Elephant Rumblings: Back Home

MLB news roundup

Welcome to July Athletics Nation!

The club returns home today after a quick two-city road trip that could have gone better to say the least. Their first stop was in Los Angeles facing the division rival Angels and that went about as bad as possible. In three losses against Los Angeles the A’s were out scored 17-8. The team looked lost against a fellow cellar dweller and the sweep also has the Athletics firmly in last place in the AL West. For much of the season if was the Angels in last place but they’re playing better of late and now rise to fourth. Still not where the high-payroll Angels want to be so there’s that.

After that difficult series in SoCal the team headed out West to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks. Last year’s NL representative in the Fall Classic, Arizona hasn’t been having the success one would expect from a team that was just in the World Series. Entering the series the D-Backs were under .500 at 39-42 so it wasn’t as though the clubs were on completely different ends of the record spectrum. The series started well enough as the A’s finally got a road win, a well-rounded 9-4 win that also snapped Oakland’s 5-game losing streak. That would be the highlight of the trip though as Arizona came back to win the final two games of the series, sending the A’s home on a sour losing note having gone 1-5 on the trip.

Not exactly what you want but not especially shocking either. The team is lost right now and is ahead of only the Chicago White Sox for worst record in the AL, and fourth-worst in all of baseball. Thus, the inevitability of trade rumors have begun to swirl more and more over the past couple of weeks. The A’s aren’t likely to make any massive trades but they’ll probably be more active this year compared to last season when they only made small trades.

For now though the club is back home in the friendly confines of the Coliseum. They’ll welcome back familiar foe in the Angels to kick off this home stand, which starts with the Angels before Baltimore comes to town for a series of their own. With the way Baltimore is playing this year the A’s would be wise to get at least one win against these Angels, lest we go an even worse 0-6 in front of the home crowd. Let’s hope yesterday’s off day helped give the squad a bit of a reset.

Have an awesome rest of your Tuesday everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• Alex Wood still yet to resume throwing
• The A’s most valuable and available trade piece at the deadline
• A’s fireballer could be perfect option for Cardinals
• A hypothetical A’s-Braves trade for an Oakland slugger

MLB News & Interest:

• Nimmo okay after fall, cutting forehead - but out of the lineup
• No. 3 prospect Wood wastes no time getting first big league hit
• New Home Run Derby rules, format announced
• Mets have buyer mentality, focused on bullpen help
• Former pitcher Andrew Miller hired by MLBPA
• Former Athletic Tony Kemp opts out of minors deal with Twins
• D-Backs GM discusses team’s deadline outlook
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Brownie still swinging the bat well in Triple-A:

A promotion that looks well-deserved already:

Another catching option coming up the ranks: