Sweep, Sweep, Sweep

  Hey what’s up A’s fans this is Charles here with the recap for this week’s series against Toronto. The A’s ventured up to the second best country in the world as they swept the Blue Jays in the three game series. Before we get into the game recaps let’s first address  the Canadian native himself Rich Harden. After being scratched from Tuesday’s start, the A’s placed Harden on the DL with a muscle strain after missing his recent side session. The A’s called up Greg Smith to take his place in the rotation, more on him later. The A’s also activated starter Chad Gaudin to complete the rotation. The final roster move that was made this week was Dan “Dead Weight” Johnson being designated for assignment. This is both great news for the A’s as well Dan Johnson, as this tenuous marriage finally ended in divorce. 

In Game 1 Chad Gaudin made his season debut  against AJ Burnett.  Gaudin had a rough outing pitching 4 innings and surrendering 5 earned runs on 8 hits. However the A’s offense helped Gaudin by scoring 6 earned runs off of AJ Burnett in 4 and 2/3 innings. The A’s scored five of their 6 runs in the 2nd inning and would go on to the 8th inning with an 8-6 lead before Alan Embree gave up two earned runs on a Frank Thomas Home Run. The A’s would go on to score in the 9th inning with a Ryan Sweeney 2 out RBI triple. Huston Street came in and recorded his first save of the year as the A’s won 9-8. Travis Buck finally brought his big boy bat as the he went 2-6 with an RBI. Kurt Suzuki continued his hot start as he went 3-5 with an RBI, but the man of the game had to be Ryan Sweeney. Ryan went 2-5 with 2 RBI including his game winning RBI. 

In game 2 Greg Smith got the first start of his career against Dustin McGowan. Smith pitched 6 strong innings while giving up 2 earned runs and 2 hits. Dustin McGowan pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 earned runs. The A’s erased a 3-2 deficit in the ninth to rally for 4 runs to win 6-3. Mark Ellis hit a game tying RBI triple to bring home Travis Buck while Emil Brown and Bobby Crosby also added hits to give the A’s the advantage. Huston Street sealed the deal by picking up his second consecutive save. Bobby Crosby finished 3-5 with 3 RBI, Mark Ellis went 4-5 with an RBI and Emil Brown tallied 2 hits and an RBI. 

In game 3 the A’s finished up the sweep as Dana Eveland faced off against Shaun Marcum. Eveland tossed 6 and 1/3 innings while not giving up a run, while Marcum pitched seven innings and gave up one earned run. The A’s took a 1-0 lead into the 8th before Alan Embree blew his second consecutive save after Scutaro scored on a sac fly by Shannon Stewart. In the 12th inning Travis Buck hit a two run double as he finished 3-6 with three RBI. Foulke came in and picked up the save after giving up a run and allowing the winning run to reach base. So the A’s came up with the 3-2 win and the series sweep. Next up for the A’s, Oakland heads to the “Mistake by the lake” to take on Cleveland. On friday Joe Blanton will face C.C. Sabathia, while Saturday’s A’s starter has not been announced but will face Fausto Carmona. To conclude the series Chad Gaudin is scheduled to face Cliff Lee. Make sure to email us at hosts@athleticscast.com or call us at 415-691-6185. You can also have your voice heard by posting a message to this blog. Go A’s! Have a great weekend and remember to live smooth.