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A’s Rally Late For A Crisp Finish

Published

11 years ago

June 21, 2014

Oakland, CA – Coco Crisp didn’t start tonight’s game but he certainly left a lasting impression when he came in to pinch-hit for Craig Gentry. Bottom of the eighth with two runners on, Crisp knocked a single into right field scoring in the tie-breaking run.

The A’s 4-3 victory over the Red Sox continues to keep them at the top with the best record in the Majors. They recorded their fourth consecutive win, making this a franchise best 74-game mark since the 1990’s. Winning sixth of their last seven games has put Oakland in a class of their own.

“We know with our team we play a full squad, so we’re always prepared in case of anything, said Crisp.”

Pitcher Brad Mills who was bought for $1 was off to a great start in the first retiring the first two batters he faced before walking Dustin Pedroia and striking out David Ortiz to end the inning. Josh Donaldson backed him with a three-run homer bottom of the frame making it a 3-0 game.

Mills lost his command in the second allowing two runs, Mike Napoli singled on a line drive to start the inning. Jonny Gomes was issued a walk and both runners advanced to second and third on Nick Punto’s throwing error. Jackie Bradley scored in both runners on a RBI single to center field making it a 3-2 game.

Ortiz tied the game when he singled on a ground ball to right field scoring in Xander Bogaerts who walked to leadoff the third. Mill’s outing didn’t last long, he tossed four frames, gave up four hits, three runs, four walks and struck out four.

“I don’t have a chip on my shoulder,” Mills said when asked about his deal. “My job is to throw strikes. I didn’t throw as many today as I would have liked to.”

Jim Johnson came in and yielded two singles to the first two batters and struck out the next two before walking Gomes to load the bases with two outs in the fifth. Johnson then forced Stephen Drew to ground out to end the inning stranding all three runners.

“They’re running out guys out of the bullpen that are mid to upper 90’s, and we had opportunities early on and couldn’t cash in,” said Boston’s manager John Farrell.

The A’s rallied in the seventh when both Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes hit back-to-back singles. Donaldson grounded into a force out putting runners in the corner but Stephen Vogt who replaced an injured Derek Norris flew out to left field leaving runners stranded.

Oakland got another opportunity to put runners on again in the eighth and scored in the winning run while the bullpen pitched five scoreless innings. The Red Sox had no answer for the second consecutive night against stellar pitching. Ryan Cook, Fernando Abad and closer Sean Doolittle didn’t allow one runner on base with a hit.

“It’s a good team over there,” Gomes said. “They had a guy who’s had 100 saves the last two years coming in the fifth.”

“That was a complete team win today,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “When our starter goes four innings and you got to use a lot of the bullpen… we certainly got a lot of contributions.”

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Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

Published

16 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Oakland Post

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Gov. Newsom Approves $170 Million to Fast Track Wildfire Resilience

AB 100 approves major investments in regional conservancies across the state, including over $30 million each for the Sierra Nevada, Santa Monica Mountains, State Coastal, and San Gabriel/Lower LA Rivers and Mountains conservancies. An additional $10 million will support wildfire response and resilience efforts.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

With wildfire season approaching, last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 100, unlocking $170 million to fast-track wildfire prevention and forest management projects — many of which directly protect communities of color, who are often hardest hit by climate-driven disasters.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to increase the speed and size of forest and vegetation management essential to protecting communities,” said Newsom when he announced the funding on April 14.

“We are leaving no stone unturned — including cutting red tape — in our mission to ensure our neighborhoods are protected from destructive wildfires,” he said.

Newsom also signed an executive order suspending certain regulations to allow urgent work to move forward faster.

This funding builds on California’s broader Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, a $2.7 billion effort to reduce fuel loads, increase prescribed burning, and harden communities. The state has also launched new dashboards to keep the public informed and hold agencies accountable.

California has also committed to continue investing $200 million annually through 2028 to expand this effort, ensuring long-term resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities.

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California Rideshare Drivers and Supporters Step Up Push to Unionize

Today in California, over 600,000 rideshare drivers want the ability to form or join unions for the sole purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. It’s a right, and recently at the State Capitol, a large number of people, including some rideshare drivers and others working in the gig economy, reaffirmed that they want to exercise it.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into federal law the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Also known as the “Wagner Act,” the law paved the way for employees to have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” and “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, according to the legislation’s language.

On April 8, the rideshare drivers held a rally with lawmakers to garner support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1340, the “Transportation Network Company Drivers (TNC) Labor Relations Act.”

Authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 1340 would allow drivers to create a union and negotiate contracts with industry leaders like Uber and Lyft.

“All work has dignity, and every worker deserves a voice — especially in these uncertain times,” Wicks said at the rally. “AB 1340 empowers drivers with the choice to join a union and negotiate for better wages, benefits, and protections. When workers stand together, they are one of the most powerful forces for justice in California.”

Wicks and Berman were joined by three members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights).

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU; and a host of others participated in the demonstration on the grounds of the state capitol.

“This is not a gig. This is your life. This is your job,” Bryan said at the rally. “When we organize and fight for our collective needs, it pulls from the people who have so much that they don’t know what to do with it and puts it in the hands of people who are struggling every single day.”

Existing law, the “Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act,” created by Proposition (Prop) 22, a ballot initiative, categorizes app-based drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft as independent contractors.

Prop 22 was approved by voters in the November 2020 statewide general election. Since then, Prop 22 has been in court facing challenges from groups trying to overturn it.

However, last July, Prop 22 was upheld by the California Supreme Court last July.

In a 2024, statement after the ruling, Lyft stated that 80% of the rideshare drivers they surveyed acknowledged that Prop 22 “was good for them” and “median hourly earnings of drivers on the Lyft platform in California were 22% higher in 2023 than in 2019.”

Wicks and Berman crafted AB 1340 to circumvent Prop 22.

“With AB 1340, we are putting power in the hands of hundreds of thousands of workers to raise the bar in their industry and create a model for an equitable and innovative partnership in the tech sector,” Berman said.