by The GM on May 2 at 1:24PM
In a series that had as much importance as an early season series can have, nothing was established. Oakland and Los Angeles came into the series tied for first place in the AL West and they will leave the series in that same tie.
Oakland took the first game with an offensive explosion, scoring 14 runs. The next two games, the Angels shut down the A's bats and they took those both.
Last night, the fourth and final game of the series, the Oakland bats came back to life. With 20 hits and 15 runs, the A's managed to win the game and earn a split of this first place series. All of the Oakland starters had hits and everyone except for Mark Ellis drove in at least one run. Jack Cust finished the game 4-for-4 with a home run. He also allowed the Angels to tied the game at 4 early in the game as he dropped the easiest of easy fly balls...with two outs. If he would have caught it like he was supposed to, LAofA wouldn't have scored a run that inning. That's how life goes though!
The pitching was great throughout the series. Justin Duschcherer was tagged for 6 runs, but only 1 was earned, thanks to Jack Cust (read above). Chad Gaudin, Greg Smith, and Dana Eveland all had solid starts. Eveland pitched very well for 5 innings, but fell apart in the sixth inning. The bullpen has been great all season and they continue to impress me. Let's look at their ERAs:
Oakland will now take on divisional opponent Texas this weekend. The games are going to be played in Oakland, where the A's are only 8-7 on the season. What happened to having the home-field advantage?!
Oakland took the first game with an offensive explosion, scoring 14 runs. The next two games, the Angels shut down the A's bats and they took those both.
Last night, the fourth and final game of the series, the Oakland bats came back to life. With 20 hits and 15 runs, the A's managed to win the game and earn a split of this first place series. All of the Oakland starters had hits and everyone except for Mark Ellis drove in at least one run. Jack Cust finished the game 4-for-4 with a home run. He also allowed the Angels to tied the game at 4 early in the game as he dropped the easiest of easy fly balls...with two outs. If he would have caught it like he was supposed to, LAofA wouldn't have scored a run that inning. That's how life goes though!
The pitching was great throughout the series. Justin Duschcherer was tagged for 6 runs, but only 1 was earned, thanks to Jack Cust (read above). Chad Gaudin, Greg Smith, and Dana Eveland all had solid starts. Eveland pitched very well for 5 innings, but fell apart in the sixth inning. The bullpen has been great all season and they continue to impress me. Let's look at their ERAs:
- Andrew Brown - 0.00 (16 innings)
- Santiago Casilla - 0.00 (14.1 innings)
- Huston Street - 4.38 (12.1 innings)
- Alan Embree - 3.75 (12 innings)
- Joey Devine - 0.92 (10 innings)
- Kirk Saarloos - 2.35 (7.2 innings)
- Keith Foulke - 2.57 (7 innings)
Oakland will now take on divisional opponent Texas this weekend. The games are going to be played in Oakland, where the A's are only 8-7 on the season. What happened to having the home-field advantage?!
|
