Whither the 2015 Oakland A's?   by Jonathan Siegel

 On the Friday before Father's Day my daughter decided to take the old man to the A's-Angels fireworks game. It's not her fault that it was one of the worst baseball games I've ever seen. Sonny Gray was not at his best, but he was solid, and the A's offense performed well, the boys jumping out to a 7-2 lead. Then, in the seventh inning, the wheels fell off. Shoddy defense and hideous relief pitching ultimately led to a 12-7 loss. There in a nutshell was the 2015 A's: excellent starting pitching, surprisingly strong offense, way too many errors and a shockingly bad bullpen.

Nonetheless, the team has played better lately. After opening the season 14-30, they went 22-15 in the next month and a half. If you did the math, you know that still leaves them nine games under .500 with half a season to go. Realistically, it seems they've put themselves in too deep a hole, and are in wait-till-next-year mode.

Still, it's not hard to squint and see a real contender not so far in the future. The A's have scored 360 runs while allowing 312, despite leading the league with 40 unearned runs. All the fancy new sabermetric projection systems tell us they're much better than their record. Unfortunately, I think "record" is still what is used to determine standings.

All the roster shuffling has turned up some quality players. Brett Lawrie is a strong third baseman and dangerous at the plate, Ike Davis looks solid at first and Billy Burns is a Rookie of the Year candidate in center field. He's hitting well over .300 and stealing bases like crazy. Burns helps us forget the perennially injured former occupant of the spot, Coco Crisp. Utility man extraordinaire Ben Zobrist has shown what the fuss is about after returning from early-season knee surgery. Holdovers Josh Reddick in right and catcher Stephen Vogt are having their best years and are serious All-Star candidates.

The rotation has indeed been consistently strong, sporting the best earned run average in the American League. It's led by holdovers Gray, Scott Kazmir and Jesse Chavez, but is ably supplemented by young acquisitions Jesse Hahn and Kendall Graveman.

The problems seem solvable. Part of the problems on defense have been good defensive players like Zobrist and Reddick making uncharacteristic errors, but the real problem has been at shortstop, where the East Bay's young Marcus Semien has look overmatched. The A's brought back Ron Washington to serve as Semien's personal coach (perhaps remembering that he taught Scott Hatteberg to play first), and Marcus will either get it together or the A's will find someone else to play the position. I'm rooting for the local guy.

The pen fell apart because Sean Doolittle got hurt, Dan Otero lost his sinker and Ryan Cook and Fernando Abad lost the plate. Bullpens are inherently unstable, but I'm guessing the firm of Beane and Forst can fix it.

Finally, bet on the A's to be sellers this month as the trade deadline approaches. Veterans Zobrist, Kazmir and reliever Tyler Clippard are all on expiring contracts and should be attractive to contenders. Expect an influx of young talent, further setting the stage for 2016. After three exciting years of contention, a year to reload doesn't seem that bad.

Jonathan Siegel is the founding partner of Siegel LeWitter Malkani, an Oakland labor and employment firm which is ranked in the Best Law Firms in California-First Tier" by U.S. News. A recovering erstwhile Yankees fan when he is not representing unfairly treated employees, he loves rooting for the A's and yearns for the day when the A's management requites the love of the team's passionate fans, commits to Oakland and comes up with a little more scratch for ballplayers.

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July 4, 2015: A Perfect Day to Reflect -- and Chill Out   by Pete Elman

In Oakland we don't boo our teams. I've got the radio on. The A's are ahead 1-0 in the sixth inning against King Felix, desperately trying to win a July Fourth matchup with a woeful Mariners team. We are mellow, laid-back West Coast fans who possess the gift of patience. Can you picture Yankees fans or Red Sox fans sitting still while their team gets dismantled annually? When I was in college in Boston the Red Sox were very bad, and I don't remember anybody caring, especially the South Boston punks who would sit in the bleachers all day doing drugs.

Nowadays the average ticket price at Fenway is approaching $100, and right field is no longer a shooting gallery. And the fans are impatient, angry, intolerant and unforgiving -- just ask Pablo Sandoval. Yoenis Cespedes for Rick Porcello is looking like the worst trade ever. And the Evil Empire sits in first place, with A-Rod leading the way. How awful that must be for the Red Sox faithful. Meanwhile, rookie sinkerballer Kendall Graveman is dealing, but the A's are blowing opportunities. Boy do I miss the soothing tones of Ken Korach, who is still out rehabbing from his knee replacements.

Here in sunny Oakland we are still basking in the glow of the Warriors' seamless season of perfection. How could anybody top that? The parade was as perfect as the season, despite the absence of the modest, self-effacing logo, Jerry West, whose dignified presence would have provided the frosting on the cake. So now we watch from our lofty championship perch as every other team in the West scrambles to improve so that it can challenge our heroes. It still hasn't sunk in yet that we are the champs.

