A cold front descended upon Livonia’s Ford Field for The A’s 2023 season opener against the Giants as Tyler Frankhouse took the mound for the A’s. The defense was called upon early as two baserunners were threatening with just 1 out until a hot-shot liner down the first base line was snagged by Train and beat the retreating runner to the bag at first for a tidy double play. On the offensive side of the ball, nothing much of note in the early going aside from a Najor hard-hit liner that was miraculously flagged down by the left fielder. Frank got a little squirrly in the 4th, plunking his 2nd and 3rd batters which plated the Giants first 2 runs. A mix of seeing eye singles and a couple hard hit balls pushed their lead all the way up to 9-2 when the final inning began. Najor, who had come in relief of Frank a few innings prior, managed to hold the line, and then the craziness unfolded. The Giants pitcher could not find the strike zone with 2 outs and a series of walks and booted balls in the infield put the A’s on the doorstep of a truly historic win from seemingly nowhere. Frank then had a hard hit grounder to third base for the putout and the comeback was stopped just short of a decisive win, but a draw from 9-2 heading into the last frame seems like a good consolation on a cold and blustery night’s work at the ballpark.
The A’s go again this Thursday against the Mets at Ford Field
It was a beautiful night for baseball this evening as the 1-0-1 A’s looked to deny the Yankees a win through their first 3 games of the 2023 campaign. Everything was tracking towards that storyline as the A’s got to Simmons early in the first, plating 3 runs on a 2RBI single from Frank and a few lucky errors from the Yankees. Frank was weaving a gem until the 5th inning and some hard hit balls with no outs allowed the Yankees to edge to a 4-3 lead. On the defensive side of the ball there wasn’t a whole lot to comment on, it was a pretty clean performance top to bottom. Unfortunately the A’s bats couldn’t muster much else as the game concluded in well under two hours. A tough loss to swallow tonight, but the A’s will look to rebound Wednesday against the BlackJaxx in the late night tilt from Livonia.
Player of the game:
Andrew Denk: putting together some really solid ABs
A change of scenery and a hot evening were on tap tonight as the A’s made their first trip away from Ford Field (thank Christ) to a very well manicured Kyte Monroe tonight to face off against the Cubs. Patrick Najor got the start for the A’s and comfortably worked his way thru 5 innings only allowing 1 hard hit ball and a few bloops and baserunners on soft contact. The A’s, however, did surrender 1 run in the first and were chasing it until the 4th inning when The Skipper, Nick Spillane, stepped up and roped a single over the shortstop and was then advanced by Denk and Sammy before Max Manoogian, Esq. knocked him home, a true working man’s run to level the game. Defensively, the A’s scraped together a rag-tag outfield (sorry fellas), but they did hold their own tonight with a couple of Manoogian lazy diving catches to add to the highlight reel.
In the top of the 5th (Top 5 Top 5 Top 5) Train stepped up and roped his first hit of the season for a double to the center field wall and then was hit home when Sammy laced 1 of his 2 doubles to the wall to plate the tying run. In the bottom of the inning the Cubs managed to tie the game when a throw by Harry to 2nd squirted into the outfield and allowed the base-stealer to advance to third and then was hit home on a weak liner that just escaped Denk’s leaping glove to level the game at 2-2.
In the 6th the A’s continued to roll at the plate when Andre roped a 1 out double to put himself and Manoogian in scoring position and up stepped his fellow Concordia teammate Blake, who cam thru with a clutch 2 RBI single to right center that gave the A’s a 4-2 lead.
Nick Spillane then took the pill from Najor and saw thru the final 6 outs. Some inkling of a comeback for the Cubs was brewing when they had runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out but a recovery play from Andre covering a tough pop up behind first got the force at 2nd and the A’s saw away any danger from there.
