In The Shadows: An Oakland Athletics Franchise

[TomahawkChop]

A's Complete Sweep To Open Season

The Athletics again waited until late to score most of their runs, but again came up with a victory over the Mariners, completing the season opening four game sweep. What had been a pitching duel for 7 innings ended up in a rout as the A's scored 5 runs in the 8th inning to put the game out of reach. The Athletics will now travel to Houston to face the struggling Astros for a three game series.

Things started off great for Oakland in the series finale. Chris Young, getting his first start of the season, led off the bottom of the first with a home run. Derek Norris would add to the lead with an RBI double in the bottom of the 5th. Michael Morse brought the Mariners within a run with a home run in the top of the 6th, and the Mariners would tie the game with a sac fly from Jesus Montero in the top of the 8th.

But the A's would produce more late game heroics against the exhausted Mariners bullpen in the bottom of the 8th. No Mariners starter lasted 6 innings in the first three games, and the bullpen was full of tired arms. Yoenis Cespedes hit his first home run of the season to give the A's a 3-2 lead. A few batters later, Scott Sizemore, who was starting for the first time this season, launched a 3-run home run that barely cleared the left field fence. Hiroyuki Nakajima added his first Major League hit and RBI to increase the lead to 7-2. Grant Balfour pitched a scoreless ninth in his first appearance of the season.

Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics
Apr 4, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle (0-3)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	9	1
Oakland (3-0)	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	5	X	7	10	1
W: Cook (2-0) L: Perez (0-2)

Seattle Mariners
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Ackley, 2B	5	0	1	0	0	1	.105
Gutierrez, CF	5	0	2	0	0	0	.400
Morse, LF	4	1	2	1	0	0	.294
Saunders, PR-LF	0	1	0	0	0	0	.250
Morales, 1B	3	0	1	0	1	0	.500
Montero, C	3	0	0	1	0	1	.313
Shoppach, DH	3	0	0	0	1	2	.143
Bay, RF	4	0	2	0	0	0	.429
Andino, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	.250
Seager, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	1	.235
BATTING 2B: Gutierrez 2 (3), Morales (3) HR: Morse (2) RBI: Morse (2), Montero (4) SF: Montero
FIELDING E: Furbush (1)

Seattle Mariners
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Maurer	6.0	6	2	2	0	3	3.00
Furbush	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	5.40
Perez (L, 0-2)	0.0	1	1	1	0	0	27.00
Kinney	0.1	2	3	3	0	0	8.10
Loe	0.2	1	1	1	0	1	27.00

Oakland Athletics
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Young, CF	5	1	2	1	0	0	.429
Weeks, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	.294
Cespedes, LF	4	1	1	1	0	1	.294
Moss, DH	3	1	1	0	0	1	.357
Reddick, RF	4	1	2	0	0	0	.444
Jaso, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	.100
Norris, C	4	2	1	1	0	0	.250
Sizemore, 3B	3	1	2	3	0	0	.667
Nakajima, SS	4	0	1	1	0	2	.200
BATTING 2B: Moss (2), Norris (1) HR: Cespedes (1), Sizemore (1), Young (1) RBI: Cespedes (2), Sizemore 3 (3), Norris (4), Young (2), Nakajima (1) HBP: Moss SAC: Sizemore
FIELDING E: Nakajima (1)

Oakland Athletics
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Milone	6.2	6	1	1	2	5	1.35
Scribner (H, 3)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	5.40
Cook (W, 2-0)	1.0	2	1	1	0	1	3.00
Balfour	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0.00

[KHarmo88]

great start to this. I bet your excited to go on the road to see a different stadium atmosphere haha!

[TomahawkChop]

Quote: Originally Posted by KHarmo88

great start to this. I bet your excited to go on the road to see a different stadium atmosphere haha!

I'm just ready to play a more challenging team. We play Houston next, but then it's time to face the Angels

[KHarmo88]

Quote: Originally Posted by TomahawkChop

I'm just ready to play a more challenging team. We play Houston next, but then it's time to face the Angels

Well yah that's true as well. I clawed my way through April with the Dodgers, D-Backs, Cards, Phillies, Reds so envy your beginning haha

[JHeyBraves]

Two walkoffs in the first series?! Nice!

Great start.

P.S. - The Sounds of the Show pack for the A's will make that stadium MUCH bette.. well.. more tolerable.

