A’s lose 8-7 in bottom of the ninth, but for me the story is Dana Eveland.

Although Russ Springer failed to do his job last night, This is about Eveland. It’s about time Eveland heads back to Sacramento, or another organization for that matter. He has been horrific all season, don’t let his one “decent” outing fool you. After giving him the biggest offensive lift of the season, he goes and squanders it by giving it back, and quick, with no chance of getting out of the inning. Opposing hitters are foaming out the mouth when they see Eveland on the mound this year. Bye Bye Eveleand.

I’ll take wild, Gio Gonzalez, and his good minor league numbers, over Eveland, I’ll even take the promise of a rookie pitcher in VIn Mazzaro, he can at least get ground balls.

Next game is today and hopefully by Sunday the A’s will have sent Eveland somewhere else.

Keep hitting the long-ball Holliday, and keep hitting .350 plus Suzki.

You gotta love this game!

A’s win it in the ninth with three runs off garbage closer Brian Fuentes, (personal shot I know but it’s a blog) after trailing most of the night three nothing. The A’s got to the Angels bullpen for three in the eighth and three more in the ninth, then Brad Ziegler shut the door.

MVP of the night for me is Ryan Sweeney who continued hitting tonight with another three-hit performance, the most pivotal of the three coming in the eighth with two on and two out. Sweeney roped a line drive single up the middle to put the A’s within reaching distance. The ninth then came around and with two outs, Suzuki squibbed a hit up halfway up the first base line that should have ended the game, but Angels closer Fuentes and catcher Napoli hesitated and Suzuki was safe. Next up was pinch-hitter Nomar Garciaparra who hit a floater into left that drove in the tying run.

The next two runs came via base hits from Mark Ellis and “sick boy” Matt Holiday. Holiday came into the game as a pinch hitter because he was sick with the flu. The guy gets my respect with the effort, although earlier I was a little frustrated not seeing him in the lineup again.

A’s  burly left-hander Dana Eveland went six innings while giving up three earned runs, eight hits, and walking two, while striking out four. Eveland was cruising through the game until the fourth, where he surrendered all three runs and four hits.

Rookie reliever Andrew Bailey got the win, his first ever Major League victory as he continued to impress with another scoreless inning of relief.

Take it easy A’s fans

Let’s forget about today’s home opener shall we.

The A’s leaving nine on base leaves an acrid 2008-like taste in my mouth, anyone else? Chavez wasn’t even in the lineup (add two to three more). At least we saw Matt Holiday and promising prospect Aaron Cunningham drive in runs and the important pitchers mostly doing their jobs.

The A’s took the loss Friday eight to five to the Brewers in their spring home opener.

The goods: Dana Eveland going two innings without surrendering a hit.

The surprise: Jerome Williams going two giving up only one hit.

And the bad: A’s hitters with men on base (obviously).

If a trend is emerging early out of camp, it’s the Oakland starters. They’re doing an impressive job early on, while the relievers in many cases are not. Obviously most relievers showcased so far are long shots to make the club so fear not worry warts, it’s just spring training. After all If we look at last years spring training record, and how the A’s finished in the 2008 regular season, we might want to see them lose more often. Well at least until I get down there.

All sarcasm put to the side, Chavez’ health will probably determine the fate of the offense. If Chavez proves healthy, we could conceivably looking at four 25 plus homer seasons in the starting lineup. Holliday, Giambi, Cust, Chavez, and Crosby could make it five, but don’t take my word on the last guy.

The lineup to my likes ( baring any trades):

1.Ryan Sweeney

2.Mark Ellis (if healthy)

3.Jack Cust

4.Matt Holliday

5.Jason Giambi (AKA “the bouncer)

6.Erik Chavez (if healthy)

7.Bobby Crosby

8.Travis Buck

9.Kurt Suzuki
Now it’s possible the A’s acquire Orlando Cabrera and Aaron Cunningham wins the starting spot over Buck so keep that in consideration. This lineup if healthy will score runs no doubht, but is it better than the Angels? I say yes. tell me what you think.

The Oakland Athletics were absolutely hammered on Wednesday afternoon by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers jumped all over the A’s and went on to win the ballgame by the score of 14-4. The A’s dropped two out of three games on the road to the Rangers in the series.

