Elephant Rumblings: A’s fall to .500 after bad loss to Astros

A’s Coverage:

• Shea: A’s fall 9-1 to Astros, courtesy of ‘The Matrix’...
• Gallegos: Estrada can’t cool down slugging Astros...
• Klemko: What Does Kyler Murray Really Want?
• Kaneko: Meet Veronica Alvarez, the only woman to coach at Spring Training this year...
• Slusser: Could A’s J.B. Wendelken be this year’s Lou Trivino?
• Justice: The most interesting player in baseball is...
• Shea: ‘Higher ceiling’ for A’s Ramon Laureano...
• Gallegos: Semien proud to play for Jackie...

Best of AN:

• Schmidt: Game #20 — A Slow Crawl To The Inevitable...
• Baker-Gillman: Series #7 — Athletics vs Astros: Revengeance...

MLB News:

• Zuckerman: Rendon, Nationals resume extension negotiations...
• Baggarly and Sarris: Exclusive — Giants acknowledge it’s finally time to explore moving in the fences at Oracle Park... ($)
• Drellich: Struggling Red Sox DFA catcher Blake Swihart...
• Boland: Yankees first baseman Greg Bird to miss at least a month with foot injury...
• Mooney: Sources — MLB investigating racist messages sent to Cubs pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. on social media... ($)

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Hayes: The quest for ‘a perfect route’ — The extra skill behind Byron Buxton’s mastery... ($)
• Jaffe: What the 16-Game Mark Tells Us About Teams’ Futures...
• Ring: The Orioles and Nationals Are Suing Each Other. Again.
• Knight: Watching Yasiel Puig from right field during his sad Dodger Stadium return... ($)

Today in Baseball History:

• 1820 - Alexander Cartwright, considered by many the father of the national pastime, is born in New York City. This pioneer banker, who is given credit for establishing three strikes for an out and three outs for each half inning, will be elected into the Hall of Fame in 1938 after a review of his journals reveals his many contributions in developing and promoting the sport of baseball.
• 1951 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators play the first home Opening Day night game in American League history. Washington wins, 6 - 1, behind the solid pitching of 40-year-old Connie Marrero as his batterymate Mickey Grasso hits a home run.
• 2018 - To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first ever game in Oakland, CA, the A’s stage a game featuring free admission to anyone registering in advance. The birthday party is a huge success as over 46,000 spectators show up at the Coliseum to see Oakland defeat the White Sox, 10 - 2.

Best of Twitter:

• Hopefully Chappy has room on his mantle for at least 10-15 more Gold Gloves...

• Some quick A’s injury updates...

• An early candidate for injury story of the year...