The Oakland Athletics couldn’t come back all the way to beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon.  Starting pitcher Greg Smith gave up back to back homers in the fifth inning as he took the loss for the A’s.  I was really hoping the A’s would be able to win on Wednesday as they would have won the three game series on the road.  However that was not the case as the A’s lost 4-3.

Santiago Casilla gave up one hit while only recording one out and was taken out of the game in the 7th inning.  Alan Embree recorded the final two outs of the 7th inning and then Jerry Blevins tossed a scoreless 8th inning.

The A’s had some trouble with James Shields who got the start for the Rays.  Shields tossed 8 1/3 innings and limited the A’s to three runs.  Emil Brown and Carlos Gonzalez both hit solo home runs off of Shields and that was all they had until the 9th inning.  The A’s then scored a run in the 9th inning when Ben Zobrist singled off Troy Percival.  However, Bobby Crosby grounded out with the tying run on first to end the game.

The A’s will now be off on Thursday and then start up a weekend series against the Texas Rangers. A’s Baseball Blog

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

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