The Oakland A’s jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning and then held onto beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 as the two teams opened up a three game series in Minnesota. The A’s got a big boost from Kirk Saarloos who was called up from Triple-A and pitched out of the bullpen.

Saarloos came into the game after Justin Duchscherer left the game in the third inning with hip pain. Saarloos would go onto throw 3 2/3 innings while onling giving up one hit. He pitched very good and picked up the win which was his first at the major league level this year.

The Twins tried to make things interesting late in the game as they scored one run off of Huston Street and then another one off of Brad Ziegler. Ziegler was able to calm down however and pick up his third save of the season.

Mark Ellis got the A’s on the scoreboard in the first inning with a solo home run. The A’s would then score two more runs in the fourth inning on a Kurt Suzuki single that scored Frank Thomas and Jack Cust. There wasn’t much offense but it was enough to get the victory over the Twins.

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The Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays played 12 innings of baseball on Thursday and the A’s were on the wrong end of the scoring as they lost 7-6 in. With the one run loss, the A’s lost two out of three games against the East Division leading Rays. All three games in the series were one run games so it was a pretty competitive series.

A’s starting pitcher Sean Gallagher lasted only four innings as he was taken out after giving up four hits and three runs. Gallagher had problems with control as he walked four batters and struck four others out. Dan Meyer and Brad Ziegler both allowed earned runs in the game out of the bullpen. It was the first earned run allowed by Zigler as he had tossed 39 scoreless innings. Santiago Casilla who took the loss was charged with two runs in the twelfth inning. Casilla gave up a solo home run to Tony Pena and then rbi single to Dioner Navarro.

Daric Barton and Carlos Gonzalez both had two rbi while Frank Thomas chipped in with one rbi himself. Thomas was the one that tied the game in the ninth inning with a rbi single to deep right field. The A’s offense left 26 runners on base while taking eight walks and striking out ten times.

The A’s will now welcome in the Chicago White Sox for a three game series this weekend.

Athletics Baseball Blog

The Oakland Athletics lost to the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on 11 innings on Wednesday afternoon.  The loss finished up a very dissappointing series with the Royals as the A’s lost all three games and are now 53-54 on the season.  Losing Blanton and Harden is really going to show in the next three weeks I’m afraid.

Huston Street took the loss for the A’s as he gave up a rbi sac fly to Jose Guillen in the 11th inning.  Street pitched 1 2/3 innings and was possibly left in the game just a little bit too long in my opinion.  Starting pitcher Sean Gallagher was charged with five hits and three runs over five innings.

The A’s first got on the scoreboard in the second inning when Bobby Crosby had a rbi single to score Mark Ellis.  Ryan Sweeney then added a rbi single that scored Jack Hannahan to make it 2-0 A’s.  The Athletics would not score again until the seventh inning when Crosby had another rbi single that scored Emil Brown.

Tough series for the A’s and I don’t see things turning around to be honest.  I should also mention that I will not be around until August 12th as I will be at a conference out of town.  If there is an A’s fan out there that would like to cover the games and do some blogging please use the contact us link and email me for details.

Thanks - Cliff

The Oakland Athletics lost to the Kansas City Royals for the second straight game on Tuesday night.  The A’s just couldn’t get much going at the plate against Gil Meche and they will now have to win on Wednesday to avoid the embarrasing three game sweep at home against the Royals.

Athletics starting pitcher Greg Smtih served up two home runs including a three run shot in the seventh inning to John Buck as he took the loss.  Smith is now a terrible 5-10 on the year.  He did only give four hits in his seven innings of action, but two of those hits were home runs and he just can’t do that if he wants to keep the team in a position to win.

Mark Ellis got the A’s scoring started with a rbi single in the fourth inning.  Jack Cust scored on the Ellis single.  In the seventh inning, Bobby Crosby grounded out to the pitcher and Ellis scored the second and final run for the A’s.  The Athletics struckout 10 times and left 11 runners on base in the game.

Hopefully the team can atleast win on Wednesday to avoid the sweep.  Oakland Athletics Baseball

The Oakland Athletics couldn’t come back all the way to beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon.  Starting pitcher Greg Smith gave up back to back homers in the fifth inning as he took the loss for the A’s.  I was really hoping the A’s would be able to win on Wednesday as they would have won the three game series on the road.  However that was not the case as the A’s lost 4-3.

Santiago Casilla gave up one hit while only recording one out and was taken out of the game in the 7th inning.  Alan Embree recorded the final two outs of the 7th inning and then Jerry Blevins tossed a scoreless 8th inning.

The A’s had some trouble with James Shields who got the start for the Rays.  Shields tossed 8 1/3 innings and limited the A’s to three runs.  Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez both hit solo home runs off of Shields and that was all they had until the 9th inning.  The A’s then scored a run in the 9th inning when Ben Zobrist singled off Troy Percival.  However, Bobby Crosby grounded out with the tying run on first to end the game.