The A’s have a week off before facing off against Team USA
Player of the game:
The offense - - everyone was swinging the stick tonight
The A’s and the Cubs met tonight in Livonia for their 2nd clash of the year. Tonight, The Skipper gave himself the ball and went all 7, allowing only 1 or 2 hard hit balls and some fortuitous bounces etc. for The Cubs allowed them to jump to a 4-0 lead in the 3rd, which really took some air out of the A’s sails. Despite the early setback, Nick managed to weave a gem of a game from a big picture standpoint. The A’s offense was quiet until the 4th inning when they started chipping away at the 4-0 deficit. The A’s then pressed the gas pedal in the bottom of the 6th when they started to hone in on the Cubs starter and chased him from the game, but not before tying it up with the help of an Andre double, a Mohring single, and a Najor double. The Cubs then made a pitching change and Train stepped up a long sac fly to center that plated Najor from 3rd to give the A’s a 5-4 lead into the top of the 7th.
The Cubs got a guy on 2nd after an errant throw and then dropped in a bloop single behind first base in no-mans-land that plated their tying run. The A’s then came up in the bottom of the 7th needing just 1 run to win. A couple walks for the A’s top of the order set the stage for The Skipper to come up with a duck on 3rd. In an admittedly unfamiliar spot, Nick managed to make contact and force a ball up the middle for the game winning RBI as the A’s poured out of the dugout as Andre crossed home to go mob The Skip!
The A’s have their 3rd game this week on Friday as they face off against Team USA at Capitol
The A’s returned to Capitol tonight and who better to take the bump than Patrick Najor, the King of Capitol himself. He spun himself a good outing, spoiled by a wayward 3rd inning that saw USA draw level at 2-2, and that is where the game would stay as 7 innings came and went, with the A’s bats finding an all too familiar state of anemia. Dalton took over for the 3rd time thru the order and held down the fort from the 6th inning onward. USA, down to their final out in the bottom of the 9th, laced an extra base hit over the right fielder’s head and despite an excellent relay from Blake to Train to Max at home, the runner from first managed to slide in safe at home in what was a hotly contested call.
The A’s are back at Capitol again on Monday to face the Yankees.
Player of the Game: Pat Spillane for bringing the post game bevvys
The friendly and far away confines of Flat Rock played host to the early tilt of the evening of the 2023 Summer Solstice game as The A’s and Redbirds met for the 2nd time this season. Dalton Greyerbiehl took the rock for the A’s and saw his way thru an early jam in the first inning, which was delayed a few minutes as Max Mohring did his best parking lot to behind the dish routine to catch. The A’s put up 2 in the 3rd behind a Najor 2 RBI double, then scored 1 more in the 4th off a Pat Spillane sac fly to go up 3-0. Unfortunately, in what is becoming a recurring theme for the A’s, they allowed the Redbirds to hand around just long enough to claw back into the contest as the 5th inning saw the score even out at 3-3 after they honed in on a couple of Dalton’s offerings. The Skipper then took the bump for innings 6 and 7 and a perfect storm of soft hit balls allowed the Redbirds to plate the go-ahead run. The A’s just seemed to lack that additional hit with runners on or to get an inning jump started.
The A’s look to stop the June skid down the standings on Saturday against the Jaxx
Player of the game: Najor - big timely hit for 2 sticks
The “unofficial” start to the 2nd half of the season (post 4th of July) got underway not a day later than the holiday tonight as the A’s looked to continue the good vibes post Yankees W going up against the other NYC namesake team, the Mets. The A’s sent Skipper Nick Spillane to the mound tonight and he ended up going all 7 on a hot evening, losing about half his bodyweight in sweat.
The A’s jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd when Train hit a weak infield grounder that plated Zach, who had roped a double then stole 3rd on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, a few strung together hits from the Mets in the 3rd surrendered the lead back to their favor as they plated 2 runs. The Mets then scored a 3rd run in the 4th inning and that would be their last as Skip started to find less barrels and the defense shored up whenever a ball was put in play. At the plate, the A’s didn’t have their best approaches tonight collectively, but some timely hitting from Andre, and good base running from E, Frank, and Rachwal (sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good) gave the A’s just enough juice in the latter innings to even up the score and then take the lead, 4-3, which is where the game came to an end as Skip saw off the threat and got the last 3 outs.
The A’s now move to 6-6-2 and look to have a productive July with some packed weeks upcoming.
