Former A's pitcher Joe Kennedy, 28, died at his home in Florida this morning. At this time the cause of death is officially unknown, but it was "sudden" and a brain aneurysm is rumored to be at fault, according to the Chronicle. Making his major league debut in 2001 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kennedy went on to play for other teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Toronto Blue Jays, and of... more ›

Okay everyone, let's do the Tighten Up. Twins 7 A's 5- Joe Kennedy picked the wrong time to snap his scoreless inning streak as he blew a two run lead late to the Twins, a team long-buried and now looking like your possible Central Division Champs. The A's were up 5-3 in the eighth when Kennedy, pitching his second inning, started giving up hit after hit. This wasn't any sort of Benitez job, however-- Kennedy had a 15 1/3 scoreless streak going and took his first loss since last year. That's the thing about being a relief pitcher, no matter how well you do, at some point you're going to blow a game. The game also marked the end of Frank Thomas's home-run streak, as he was unable to do the deed this time around. The big thing, however, is that the Angels, a team that has just pretty much hung around and around and around all season, also won. What was once a fairly comfortable lead is now not so much as the Halos are now 4 1/2 back. We had thought the A's were pretty much in cruising mode but we guess not. Welcome to Pennant Race Hell, A's fans. more ›

Shards of what remain of Barry Zito and the rest of Oakland A's pitching staff are still being recovered after yesterday's 14-0 threshing at the hands of the Texas Rangers. We're certain the Arlington faithful are downright giddy about their latent power display, as well they should be. This beating reminded everyone that there is-indeed--a real pennant race fomenting in the AL West. However, the Rangers should take a very hard look at the all-encompassing big picture scoreboard-the Athletics won that series by dominating the small things. And they beat Texas by going toe-to-toe with one of the best offenses in the American League. Moreover, the real battle was won in the trenches-through superior bullpen action, sans Joe Kennedy, Scott Sauerbeck and the rest of the DL boys, a smothering defense and timely hitting from Jay Payton, not through caveman-like hacking at off-speed pitches that Ranger batters have mastered. more ›

SFist As fans' loss is our personal gain, as SFist Jake's brief hiatus gives us leave to post on yesterday's sixth-inning infield brawl at Anaheim! We love a good baseball fight. That's because the very first baseball game we ever watched was the one where Nolan Ryan put that dude who rushed the mound in a headlock and pounded the crap out of him. Ah, memories. Anyways, we have no idea what's going on in the season or anything that happened in the game last night beyond what we saw on the news last night (Chavvy hit a homer, As won), but we can tellyou that in the sixth, As catcher Jason Kendall, up at bat, thought Angels pitcher John Lackey was taunting him about getting intentionally beaned for walks, and ran straight at him. Two Angels grabbed Kendall, who nevertheless managed to take Lackey down before both teams raced onto the field, for our slo-mo TiVo delight. Video here. This is the first bench-clearer for the As since 1993 in Milwaukee (while the Angels got in their last big fight in 2002 against San Diego, in spring training.) This is Kendall's second time charging the mound, too -- in 2004, Kendall went after (now-teammate -- awkward!) Joe Kennedy when Kennedy was at Colorado and Kendall was with Pittsburg. Did any of that even make sense? Don't worry, folks, SFist Jake will be back soon. more ›