.  The Oakland Athletics hit three home runs and the bullpen pitched pretty well.

Alonso started a really nifty 3-6-1 double play in the top of the sixth to help Gray out of a little jam.

On Sunday, Hill started the game and left after five pitches with some kind of problem with a blister on his pitching hand.  Andrew Triggs finished the top of the first and gave up a run.  Sean Manaea took over in the second inning, and he pitched pretty well for the next five innings.   Troy Tulowitzki tagged Manaea for a two-run homer in the fourth.

Semien, who earns about 2.5% of Tulo’s salary, answered with his own home run in the bottom of the sixth.  Alonso came off the bench to hit a clutch two-run double to tie the game in the sixth.  Unfortunately for fans of the Oakland Athletics, Donaldson hit a two-run double of his own in the top of the ninth.

I was at the game, and just as the dust was settling on what would prove to be the game-winning hit, a nearby fan yelled, “Billy Beane, You Suck!”  Hard to disagree with that sentiment as Donaldson seems to be on his way to another MVP award.  It still hurts.

Anyway, the Oakland Athletics took two of three from a Toronto team that seems playoff bound.  Another playoff team, the Houston Astros, are coming to town.

Even though the Oakland Athletics are a young team with a lousy record and a minimal payroll, they are commanding a little more respect these days.  Let’s hope they can keep it going!