A’s down to three games left at Coliseum after being swept by Yankees

OAKLAND — The gravity of reality weighed more heavily with every passing day at the Oakland Coliseum this weekend. Each nine-inning venture took on a different emotional texture than the last, even if just slightly. Six games left turned into five, then four. Now, just three games remain — and all the mourning that comes with them.

But the Yankees, the perpetual economic antithesis of the A’s, were not here to mourn. They were here to win. And, as they are wont to do, win they did, finishing off a three-game sweep of the green and gold on Sunday afternoon with a 7-4 victory in their final visit to the East Bay. And following Monday’s off day, all that will be left of baseball at 7000 S. Coliseum Way in one more series.

“That team showed why they have the record they do, why they’re going to the postseason,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “They played really good baseball. They pitched really well. They had timely hitting, they had big hits and they showed their power — today and this series.

“That’s a team that has momentum and they’re trying to accomplish what they set out to do at the beginning of the year, which is win the division and make a deep run in the postseason. From what I saw today, that’s one of the better teams we’ve run into.”

For Joey Estes, who surrendered three homers and five earned runs in four-plus innings, the rough start represents a bittersweet end to a venue that treated him well.

In 12 career home starts, Estes owns a 3.68 ERA over 71 innings. On July 4, Estes threw a shutout, the first of his career, on 92 pitches. A month prior, he flirted with a perfect game. Following the lead of several teammates, Estes changed his walk-out song to “I’m So Oakland” by The Mekanix.

“All performance aside, Oakland is everything to me,” Estes said. “This is the first place that I came to and debuted in front of these amazing fans. I appreciate everything this city has done. It’s very strong, and for them to come out and support has been great. It sucks because this is the last year. It’s almost like a part of my story, I won’t be able to share that ever again. It hits a little hard. It was nice to be out there with the Oakland fans and experience it for the last time.”

Estes’ last start at the Coliseum fell on the last Sunday at the Coliseum, a day that’s designated for kids to run around the bases after the game. The crowd, unsurprisingly, was significantly larger than usual. The stairs leading to Rickey Henderson Field remained packed an hour after the game’s conclusion, another subtle reminder of how the end remains near.

In his final game at the Coliseum, Aaron Judge mashed his MLB-leading 55th home run of the season, giving New York a lead in the third inning that it would never lose. As he crossed home plate, Judge, having inspired chants of, “Let’s go Yankees,” blew a kiss with both hands to his loyal court.

Judge, drafted by the A’s in the 31st round of the 2010 MLB Draft before attending Fresno State, had two hits and two walks in five plate appearances to raise his MLB-leading OPS to 1.153. He’s drawn countless comparisons to Barry Bonds for his combination of power and patience, a comparison that Kotsay didn’t hesitate to make.

“(He’s) close to Barry,” Kotsay said. “He was on base four out of five times today. He impacts the game not just with the ability to drive the ball out of the ballpark, but he gets on base. He’s a pretty good baserunner — we saw that late in the game. Even defensively, he goes and gets it. He’s a complete player. He’s one of the best players in the game right now. He’s got my vote for MVP this year.”

 

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