Results tagged ‘ gio gonzalez ’

Battle of the Bay Series – Day #2

Gio retires 20 batters in a row + he only allowed 2 hits & 1 walk + 5 strike outs + a shut out game = 1 unearned run gave us the win

I think that pretty much sums up today’s great performance…on to the final game of the series!

Go A’s

First Home Run & the Win!

Well, we finally broke the horrible streak we were on by getting a win today against Toronto. A special thanks to Gio, he pitched great today!

The past two games have been weird though. First we had Morrow, a local guy, pitching against us…and then today Eveland! I am glad to see that at least Eveland has moved up and is a starting pitcher…good for him.

And in a string of bad luck, with all of the injuries our team is seeing lately, it was nice to see some good happen in today’s game. Our rookie, Donaldson, made his first Major League start today as catcher and not only got his first hit today….but it was a Home Run! What a way to start your Major League career.

Go A’s!

A Whole Lot of News Today

Wow…news is sure rolling out fast in Oakland today. Scratch “today” I mean tonight…since all of this happened after Fan Appreciation Day & the game. Let’s see, where do I begin…

- First off…Cust is put on ASSIGNMENT!?!?! Are you serious? I just saw him today talk to us fans about this up coming season. This came completely out of the blue. I figured him or Powell would be our DH. But sounds like Beane wants Chavez to take over that spot competely. Well see how this goes.

- In better news, Gonzalez grabbed the 5th spot. I’m happy for him, he seems to really be getting more and more comfortable on the mound. Congrats Gio!

- Next up, Crisp was put on the DL because he dislocated his finger sliding into second during last night’s game against the Giants. Hopefully it’s not too bad, and he can make a quick comeback. Because now that we don’t have Cust (I’m still not over that one yet) I’m not sure who they will put in for the time being. My first pick would be Buck, but I’m not sure how he has been performing lately. We shall see.

- I was originally going to start my blog about Fan Appreciation Day today…but as you can see other news got in the way. I’ll try and post pictures that I took tomorrow.

My Lineup

Alright…Opening day is a week away, so I figured I better sit down and see who I think should start for the A’s. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

 

Catcher: Hands down Suzuki…I think that sums it up

 

1st Base: I’m still going to go with Barton. But I will say that Chavez seems to be doing pretty well over at first, so he will be my backup.

 

2nd Base: Ellis…no explanation needed here either (I hope he gets a Gold Glove this season)

 

SS: Pennington…this guy has an arm that’s worth noting

 

3rd Base: This is probably the one spot where I am still not sure. If I had to pick I would go: Kouz, then Rosales, Fox, Chavez (I only put him last because I have him at first base)

 

Outfield:

- Davis (with out a doubt) but I’m not happy that the A’s are moving him over to left field. I mean we all know Davis can run (and fast)! So put him back in Center Field where he can basically cover the majority of the Outfield.

 

- Sweeney…leave him in right field where he dominates

 

- Crisp…Since I want to see Davis in Center and Sweeney in Right that leaves left field for Crisp. I haven’t heard much on how he’s been playing though, so we shall see. But my back up’s would be Buck and Cust.

 

DH: Powell….I’ve wanted Powell to become our DH for a long time. With his poor knees I don’t see him lasting long as a catcher. And even though the A’s were thinking about putting him over at first or even in the outfield, I just think he would be better as out DH. He can hit the long ball for sure..and we definitely need runs (the more the better).

 

The Starting Rotation doesn’t have much wiggle room this season. The A’s have made it know who 4 out of the 5 will be, so I’ll just name Gonzalez as who I think the 5th spot should go to. I was really pushing for Cahill, but after watching the A’s against the Dodgers last week, I think Gio has really come into his own on the mound. He even stated that he’s learning to control his emotions so the batters won’t see how he feels. And after 2 seasons ago he has improved the most in my opinion.

Mazzaro, Carter, & Taylor

Well I just read that Mazzaro was optioned to Sacramento earlier today. Sadly I figured this would happen just because of the fact that Cahill and Gonzalez seem to have the best chance at the 5th spot in our starting rotation. But since I can't make it down to spring training, and watch some games, it would have been nice to see how Mazzaro's been doing since last season. He's got great potential; I think he just needs to work on his consistency.

But for being a rookie last season and getting thrown into a starting position he did pretty darn well. Hopefully he can work out any kinks he has so we can see him on the mound in Oakland again...and soon

In other news...Carter was also sent to Sac. with Mazzaro, and Taylor was sent to the A's Minor League camp (which came as a bit of a surprise to me).

Well regular season is almost here...only 9 more days and I can't wait! Go A's!!

 

And the 5th Spot goes to???

Ok, so by the sound of things the A’s are 99.9% sure about 4/5 members of the starting rotation (I’m leaving room for a margin of error). With Duchscherer coming back, we’ll have him along with Braden, Anderson, & Sheets. So far so good, in my opinion, but we’ll see how Sheets performs, especially after missing an entire season due to an injury. But with all the feedback I’ve been getting, I’m pretty confident he will do well in Oakland – Thanks Everyone!

 

So now that leaves us with the 5th & final spot to fill since all hope was lost today when Geren said we wouldn’t have a 6 man rotation. Oh well, I can dream can’t I? So the remaining contenders are:

 

1) Cahill

2) Gonzalez

3) Mazzaro

 

My personal choice is Cahill – he did pretty well last season, especially for a rookie put into the starting lineup right away. And on a side note, he pitched against Texas last September when I attended and won 9-1…so my vote is kind of bias (haha)

 

Next we have Gio & Vin. Both had their ups and downs. Gio didn’t start off well in my opinion (in fact I remember 1 game where he was brought in as a reliever in extra innings – we had finally gotten ahead by about 4 runs, and he blew the game!) That still haunts me. But he has since greatly improved, especially with his curveball). As long as he can stay cool under pressure he deserves a shot. And Mazzaro started off great, but then it went down from there. He definitely has great potential, I just think may need to go to Triple-A and work on his game…then make a great comeback with us.

 

Well, those are my opinions for tonight…we’ll see how the A’s narrow down the last spot in the rotation (should be interesting)

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