A’s 7, Royals 2.

After a night filled with runs galore on Tuesday, Wednesday was shaping up to be the opposite, as the A’s had only a 2-1 lead going into the seventh, but a couple of walks, an error, and some pure capitalization by the Oakland offense led by jack Custs’ bases-clearing-double with two outs, and the A’s were back on the board in a big way, make it 7-1! The only (meaningless) remaining run was  Mike Jacobs solo-shot off Andrew bailey in the ninth.

What seemed to be another Bob Geren moment in the making surfaced in the seventh when the transparent- nerves of the manager brought him out of the dugout fast, as he like many A’s fans, were in need of another win, went to the bullpen.

78 pitches and a lead-off walk and Geren removes starting pitcher Josh Outman, what faith Geren has, however; Outman did (1-0) have his most efficient outing of the season, allowing only one run in six-plus innings of three-hit ball, striking out four and walking two. Funny how a manager can seem so worried one night about an overused bullpen and another night, remove his starting pitcher after only 78 pitches, one more time, what faith. At least it ended up as a win. Outman was good tonight.

A’s record, 13-18, five games back of the first place Rangers,

It’s alive! At least it was Tuesday night. The A’s beat up on the Kansas City Royals 12-3.

After a short pep talk-initiated by Orlando Cabrera-with the offense, it didn’t take long to notice it had worked, as the A’s slaughtered the Royals pitching in the first four innings for 12 runs. The offense was led by whom else but motivational expert himself, Orland Cabrera.

Not only was it a great offensive performance, but the pitching didn’t disappoint either.

Starter Trevor Cahill (2-2) started things off shaky through the first two frames by loading the bases with two out ion the first, but he survived. The second inning was similar as Cahill gave up two hits but got out of the jam as well. He cruised through then next two innings before giving up solo home runs to Coco Crisp in the fifth, and Mike Jacobs in the sixth. His line was six innings, two earned runs, seven hits, two walks, and two strike outs.  Overall he pitched an effective game, although he still needs to work on his command, at times it looks as if he has no idea where his pitches will go. However, he does have an ERA of 3.69, not bad for the rookie.

This is what Billy Pitt paid for…

Orlando Cabrera had three hits to go along with four RBI’s while Matt Holliday, Jack Cust, and Kurt Suzuki each had two hits a piece. Cust had three RBI, all coming on a three-run sky-rocket home run to center. The remaining RBI’s went to Matt Hollday (2), Jason Giambi (2),and Jack Hannahan (1).

The A’s are in a major rut, losing their fourth in last five games 3-2 to the visiting Texas Rangers, bringning thier season record to a horrific 9-16.

The A’s pitching did their job with spot-starter Dan Giese going 52/3 innings, while limiting the potent Ranger offense to three runs on eight hits, no walks, and three strike outs. The bullpen backed his outing, allowing only one hit in 31/3 innings.

Again the man on offense tonight was Kurt Suzuki, driving in both runs with an two-RBI double in the fourth. Jack Cust had three singles but they were not enough as the A’s had only one extra-base hit, Suzuki’s double.

An interesting note for those who have negative feelings towards A’s manager Bob Geren:

Opposing Manager Ron Washington had the choice of going with his closer, who had pitched in the last two games, up by one, or going with another reliever on more rest, in the bottom of the ninth. He chose his closer, regardless of his last two apperances. As we know very well by know Geren chose not to use his best reliever, resulting in a loss, Washing tonight? A win.

Chomp on that, Geren needs to go.

With two on, two out in the bottom of the eight inning, the A’s leading three to one, Ian Kinsler drives a pitch from Russ Springer to deep center field and Ryan Sweeney robbed Kinlser of what would of been a game- changing home run.Then in the top half of the ninth, Matt-oh I wish I could hit a home run-Holliday comes up and drives his first long-ball of the season to center field.

The A’s defeated the Rangers 4-2 Thursday.

Backed by some great situational pitching by Dallas Braden (3-2) and Andrew Bailey, the A’s held onto the win, setting their record at 8-11.

