Oakland

A’s sweep Rays, closing in on AL West lead

Published

11 years ago

September 1, 2013

Oakland, CA – No better way to begin the month of September. These past two weeks have felt like playoff baseball. But for the A’s, they have only one thing on their mind and that’s to reclaim first place in their division.

“Scoreboard watching tends to take place around this time, I try not to get caught up in that,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I pretty much watch one score when it goes up and that’s the Texas score.”

It’s hard not to see Oakland make a strong push for the pennant race after sweeping the Rays 5-1 in the series finale. They are now within one game of the Rangers who they face in a three-game series tomorrow. After today’s win the A’s are 2 1/2 games ahead of Tampa in the Wild Card spot.

“I don’t want the [Wild Card] game,” said Melvin. “You try not to get too caught up in it but you can’t help it. Everybody is, and once you get into September, it feels like the finish line is in sight.”

Both Coco Crisp and Stephen Vogt went deep behind a good day of pitching from A.J. Griffin. Crisp matched a season-high with his sixteenth home run in the first giving the A’s a 1-0 lead. It was his second home run in the past two games.

“No,” Coco replied when asked if he’s playing his best baseball after tying his career-high. “I have 17 stolen bases. I don’t care about home runs, if they go, they go. I’m grateful it’s a home run, but… it is what it is.”

James Loney tied the game in the second with a long ball to right field. That was the only run scored off Griffin. Through seven innings, he allowed five hits, one walk and struck out seven. A.J. recorded his second straight win after being winless in four previous starts.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good,” said Griffin. “The results haven’t been there, trying to become a pitcher I’m not, like a power-pitcher type thing. Today [pitching coach Curt Young] and I found some stuff mechanically, keeping my head on line a bit more, and that helped tremendously. I felt I could execute my pitches and get the ball where I needed it more.”

Oakland took advantage of the errors that plagued the Rays today. Evan Longoria over threw Jed Lowrie’s infield bunt to first base for the out. Lowrie then advanced to third, and was scored in on Brandon Moss’ single to right field in the third.

Tampa tried to rally back in the seventh but had no luck against the A’s dominant defense. With one runner on at second and two outs, Desmond Jennings hit a single to left-fielder Yoenis Cespedes whew threw toward home plate.

Josh Dondalson came off third to catch the ball above the mound. He then fired a bullet to catcher Vogt who tagged Will Myers twice at home plate. Making sure home plate umpire Tony Randazzo called the out.

“I knew the situation, the line drive was hit to my right and I froze,” Myers said. “I should have gotten a better read on it. I didn’t know where the ball was, so I was just trying to avoid the tag. When your not scoring runs, things like that get magnified.”

“I knew he was nowhere near the plate and I had time to go back and get him,” said Stephen. “If that’s a play where he slides in and he’s at the plate, I’m not going to act like I tagged him the first time. So fortunately, he was well off the plate and I had time to go back and tag him.”

Vogt homered in the seventh and Oakland scored two more runs in the eighth. With no starter assigned, Jamey Wright came out of Tampa’s bullpen to make his first start since August 25, 2007 with the Texas Rangers. His outing lasted 1 2/3 innings before the bullpen took over. Wright allowed a leadoff home run to Crisp and two singles. He walked two and struck out one.

“It’s where it all starts with us,” Bob said. “The starters, if they can get deep in games, going against a staff like they have over there, you know your not going to score a ton of runs. The whole series, up until the last inning of this game, felt like a couple of runners on and you don’t know where it’s going. So for the starters to be able to get us deep and pitch that well, really makes it a lot easier to finish out of those games.”

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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