Coming Down To Earth

  Hey what’s up A’s fans, this is Charles here with another series recap. This week the A’s faced the wrath of a poised Cleveland Indians team that did not allow an RBI in the entire series. The A’s went on to be swept in the “mistake by the lake,” as their bad play continued.

On Tuesday night, the A’s were shutout 4-0 by Paul Byrd who pitched 7 1/3 innings, while giving up five hits. Justin Duchscherer pitched 6 2/3 while surrendering four hits and one earned run. In the top of the first Travis Hafner hit an RBI single to score David Dellucci and gave the Indians a 1-0 lead. They would increase that lead to 4-0 after a three run home run by Ryan Garko.

Wednesday night provided another Cleveland shutout of the A’s, this time by a margin of 2-0. C.C. Sabathia started for Cleveland and threw a complete game shutout while striking out 11. For the A’s, Joe Blanton pitched 7 innings and gave up two earned runs. Mike Sweeney was the lone bright spot for the A’s with a modest 2-4 day at the plate. Cleveland scored their two runs on solo home runs by Grady Sizemore and Ryan Garko.

The A’s were again defeated 4-2 on Thursday afternoon as Cleveland completed the sweep. Aaron Laffey started for Cleveland and pitched seven innings while not surrendering an earned run and only five hits. Greg Smith started for the A’s and pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up seven hits and three earned runs. Jhonny Peralta hit a home run off of Santiago Casilla who was forced to leave the game with an arm injury. Ryan Garko, Travis Hafner and Ben Francisco each had an RBI. No A’s player had an RBI the entire series. The two runs scored in this game were the result of a throwing error by Laffey and a wild pitch in the 9th, as the A’s lost 4-2 and were swept. 

From here the A’s head to Atlanta to face the Braves in a three game series. On Friday night Dana Eveland will face Jair Jurrjens, and Saturday Rich harden will face off against Tim Hudson. On Sunday Justin Duchscherer will face Jo-Jo Reyes to conclude the three game series. 

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