Braden’s pitch count forced his outing short, but he was effective once again, going five innings giving up zero runs, five hits, four walks while striking out six.

Check SportsCenter tonight because there will be plenty of “web gems” from the A’s defense including a nice throw from Holliday in left to get (greedy) Michael Young out at third with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

The offense had 11 hits, with Sweeney, Cabrera, Suzuki, and Crosby each tallying two. RBI’s from Cust (8), Holliday (12), Suzuki (8), and Powell (3).

Yeah boy!

A’s take game two from rival Angels, 6-4

Man I love having “the bouncer” back in the lineup. He makes me wanna scream, “you’re my boy blue!”

Tonight, although a nail-biter for Major League virgin pitcher Trevor Cahill and some of us fans, showcased what the A’s are capable of offensively and defensively.

Cust will drop some little league fly balls and cost the A’s runs, while the remaining Oakland defense will mostly do what’s expected of a major-league club.

Garciaparra tonight gets my praise, as he dug up some difficult in-betweener’s from Erik Chavez and Orlando Cabrera.  Also, I’m swallowing my words (for now) from yesterday but not digesting them until I can see some consistency from Garciaparra at first, but tonight he really was big for the A’s.

I won’t waste any time on the Cust in right field drama, we all know too well by now, but I will say this, he got one more than he gave up, so that’s a plus. The remaining offense was great tonight, 16 hits! Nice 2009 coming out parties for Giambi, Cust, and Sweeney, all with three hits, while Gaciaparra and Ellis had two apiece.

Young Trevor Cahill had to be feeling it tonight, facing the division rival Angels, a huge stage, bigger expectations, and a bunch of family and friends all watching. Considering all of that, he did pretty well. He will have to be more consistent though, to stay up, but he held his own going five, walking five, and giving up five hits, while serving up three runs (two of them earned).

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Matt Holiday was absent.

Nice job without their stud.

Until tomorrow, go green and gold!

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.

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.

As both bay area teams took the loss to their division rivals Thursday, the A’s to the Halos, Giants to the Dodgers, rest assure it’s not the end of the world, even Tiger can’t win ‘em all.

On another note.

I cant seem to wonder why the A’s are giving Ben Copeland (acquired in 2008 Rule 5 Draft) any at bats. We already have Rajai Davis! To have more than one recycled Giant outfielder (not hating Giants fans) is borderline insanity, especially when they have Aaron Cunningham waiting in the wings. I know it might seem biased to base my reasoning on the fact that he was once a Giant, but common. The last known successful ex-Giant was who…thinking…and some more…Jeff Kent and his ex team mate Pedro Feliz. honesty that’s about it in the last 10 to 15 years.

Back to today’s game

Jack Cust got back to doing what he does best, hit home runs, meanwhile Sean Gallagher had a promising outing. He started the game and went two innings, giving up 3 hits, a walk, and two strikeouts. I must say, if this guy can perform like many baseball experts have predicted, it would provide a much needed boost for the young and unproven rotation.

The question of the day. What will Gallagher’s numbers be like come the all-star break? I think he is the biggest question mark of the rotation and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some correlation between the A’s success and Gallagher’s.

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

On Monday night the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers played 11 innings with the A’s coming out on top with a 4-3 victory. The A’s had blown the save in the bottom of the ninth inning, so it was nice to see them battle back and still get the victory.

Brad Ziegler blew the save when he gave up a solo home run to Hank Blalock in the bottom of the ninth inning. Alan Embree ended up being the winning pitcher in the game after throwing the tenth inning. Santiago Casilla got his second save of the year when he finished off the Rangers in the eleventh inning. Greg Smith had started the game for the A’s but only lasted five innings as he gave up six hits and two runs.

At the plate for the A’s, Travis Buck had the game winning hit when he singled and Cliff Pennington scored. Pennington also had a rbi single of his own while Jack Cust had a rbi double. There wasn’t much offense for the A’s but on Monday night it was enough to get the victory.

Athletics Blog