The 2012 Oakland Athletics stand at 3-4 in 2012. This record is good enough for third place in the four team American League West.Let's throw out the record for a second; shall we? If the A's do not improve their hitting, they will not be good enough period.The A's have six players with 20 or more at bats. Only newcomer Yoenis Cespedes is batting over .230 (.273). Next is Josh Reddick at .227. The next four, Jemile Weeks, Coco Crisp, Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington are batting .200 or below. The stats of these six hitters take all the mystery out of why ...
Oakland Athletics fans have grimaced at the paltry crowds that attended the A’s three-game series with the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum earlier this week.Though the above picture was taken during a rain delay, the crowd didn't get much bigger than this last Tuesday night. It’s not surprising to see small crowds at A’s games, but the past week saw one of the worst crowds for an early season three-game series in the recent memory of many Major League Baseball fans.The wet weather may have played its part in deterring people from coming to the ballpark for the Royals ...
As to be expected, the Oakland Athletics are dead last in the AL West—but fans still learned quite a bit about the A's this week, specifically about new face Yoenis Cespedes. Oakland entered the season with a ton of question marks. In just a short span, they seem to have answered a few of them already. Here are five things we've learned so far about the Oakland A's.Begin Slideshow
The heart of the Oakland A's lineup has the potential to improve an offense that did very little in 2011.The 411 on the Oakland A's in 2012 seems to be that they downgraded their pitching and didn't improve their bats. At first glance, both might be true.The A's are pretty darn good at making fans forget about lost arms, but the bats have been harder to replace in general manager Billy Beane's system. Let's concentrate on the A's bats. In case no one noticed, runs were at a premium in 2011.Questions after TwoThe top two spots in the A's lineup are ...
Billy Butler's go-ahead double with two outs in the 12th inning appeared to be the difference in the rubber game of this three-game series.But the A's, without the benefit of a hit, scored twice in the bottom of the 12th to win 5-4 in front of an announced crowd of 12,390 at the Coliseum.Royals closer Jonathan Broxton appeared to have the first two men retired until shortstop Alcides Escobar's error allowed pinch hitter Seth Smith to reach first. Jemile Weeks and Eric Sogard both walked to load the bases. Coco Crisp then grounded out to tie the game. Then, Broxton ...
This is starting to become a bad habit for the A's offense. As the rain poured down, Oakland was unable to do much of anything with Royals starter Danny Duffy and were shut out 3-0 in a game shortened by steady rain in the Coliseum.Graham Godfrey pitched well, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk in six innings of work. However, the two runs he surrendered in the fourth inning were more than enough for Duffy to cruise, as the A's looked largely punchless. Cliff Pennington's double in the bottom of the third was the A's only hit of ...
After the first weekend of the season the Oakland A's find themselves where many predicted them to be: the AL West cellar. What most people probably didn't expect, however, was how quickly Yoenis Cespedes would emerge as a legitimate middle-of-the-lineup threat. Through five games, Cespedes is tied for the league lead in home runs with three and is only one RBI short of the league lead as well.Surely this should be news that would make A's fans want to rejoice, but one thing that always comes along with being an A's fan is the fear of the unknown, the fear ...
The Athletics fell behind 4-0 in the first game of 2012 in the Oakland Coliseum and never recovered, falling 7-3 to the Seattle Mariners.Starter Brandon McCarthy was less than sharp in five innings, allowing seven hits and two walks while striking out three. This marks the second time on two continents that Seattle has defeated Oakland in an "opener," the first being a 3-1 extra innings victory on March 28th. The loss drops Oakland to 1-2 on the season.Once again, Jason Vargas kept the A's largely off balance. Over 5.1 innings, he allowed five hits and one walk while striking ...
The A's 2012 regular season resumed Friday against the Mariners, and finally their roster appears to be set, for now. They chose to go in interesting routes, like maintaining only a four-man rotation and having three lefties in the bullpen, but it's safe to say that this roster is only temporary.With that said, there are several surprising names on the A's 25-man roster and several surprising names playing in Sacramento right now. For the time being, having a seven-man bullpen and an extra outfielder is a luxury they can afford, but one they won't be able to keep in the ...
With two games already in the books for the Oakland Athletics and 160 more to go, there’s one thing already certain for the upcoming 2012 campaign: Yoenis Cespedes is going to be the American League Rookie of the Year. That’s right. That Yoenis Cespedes. True, he’s only played in a couple of games in the MLB. And, yes, he’s only been exposed to roughly five weeks of big league baseball, including spring training. But in that short time, one thing has been verified for sure—Cespedes is the real deal. Which, for the A’s, is a big deal. It’s not often ...