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Baseball: Surprising Athletics alone in first place
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 | No comments posted.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — With all the tight games the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics have played against each other the past six years while winning three AL West titles apiece, no one on either club could have expected this kind of outcome in their first meeting this season.
Daric Barton, Jack Hannahan and Emil Brown accounted for six of Oakland’s runs with homers in a 14-2 rout of Los Angeles on Monday night. The Athletics entered with only 12 home runs through their first 26 games.
“Coming in here, the weather was nice and warm and the ball was carrying pretty good in batting practice,” manager Bob Geren said after the A’s broke a first-place tie with the Angels. “So the conditions were such that there might be some balls flying out of the park. Fortunately, it was us making the good contact.”
Oakland’s run total was the highest by a visiting team at Angel Stadium since Sept. 22, 2004, when Seattle won 16-6.
In other AL games, New York beat Cleveland 5-2, and Baltimore’s game against the Chicago White Sox was suspended because of rain after 11 innings with the score tied 3-all.
Frank Thomas, who drove in Oakland’s first run with his first triple since April 24, 2002, added an RBI single in the fifth. He was removed for a pinch-runner in the seventh after chasing former Chicago White Sox teammate Jon Garland with a leadoff double.
Alas, the Big Hurt didn’t get a chance to go for the cycle. All he would have needed was a home run, and he’s got 516 of those.
“I did see that on my (lineup) card,” Geren said. “But I just felt like at that point, every run we could add on would help our chances of winning and would determine who I might use in the bullpen. So I was just sticking with the team concept there.
“We were playing a great baseball team and we had to do everything we could to try to win, so individual accomplishments are never really in the mix.”
Geren’s decision certainly had merit. Of the previous 57 games between the teams, 37 had been decided by fewer than three runs — 28 of them by a single run. Oakland’s lead was 6-2 entering the seventh, when Geren sent Chris Denorfia in to run for Thomas. By the time the inning ended, eight more runs were across — seven charged to Chris Bootcheck.
It was a great way for the A’s to start the 19-game season series, but Geren didn’t put any extra emphasis on this four-game set despite the fact that it was against the defending AL West champions.
“We didn’t even have a talk about it at all, honestly,” Geren said. “Whenever you play a team for the first time, there’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of meetings. I mean, we know it’s the Angels and they’re the team to beat and most people obviously picked them as the team to beat. So you’d like to have a good performance against a good team like that, but nothing more than that.”
Chad Gaudin (3-1) breezed to his third straight victory, allowing two runs — one earned — and five hits over six innings with four strikeouts.
“We got some clutch hits and played good baseball,” Gaudin said. “We’re just playing the game the right way, and it’s succeeding. We’re expecting to go out there and win.”
Garland (3-3) allowed seven runs, 10 hits and three walks in six-plus innings, striking out five. The right-hander is 0-5 in his last seven starts against Oakland, and 3-9 with a 5.01 ERA in 14 career starts against the A’s.
“I was getting behind and they were hitting the ball. That’s all I can say,” Garland said. “I felt I had pretty good pitches. The ball was put in play and it rolled their way.”
The Athletics grabbed a 4-1 lead in the third with Barton’s first homer of the season, a drive into the first row above the 18-foot fence in right field.
Garland then walked Thomas and got a visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher, who was ejected by plate umpire Charlie Relaford over something he said to him on the way back to the dugout.
Yankees 5, Indians 2
Mike Mussina earned his 253rd win, tying Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell on the career list, and visiting New York made the most of its five hits.
Mussina (3-3) allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, just long enough to catch Hubbell for 41st place. The 39-year-old had his second consecutive solid outing after there was speculation he might lose his spot in the rotation.
Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his eighth save in eight tries. Hideki Matsui had two RBIs as New York earned a split of the four-game series after losing the first two.
Orioles 3, White Sox 3, 11 innings, suspended
At Chicago, the Orioles and White Sox were tied when play was suspended because of a sloppy field full of mud and puddles.
The game will resume at the beginning of the 12th inning later this season, but no date was set. All the statistics from Monday count.
