During the 2001–02 offseason, the team lost three key free agents to larger market teams: 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi to the New York Yankees, outfielder Johnny Damon to the Boston Red Sox, and closer Jason Isringhausen to the St. Louis Cardinals. "Being able to sweep and extend our lead in the AL West is great," left-hander Jesus Luzardo told reporters, including MLB.com's Martin Gallegos, following Sunday's win (OAK 7, HOU 2). These eccentric A’s lured him from his clubhouse routine because these A’s specialized in the unconventional approach.”. Hatteberg, who was good against righties, was in the batting cage taking swings, preparing to pinch hit. "We only had Lou (Trivino) left and (Daniel) Mengden for length. “That was a magical run.”. The A’s entered the eighth inning still leading by six runs. “All ...read more, Big Ten is back with its first scheduled game between Illinois and Wisconsin, and while  teams are still eligible for CFB Playoff, how will the College Football Committee treat teams that started so late? The mother of all modern winning streaks was produced by Oakland’s third straight postseason-bound, shoestring-budget team. … The thing that stood out the most was the starting pitchers they had. Hatteberg got the call from a bat boy that he was going in to face Royals closer Jason Grimsley. A's win 20th consecutive game after blowing 11-0 lead. Donate. © 2020 ABG-SI LLC. I don’t think it had an effect on anything.”. Hudson righted himself. On Aug. 13, Zito stopped a two-game losing streak by pitching the A’s to a 5-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays at the Coliseum. They never give you the same look,” Semien said. (Nick Lammers/Bay Area News Group), Oakland Athletics' Scott Hatteberg is mobbed by teammates at home plate after hitting the game-winning home run in the ninth inning to beat the Kansas City Royals 12-11, on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 in Oakland, Calif. He's retired 19 of the last 23 batters he's faced and has become a multi-inning weapon for Melvin, so much so that he recorded a three-inning save Sunday. The A's turned 72.2 percent of balls in play into outs last season, third best in baseball behind only the Astros (73.0 percent) and Dodgers (72.9 percent), and they brought back the same roster this year (mostly). © 2004-2020 CBS Interactive. “And he played every day. speaks to how deep and well-constructed this team is. Martin Gallegos covers the A's for MLB.com. The A’s entered this year’s American League Wild Card Game with the home field advantage. They've prevented the other team from tacking on runs and given the offense a chance to get back in the game. “He’s being aggressive and when it happened, I was all for it,” Melvin said. Scott Hatteberg to serve as A’s TV analyst for select games this season He's off to a great start.". Even though Jason Giambi bolted for the big free agent contract with the Yankees, the rest of baseball was on notice as the 2002 season got under way. The A’s have also loss 15 of their past 16 potential clinching games. "Having the ability to win these big games early in the season is big for us.". SI's John Garcia is joined by Buckeyesnow Brendan Gulick to discuss what ...read more. The next night, the A’s started a two-game series against Kansas City by trailing 5-0. OAKLAND -- After what transpired the night before, the A’s entered the ninth inning of Friday’s game with visions of more late-inning magic, but there was no hero this time around. Oakland's 2002 campaign began on a tumultuous note. Sean Manaea (8.03 ERA) and Mike Fiers (5.63 ERA) have struggled in the early going and Luzardo only recently joined the rotation after beginning the year in the bullpen. Oakland has lost nine consecutive winner-take-all games, the longest such streak in big-league history, and dropped 15 of its past 16 potential clinch games. Especially in the East Bay at that time,” said A’s shortstop Marcus Semien, who was an 11-year-old El Cerrito kid at the time. Ayesha Curry changed her hairstyle after going viral for her new look. Looking…, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window), In final debate, Biden and Trump joust over handling of virus, Remember when the A’s won 20 straight? An RBI single by Luis Alicea tied the score at 11-11. The winning streak will end eventually, probably sooner rather than later because that's baseball, but the Athletics have made it clear they are a legitimate World Series contenders. The A's took the series finale the next day, swept three games from the White Sox at home and then ran through a three-city 10-game road trip without a loss. However, the sour taste of extending an unfortunate streak will be cause for questions that need answering during the offseason. Setup man Chad Bradford was on the mound. After receiving the news of top pitcher Frankie Montas’ 80-game suspension for PEDs earlier in the day, the A’s couldn't be blamed if their heads weren’t fully focused on the game just hours later. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Rays came away with a 5-1 victory and a date with the Houston Astros in the ALDS. Once adjusted for ballpark, that is only three percent better than league average. Then the A’s swept three from the White Sox. Liam Hendriks (two runs in 8 1/3 innings) remains entrenched as closer and veteran Joakim Soria (7 2/3 scoreless innings) has served as his primary setup man. Semien’s 0-for-5 day snapped a career-best 17-game hitting streak and the loss ended Oakland’s four-game winning streak. “They felt it building in those last five games. After making his first Major League start against the Rays in Tampa Bay on June 10 and allowing just two runs over 5 2/3 innings, Anderson said facing the same team for a second time brought some difficulty with adjustments that were made. A single up the middle off Jason Grimsley scored Terrence Long. The A’s put up another four-spot in the third inning and led 11-0. And then they scrapped it because we sucked so bad.”. 1:18 pm ET, Houston hasn't been this far back in the standings in four years, FanGraphs gives the Athletics a 79.6 percent chance to win the AL West, They earned an A+ in Dayn Perry's quarter-mark grades, Matt Snyder has them atop his weekly power rankings, now likely to be suspended as a result of Sunday's brawl, Bassitt told Gallegos following Friday's game, as MLB.com's David Adler writes, Diekman learned it from Twitter, Melvin told Gallegos after Wendelken threw three innings in Friday night's 13-inning win, Semien told the Associated Press over the weekend, Five things we learned from Games 1 and 2, Rays' Lowe breaks out of slump with multi-HR game, Manfred: Expanded playoffs, extras rule could stay, Betts' brilliant Game 1 includes steals, free tacos, Bellinger hits Game 1 home run, celebrates responsibly, Ex-Astros GM: 'I didn't know we were cheating'. After receiving the news of top pitcher Frankie Montas ’ 80-game suspension for PEDs earlier in the day, the A’s couldn't be blamed if their … Jeff Tam replaced him and gave up a three-run homer to Mike Sweeney. That means the much improved Semien and two Gold Glovers in Chapman and Olson on the infield. The A's broke the American League record with their 20th consecutive win. Matt Chapman and Matt Olson hit back-to-back home runs Sunday... ...and are just now really starting to get it going. Just move on to the next day.”. With the Rays using seven different pitchers through nine innings, each time the A’s hitters began to feel a rhythm it was often thrown off by a pitching change. Swept three at Kansas City. Longest streaks. For Oakland, it was their ninth consecutive loss in postseason winner-take-all games — a streak that goes back to 2000. The Athletics have turned 72.9 percent of batted balls into outs this season, which is better than last season but only middle of the pack because the MLB batting average is currently .230. "This time of year we're only looking for him to go six. His walk-off home run on Sept. 4, 2002 against the Kansas City Royals sent the 55,528 fans in attendance into a frenzy. Back then, during the longest winning streak in American League history, failure felt impossible.