Oakland

Closer to clinching, A’s magic number is 2

Published

11 years ago

September 20, 2013

Oakland, CA – The best news of the night was that the Texas Rangers lost to the Kansas City Royals. The sellout crowd at O.Co erupted when the final score was shown during the game. That means the magic number to clinch the American League West Division is down to two.

The A’s gladly accepted the assist from the Ranger as they dominated the Twins in a 11-0 shutout victory. Again Oakland’s offense took advantage of every opportunity from Minnesota’s troubled defense. A stellar performance by Bartolo Colon who allowed no runs, struck out eight and walked one. Colon scattered five hits over six frames.

“I was tired for a bit for awhile, but I have recovered good,” said Bartolo through interpreter Ariel Prieto.

“Now we’re seeing the movement again, we’re seeing the velocity coming back,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We were able to give him a little bit of a break with the D.L. and I think the last two times he’s had five days rest in between starts. So we’re seeing a guy really hitting his stride again after a down period.”

Yoenis Cespedes leadoff the second with a solo home run for the early 1-0 lead. Derek Norris followed with a double thanks to Oswaldo Arcia’s losing the ball in right field. Josh Reddick brought in the next run with a bloop infield single and Arcia’s next fielding error allowed Daric Barton to reach third on a single bringing in Reddick for the unearned run.

The A’s got their next run from Norris’ single in the fourth, advanced to third when catcher Chris Hermann over threw second base. That set up Alberto Callaspo’s RBI single. The fifth was the inning that the Twins gave away. A total of five runs scored to give Oakland a 9-0 lead. Starter Andrew Albers loaded the bases, Chris Young grounded a single to third baseman Eduardo Escobar. A simple play done a million times would’ve easily gotten the out.

“We threw the ball around, missed the ball, had some trouble in the outfield early and every time we missed a play they took full advantage of it,” said Minnesota’s manager Ron Gardenhire. “Not very much fun for us in our dugout.”

Escobar threw past first baseman Chris Parmelee clearing the bases leaving Young at second. Callaspo singled in Young and a wild pitch by Ryan Pressly while Daric Barton was at-bat brought in the ninth run. It was truly unbelievable on how the Twins handed this victory to the A’s. Lapse in judgement was an understatement on how pitiful this defense played. Josh Donaldson capped the night off with a two-run homer in the sixth.

“They made some miscues, and I think the important part is we were able to take advantage of it,” said Donaldson. “We’ve been scoring a lot of runs lately, and it’s one thing to score runs and do it early as we have been, but I feel like throughout the game we continually add runs on, and that’s even more important.”

Oakland plays tomorrow at 1pm and must await the final decision between the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers game. If the A’s win and sweep the series, they can clinch if the Rangers lose. But they’ll have to stick around and wait since that game is a few hours later. Oakland would win the American League West for the second straight season.

“Who knows? I could see it happen. It’s a long time to wait, though, so we’ll see,” Jed Lowrie said. “Going to the playoffs, it doesn’t matter when you celebrate. Getting the opportunity to go is what it’s all about.”

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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.

Oakland Post

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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