Oakland

Cespedes home-run not enough, A’s lose to Tigers

Published

11 years ago

October 4, 2013

Oakland, CA – It’s been almost a year when these teams met in the American League Division Series. Fate has brought them back together to kickoff this year’s postseason. The only problem is, this time the outcome wasn’t any different.

The Detroit Tigers took game one of the series with a 3-2 win over the A’s. Ace Max Scherzer pitched a stellar game striking out a total of eleven batters. Only one player was successful in hitting off him and that was Yoenis Cespedes who produced the only runs for Oakland.

“Yeah, they had three pretty good pitchers and their go-to guys to finish out games at least with [Drew] Smyly and [Joaquin] Benoit,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “Would have been nice to get them going earlier in the game and try to get Scherzer’s pitch count up. Yet maybe not our best offensive night, but they pitched well too.”

The Tigers took an early lead, Austin Jackson leadoff the first frame with a double and Torii Hunter was hit by pitch that set up Miguel Cabrera’s bloop single up the middle scoring Jackson for their first run.

Prince Fielder followed by grounding into a double play that scored in Hunter and Alex Avila who got the base hit for the final run giving Detroit a 3-0 lead. Bartolo Colon rocky’s start in the first inning was crucial, especially hitting a batter and giving up three runs for the first time this season.

Colon settled down to retire the next five batters before Fielder knocked a ground single to left field. The A’s defense stepped up and kept Detroit from scoring any more runs. In fact, the biggest defensive play in the game came in the sixth.

Omar Infante hit a single to right-fielder Josh Reddick and Victor Martinez was waved in and headed to home plate. No one has been successful in out running Reddick’s arm thus far and Martinez had no chance tonight when he threw to catcher Stephen Vogt for the out. That was the only time Tigers came close to scoring again.

“We just have to forget about this as fast as we can,” Coco Crisp said. “That’s been working for us all year. It’s unfortunate, because we almost pulled it off, but we’ll let this go and start worrying about Mr. Verlander.”

The one person who shutdown Oakland’s offense was Scherzer. He scattered three hits over seven innings, giving up two runs, two walks, and a home run. Those two runs came from Cespedes who hit a triple in the second and blasted a two-run homer in the seventh.

“The first at-bat he caught too much over the plate and the third at-bat, he had a good battle,” Scherzer said in reference to Yoenis getting two big hits off him. “It got to a 2-2, and I didn’t know what pitch to go with, and I thought if I went with my fastball, I could make him go away. That pitch caught too much of the plate and he took it deep and that’s just something that happens. And it’s baseball. It’s pitching and you move on.”

Max relied on his fastball and change-up to stifle a powerful offense. Justin Verlander did the same thing last year to win game four of the ALDS. A good change-up is hard to beat and Scherzer fanned four in a row from the fourth through the fifth frames. The bullpen came in to pitch the final three outs to secure their victory.

“I thought I had a good change-up tonight,” he explained. “I thought that was the difference. I was able to keep them off balance, and it allowed me to pitch deep into the game.”

“We were able to jump on some of his mistakes the last time, and he didn’t make any mistakes this time,” Vogt said. “He was putting his fastball on the corners. He wasn’t missing over the middle of the plate. His fastball-changeup fastball is one of the best in baseball. Good pitching will always beat good hitting.

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Oakland Awarded $28 Million Grant from Governor Newsom to Sustain Long-Term Solutions Addressing Homelessness

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program. This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program.

This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and the Oakland City Administrator’s Office staff held a press conference today to discuss the grant and the City’s successful implementing of the Mayor’s Executive Order on the Encampment Management Policy.

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Pamela Price Appoints Deputy D.A. Jennifer Kassan as New Director of Community Support Bureau

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau. Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau.

Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Working in the DA’s new administration since 2023, Kassan was most recently assigned to the Organized Retail Theft Prosecution team.

Kassan has a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship from Yale Law School, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1995. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor emphasis in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Kassan’s education, extensive legal background, list of notable accomplishments and impressive resume includes helping to found and lead multiple organizations to support community wealth building including:

Community Ventures, a nonprofit organization that promotes locally-based community economic development,
the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit that provides legal information, training, and representation to support sustainable economies
the Force for Good Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund
Crowdfund Main Street, a licensed portal for regulation crowdfunding
Opportunity Main Street, a place-based ecosystem building organization that supports under-represented entrepreneurs and provides education about community-based investing.

