The Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels played a very close ballgame on Monday night and it was the A’s coming out on top with a 2-1 victory. Dallas Braden and Jered Weaver both tossed seven innings but it was Braden who only allowed one run and received the win while Weaver and the Angels took the loss.

Braden was awesome in his seven innings of action. He allowed seven hits but only one run and improved his record to 4-3. The one run that scored was on a solo home run by Mike Napoli in the sixth inning. Joey Devine tossed a scoreless eighth inning before turning things over to Brad Ziegler who recorded his fifth save by pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Awesome job by Braden and the A’s bullpen!

At the plate, Daric Barton got the A’s on the scoreboard with a solo home run off of Weaver in the third inning. In the fourth inning, the A’s would score their second run on a wild pitch by Weaver. Frank Thomas would be the base runner to score on the wild pitch.

There wasn’t much offense for either team as the pitchers really took over the game. It was a great win for the A’s and it shows they can play with any team in the league if they cut down on all the mental errors and just get out there and play baseball.

Athletics Baseball Blog

Post info: By admin on August 26th, 2008
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The Oakland Athletics bats faltered on Wednesday afternoon as they lost to the Minnesota Twins by the score of 3-1. The A’s pushed across one run in the first inning but then were held scoreless the final eight innings of the game. The A’s ended up losing the three game series one game to two and are now 57-69 on the season.

Dallas Braden took the loss after being charged with six hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings. Braden gave up single runs in the first, third, and sixth innings. Huston Street and Alan Embree both seen action out of the bullpen and held the Twins to the three runs that Braden had given up.

The one run for the A’s that came in the first inning happened when Jack Cust reached on an infield single and Mark Ellis scored. That was all the offense for the A’s as they were limited to just five hits in the game.

Athletics Baseball Blog

Post info: By admin on August 20th, 2008
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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?

Athletics Blog

Post info: By admin on July 22nd, 2008
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Lol, all I can really do is laught at how poorly the Oakland Athletics played today against the Toronto Blue Jays.  The Blue Jays jacked up the A’s as they beat them 12-0 and had zero problems all game long.

It was like the A’s didn’t even show up to play on either side of the ball.  Three different A’s pitchers gave up runs in the game as Dana Eveland gave up seven runs, Dallas Braden gave up three runs, and Lenny DiNardo gave up two runs.  Terrible job by all three pitchers.

The hitting wasn’t any better however as the A’s left 16 runners on base and did not score one run.  Jack Hannahan collected three hits while Emil Brown had two hits, but that was about it for the A’s at the plate.

Now the Athletics travel to Texas to take on the Rangers in a three game series over the weekend.

Athletics Blog

Post info: By admin on May 29th, 2008
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Emil Brown attempted to make a sliding catch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning but he came up short and the ball got behind him in the outfield and the Tampa Bay Rays scored three runs as they went onto beat the Athletics 3-2.

Definaly not the way you want to lose a game.  Hopefully Brown will bounce back and have a good couple of games here soon.  All he can do is forget about it and go out there and play baseball.

Frank Thomas tried to rally the A’s back with a solo home run in the ninth inning but the A’s couldn’t push across another run to atleast tie the game.  Rajai Davis had the others A’s rbi as he had a rbi single in the fifth inning.

Greg Smith tossed seven innings while giving up five hits and two runs to take the loss.  Smith is now 2-4 even though he pitched well enough to ge a win on Tuesday night.  Tough break for Smith.

One run was charged to Joey Devine in the eighth inning as he pitched in relief of Smith.  Dallas Braden tossed a scoreless ninth inning after Devine exited the game.

A’s RHP reliever Andrew Brown underwent an appendectomy and was placed on the 15-day disabled list to recover from the surgery. The move was retroactive to May 14, one day after Brown last pitched. Oakland recalled LHP Lenny DiNardo from Triple-A Sacramento to fill Brown’s spot.

Athletics Blog

Post info: By admin on May 21st, 2008
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Mark Ellis finally came out of his long slump with two hits including a walk off home run in the tenth inning to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5.  Ellis who is now batting .232 on the season hit his third home run of the season off of Lance Cormier.  The ball bounced off the foul pole down the left field line but of course every knows if the ball hits the pole it is a home run!

Kurt Suzuki had a big two run home run in the to have two RBI.  Emil Brown, Jack Hannahan, Frank Thomas, and Ellis all had one RBI in the game for the Athletics.

Dallas Braden picked up the win as he pitched the 2 1/3 innings of relief.  It was only the second career victory for Braden.  Braden’s first victory also came against the Orioles.

Starting pitcher Joe Blanton didn’t have his best stuff but did keep the A’s in the game and that is what you ask for by your starting pitcher.  Blanton only pitched 5 2/3 innings as he gave up eight hits and two runs.  Andrew Brown had the worst performance by a Athletics pitchers as he only pitched 2/3 of an inning and he allowed four hits and three runs.

With the sweep of the Orioles, the Athletics record is now 22-14 on the season.  Athletics Blog

Post info: By admin on May 7th, 2008
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Jack Cust had a error in the second inning that accounted for five unearned runs but he made up for it throughout the game as the he went 4-4 and two walks while hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning to give the A’s the lead for good.  The A’s went onto beat the Angels 15-8 in the game.

The A’s pounded out twenty hits as the put up fifteen runs on the scoreboard.  Kurt Suzuki, Daric Barton, Frank Thomas, and Bobby Crosby all had two RBI each.  Emil Brown, Jack Hannahan, and Cust all had one RBI in the game as well.  That is production up and down the lineup for the A’s!

Justin Duchscherer didn’t have his best stuff but managed to pitch five innings to pick up the win.  Duchscherer gave up six hits and six runs in his five innings of action.  Andrew Brown and Santiago Casilla pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings before Dallas Braden gave up four hits and two runs in the final two innings.

Athletics Blog

Post info: By admin on May 2nd, 2008
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