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

The Oakland Athletics were shut out by the Los Angeles Angels by the score of 2-0 on Tueday night.  In a pitchers duel where both teams only combined for seven hits, it was the Angels who were lucky enough to score two runs off three of those hits.

Greg Smith tossed all eight innings for the A’s and should have had a better decision then a loss as he held the Angels offense to only three hits.  Smith threw a wild pitch and then infield fielders choice scored the second run for the Angels.

The only hitters in the lineup to record hits against the Angels were Kurt Suzuki, Mark Ellis, Ryan Sweeney, and Donnie Murphy who all had one hit each.  It just wasn’t the A’s night at the plate as they were shut down by Joe Saunders all night long.

Athletics Blog

Frank Thomas was back with the Oakland Athletics on Thursday as they pounded the Minnesota Twins 11-2.  As the A’s put up 11 runs and 15 hits, Thomas went 0-3 with two walks.  The A’s chased Twins starter Francisco Liriano out of the game before the end of the first inning as they put up six quick runs on the Twins starter.

Donnie Murphy led the A’s by going 3-5 and picking up four RBI.  Murphy had solo home runs in the fifth and sixth innings.  Kurt Suzuki, Emil Brown, and Mike Sweeney all had two RBI each in the game.  Chris Denorfia chipped in with one RBI.

Greg Smith picked up his second in of the season as he tossed seven innings for the A’s.  Smith gave up seven hits but only two runs in the game.  A very good quality start for Smith as he pitched great.  Andrew Brown and Joey Devine pitched the last two innings and gave up one hit each.

Athletics Blog