[TomahawkChop]

Thanks for the comments, guys. And I will try out that sound pack

[TomahawkChop]

Series Preview

April 5-7, 2013



Oakland Athletics (4-0) at Houston Astros (0-3)

Game 1: Bartolo Colon (0-0, 0.00) vs Lucas Harrell (0-0, 0.00)
Game 2: Brett Anderson (0-0, 2.84) vs Jordan Lyles (0-0, 0.00)
Game 3: Jarrod Parker (1-0, 1.50) vs Bud Norris (0-0, 4.70)

[TomahawkChop]

A's Push Streak To 5 With Victory Over Astros

The A's scored early and often against pitcher Lucas Harrell, and they were able to withstand a late rally as Oakland defeated the Astros in their series opener, 9-7. Josh Donaldson had 3 RBI's, and three Athletics hit home runs as the A's offense continues to look strong early in the season. Bartolo Colon started and went 6 innings, striking out 8 batters while giving up 2 earned runs. The Astros scored 4 times in the bottom of the 9th off A's reliever Ryan Cook, but Cook was able to finally get the 3rd out and preserve the victory.

Jed Lowrie, Brandon Moss and John Jaso each hit solo home runs for Oakland in the game. The ball was really traveling, as the Astros hit 4 home runs against Oakland pitching, two of them in the bottom of the 9th against Cook. The rally made the game closer than it felt, as Oakland had dominated for the first 8 innings. The A's scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning and never looked back. The A's had 13 hits, while Houston pitching walked 8 batters. When you're averaging more than 2 baserunners an inning, usually you're going to score some runs.

The A's send Brett Anderson to the mound in the second game of the series, as Oakland begins its second turn through the rotation.

Oakland Athletics at Houston Astros
Apr 5, 2013	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland (4-0)	0	3	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	9	13	1
Houston (0-3)	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	7	11	0
W: Colon (1-0) L: Harrell (0-1)

Oakland Athletics
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Crisp, CF	3	0	0	0	1	0	.118
Young, PH-CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	.444
Smith, RF	6	1	3	1	0	1	.235
Cespedes, LF	5	0	0	0	0	3	.227
Moss, 1B	4	2	1	1	1	1	.333
Reddick, DH	5	0	1	1	0	2	.391
Jaso, C	4	2	2	1	1	1	.214
Lowrie, SS	3	3	1	1	2	1	.333
Sizemore, 2B	2	1	1	1	3	1	.600
Donaldson, 3B	5	0	3	3	0	2	.357
BATTING 2B: Smith (1) HR: Lowrie (1), Moss (2), Jason (1) RBI: Lowrie (2), Reddick (8), Moss (3), Smith (2), Donaldson 3 (3), Jason (1), Sizemore (4)
FIELDING E: Sizemore (1)

Oakland Athletics
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Colon (W, 1-0)	6.0	7	3	2	0	8	3.00
Scribner (H, 4)	2.0	1	0	0	1	1	2.45
Cook	1.0	3	4	4	1	1	11.25

Houston Astros
HITTERS	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	AVG
Cedeno, SS	4	2	2	1	1	1	.313
Wallace, 1B	4	1	2	3	1	0	.211
Altuve, 2B	5	1	1	1	0	3	.278
Carter, LF	5	0	0	0	0	2	.176
Pena, DH	4	0	0	0	0	2	.455
Castro, C	4	1	1	0	0	0	.200
Dominguez, 3B	4	1	2	2	0	0	.357
Martinez, CF	4	1	1	0	0	1	.267
Ankiel, RF	4	0	2	0	0	1	.273
BATTING 2B: Wallace (2), Ankiel (1) HR: Altuve (1), Wallace (1), Dominguez (1), Cedeno (1) RBI: Altuve (1), Wallace 3 (3), Dominguez 2 (5), Cedeno (1) GIDP: Altuve

Houston Astros
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Harrell (L, 0-1)	2.2	6	6	6	5	3	20.25
Peacock	2.1	3	2	2	3	2	4.91
Wright	1.0	2	1	1	0	2	15.43
Ambriz	2.0	1	0	0	0	4	1.59
Gonzalez	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0.00

Edit: I'm not sure why the box score turned out like this. I lost the html code, so I can't edit it, and I don't want to type it all out again. I will make sure the next game is fixed.