Am I worried about next year? Not a chance. The Spurs signed Lionel Aldridge? Wake me up in January when Duncan, Parker and Ginobili meet Ponce de Leon. The Mavericks? Give me a break. Reinforcements will never make them a threat. Memphis? Can't shoot. Houston? Uh, didn't we expose them? The Clip Joint?Even more done than they were after the Houston playoff debacle. OKC? Good luck with Russell and Kevin, Billy Donovan. Portland? Four starters gone. The Lakers? Call me in three years. New Orleans? I love Alvin Gentry, but they are another one-man team. The Kings? A veritable cancer ward with Rondo and Cousins. If only George Karl could replace Gentry as Steve Kerr's right-hand man, that would be sweet. So, yeah, you could say that I'm pretty chill about the Warriors, for now. That is, until they move to Mission Bay. I am crossing my fingers that the cabal of S.F. interests lined up against the new waterfront arena can stall Joe Lacob long enough for us to win another title here in Oakland.

So it's back to baseball for many of us. The A's sub-.500 record seems worse than it is. But time is running out. We'll need to channel the spirit of 2012, and then some, to make the playoffs. The Athletics have the best pitching in the American League, decent hitting, a plus-50 run differential ... and they're in last place. All these years I've been conditioned by Billy Beane to believe it's all about pitching, and here we have this incredible starting staff and we are still several games below the break-even point. Yeah, of course it's the bullpen and the defense that have been the twin culprits. Uh-oh, Cano and Cruz just singled to lead off the top of the seventh. Come on, Kendall, give 'em some of that Alabama mojo ... YES!! Out of the inning with no damage. Ray Fosse is pumped up doing the radio broadcast, a departure from his normal role as the TV color analyst.

So am I "chill"? Hardly. Sure, I have been an A's fan so long -- since 1968 -- that I can handle anything, I guess. It looks like we're at the beginning of yet another three-to-five-year reload and rebuild phase. But what am I supposed to do, root for the Giants? No thanks. They might be rebuilding themselves, at least their rotation. And the Raiders? That situation is so screwed up that I can't even think past what I hope will be an 8-8 campaign.

July Fourth: beer, barbecue and baseball. Burns just scored on a sacrifice fly, so it's 2-0 now. And Fosse is indignant after a horrible call by the ump, punching out Reddick on a foul tip that bounced a foot in front of home plate. Another superstar call for Felix. Look out -- I'm losing my chill holiday vibe as I get deeper into this game. The fan in me is getting worked up. Regardless of the outcome -- and I will be in a way better mood if the Athletics win this one -- the inevitability of Beane being a seller and not a buyer is looming over this sun-drenched month like a dark cloud. Last year at this time Billy began what would prove to be the worst stretch of personnel moves in the history of the franchise. It started with unloading prospect Addison Russell (who has been showing flashes of brilliance all season for the Cubs) for Jeff Samardzija. Then Cespedes was gone, Jon Lester was here, and the whole thing unraveled, devolving into the epic collapse that haunts this year's team. I was not very chill last October; I was catatonic. Pomeranz gets through the top of the eighth. Just three more outs and this one is in the barn. Clippard is getting loose ...

How does one stay mellow as an Oakland sports fan? Let me count the ways:

1. Be Zen. You cannot control what happens.

2. Have low expectations. That way, when good things happen you're ecstatic.

3. Stay positive. If you don't, the pain will disable you.

4. And those moments that haunt your memory? Allow them to live in your psyche, but try not to be obsessed by them.

Clippard, who throws only two pitches, a high fastball and a low changeup, whiffs Cano on a where-did-that-come-from filthy knuckle curve. Then he gets Nelson Cruz on a grounder to short that Marcus Semien actually makes routine with a perfect throw. Two outs. After a 10-pitch walk to Kyle Seager, here comes former Athletic Seth Smith. On a 1-2 pitch, Smith smokes a wicked one-hopper that looks like a sure hit, but Eric Sogard makes yet another great play, snaring the shot and throwing him out. It's our league-leading 11th shutout, for chrissake. And we're in last place.

Now I can mow the lawn with a smile, sit in the backyard, read a good book, down a couple of good beers and have a nice dinner. I'm happy, oh, and by the way, I'm feeling very chill. My team won.

Pete Elman worked as a sportswriter for the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune from 2000 to 2011. In 1991 he came up with the iconic moniker RUN TMC for the Golden State Warriors of the early 1990s. He is currently publishing a children's picture book with music, titled "Seasons, Rhymes in Time" (chillincrowbooks.com).

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On My Mind by Richard Lupoff

Three cheers for Andy Dolich and "Enough Already." (Published in Sports Today, No. 74.) Particularly ironic in view of the story in this morning's Oakland Tribune. Apparently Warriors owner Joe Lacob is interested in purchasing the A's from Lew Wolff and John Fisher, but Wolff says they aren't interested in selling.

Sweet-faced (but sour-tempered) Unca Louie has owned the A's for a long enough time to resolve the Coliseum problem, and for all the trial balloons he's floated over the years, the only thing he's accomplished is putting up some new scoreboards at the old ballpark. (And they are very nice scoreboards, no question.)

What's the expression: "Lead, follow or get out of the way." (There's a more earthy version of that, but this is a family show, isn't it?)

I'm not sure that I would trust Lacob, considering that he says he's going to move the Warriors, one of the most consistently successful franchises in all of professional sports. But I would certainly welcome new ownership for the A's. Maybe we ought to revive the old Joe Morgan group.

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