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2008 Oakland Athletics Season
The Oakland Athletics' 2008 season marked their 40th year in Oakland, California. It was also the 108th season in franchise history. The team finished third in the American League West with a record of 75-86. The Athletics were not expected to contend for the American League West title in 2008. Despite this, the team remained near first place well into July. The Athletics fortunes peaked on July 11, when a 9-2 rout of the Angels allowed them to pull within four games of first place. The team then lost 44 of its 68 remaining games. The slide saw the Athletics finish 24.5 games behind the Angels, who clinched the division for a second consecutive year. The Athletics struggled at the plate for most of the season. Particularly troubling was the team's lack of power hitting; apart from Jack Cust, who hit 33 home runs, no Athletic hit more than 13. Oakland ultimately finished 11th (out of 14 American League teams) in this category. All told, the Athletics scored fewer runs (646) than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American League West
The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams currently only reside along the West Coast of the United States, west coast and in Texas, historically the division has had teams as far east as Chicago. From 1998 (when the NL West expanded to five teams) to 2012, the AL West was the only MLB division with four teams. The current champion of this division is the Houston Astros. In 2013, the Houston Astros went from the National League Central to the AL West. That move gives all six MLB divisions an equal five teams and both leagues an equal 15 teams each. Division membership Current members * Houston Astros - Joined in 2013; formerly from the National League West, NL West (1969–1993) and National League Central, NL Central (1994–2012) * Los Angeles AngelsThe Angels were formerly known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff DaVanon
Jeffrey Graham DaVanon (born December 8, 1973) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Oakland Athletics. Professional career DaVanon came up through the Oakland Athletics system before being traded to the Anaheim Angels as a minor-leaguer in . Prior to the season, he signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks and appeared in 87 games for them. He batted .290 with 5 home runs and 35 RBI. His last game was on August 5 against the Houston Astros in which he injured a ligament in his ankle sliding into second base. On August 4, , the Diamondbacks released him. He was signed by the Oakland Athletics on August 10, 2007, and sent to Triple-A Sacramento. He had his contract purchased by the Athletics on August 17, 2007, when Mark Kotsay went on the disabled list. During his stint with the A's, he appeared in 26 games, batting .238, tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. Although there are many rules to baseball, in general the team playing offense tries to score runs by batting balls into the field that enable runners to make a complete circuit of the four bases. The team playing in the field tries to prevent runs by catching the ball before it hits the ground, by tagging runners with the ball while they are not touching a base, or by throwing the ball to first base before the batter who hit the ball can run from home plate to first base. There are nine defensive positions on a baseball field. The part of the baseball field closest to the batter (shown in the diagram as light brown) is known as the "infield" (as opposed to the "outfield", the part of the field furthest from the batter, shown in the diagr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Flores
Ronald Joel Flores (born August 9, 1979) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed relief pitcher who played with the Oakland Athletics from 2005 to 2007. Amateur career A native of Whittier, California, Flores graduated from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera, California and is the younger brother of fellow major leaguer Randy Flores. He went on to attend the University of Southern California (USC), playing college baseball for the Trojans from 1998 to 2001. Flores was a member of USC's 1998 national championship baseball team, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from USC. After the 1998 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Professional career The Oakland Athletics selected Flores in the 29th round (870th overall pick) of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft. In limited appearances with Oakland, Flores was mostly the second or third lefty in the bullpen. He pitched a career-h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The Japanese Central Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dee Brown (baseball)
Dermal Bram "Dee" Brown (born March 27, 1978) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. Brown played for the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball and the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball. Career Brown attended Marlboro Central High School in Marlboro, New York, where he played baseball and football. In football, he rushed for the second-most yards in New York high school history and scored 75 touchdowns. As a junior baseball player, he hit .470 with eight home runs. He committed to play both college baseball and college football at the University of Maryland, College Park, for the Maryland Terrapins. Brown was named to the ABCA/Rawlings High School All-America First Team by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings. The Kansas City Royals selected Brown in the first round, with the 14th overall selection, of the Kansas City Royals in the 1996 Major League Baseball draft. Brown played for the Roya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox' home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, , following the lead of previous teams that had been known as the "Boston Red Stockings," including the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves). The team has won nine World Series championships, tied for the third-most of any MLB team, and has played in 13 World Series. Their most recent World Series appearance and win was in . In addition, they won the American League pennant, but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the New York Giants refused to participate in the 1904 World Series. The Red Sox were a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pira ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disabled List
In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines Players are placed on the 10-day/15-day injured list or the 60-day injured list, usually depending on the severity and/or recovery time of the injury. By rule, position players must spend a minimum of 10 days on the injured list while pitchers must spend a minimum of 15 days on the IL. The 15-day period was the standard for all players prior to 2017 when the period was shortened to 10 days. The minimum period was restored to 15 days for pitchers for the 2020 season, though the full implementation of the rule was pushed back to May 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Placing a player on the injured list opens a spot on the active roster. Another player from the minor leagues, free agent pool, a traded player, or a recovered player coming of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Designated Hitter
The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by the National League in 2022, making it universal in MLB. Within that time frame, nearly all amateur, collegiate, and professional leagues worldwide have adopted the designated hitter or some variant, with the notable exception of Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Major League Baseball rule In Major League Baseball, the designated hitter is a player who does not play a position in the field, but instead replaces the pitcher in the batting order. The DH may only be used for the pitcher (and not any other position player), as stated in Rule 5.11. Use of the DH is optional, but must be determined before the start of the game. Prior to 2022, if a team did not begin a game with a DH, the pitcher (or a pinch hitter) had to bat for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Batting Average (baseball)
In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by their total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three-hundred". If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the .001 measurement. In this context, .001 is considered a "point", such that a .235 batter is 5 points higher than a .230 batter. History Henry Chadwick, an English statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball. In the late 19th century he adapted the concept behind the cricket batting average to devise a similar statistic for baseball. Rather than simply copy cricket's formulation of runs scored divided by outs, he realized that hits divided by at bats would provide a better measure of individual batting ability. This is because while in cricket, scoring runs is almost entirely dependent on one's batting skill, in baseball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Kotsay
Mark Steven Kotsay (born December 2, 1975) is an American professional baseball manager and former outfielder. He is the manager for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). As a player, Kotsay appeared in 1,914 MLB games for the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Athletics, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers. He coached for the Padres and Athletics before becoming manager of Oakland before the 2022 season. Amateur career Born in Whittier, but raised in Santa Fe Springs, California, Kotsay attended Santa Fe High School. He batted .408 with a 4–0 win–loss record and 3.18 earned run average in his senior season. He also played for the school's American football and basketball teams. Kotsay enrolled at California State University, Fullerton to play college baseball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans. Kotsay spent the summer of 1994 playing for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League where he was named a league all-st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The franchise was established as an expansion team and began play in 1998. The team plays its home games at Chase Field, formerly known as Bank One Ballpark. Along with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Diamondbacks are one of the newest teams in MLB. After a fifth-place finish in their inaugural season, the Diamondbacks made several off-season acquisitions, including future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson, who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards in his first four seasons with the team. In 1999, Arizona won 100 games and their first division championship. In 2001, they won the World Series over the three-time defending champion New York Yankees, becoming the fastest expansion team in major league history to win the World Series, and the only majo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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