Juan Uribe hit a solo homer in the 11th off Baltimore closer George Sherrill, his first blown save in 10 chances this year. Sherrill then got out of a jam with runners at first and second.
Ramon Hernandez homered in the top of the 11th to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
NATIONALLEAGUE
Diamondbacks 5, Astros 3
Dan Haren pitched into the eighth inning and hit an RBI double, leading Arizona past visting Houston 5-3 on Monday night.
Haren (4-1) scattered five hits over a season-high 7 2-3 innings and Mark Reynolds hit a two-run double for the Diamondbacks, who improved their major league-leading record to 19-7. Haren retired the side in order six times, finishing with five strikeouts and one walk.
Chad Qualls got the final out in the eighth inning and Brandon Lyon pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances.
Reds 4, Cardinals 3
Edwin Encarnacion had a pair of RBI doubles and made a standout play at third base in the seventh inning to preserve a one-run lead in Cincinnati’s victory over St. Louis.
Bronson Arroyo (1-3) worked six solid innings for the Reds, who won their first series opener after losing the first nine. Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips had an RBI apiece to help Cincinnati win three in a row for the first time this season and even its record at 3-3 since Walt Jocketty became general manager.
Rick Ankiel hit his fifth home run for the Cardinals, for whom Jocketty served as GM the previous 13 seasons before getting fired last October. Albert Pujols singled twice and walked, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and has reached base in all 27 games to start the season.
Giants 4, Rockies 0
Matt Cain got an early lead and his teammates held it, helping San Francisco’s hard-luck pitcher to his first win of 2008 with a victory over slumping Colorado.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy moved past former San Francisco skipper Felipe Alou for most victories by a foreign-born manager in major league history with 1,034.
Aaron Rowand doubled and drove in two runs, including when he and Rich Aurilia each drew bases-loaded walks to force home a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.
Cain (1-2) pitched four-hit ball and walked five in 5 1-3 innings, ending a five-start winless stretch to start the year.
Vinnie Chulk, Tyler Walker and Brian Wilson finished the eight-hit shutout.
Rockies manager Clint Hurdle was ejected in the first inning for arguing a balk call against Franklin Morales (1-2). The defending NL champions have lost eight of nine.
Daric Barton, Jack Hannahan and Emil Brown accounted for six of Oakland’s runs with homers in a 14-2 rout of Los Angeles on Monday night. The Athletics entered with only 12 home runs through their first 26 games.
“Coming in here, the weather was nice and warm and the ball was carrying pretty good in batting practice,” manager Bob Geren said after the A’s broke a first-place tie with the Angels. “So the conditions were such that there might be some balls flying out of the park. Fortunately, it was us making the good contact.”
Oakland’s run total was the highest by a visiting team at Angel Stadium since Sept. 22, 2004, when Seattle won 16-6.
In other AL games, New York beat Cleveland 5-2, and Baltimore’s game against the Chicago White Sox was suspended because of rain after 11 innings with the score tied 3-all.
Frank Thomas, who drove in Oakland’s first run with his first triple since April 24, 2002, added an RBI single in the fifth. He was removed for a pinch-runner in the seventh after chasing former Chicago White Sox teammate Jon Garland with a leadoff double.
Alas, the Big Hurt didn’t get a chance to go for the cycle. All he would have needed was a home run, and he’s got 516 of those.
“I did see that on my (lineup) card,” Geren said. “But I just felt like at that point, every run we could add on would help our chances of winning and would determine who I might use in the bullpen. So I was just sticking with the team concept there.
“We were playing a great baseball team and we had to do everything we could to try to win, so individual accomplishments are never really in the mix.”
Geren’s decision certainly had merit. Of the previous 57 games between the teams, 37 had been decided by fewer than three runs — 28 of them by a single run. Oakland’s lead was 6-2 entering the seventh, when Geren sent Chris Denorfia in to run for Thomas. By the time the inning ended, eight more runs were across — seven charged to Chris Bootcheck.
It was a great way for the A’s to start the 19-game season series, but Geren didn’t put any extra emphasis on this four-game set despite the fact that it was against the defending AL West champions.
