The Oakland Athletics have long had one of the best systems for producing great pitching talent. Just look at the names: Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Huston Street, Trevor Cahill, Andrew Baily and now...Dan Straily.Never heard of him? You will. Straily began the 2012 season playing for the Double-A Midland Rockhounds where he put together a resume that included 85 innings pitched, 108 strikeouts and a 3.38 earned-run average. At just 23 years old, Straily leads all of minor league baseball in strikeouts with 175 in 22 starts between Triple-A and Double-A ball. Not impressed? He also has an ERA of 2.60, ...
The AFC West has become a wide open division, where any team has a great shot at coming out on top and representing the division in the playoffs. As they gear up for 2012 season with a new coaching staff and methodology, let’s take a look at what advantages this new Oakland Raiders organization has over each of their divisional foes. Denver BroncosRaider Advantage: New Head Coach Dennis Allen September 30, 2012 @ Denver December 6, 2012 @ Oakland New Raider Coach Dennis Allen has his hands full taking on a new Denver quarterback in NFL legend Peyton Manning. Oakland’s history ...
The big veteran who was supposed to be dealt may very well be the key arm in the race to the playoffs. Bartolo Colon went eight shutout innings and the Oakland A's survived a shaky ninth inning to win 4-1 and snap a two-game losing streak.Colon evened his record at 8-8, as a three-run third inning was keyed by Josh Reddick's 23rd home run. That was more than enough for Colon, who was his usual strike-throwing self, allowing seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts in his eight innings.Oakland's offense showed a lot of patience, drawing eight walks off ...
One of the more uplifting stories to emerge out of training camp for Raiders fans is the return of star running back Darren McFadden.McFadden missed nine games last season after suffering a Lisfranc injury against the Kansas City Chiefs on October 23rd. The injury was one of many unexpected turns that derailed the Raiders' playoff hopes.Oakland knows what a playmaker McFadden has been for them. He led the league with 610 rushing yards through six games last year before being sidelined. He's a big-play back who knows how to get into the end zone, and the Raiders will look to lean on ...
After averaging just over four wins a season from 2003-2010, the Oakland Raiders have notched back-to-back 8-8 seasons in the last two years. While eight wins was met with excitement in 2010, expectations are on the rise as the black hole expects another trip to the playoffs to be in the near future.While many teams have the fortune of consistency, however, the Raiders have become foreign to the idea.Aside from unveiling their third head coach in three seasons this year, the roster has also been largely overhauled. In the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the Raiders had the fortune ...
Nobody expected the Oakland A's to do anything this season, and for good reason. All it took for doubts to start creeping in was one look at their roster.Before the start of the season, the best word to describe Oakland's roster was "embarrassing." Featured in it were old castoffs like Bartolo Colon, Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes, and the A's inspired even more facepalms when they went out and signed disgraced slugger Manny Ramirez to a minor league contract.The rest of Oakland's roster consisted of young, unproven players, most of them rookies. In fact, the A's seemed to have twice ...
With the American League West bunched together with three potential playoff teams, all three contenders made a big pitching move in the past week.The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim imported Zack Greinke from Milwaukee to give their starting staff a former Cy Young Award winner to pitch alongside Jered Weaver, C. J. Wilson and Dan Haren.Not to be outdone, the two-time defending American League Champion Texas Rangers traded for Chicago Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster.The surprising Oakland Athletics did not make a big trade. But, they are adding to their 25-man roster a 6'2" right-handed pitcher who has struck out 175 ...
Training camp news seems to be generated faster than it can be read by a single human. There's a lot to cover and you want a good overview of what is going on within the AFC West.Sure, you probably consume every morsel of content generated about your favorite team, but you probably don't care about the undrafted fourth-string rookie quarterback of the other teams in the division. Maybe you do, but then you would have downloaded TeamStream and added the AFC West teams to your favorites, right? It's hard to keep track of the most important stuff going on, and that's ...
With training camp underway and four postseason games as a teaser, Oakland Raiders fans are gearing up for what could be the first playoff trip since 2002.The start of last season showed promise under Jason Campbell, as the Raiders were 4-2 before a broken collarbone derailed his efforts.First-year head coach Dennis Allen will have success this season by handing the ball to star running back Darren McFadden. McFadden will be the playmaker for the team, and a standout season of his could very well indicate a playoff birth for the Raiders.There is no doubt McFadden will a fan favorite in ...
Die hard and casual fans alike have no problem when it comes to naming the all-time great Raiders.Marcus Allen, Fred Biletnikoff, Tim Brown, Ted Hendricks, Howie Long, Art Shell, and Gene Upshaw are Hall of Fame members iconic for their time in silver and black.But in many cases, great teams are not made up of many great players.When the Raiders have been good, it is because there were more than just elite players. There were always players who did things that may not have always stood out, but almost always positively contributed to success.For all of the mystique of the ...