In addition, Kassan served as an elected member of the City Council of Fremont, California from 2018 to 2024, and on the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies.

In 2020 she was named to the list of World-Changing Women in Conscious Business by SOCAP Global.

“We are excited to see Jenny accept the role as the new leader for the Community Support Bureau,” said Price. “She brings a wealth of talent, experience, and a vision to expand our office’s engagement with community groups and residents, that will level-up our

outreach programs and partnerships with local organizations with the aim of promoting crime prevention.

“We thank Interim CSB Director Esther Lemus, who is now assigned to our office’s

Restitution Unit, for her hard work and a great job fostering positive relationships between the DAO and the community.”

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Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Open Letter to Philip Dreyfuss, Recall Election’s Primary Funder

Oaklanders Defending Democracy, a group opposing the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, shared an open letter she wrote to Philip Dreyfuss of Farallon Capital, a coal hedge fund. According to Thao’s supporters, “Dreyfuss is the primary funder of the recall effort to remove her from office. He has not explained his motivations or answered one question about why he’s funding the recall or what his agenda is for Oakland.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Special to The Post

Publishers note: Oaklanders Defending Democracy, a group opposing the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, shared an open letter she wrote to Philip Dreyfuss of Farallon Capital, a coal hedge fund.

According to Thao’s supporters, “Dreyfuss is the primary funder of the recall effort to remove her from office. He has not explained his motivations or answered one question about why he’s funding the recall or what his agenda is for Oakland.

“All we know about him is his firm has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022. Farallon Capital is a global hedge fund with $39 billion capital under management, headquartered in San Francisco, the supporters say.

The effort to recall Mayor Sheng Thao was built on top of an argument about a crime wave, pinning the blame for it on a newly elected Mayor. Now that crime has dropped massively, recall proponents are left with no compelling argument.

Oct. 30

Dear Philip Dreyfuss,

We haven’t met. As you know, I’m the Mayor of Oakland, elected in 2022 to serve and protect this city. Since stepping into office, I’ve tackled rising crime, homelessness, and budget challenges head-on, working tirelessly for Oakland’s future.

You are a hedge-fund manager and coal investor who doesn’t live in Oakland who is trying to buy our city government. But the people didn’t elect you, they elected me to protect them from people like you.

Shortly after my term began, you launched a campaign to remove me from office, pouring in nearly $500,000 of your own wealth. We’ll know the outcome of your campaign on Nov. 6, but let’s be clear about what’s at stake.

Since I took office, crime has dropped over 30%—we’re on track for less than 100 homicides for the first time since 2019, with 15,000 fewer crimes overall.

We’ve invested hundreds of millions into affordable housing, modernized our 911 system, streamlined construction permitting, and are fighting to make Oakland a safer and cleaner city.

If your recall succeeds, Oakland will see four mayors in just five years, another election for mayor the following year and a whopping $10 million cost to taxpayers. In other words, chaos. None of this will impact you because you don’t live here.

Oaklanders deserve to know who you are. I looked into your record and found that the hedge fund you help manage, Farallon Capital, has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022.

For years, Oakland has stood tall against coal money threatening the health of West Oakland, Chinatown, Jack London and downtown.

Did you know that life expectancy in West Oakland is 7.5 years lower than the County average? Or that our children suffer from asthma at a rate twice as high as the rest of the County?

Philip, instead of trying to use your wealth to hijack our democracy and create chaos in our city you could have put your money where your mouth is.

Instead of investing in coal you could have invested in our young people—created scholarships for our college-bound kids, funded apprenticeships for those who want to learn a trade or helped rid our schools of lead.

Instead, you chose to divide us while you try to buy us. But I’m here to tell you, Philip, on behalf of the 450,000 residents of my city that Oakland is not for sale. NO to coal. NO to chaos. And NO to your selfish and self-serving recall.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, City Hall, Oakland