After One Last Mound Mishap, Oakland A's Jettison Jim Johnson

Here's how Wednesday night went for Oakland A's reliever Jim Johnson. Manager Bob Melvin brought him in to start the eighth inning against the Houston Astros in a game the A's were leading 9-2. It figured to be a situation that would not put Johnson, a former elite closer who lost that job in the opening week of the season, under undue stress. And then the Astros came to bat.

Houston second baseman Jose Altuve led off with an infield single. Catcher Jason Castro singled to right, sending Altuve to second. Designated hitter Chris Carter doubled to the wall in left center, scoring Altuve and moving Castro to third. Left fielder Mark Krauss singled to center, scoring Castro and sending Carter to third.

That was the end of Johnson's night: Eleven pitches, four batters faced, four hits and (eventually) four runs. As it turned out, it's also the apparent end of Johnson's short, ugly A's career.

The team announced Thursday that it had designated Johnson for assignment. That means Johnson's off the Athletics' 40-man roster while he and the team figure out what to do next.

At least one major league team has reportedly expressed interest in acquiring Johnson, who saved 101 games the past two seasons before flopping this year. His greatest accomplishment may have been wringing a $10 million contract for this season from a team that's famously careful about committing to high player salaries.

Johnson was a target for fan impatience from opening night, when he came into a scoreless game against the Cleveland Indians and promptly gave up two runs for a loss. The fans booed him then, and again when he blew a save and lost a second game in the series. And booing has been his theme music for most of his home appearances ever since.

On one level, the disgust is understandable. Johnson has been a disaster for the most part, and he replaced the popular Grant Balfour as closer (he signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he's also suffering through a pretty crummy season).

Booing isn't new at the Coliseum or at any major league ballpark. But the disapproval of Johnson has been raucous and unforgiving enough to prompt teammates like All-Stars Josh Donaldson and Sean Doolittle to comment on it:

"I respect that if they buy a ticket, the fans can do what they want," Donaldson said. "They can boo. I’m not telling anyone what they can do."

He went on to say that if the ticketholders turned boo-birds want the best outcome, however, they need to think twice.

"It’s not good for him," Donaldson said. "And it’s not good for us. It’s making things awkward for us with the fans. I’ve never been in another big league uniform, but here it’s always been the case that we have a special relationship with the fans. We feed off each other."

Johnson is gone, but already the fans seem to have found a new target. Jason Hammel, one of the highly regarded starters the A's traded for earlier this month, was knocked out of his last start, has lost both his starts since joining Oakland and got hit hard during his last appearance, on Saturday night against the Baltimore Orioles.

The fans aren't wasting any time to see if Hammel is any good or not. He got loud rounds of jeering throughout his abbreviated performance, and I'll bet he can't wait to start at the Coliseum again.