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 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 hit six home runs as they went on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 15-1 on Tuesday evening.  Little second basemen Mark Ellis hit two of the home runs and had four rbi out of the lead off spot.  Great job for Ellis who as struggled at the plate this season.  He is now hitting .265 on the season with 28 rbi.

Eric Chavez, Kurt Suzuki, Bobby Crosby, and Rajai Davis all hit home runs in the game as well.  Talk about making the long ball work for you in a game.  Anytime you hit six home runs like the A’s did, you should crush your opponent just like they did.

Justin Duchscherer was the winning pitcher and is now 7-4 on the season.  Duchscherer pitched eight inning while only giving up five hits and one run.  The one run came in the fifth inning on a fielder choice to third base.  Andrew Brown came in to the game in the ninth inning to finish things up with out any problems.

Athletics Blog

Emil Brown attempted to make a sliding catch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning but he came up short and the ball got behind him in the outfield and the Tampa Bay Rays scored three runs as they went onto beat the Athletics 3-2.

Definaly not the way you want to lose a game.  Hopefully Brown will bounce back and have a good couple of games here soon.  All he can do is forget about it and go out there and play baseball.

Frank Thomas tried to rally the A’s back with a solo home run in the ninth inning but the A’s couldn’t push across another run to atleast tie the game.  Rajai Davis had the others A’s rbi as he had a rbi single in the fifth inning.

Greg Smith tossed seven innings while giving up five hits and two runs to take the loss.  Smith is now 2-4 even though he pitched well enough to ge a win on Tuesday night.  Tough break for Smith.

One run was charged to Joey Devine in the eighth inning as he pitched in relief of Smith.  Dallas Braden tossed a scoreless ninth inning after Devine exited the game.

A’s RHP reliever Andrew Brown underwent an appendectomy and was placed on the 15-day disabled list to recover from the surgery. The move was retroactive to May 14, one day after Brown last pitched. Oakland recalled LHP Lenny DiNardo from Triple-A Sacramento to fill Brown’s spot.

Athletics Blog