The role of the leadoff hitter can be one of the toughest in baseball. After all, it is typically the leadoff man’s responsibility to jump-start the offense of the team, proverbially setting the table for the brunt of the batting order hitting behind him.That onus can be quite heavy, however, because the performance of the entire offense is often attributed to how well or poorly the leadoff hitter is doing. He's tagged with credit and blame depending on if the team is scoring runs or not.Oakland Athletics leadoff man Jemile Weeks is no different. The second-year second baseman came into the 2012 campaign with high expectations, ...
The start of the 2012 season has been a little mind boggling. The Oakland A's are 8-10 and are in second place in the American League West.Six of the A's 10 losses have come against the Seattle Mariners and the M's have only won one game against a team not named the A's.We can also point to the three-game winning streak at the expense of the Los Angeles Angels as part of the head-scratcher. Such is the beginning of the baseball season.Oh yeah, and the Angels are in dead last in the West. As confusing as things are right now ...
Some nights, you just have to tip your hat to the other guy in baseball. Jake Peavy was simply fantastic, throwing a three-hit shutout and back-to-back home runs by Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko were plenty as the White Sox beat the A's 4-0 at the Coliseum.Peavy struck out five and walked two en route to his sixth career shutout and his third with Chicago. Bartolo Colon took the loss despite only allowing two runs on seven hits in seven innings. He falls to 3-2 on the season.The game shaped up as a pitcher's duel until Dunn launched a leadoff ...
The Oakland Athletics ran into some of the best baseball the Cleveland Indians will play all season long, in the last season, thus losing two of three and killing all of the momentum from a big upset against the Angels.Now, the Athletics will host a three-game series with the 9-6 Chicago White Sox. Here are 5 things that the A's need if they are going to take two games out of three from the White Sox or even pull off the sweep. Find a Way to Hit Ace PitchingThey are aces for a reason. They are put at the top of ...
The Oakland Athletics are set to begin a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Monday night, and they will have their work cut out for them against Jake Peavy.The A's are not worried, though, because they will be sending an ace of their own to the mound. Bartolo Colon will take the mound after his amazing performance against the Texas Rangers, in which he threw 38 straight strikes at one point. Colon is bringing a 3-1 record into the game to go along with a 2.63 ERA and a 19:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio.Colon's precision and command have been perfect as ...
History shows that under general manager Billy Beane, Oakland Athletics fans should never grow too comfortable with any individual player, and starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy is no exception. Will he stick around in green and gold for awhile, or does pitching well make him a candidate for the annual Beane-led barrage of trades? Looking at a decade's worth of starting pitchers who have found success in the bay, four have stuck around while a dozen have been shipped out. Maybe McCarthy will be different. Here's a look at what he provides the A's and a comparison to similar, former Athletics. ...
Tyson Ross went 6.2 solid innings and Seth Smith's go-ahead, two-run home run propelled the A's to a 5-1 victory over Cleveland in the finale of their three-game series at the Coliseum. Ross allowed four hits and five walks, but only a first-inning run to notch his first victory of 2012. The A's bullpen did not allow a hit as they got the last seven outs to close the game.Ross had a shaky first inning, giving up back-to-back doubles to Shin-Soo Choo and Travis Hafner, but then settled down to get out of trouble. The A's tied the score at ...
Seven times the A's had a runner in scoring position. Seven times they failed. As a result, the A's dropped to 7-9 on the year after a 5-1 loss to Cleveland in front of a crowd of 25,258 at the Coliseum.Wearing gold in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1972 A's that brought the first world championship to the city of Oakland, the A's just simply could not get a clutch hit to score more runs. Starter Brandon McCarthy was the hard-luck loser, falling to 0-3 on the 2012 season. McCarthy went seven innings, scattering 10 hits with three walks and ...
After tonight's game against the Cleveland Indians, the Oakland Athletics will be 16 games into the season, putting Oakland only 34 games away from Manny Ramirez's return to Major League Baseball.The way I see it, the Athletics need to begin preparing their players now for Ramirez's return. I say that because, with the way the roster is set up right now, some rather drastic lineup shuffling will be necessary when Ramirez touches down in Oakland.For example, Ramirez would operate well in both as a designated hitter and an outfielder.Without Ramirez, the Athletics have four possible designated hitters (Jonny Gomes, Yoenis Cespedes, ...
Here are six long and short term predictions for the Raiders and the AFC West. Some may be wrong, but most will be right, and they all make sense.OneDarrius Heyward-Bey will have a Pro Bowl season. Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Times says he “fully expects” Heyward-Bey to surpass 1,000 yards, so I’m really only taking it a step farther.By the way, when was the last time a Raider wide receiver was in the Pro Bowl?TwoAfter the season, Lamarr Houston will be considered the Raiders top defensive lineman. Why? Because of the two “drews.” He drew the second most holds in the ...