This time it was Rich Harden and the Oakland Athletics shutting out the Philadelphia Phillies 3-0.  Last night the Phillies shut out the A’s, so this time it was just a little pay back as the A’s took two out of three games in the series.

Harden was absolutely marvelous as he gave two hits and pitched eight innings before turning things over to Alan Embree in the ninth.  Embree did give up a triple to Pat Burrell but then got Ryan Howard out for the final out of the game.  Harden improved his record to 5-0 with the victory.  Be prepared to hear more trade rumors considering Harden after this outing.

Ryan Sweeney, Jack Cust, Bobby Crosby, and Jack Hannahan all had one rbi in the game for the A’s.  The A’s scored one unearned run in the ninth inning as well in the game.

The A’s are now 43-35 on the season as the head into a weekend series with the San Francisco Giants.  Are you a A’s fan that enjoys talking and writing about the A’s?  We are currently looking for a new contributer that would like to write some game recaps similiar to this.  If you are interested, please use the contact us link at the top of the site or leave us a comment in this post and we will get back to you!

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Well that is a game that the A’s will need to quickly just forget about.  Wednesday night sure wasn’t the Athletics night as they were limited to only four hits and were shut out 4-0 by the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.  The first four batters of the lineup struggled as they went a combined 0-15 with one walk.

Greg Smith pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and four runs.  Smith dropped to 4-6 on the season.  Smith could have tossed a one hitter and gave up one run and he still wouldn’t have came away with a victory in this game though.  That is how bad the offense was.

Chad Gaudin, Santiago Casilla, and Andrew Brown all finished things up after Smith left the game.  All three relief pitchers did a good job and held the Phillies to four runs.

The A’s better gett he bats going on Thursday afternoon or they will find themselves losing two of three to the Phillies.

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The Oakland Athletics got home runs from Emil Brown and Jack Cust as they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 5-2.  The Athletics struggled at the plate until the seventh inning when Brown was able to hit a three run blase off of Phillies starting pitcher Jamie Moyer.  Moyer then excited the game and Cust went deep for a two run shot in the eighth inning off of Phillies reliever J.C. Romero.  Those two swings of the bat were good enough to get the victory for the A’s.

I would still like the A’s to put together some innings where they have three or four hits a in a row and manufacture some runs.  You can’t always depend on the long ball like they had to on Tuesday night against the Phillies.  And only getting six hits in the game, that isn’t very good at all.

Joe Blanton finally had a good outing as he improved his record to 4-10 on the season.  Blanton tossed seven innings and only gave up four hits and one run while striking out five batters.  Alan Embree gave up a rbi single to Ryan Howard in the eighth inning but then Huston Street was able to shut the door on the Phillies in the ninth inning and record his 14th save of the season.

The A’s will Greg Smith to the mound on Wednesday as they look to go up 2-0 in the series.

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The Oakland A’s and Arizona Diamondbacks played a very good baseball games on Tuesay but the A’s fell short as they lost 2-1.  The A’s got good starting pitching but the bullpen couldn’t hold the D-backs down late in the game as they scored the winning run on a home run in the eighth inning.  The Diamondbacks took two out of three agains the A’s in the series.

The A’s sent Greg Smith to the mound to start the game and he threw the first five innings of the game giving up three hits and one run.  Smith did walk three batters while striking out five.  I’m not really sure why he was pulled after five innings but the first two guys out of the bullpen did a good job when they came in.

Brad Ziegler and Alan Embree combined to throw the sixth and seventh innings without letting a run score.  But in the eighth inning, Keith Foulke gave up a home run to Justin Upton that proved to be the game winning hit.  Foulke took the loss the Athletics and is now 0-2 on the season.

Jack Cust had the only rbi for the Athletics when he singled in Mark Ellis in the sixth inning.  The A’s only had two other hits in the game as they really couldn’t get anything going at the plate against the Diamondbacks.

Hopefully the A’s will swing a better bat this weekend when they take on the Florida Marlins.

Athletics Blog

Joe Blanton sure wants to forget his start Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Blanton only pitched three innings as he gave up seven hits and three runs while taking the loss and falling to 3-10 on the season. 

Brad Ziegler pitched a scoreless fourth inning after Blanton was taken out of the game but in the fifth inning the D-backs tacked on three more runs off of Chad Gaudin.  Finally the D-backs were done scoring as Kiko Calero pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing another run.

Kurt Suzuki had a rbi single in the seventh inning for the only rbi for the A’s.  The Athletics struckout 11 times in the game as they looked clueless at the plate against the three Diamondbacks pitchers they faced.

The rubber match of the three game series will be plated on Thursday afternoon so the Athletics still have a shot at winning the series if they can some how start swinging the bats better.

Athletics Blog

The Oakland Athletics hit six home runs as they went on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 15-1 on Tuesday evening.  Little second basemen Mark Ellis hit two of the home runs and had four rbi out of the lead off spot.  Great job for Ellis who as struggled at the plate this season.  He is now hitting .265 on the season with 28 rbi.

Eric Chavez, Kurt Suzuki, Bobby Crosby, and Rajai Davis all hit home runs in the game as well.  Talk about making the long ball work for you in a game.  Anytime you hit six home runs like the A’s did, you should crush your opponent just like they did.

Justin Duchscherer was the winning pitcher and is now 7-4 on the season.  Duchscherer pitched eight inning while only giving up five hits and one run.  The one run came in the fifth inning on a fielder choice to third base.  Andrew Brown came in to the game in the ninth inning to finish things up with out any problems.

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Joe Blanton made one mistake and it was a costly mistake as he gave up a grand slam to Hideki Matsui in the sixth inning and the New York Yankees defeated the Oakland A’s by the score of 4-1. Besides that one mistake, Blanton threw the ball pretty good.  He allowed four runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings to drop to 1-7 in 10 starts at home this season.

Oakland got on the board first on an RBI single by Carlos Gonzalez in the second inning, but that would be their only run of the game.  They had a good chance of scoring in the fifth inning with runners on third and second base but the Yankees were able to get out of the jam and leave both runners stranded.

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Jack Cust led the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night as he had three rbi and the A’s defeated the New York Yankees 8-4.  It was actually a blow out until  the ninth inning when the Yankees were able score three runs off the A’s bullpen.  Great win for the A’s as the improved to 35-30 on the season.

Cust went 2-2 with three walks and the three rbi.  He had a two run single in the third inning and then a rbi single in the fourth inning.  The A’s got two rbi from Carlos Gonzalez who had a two run double in the third inning.  Not to be left out, Mark Ellis, Bobby Crosby, and Kurt Suzuki all had one rbi in the game as well.

Justin Duchscherer pitched the first seven inning for the A’s and gave up five hits and one run.  Duschscherer picked up the win and is now 6-4 with a 2.20 era.  Great job Justin!

Andrew Brown pitched a scoreless eighth inning before the Yankees scored two runs which were charged to Kiko Calero in the ninth inning.  Alan Embree came in for Calero and gave up both runs as he didn’t pick up his teammate.  The ninth inning was the only downside in the game as Calero and Embree struggled.

The A’s and Yankees will play another late night game on Thursday as they finish up the series.  It will be the rubber game of the series.  Will the A’s come out on top?  Leave us a comment and let us know!

Athletics Blog