All four A’s pitchers that got into the game were charged with atleast one run as it wasn’t a good day to be a pitcher on the Athletics staff. Starting pitcher Dana Eveland was charged with eight hits and seven runs in just five innings to take the loss. Eveland is now 9-9 on the year.

Relief pitcher Santiago Casilla gave up four runs, while Jeff Gray gave up two runs. Dan Meyer gave up one more run and three hits over his two innings of action. Just a terrible outing by all the A’s pitchers.

Chris Denorfia and Jack Cust both hit solo home runs to finish with one rbi each for the A’s. The A’s also got single rbi’s from Cliff Pennington and Rob Bowen. That was all the offense could muster against the Rangers.

The A’s will now be off on Thursday before beginning their final series of the year against the Seattle Mariners.

Athletics Blog

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.

Athletics Blog

The Oakland Athletics dropped the final game of a three game series to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday afternoon by the score of 7-4.  They A’s were doing alright until the bottom of the six inning when the Angels scored three runs, and then they tacked on single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to expand their lead to three.  The A’s ended up dropping two of three against the Angels in the series.

Starting pitcher Dana Eveland pitched 5 2/3 innings before being pulled.  Eveland gave up four hit and three runs in his five plus innings of action.  Keith Foulke was the losing pitcher in the game as he gave up two run home run to Juan Rivera that proved to be the winning run.  Santiago Casilla also gave up one run in relief.

Mark Ellis went 2-4 with two rbi to lead the A’s at the plate.  The other two runs for the A’s were unearned.  Bobby Crosby and Carlos Gonzalez scored the unearned runs.

Now the Athletics will start a four game series with the Chicago White Sox over the fourth of July weekend.

Athletics Blog

Jack Cust hustled to first base with the bases loaded and two outs in the 11th inning and made it safely as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 5-4.  Cust barely made it and probably shouldn’t have if Tigers relief pitcher Feddy Dolsi would have got to the bag like he should.  A win is a win however, the A’s will gladly take it.

Eric Chavez hit his third home run of the season in the fifth inning to lead the A’s with three rbi in the game.  Travis Buck and Cust both had one rbi to help out as well.

On the mound, Chad Gaudin earned the victory after throwing the tenth and eleventh innings of the game.  Gaudin is now 5-3 as he has seen a lot of action out of the A’s bullpen this year.

Starting A’s pitcher Dana Eveland did not have his best stuff as he only lasted 4 1/3 innings.  Eveland didn’t have good control at all as he gave up three hits, three runs, and walked seven batters.  Eveland was very lucky to come away with a no decision in this game.

Alan Embree gave up one run in relief but four other Athletics pitchers threw scoreless innings to pick him up.  Brad Ziegler, Keith Foulke, Huston Street, and Gaudin all did a great job out of the bullpen for the A’s.

Athletics Blog

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

Dana Eveland pitched a complete game three hitter on Wednesday as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 9-1.  Eveland was on top of his game all except for one pitch in the eighth inning when Jonny Gomes took him deep for a solo home run.  Eveland is now 4-3 on the season.

Jack Cust led the A’s at the plate with two home runs and four rbi in the game.  Jack Hannahan also had a solo home run in the game to finish with one rbi.  Bobby Crosby collected two rbi in the game with two run double.  Emil Brown and Kurt Suzuki both finished the game with one rbi as well.

Good win the the A’s  as they will have Thursday off as they head up to Boston to take the Red Sox on in a three game weekend series.

Athletics Blog

Emil Brown singled in Daric Barton from second base in the tenth inning as the Oakland Athletics beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 on Monday night.  There wasn’t much offense in the game as both teams pitching staffs were throwing pretty good all night long.

Starting pitcher Dana Eveland lasted seven innings as he gave up three hits and no runs.  Great outing by Eveland, it is too bad he didn’t earn the win in the game because he pitched well enough to pick up a victory.

Huston Street blew the save in the ninth inning when he allowed a run on a groundout.  Luckily for Street his teammates picked him up.  Joey Devine pitched the 10th inning to record the win.  Devine is now 3-0 on the season.

Besides Brown’s RBI in the tenth inning, Rajai Davis had the other RBI for the A’s.  Davis had a RBI infield single in the seventh inning to get the A’s on the board.

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