The Los Angeles Angels handed the Oakland A's their third consecutive loss on Monday, with a stellar pitching performance from Jered Weaver.Weaver recorded his 1,000th strikeout and helped provide the goose egg in a 6-0 loss where the A's failed to get 10 hits for the 11th game in a row, which is now a franchise record to start the season.The game was basically decided in the top of the first, with A's starter Brandon McCarthy giving up three runs on four hits, which included Kendrys Morales's first home run since May of 2010.It was the same old story for ...
New game, same story: The Oakland A's are simply not hitting. Held to six hits by four Los Angeles Angels pitchers, the A's suffered their second shutout in three games, falling 6-0.Kendrys Morales hit a three-run home run in the first inning and Jared Weaver cruised over 6 2/3 innings. Brandon McCarthy took the loss, allowing 11 hits and five runs in seven innings. The game essentially ended in the first inning. After Weaver retired the A's in order, back-to-back singles by Howie Kendrick and Albert Pujols put runners on first and second for Morales. On an 0-2 pitch, Morales launched ...
Fans having low expectations for the Oakland A's prior to the approach of the 2012 season, was to be expected.They traded away two quality starting pitchers and an All-Star closer. The starting lineup had question marks, with several spots up for grabs as spring training unfolded.Even if you brace yourself for disappointment, you still think to yourself, "I didn't think it would be this bad."The A's pitching has not been fantastic, but they haven't been terrible either.The club is not producing at the plate and that's the real problem in Oakland right now, not the pitching. Don't be FooledI know, the ...
Ten games into the MLB regular season, the Oakland Athletics are 4-6—about where most expected. And though the season is in its infancy, we have at least learned these three lessons: Cespedes Can Crush a LotLet's get the obvious one out of the way first. Yoenis Cespedes is a far-from-finished product who strikes out at an alarming rate (15 already), but when he hits the ball, it goes far. Really far. With three home runs in 10 games, he is on pace for a total of 49 on the season—enough to tie Mark McGwire's rookie record set in 1987. Cespedes is growing ...
It took only two games for A's fans to get a glimpse of Yoesnis Cespedes' immense potential. In the seventh inning, facing Mariners reliever Shawn Kelley, Cespedes scorched a breaking ball straight into the left center field seats of the spacious Tokyo Dome.In each of the next two games, Cespedes would do the same. On April 6th, Cespedes launched his first homer in the Coliseum, driving a Jason Vargas fastball an estimated 462 ft. Then in the following night against M's right-hander Steve Delabar, Yoesnis deposited one over the right center field wall. Since then Cespedes has gone on a bit ...
Eric Sogard's fifth inning three-run home run proved to be the A's only scoring as they fell in Seattle 5-3 to the Mariners.A's starter Graham Godfrey struggled, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits with a walk and three strikeouts in five innings. Even in spacious Safeco Field, Godfrey allowed two long balls, one to Brendan Ryan in the second and another to Justin Smoak in the third. Godfrey fell to 0-2 while Seattle starter Blake Beavan improved to 1-1.Down 3-0 in the fifth, the A's rallied with a single by Kila Ka'aihue and catcher Anthony Recker was hit ...
Tom Milone was solid in his second start as an Oakland Athletics pitcher. He just could not match Hector Noesi of the Mariners, who shut the A's down en route to a 4-0 victory to even the three-game series in Seattle.Noesi held the A's to five hits over eight innings and was never really threatened in the game. After a relative outburst of four runs Friday, this performance more resembles the scuffling A's batting order that has only scored 25 runs in nine games thus far.Milone's troubles largely caused by Jesus Montero. In the second inning, Montero yanked a fastball ...
Coming to a foreign country as your new place of employment can often be a difficult transition for anybody. There’s the obvious potential language barrier. There’s the scrutiny of your new peers and high expectations from your superiors for importing you into their business. And the obvious adaptation to the new surroundings is daunting enough as it is.For the average expatriate, these issues themselves can be difficult to overcome. Now imagine doing your new job, in a foreign land, while being followed by hordes of media, with the extreme demands of both representing your native country and performing at a high ...
With a few more starts like this, Bartolo Colon may establish himself as one of the free-agent steals of 2012.Colon went seven shutout innings, only allowing three hits and a walk while striking out five, and the Oakland A's cruised to a 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.After being rocked for seven runs in 4 1/3 innings in his last start against Seattle, Colon adjusted by throwing many more curveballs and keeping Seattle's lineup off balance. Ryan Cook and Grant Balfour completed the shutout with two innings of scoreless relief.The A's got on the board in the third inning when ...
For most A's fans, the A's stadium situation has been nothing more than a headache.Beginning in 2005 with Lew Wolff's purchase of the team, a new ballpark has always seemingly been a top priority for ownership.Now in hindsight, there are many that doubt that sentiment. It's obvious to see how someone could consider that notion laughable when looking at ownership's dubious efforts to get a new ballpark deal done, especially when looking to stay in Oakland.There were even rumors of ownership abandoning Oakland and then purchasing the Dogders. In this scenario, there was also the chance of the A's being completely ...