The A’s will now be off on Thursday and then start up a weekend series against the Texas Rangers. A’s Baseball Blog

The Oakland Athletics picked up a nice 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night to even their series at one game each.  The A’s used a a three run 4th inning and a four run 8th inning to score all seven of their runs.  It was nice to see the team score seven runs on nine hits as that means the offense was productive and knocked in the runs when they needed too.

Jack Hannahan clubbed a three run home run in the 4th inning and then added a rbi single in the 8th inning to lead the team with four rbi.  Kurt Suzuki and Bobby Crosby both added on a rbi each in the game as well.  Ryan Sweeney also scored on a error in the ninth inning for the A’s eight and final run of the game.

Dallas Braden picked up the win after throwing five innings.  Jerry Blevins tossed a scorless inning before Brad Ziegler threw the 7th and 8th innings without allow a run.  Closer Huston Street tossed the final inning of the game.

Awesome win for the A’s who even up the series at one game each.  Hopefully they can win again on Wednesday.  What do you think of their chances?

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The Oakland Athletics ran into a tough Tampa Bay Rays team on Monday night as they were shutout 4-0.  This was not the way the Athletics wanted to start there weekday series with the Rays.  I suppose this is why the Rays are at the top of the East Division and playing well.

Dana Eveland took the loss and is now 7-7 after throwing five innings and givng up seven hits and four runs.  It wasn’t a quality start for Eveland as he was hoping for.  He just didn’t have his pitches working for him on Monday night.  Eveland also gave up two solo home runs in the game.

Andrew Brown threw two scoreless innings before Santiago Casilla threw a scoreless inning in the 8th inning.

Ryan Sweeney and Jack Cust both had one hit each and that was all the A’s could get at the plate.  Not a whole lot to blog about as the A’s were shutdown by Scott Kazmir and the Rays.

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The Oakland A’s were on the verge of losing to the Seattle Mariners until the bottom of the ninth inning when they hit two solo home runs to take the game into extra innings.  In the 11th inning, another solo home run won it for the A’s as the they defeated the Mariners 3-2.

Jack Cust and Kurt Suzuki both went deep in the 9th inning that tied the game up at 2-2.  Emil Brown hit his 7th home run of the year in the 11th inning to win it for the Athletics in walk off fashion.  It was a huge come from behind win the the A’s who are now 50-42.

Huston Street recorded the win and is now 2-2 on the year.  Street was the sixth A’s pitcher to see action in the game.  Starting pitcher Greg Smith didn’t allow a run over six innings but did give up four hits.  Santiago Casilla and Alan Embree were the two pitchers that gave up one run each.

The A’s will now start a three game weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.  The series is very big because the Athletics are 4.5 games behind the Angels in the divisional standings.

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The Oakland Athletics lost to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night by the score of 6-4.  The A’s gave up five runs in the fifth inning and didn’t have an answer as they were held scoreless after the fifth inning.

Joe Blanton continues to struggle and is now 5-12 after taking the loss.  Blanton tossed six innings as he gave up nine hits and six runs.  Blanton now has a 4.96 era and is not stepping up his game when it is his turn.  I just have to think where the A’s would be if Blanton was throwing the ball like he is capable of.

Jerry Blevins, Santiago Casilla. and Andrew Brown all threw one inning each out of the bullpen and did not allow any runs to score.  Great job by the three relief pitchers who atleast gave the offense the chance to come back in the late innings.

The A’s offense really didn’t do to much in the game.  Jack Cust had a solo home run in the 2nd inning to get the A’s scoring started and then Donnie Murphy had a three run triple that cleared the bases in the fourth inning.  That was all the scoring that the A’s would do in the game as they were held scoreless for the last five innings of the game.

The A’s and Mariners will now play an afternoon game.  With a win Thursday, the A’s will have won the series three games to one so lets all hope they can pull out a victory!  Athletics Blog

What a wild day it was for the Oakland Athletics as they traded Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Chicago Cubs and then went out and shut out the Seattle Mariners for a 2-0 victory.  First I will blog about the game where Justin Duchscherer threw a complete game two hitter and the A’s beat the Mariners 2-0.  Duchscherer was amazing all game long and improved to 10-5 on the season.

The A’s jumped on the scoreboard with single runs in the first and second innings and that was all the runs that they ended up needing.  Emil Brown had a rbi single in the first that scored Ryan Sweeney and then Donnie Murphy had a rbi sac fly that scored Kurt Suzuki in the second inning.  That was all the scoring the A’s could come up with but it was enough the way Duchscherer threw the ball.

Now onto the trade that happened.  Billy Beane sent Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Chicago Cubs for Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher, and Josh Donaldson.  Gallagher is the prize of this trade in my opinion as he can be thrown right into the rotation and start pitching.  Murton is a decent corner outfield that just didn’t have a spot on the Cubs roster to get full playing time.  Patterson is an iffy player while Donaldson was the Cubs second round pick last year and plays at the catching position.

We will see how the A’s do without Harden, but so far so good.  Athletics Blog