This post comes directly after the A’s victory over the Dodgers on Monday.

A’s spring record 11-6

The squad was shortened today as more cuts were made ( not exactly affecting today’s post ). Nothing unexpected or out of the ordinary, a few good players were sent to their expected camp.

Now the competition…

Right field will either go to Jack Cust or Travis Buck or will Giambi or Garciaparra force Daric Barton to the minors?

What I would like to see if I had the choice is Buck in right with Cust DH’ing.  I know this would force Barton to Sacramento for more seasoning but Giambi is a first baseman, not Barton.  The A’s first baseman should at least hit for power and drive in runs, two things were unsure of with Barton. The only  criteria Barton has for sure is his defense, but we don’t need any more defense!

Right Field: Buck is the man to take over the final starting position in right because ( if healthy ), he can hit for average, has some pop, plus he covers plenty of ground out there in right. No argument for Cust manning right, I just don’t want to see it ( I know I’m in denial).

The remaining positions are -most likely- reserve positions (aside from third temporarilly, which belongs to Garciaparra thanks to Chavy’s health ). It looks like Rajai Davis will be depth in the outfield, once-prospect Landon Powell seems to have finally made the club as Kurt Suzuki’s back up ( based on the Bowen release), and Bobby Crosby as a “utility” guy. That leaves us two open spots.

So the infield could use another back-up, maybe a solid defender such as Gregorio Petit or Jack Hannahan, and the last spot will be between Denorfia, and Cunningham ( from what I’ve heard ).

I’ll take Petit for his bat and defense, and Denorfia for his upside ( and stellar play in WBC ).

Cunningham will be fine in tripple A for a while until the A’s need his depth.

So the 2009 opening day roster looks like this:( no particular order )

1st: Giambi

2nd: Ellis

SS: Cabrera

3rd: Garciaparra

Catcher: Suzuki

Reserves: Crosby, Petit, Powell, Denorfia, Davis

Rotation:All I know for sure is that there’s 5 anyone’s guess after Eveland and Braden.

Bullpen:Wuertz, Springer, Casilla, Blevins, Ziegler, Devine.

The Oakland A’s bats were hot Monday night however the pitching staff was terrible and the A’s still lost. The A’s gave up 14 runs to the Detroit Tigers and lost the first game of the series by the score of 14-8. Talk about a let down by the pitching staff.

Starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez only lasted 1 2/3 innings as he gave up five hits and charged with nine runs. A terrible start for Gonzalez as he put the Athletics in a big hole early in the game. The bullpen for the A’s wasn’t any better however as they gave up five more runs. Josh Outman was bad as he gave up four hits and three runs, Alan Embree was charged with one run while Jeff Gray also gave up one run.

Rajai Davis and Jack Hannahan both added two rbi each for the A’s at the plate. Daric Barton, Kurt Suzuki, Eric Patterson, and Cliff Pennington all chipped in with one rbi each as well. You can’t but the blame on the offense when they scored eight runs, they were not the reason the team lost this game.

A’s Blog

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

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

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Greg Smith was at the top of his game Monday night as the pitched a complete game four hitter and the Athletics defeated the Los Angeles Angles 4-1.  That was a great performance out of Smith as he limited the great offense of the Angels to only four hits and one run.

Smith is now 5-6 on the season with a 3.44 era.  The only run that Smith gave up came in the fifth inning with Mike Napoli hit a solo home run off him.  Other then that, Smith never really made any mistakes and just let his defense take care of him.

Eric Chavez led the A’s with two rbi which came in the seventh inning a two run single.  Mark Ellis had a rbi groundout in the second inning before Daric Barton singled in another run.  Bobby Crosby scored an unearned run in the ninth inning on an Angels error as well.

Great win for the A’s who are now 45-37 on the season.  Athletics Blog

The Oakland Athletics completed a three game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday with a 10-2 victory.  The A’s were finally able to get things going in the middle innings and force Tigets starting pitcher Nate Robinson out of theg ame and then took advantage of a weak Tigers bullpen.

Carlos Gonzalez led the team with three rbi in the game and was followed by Bobby Crosby who had two rbi.  Travis Buck went deep and had one rbi as did Jack Hannahan, Daric Barton, and Rob Bowen.

Justin Duchscherer picked up the win and is now 5-4 on the season.  Duchscherer tossed 6 2/3 innings and only gave up three hits and two runs in the game.  He did walk five however, and that was the reason he was pulled after six plus innings.

Alan Embree, Brad Ziegler, and Kiko Calero finished things up in the game for the A’s and only gave up one hit.  It was a good job all the way around for the Athletics.  They will hope to continue playing this good on Friday when they begin a huge series with the Los Angeles Angels.

Athletics Blog

Bobby Crosby came up huge in he ninth inning on Monday night as he delivered the game winning hit and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 3-2.  Crosby singled in Kurt Suzuki for the game winning run.

Mark Ellis and Daric Barton both had one rbi in the game to go along with Crosby’s.  The Athletics had nine hits but only scored three times.  The offense was lucky that the pitching staff held the Tigers to only five hits in the game or this could have turned out to be a different story.

Rich Harden got things going for the A’s on the mound as he tossed 6 2/3 innings while giving up five hits and two runs.  Both runs that Harden gave up were in the sixth inning.  One run was on a solo home run and the other came on a single.  Harden ended up getting the no decision in the contest even though he threw the ball pretty good.

Keith Foulke pitched 1 1/3 inning before turning things over to Huston Street in the ninth inning.  Street walked one batter before picking up his first win of the season.

Athletics Blog

Chad Gaudin allowed a two run home run to Evan Longoria in the top of the 13th inning as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Oakland Athletics 7-6 on Monday night.  The A’s tried to come back as they scored one run in the bottom of the inning, but Daric Barton was stranded at third base to end the game.

Gaudin took the disappointing lose for the A’s as he pitched two innings and gave up three hits and the two runs.  Gaudin is now 3-3 on the season.

Joe Blanton tosssed six innings of six hit and four run ball to start the game for the A’s.  He gave up one home run and struck out five batters as he got the no decision in the game.  Joey Devine relieved Blanton and pitched 2/3 of an inning while giving up one run.  Keith Foulke, Huston Steet, and Alan Embree all pitched until Gaudin came in to lose the game.

Frank Thomas led the A’s at the plate as he hit two home runs and finished the game with three rbi.  Emil Brown also added a solo home run for the Atletics.  Besides Brown, Ryan Sweeney and Barton both finished the game with one rbi.

Let’s see how the Athletics bounce back on Tuesday after playing 13 innings and losing the way they did to the Rays.  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.

Athletics Blog

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