Player of the game:
Nick Spillane: CG effort, but still allowed Robey to reach base twice
The A’s and Giants met up in Hazel Park for their 2nd of 3 games in the season series in Hazel Park for the nighttime tilt. Tyler Frankhouse got the nod from The Skip tonight and he spun an absolute gem for 5 innings, allowing only a handful of hits and getting out of some tough sports thanks to some timely fielding from his infield backup. Unfortunately, a few late errors from the A’s crept in and essentially handed the game to the Giants. The A’s at the plate did find some early success off the Giants lefty and got out to a 2-0 lead after 1, but that was all they could muster in the runs column despite having multiple chances throughout the game. In a borrowed Dan Dickersonism, “The A’s threaten but do not score…”
July rolls on with another late late late night game in Flat Rock on Wednesday.
Team USA is just the small rock in your shoe that will never come out, they grind you down and make you give them the game. Combine that with the A’s seeming desire to give away golden opportunities and you have another tick in the L column. Notable performances from Dalton (SP), Frank with some solid base running, and the infield and outfield for keeping it pretty buttoned up tonight. A’s lose 5-3 to open a 4 game week.
Quick turnaround for a meeting tomorrow night with the BJ’s
A pleasant, albeit humid night in SCS was the setting for the A’s and BlackJaxx 2nd meeting of the season. Skip saw the MSBL standings table heating up and pushed all his chips in with Najor tonight and the young lad did not disappoint - hurling 5 innings of 1 run ball and only allowing a couple baserunners.
The A’s, in somewhat uncharacteristic fashion, manufactured a couple runs in the first after Bill pulled his hands in on a high and tight fastball and roped it to the fence in right for a RBI triple. Najor then helped his own cause, plating Con on an errant throw to home. The A’s scattered 3 more runs in the coming innings to take a 5-1 lead before Dalton came in to relieve Naj and navigated the 6th and 7th with relative comfort, allowing only 1 more Jaxx run to score on a couple hard hit balls (to give them credit).
The A’s take the rest of the week off until getting back to work on Monday.
Player of the game: Najor - magnificent job tonight from 60 feet
The A’s and Cubs met at the corner of 13 and Woodward tonight for their 3rd and penultimate showdown of the year with the A’s sending Frank to the mound and loaning Manoogian to the Cubs (more on that later). The A’s and Cubs traded quick innings with both pitchers maneuvering the 1st time thru the lineup card with relative ease. The A’s then pounced in the 4th inning, plating 2 runs before the Cubs came back with their own threat in the top of the 5th and who should step up with the bases juiced but the formidable Max Manoogian. Frank’s knees were quivering as he pumped a fastball on the inner half that Manoogian chopped lazily to third for his SECOND GIDP ball of the game. Nobody would question Max’s dedication and competitive integrity, but he DID serve up some friendly at-bats to the A’s scorebook.
On the offensive side, things continued to roll in subsequent innings, Denk had a very solid 3 for 3 day, while the rest of the team got involved at the plate, peppering the ball to all parts of the field and scoring a total of 8 runs in the contest. Frank ended up going the distances and did not allow a Cub to score.
The A’s have a busy end to the regular season with makeup games on Friday and Sunday before the final seeding is set for the playoffs next week.
Player of the game (3 way split):
Manoogian - All Star loaner
Frank - CG/SO, got in on the hit parade too
Denk - some say he’s heating up at just the right moment, 3 for 3 night
In what was probably the most fitting way to end the season, the A’s got carved by Simmons and the Yankees in the semifinal game at Royal Oak. Not helped by sloppy fielding, the A’s fell behind early and could not muster more than a base runner here and there. Frank, Dalton, and Najor all saw the mound in a true combined effort, but the Yankees capitalized on their hits and are now through to the championship.
The 9th season of A’s baseball has now drawn to a close. It’s been another enjoyable summer grinding it out in the now hyper-competitive Detroit MSBL upper division with everyone. Long gone are the days when the A’s came in and won 20 straight games in 2016. The league has evolved, ultimately for the better, into a stern test of baseball year in and year out. It truly is an honor and privilege to take the field with you all every summer. We will see you all in 2024.
Bloomfield A's Schedule