After 37 games, the Oakland A's sit in second place in the American League West with a 19-18 record.Many pundits had them picked to finish dead last and lose upwards of 100 games in 2012.It appears those predictions may be well off the mark. It has been a good opening stretch for the club, especially considering the A's have been playing with key members of their lineup struggling, injured or both. Manny Ramirez will not play for another two weeks, and both Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden have not pitched a single inning.Here are some of the pros and cons ...
Terrell Owens recently worked out with Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer and a few of the team's wide receivers. That has led to speculation that the team could sign the free agent to give them a veteran presence at wide receiver. Darrius Heyward-Bey, David Ausberry and Eddie McGee were a part of the workout with Palmer and Owens and the quarterback claimed that working out with the 38-year-old receiver provided an inspiration for the youngsters. Palmer said that watching how hard Owens work gave the younger receivers an idea of what it takes to be an all-time great receiver. Owens is currently ...
The first glimpses into the new era of Oakland Raiders football have slowly been filtering in since the media gained access to the rookie minicamp over the weekend and organized team activities this week.What the players do during these organized practices and meetings will set them up for opportunities to compete for a job and make the team.A few of the training-camp battles are already apparent and the result of the camp battles could play a key role in the success or failure of the team in 2012.Starters and key reserve positions are the most important, and the Raiders have several ...
Though his major league career is still extremely young, it's hard not to notice why the Oakland A's were willing to part with a player like Trevor Cahill to acquire Jarrod Parker. After a few late shaky starts during the spring, Parker was demoted to AAA Sacramento. He was able to rebound, however, going 1-0 with a 2.18 ERA, and more importantly, surrendering only six walks in 22 innings.He was then able to continue that success once promoted to Oakland in late April. Allowing only two earned runs or less in each of his four starts, he has surpassed expectations ...
Ervin Santana went 7.2 shutout innings and Mike Trout and Albert Pujols paced the Los Angeles Angels' offense as the Oakland A's fell 4-0 in Anaheim.Losing pitcher Bartolo Colon allowed four runs on 12 hits in 6.2 innings while striking out four. He is now 3-4 on the season. The A's only managed five hits and could not get a big hit with two chances late in the game.In the sixth inning, the A's loaded the bases on walks by Cliff Pennington and Josh Reddick and a single by Jemile Weeks. But the threat was ended when Seth Smith struck ...
The Oakland Raiders have begun their OTAs this week, and for the first time head coach Dennis Allen has his veterans and rookies together on the field.News articles have come out claiming that, despite the signing of Matt Leinart, quarterback Terrelle Pryor was looking good in 7-on-7 drills. "QB Terrelle Pryor displayed nice zip and accuracy on 7-on-7's" said the team's website.That's not the first "endorsement" of Pryor this offseason. Newly signed linebacker Phillip Wheeler talked about how much he likes to use the Raiders in Madden video games, and his offensive attack is to use Pryor as a mobile, ...
Matt Leinart isn’t a bust—he’s simply waiting to blow up.Or, at least, that’s what he believes.But the former USC Trojan won’t find redemption in his return to California. According to Jerry McDonald of the Contra Costa Times, Leinart believes that he fits in on the Oakland Raiders like a missing puzzle piece.What would make the mediocre quarterback believe he fits in well anywhere? Well, Houston Texans quarterback coach Greg Knapp—who apparently Leinart got comfortable with down in the desert—accepted the job as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator. Leinart said during a conference call with the local media that, “It made perfect ...
Denarius Moore may go down as the steal of the 2011 draft at WR. The first real clue that Moore was going to be much better than his humble draft status indicated was a pack of reports from beat writers - many usually reserved - about Moore's cavalcade of circus catches in practices. Fast forward to the first full-team OTA practice open to the media for the Raiders, and you would swear the reporters are stuck in a time warp - except this year, the rookie fifth-round wide receiver they are swooning over is Juron Criner.Steve Corkran of InsideBayArea.com reports ...
The Oakland Raiders traded a first- and second-round pick for Carson Palmer last year to solve their quarterback situation for the long haul. While Palmer will most definitely be the starter to open the season, the longer view remains cloudy under new GM Reggie McKenzie. Palmer was rough at first, which was to be expected when he was thrown into an unfamiliar offense with unfamiliar receivers after having no training camp or practices with the Raiders until the week he played. He improved as the season went on, but it wasn't enough to get the team into the playoffs. He'll ...
The MLB season is already roughy seven weeks old. By now, players should be settling into their comfort zones, shaking off the winter rust and acclimating themselves to the 2012 campaign. Some players are egregiously on fire right now (e.g., Josh Hamilton, Matt Kemp, Lance Lynn), while others are struggling mightily (Albert Pujols, Tim Lincecum, Clay Buchholz). Fantasy owners are paying close daily attention to these upward and downward trends, trying to determine if the past month-and-a-half are blips on the radar or thumbnails of the bigger season-long picture.The thing about determining who's hot and who's cold is that fantasy ...