Athletics Back Home, Working at Coliseum; Will Resume Play vs. Padres Friday
The Oakland A’s flew home Tuesday afternoon, and by Wednesday morning they were showing up at the Coliseum in small groups, getting back onto the field for the first time since learning one of their number had tested positive for the COVID10 coronavirus late Saturday night.
Manager Bob Melvin said the club was having players work out in groups of three or four players at a time Wednesday with the hope that all the pitchers and all the position players could get together on Thursday for a more substantial workout.
And on Friday the hope is they will be hosting the San Diego Padres at 6:40 p.m., the first time Oakland will be on the field for a game in six days.
A week ago, the A’s were rolling, owning the best record in the American League and the second-best record to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then came protest-related shutdowns of games Thursday in Arlington, Texas and Friday in Houston, a doubleheader loss in Houston Saturday followed by the positive COVID-19 test that forced everybody to self-isolate their Houston hotel rooms.
Without named the individual involved, the manager said the positive test came out of the blue.
“Something I want to emphasize is that nobody broke protocol,” Melvin said. “And we’ve had no positive (tests) since. This was kind of a hit for us, but no one went out and did something that broke with what the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) or MLB considered protocol.”
For all of that, being sequestered in rooms in a hotel 1,500 miles from the Bay Area with no access to any kind of workout equipment has thrown the A’s for a loop in terms of their competitive ability.
“It’s been hard,” Melvin said. “In a year when we’ve talked often about `don’t expect anything to go smoothly,’ it’s been exactly that, especially this last week. You know, whatever could go wrong, actually did.
“It’s something we’re going to have to work through and understand at this point there’s not much we can do about it, and just prepare for the next game.”
Getting back that momentum won’t be easy, with pitchers not having throw off a mound since Saturday and with hitters haven’t not visited a batting cage over the same period of time. Melvin, never much one for excuses, isn’t making any.
“You know what? It just doesn’t matter,” Melvin said. “You have to be prepared for it. You have to go out with the expectation to win come Friday. We’ll try do ramp up during the next couple of days to be prepared for that, but this season in general has been a mental battle.
“If you look and see the standings, you see how other teams are doing. There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that play in to this year, obviously more than any other year.”
The A’s front office used the weekend leading up to the Aug. 31 trade deadline to add a left-handed hitting second baseman with power, Tommy La Stella, from the Angels, and a left-handed starter who’s a curve and changeup specialist in Mike Minor, from the Rangers. Both were voted onto the 2019 American League All-Star team.
La Stella is likely to take playing time away from Tony Kemp at second base and Minor introduction to Oakland likely will be in the bullpen, but he will undoubtedly pitch as a starter with the A’s facing three doubleheaders in seven days beginning Tuesday against the Astros.
“Minor will be available to pitch out of the bullpen Friday,” Melvin said. “And then we’ll target him to have one of the starts in the doubleheader. We don’t want to back anybody off and give them an even longer time to be inactive. We’ll just remain in the five-man rotation where we were with Minor helping out in the doubleheader.”
That would see the A’s, who enter Wednesday with a 22-12 record and a three-game lead over the Astros in the AL West, staying in same rotation they would have been in, leaving Jesús Luzardo to face the Padres Friday, followed by Sean Manaea and Mike Fiers.
Frankie Montas would then start Monday against the Astros, with Chris Bassitt and Minor pitching the two ends of the doubleheader Tuesday, followed by Luzardo and Manaea to complete the series against Houston.
NOTES
--Shortstop Marcus Semien, whose 275-game streak of consecutive games played ended when left side pain leveled him before the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, worked out at the Coliseum Wednesday and will do so Thursday, but his swing is still impacted, so it’s unlikely he’d be in the lineup Friday.
--Chad Pinder, who’d been away from the team for the birth of his first child, Christopher, is back and he and Vimael Machin are likely to platoon at shortstop until Semien returns.
--Liam Hendriks was named American League Reliever of the Month for July/August, which is actually five weeks, but who’s counting? Hendriks, who also won the award in June of 2019, was 2-0 with 10 saves and a 1.10 ERA in 16 appearances. Opponents averaged just .143 against him. Over his last 102 games, including nine starts as an opener, Hendriks is 6-4 with 35 saves and a 1.52 ERA with 156 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .188 batting average.
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Inside the Athletics on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.