Fremont Bound

It took 11 innings, but Oakland finally beat the Marlins 7-6 with a Suzuki walk-off double.

The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when the A’s scored three runs, and maintained the lead until the ninth when Florida’s Uggla homered to tie things up at 6-6. With a runner on first and no outs in the bottom of the 11th, Suzuki’s double ended the heart-wrenching game.

It was a good day all-around for Suzuki, who had five RBIs including a two-run homer.

Well the Giants certainly kept things interesting. Although the team was swept by Oakland in the three-game series (5-1, 4-0, and 5-3), they didn’t allow Oakland to score more than five runs in any game, and struck first in two of the meetings. Unfortunately for the Giants, Oakland never allowed them to have more than a one-run lead at any time.

The Athletics just seemed to do everything right. The bats were swinging, and converting into runs. The pitchers (Greg Smith, Rich Harden, Dana Eveland, and Huston Street) were solid. The chemistry just flowed. The series was really marked by Eric Chavez, the third baseman who had been struggling in the past but came alive in the final game with several RBIs.

After scoring one run in the fourth inning, Oakland couldn’t catch a break against the Yankee pitching. Chien-Ming Wang lasted over seven full innings for his team, giving up just the lone run. His team, however, took the lead right from the start scoring two runs in the first and an insurance run in the ninth.

This weekend, the Oakland Athletics were ahead of their opponents, the Los Angeles Angels, for half an inning during the entire three game series, including the twelve-inning final game, which Oakland finally won. After scoring only four combined runs in the first two games, and tying the third game 3-3 Oakland was able to rally four runs in the bottom of the twelfth on Sunday. Oakland needs to start scoring early on, instead of relying on late surges. The team will host a three game series against the New York Yankees starting tomorrow.

The A’s were able to bounce back from last week’s many losses with two wins this week, but what does that mean? The team is still three and a half games back in the AL West, and playing the Tigers in the current series, you never know what could happen. And as the season progresses, what can we think about this team? I think answer will become a bit more clear in the next series, against the Los Angeles Angels.