It's Opening Day—or it was last week in Japan, or was yesterday, or it is on Friday or Saturday for some teams—but regardless, baseball season has finally begun. Kind of. The Cardinals and the Marlins kicked off the 2012 season on this continent on Wednesday, ending months of hypothesizing about whether this year will be different from the last for teams that had less than ideal 2011s. Now, it's time to see, for real, what this season has in store. It may be early—very early—but many teams already have great expectations to live up to, even in the first week ...
Just because Tom Milone doesn’t have the velocity of Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole or Jarrod Parker does not mean that the left-hander wasn’t a key offseason acquisition for the Oakland A’s. Milone, a 6’1”, 205-pound southpaw, was part of the highly-publicized trade that sent Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals in exchange for an impressive crop of prospects. Drafted in the 10th round of the 2008 draft out of USC, Milone—the A’s No. 10 prospect—has been impressive over four minor league seasons. In 2010, the left-hander started 27 games for Double-A Harrisburg and was 12-5 with a 2.85 ERA. Even more ...
As usual, the opening game for the Oakland A's was unsuccessful, falling to the Seattle Mariners 3-1. They escaped Japan with an even record, however, surprising Seattle with three late home runs, two in the seventh inning and and another in the eighth to come out with a 4-1 win.In the Japan Opening Series the A's learned a lot about themselves, some positive, others not so much. Several lessons learned will remain a relevant theme all season long, while others will sort themselves out in the first few months.In the month of April the A's find themselves faced with very ...
The Oakland Athletics defeated their Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats, in an annual spring training exhibition. A walk, a bloop and a bomb. That seemed to be the pedigree the offense utilized, while the pitching was nearly perfect. Though Oakland won, 9-0, there were many areas of concern for the organization. Most of the runs came via walks and errors. The impressive pitching and final score hid the reality that the A's soundly handled a minor league team. If only it counted. Here are the winners and losers from the Saturday night contest.Begin Slideshow
While the rest of Major League Baseball has a bit more leeway to begin their seasons, the Oakland Athletics already have two games under their belts. After a short two-game series in Tokyo, Japan, the team gained a brief glimpse at what lies ahead for them for the remainder of the season. Oakland will resume its spring training alongside the rest of the MLB. This gives them some time to continue evaluating its players and candidates to fill out their roster for the remainder of the season. During the next couple of days, the A’s will be able iron out ...
Playing the bulk of their games against the Mariners, Royals, Indians, White Sox and Orioles in the first month of the season, there's actually a pretty decent chance that the A's go into May in first place. Every season, a team comes out of nowhere to surprise everyone, pushing more highly-favored teams for a playoff spot. Last year, for example, it was the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks.Few teams, however, are able to sustain their success over a full 162-game schedule, like the Pirates and Indians last year, both of whom faltered late in the season. The Diamondbacks, ...
Just like the 2012 opener, Game 2 was a pitching duel inside of the spacious Tokyo Dome. And like the opener, the Oakland Athletics looked like they were on the frustrating end of another well-pitched game.But Yoenis Cespedes hit a two-run home run to propel a three-run seventh to lift the A's to a 4-1 victory.Bartolo Colon followed up Brandon McCarthy's start with a superb start of his own. Over eight strong innings, Colon held Seattle to three hits and only issued one walk while striking out six. His only mistake was a leadoff opposite-field home run allowed to Mariners ...
Each year, an MLB team comes out of left field (not literally) to make a run, competing for a place in October baseball—here are some clubs to watch to do just that.Amid an attempt by owner Lew Wolff to move the team to San Jose, the Oakland A's don't have a chance at playing late into the year, right?Not so fast.The A's have surprised people before (see 1999) and could do it again. With a shipment of young talent like Collin Cowgill and Yoenis Cespedes, Oakland could utilize the new second wild card. Both the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta ...
Yoenis Cespedes made his highly anticipated major league debut on Wednesday morning, as the Oakland A’s dropped the first game of their two-game series against the Seattle Mariners in Japan. Cespedes, who I wrote about yesterday, finished his first big league game 1-for-3 with a double and a pair of strikeouts and was also hit by a pitch. Starting in center field for the A’s, the Cuban defector wasn’t particularly challenged over the course of the game, though he did record two put-outs as well as an assist (thanks to a timely cut by first baseman Adam Rosales). In Cespedes’ ...
The Major League Baseball season opener is upon us: Opening Day came and went, in Tokyo, Japan. Yes, the Oakland Athletics squared off against the Seattle Mariners last night (this morning). As we squeeze out the final minutes of the MLB preseason, it leaves baseball managers with little time to finalize their rosters, lineups and pitching staffs. Oh, and it also leaves fantasy baseball owners with no time to figure out their drafts. But for those of you who are staying up late to determine their draft picks, have studied the numbers and perused all the mock drafts on the ...