“We didn’t even have a talk about it at all, honestly,” Geren said. “Whenever you play a team for the first time, there’s a lot of work to be done and a lot of meetings. I mean, we know it’s the Angels and they’re the team to beat and most people obviously picked them as the team to beat. So you’d like to have a good performance against a good team like that, but nothing more than that.”
Chad Gaudin (3-1) breezed to his third straight victory, allowing two runs — one earned — and five hits over six innings with four strikeouts.
“We got some clutch hits and played good baseball,” Gaudin said. “We’re just playing the game the right way, and it’s succeeding. We’re expecting to go out there and win.”
Garland (3-3) allowed seven runs, 10 hits and three walks in six-plus innings, striking out five. The right-hander is 0-5 in his last seven starts against Oakland, and 3-9 with a 5.01 ERA in 14 career starts against the A’s.
“I was getting behind and they were hitting the ball. That’s all I can say,” Garland said. “I felt I had pretty good pitches. The ball was put in play and it rolled their way.”
The Athletics grabbed a 4-1 lead in the third with Barton’s first homer of the season, a drive into the first row above the 18-foot fence in right field.
Garland then walked Thomas and got a visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher, who was ejected by plate umpire Charlie Relaford over something he said to him on the way back to the dugout.
Yankees 5, Indians 2
Mike Mussina earned his 253rd win, tying Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell on the career list, and visiting New York made the most of its five hits.
Mussina (3-3) allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, just long enough to catch Hubbell for 41st place. The 39-year-old had his second consecutive solid outing after there was speculation he might lose his spot in the rotation.
Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his eighth save in eight tries. Hideki Matsui had two RBIs as New York earned a split of the four-game series after losing the first two.
Orioles 3, White Sox 3, 11 innings, suspended
At Chicago, the Orioles and White Sox were tied when play was suspended because of a sloppy field full of mud and puddles.
The game will resume at the beginning of the 12th inning later this season, but no date was set. All the statistics from Monday count.
Juan Uribe hit a solo homer in the 11th off Baltimore closer George Sherrill, his first blown save in 10 chances this year. Sherrill then got out of a jam with runners at first and second.
Ramon Hernandez homered in the top of the 11th to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
NATIONALLEAGUE
Diamondbacks 5, Astros 3
Dan Haren pitched into the eighth inning and hit an RBI double, leading Arizona past visting Houston 5-3 on Monday night.
Haren (4-1) scattered five hits over a season-high 7 2-3 innings and Mark Reynolds hit a two-run double for the Diamondbacks, who improved their major league-leading record to 19-7. Haren retired the side in order six times, finishing with five strikeouts and one walk.
Chad Qualls got the final out in the eighth inning and Brandon Lyon pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances.
Reds 4, Cardinals 3
Edwin Encarnacion had a pair of RBI doubles and made a standout play at third base in the seventh inning to preserve a one-run lead in Cincinnati’s victory over St. Louis.
Bronson Arroyo (1-3) worked six solid innings for the Reds, who won their first series opener after losing the first nine. Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips had an RBI apiece to help Cincinnati win three in a row for the first time this season and even its record at 3-3 since Walt Jocketty became general manager.
Rick Ankiel hit his fifth home run for the Cardinals, for whom Jocketty served as GM the previous 13 seasons before getting fired last October. Albert Pujols singled twice and walked, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and has reached base in all 27 games to start the season.
Giants 4, Rockies 0
Matt Cain got an early lead and his teammates held it, helping San Francisco’s hard-luck pitcher to his first win of 2008 with a victory over slumping Colorado.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy moved past former San Francisco skipper Felipe Alou for most victories by a foreign-born manager in major league history with 1,034.
Aaron Rowand doubled and drove in two runs, including when he and Rich Aurilia each drew bases-loaded walks to force home a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.
Cain (1-2) pitched four-hit ball and walked five in 5 1-3 innings, ending a five-start winless stretch to start the year.
Vinnie Chulk, Tyler Walker and Brian Wilson finished the eight-hit shutout.
Rockies manager Clint Hurdle was ejected in the first inning for arguing a balk call against Franklin Morales (1-2). The defending NL champions have lost eight of nine.
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