Athletics Ascension

The hottest start of the baseball season may belong to San Francisco Giants, but their Bay Area neighbors from the junior circuit have also been gigantic. The Oakland A’s got six shutout innings from 31 year old, Ben Sheets in a 6-2 thumping of the 1-9 Baltimore Orioles at the Coliseum. Oakland improved their record to 7-4, good for first place in the AL West. Sheets, Oakland’s newly acquired ace, allowed five hits and struck out four for his first win since in over one year.
Ryan Sweeney, right fielder for Oakland, had an RBI groundout and fifth inning double to help send the listless Orioles to their seventh straight loss. Sweeney extended his 10 game hitting streak to start the season with the hit. Baltimore’s opponents are outscoring them 55-29 and the offense is .135 with runners in scoring position. The O’s didn’t light up the Coliseum scoreboard until Nick Markakis’ sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Adam Jones added a triple in the ninth off Oakland’s Jerry Blevins. Orioles’ starter, Dave Hernandez, took the demoralizing defeat after giving up five runs in as many innings. Hernandez allowed seven hits in recording his second loss of the season.
The A’s bounced back after losing two of three against Seattle. The hitting began early Thursday for Oakland. Sweeney’s RBI in the first frame put Oakland up by one before Kevin Kouzmanoff added to the lead with a sacrifice fly. Kouzmanoff showed his defensive prowess in the top of the first when he made a diving grab of Miguel Tejada’s hotshot to third to save a run. Oakland’s leadoff hitting centerfielder, Rajai Davis, was instrumental in the opening two innings. Davis delivered an infield shot to lead off the game and scored the first Oakland run. His second hit came in the second inning to give the A’s a 3-0 lead. Davis has five multi-hit games so far this year.
The Orioles were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position Thursday, including four of the six innings Sheets toed the rubber. They were just as ineffective in the field. Ty Wigginton botched a routine Cliff Pennington grounder in the fourth to put the O’s in a 4-0 hole. Prior to Wigginton’s error, Adam Jones missed two cutoff men, turning Adam Rosales’ double into a triple. Rosales had two hits and his extra base proved costly for the O’s. Eric Chavez contributed a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to score Sweeney for Oakland’s fifth run following Davis’ stellar outfield play in the top half of the inning. Davis robbed Felix Pie of a hit with a backhand sliding snag. To add insult to injury, Pie left the game after scoring Baltimore’s first run in the seventh. The left fielder suffered a left shoulder injury that could land him on the disabled list.
Oakland was alert on the base paths and at the plate, scattering nine hits and stealing a pair of bases against Baltimore pitching. Pennington pounded a double to score Jack Buck in the eighth. Buck stole a base to set up the sixth Oakland run. The A’s succeeded in getting their leadoff man on in four of the five innings Hernandez tossed. Considering the A’s have played 14 consecutive days without a break, their record is impressive. Oakland finished in last place in the AL West a season ago. They are the surprise first place team in this young season and are in a good position to add to the win column in the next two days with Baltimore in town. Southpaw Vic Braden throws for Oakland against righty Kevin Millwood this evening.

Parting Points: Classic film to end the work week- “His Girl Friday”.

More Bay area sports news- Ted Ginn, Jr. was traded to the Niners.