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Oakland Athletics quest for a title


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Oakland_Athletics.gif The Oakland A's start the season wtih a new owner and a raised payroll. With the addition of the big bat of the "big hurt" and Milton Bradley the A's hope to reappear in the playoffs after a 2 year absence.

Lew Wolff is hoping the addition to the A's payroll will spur more Athletics fans to attend the games and save the team to moving from San Jose.

Meanwhile Billy Beane is focusing on managing a newly improved team. With arguably the best starting pitching staff in the MLB the Athletics hope to finish off a strong season.

Starting Rotation

03.jpg Barry Zito hopes to have a strong season in possibly his last season as an Athletic. After starting the season inconsistant last year he finished strong.

harden_rich050706.jpg Rich Harden has a huge upside for the A's and pitched wonderfully last year. Injuries prevented the young star from maybe claiming a Cy Young award. If the pitcher can stay healthy throughout the season he should be a dominant force for the A's.

pl6uwmtN.jpg Danny Haren is another great young pitcher. He is due for a breakout year soon and many are saying this will be the year. Haren pitches well with runners on base and has a nasty splitter that he uses as his strike out pitch. The only downside is sometimes he has problems with his control.

OAS10607270357.jpg Joe Blanton had an impressive season rookie season. He has the potentiol to be a great pitcher one day and is probably one of the best 4th pitchers in the league.

060705_loaiza_vmed_7p.widec.jpg Former National Estaban Loaiza looks to retain his cy young shape a couple years back and should be a very efficiant innings eater for the Athletics.

The strong starting pitching staff seems to be the strength of this deep Athletic team. If any pitchers get injured throughout the season the Athletic's have options in the bullpen that can start in a pinch. Harden has had an especially strong spring training with his fastball consistantly reaching 99 mph.

Tommorrow a look will be taken at the Athletics bullpen and infield.

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Whats with the a's dynasties. (too many a's dynasties). People should do diffrent teams for once. A's are the bomb but it gets boring reading the same dynasty teams over and over again. I'll still be following though. It looks good so far anyway. good job.

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Today we will take a look at the A's batting order. With the addition of Thomas and Bradley the A's have added a big bat against left handed pitchers and a hitter that can go for power and protect Chavez in the lineup. With the emergence of Ellis as a great contact hitter and an above average defender they have solidified their middle infield. The A's expect to have a better hitting than last season when they were near the bottom in the AL.

ellis-mark-oka-1.jpg Mark Ellis had a break out season, leading the A's in batting average. He is expected to start out the season in the lead off position. He has good plate discipline and is known to take a walk. He also has decent pop in his bat.

bradley0414ap.jpg Milton Bradley acquired from the Dodgers will bat second for the A's. Plagued with problems in his years with the Red Sox and Dodgers Oakland is hoping he will find his place in the laid back A's clubhouse. A patient hitter, he fits perfectly into the A's brand of hitter. He has good pop against left handers which the A's greatly missed last year.

kotsay_66227.jpg Mark Kotsay has been the eptimom of consistancy for the A's. Allthough his average dropped below .300 last season he was solid in the field. He has gold glove potentiol for this season and will fill in the 3rd spot in the A's line up. He is a line drive hitter and should advance hitters with regularity. Kotsay does not strike out a lot and will recieve protection with Chavez batting behind him.

3a_big.jpg Eric Chavez has been the A's power hitter for the last couple seasons. With the addition of Thomas his numbers should go up a bit. Look for Chavez to hit over 30 HRs if he is able to stay healthy.

thomas_frank0826.jpg Frank Thomas is coming off a season where he saw very limited at bats due to injuries. If he can stay healthy he should be a great addition to the lineup. He also has great plate discipline and takes a lot of walks.

crosby_84378.jpg Bobby Crosby was crucial to the A's success last season. When he was injured in the early parts of the season the Athletics struggled. When he returned the A's made their playoff run that fell just short. Look for his numbers to improve in his 3rd pro season.

I26400-2005Apr04 The young outfielder Nick Swisher will bat 7th in the Oakland lineup. The up and coming power hitter will look to improve his average. He has a good arm for a right fielder.

67627_250.jpg Jason Kendall struggled in his first season in the AL. His average dropped but it steadily increased througout the season. His arm was terrible behind the plate and he consistantly had trouble throwing base stealers out. The A's are paying him a huge contract and if he wants to stay in Oakland he needs to produce this season.

177322.gif Dan Johnson had a very succesful rookie season with Oakland. The first baseman hits for a good average and has power. He is another rookie that has tons of potential for this organization.

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sbb005.jpg VS ny-yankee-logo.jpg

Oakland Defeats Yanks In Season Opener

OAKLAND (AP)- The Athletics delighted the sold out McAffee Colesium in the season opener defeating the hated Yankees 6-5. The Athletics came from behind and scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to take the lead. Randy Johnson had a dominant start allowing 3 early runs to the A's in the second inning but from then on he was perfect. He was pulled after 7 innings and 118 pitches. Sturtze came in for the Yankees and the Athletics jumped all over him. Chavez lead off the inning with a bloop single. Frank Thomas followed up by reaching on a rare error by Alex Rodriguez. Crosby hit a line drive up the middle to chase Sturtze and the Yankees inserted Dotel against his former team. Dotel gave up a sacrifice fly to Swisher, Dan Johnson and a 2 RBI single by Kendall. Houston Street came in and allowed a lead off single but erased the runner by forcing sheffield into a double play. Zito got the season opening start for the third season in a row. Zito got out of several jams early and got a no decision by going 6 innings and giving up 8 hits and 4 runs.

stats of intrest

Crosby 2/3 2 runs 2B

Kendall 3/4 3 RBI

Street 1.0 IP 1H 1SV

linescore

NYY 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 0 0-5 5 12 2

OAK 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 x-6 6 12 0

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YANKEES (0-10 VS OAKLAND (1-0)

Mussina Throws Gem, Yankees Dominate

OAKLAND (AP)- After an exciting come from behind victory in the first game of the season the A's fell well short against the Yankees. Mike Mussina pitched a complete game shutout and baffled Athletic hitters with a variety of pitches. Oakland finished the game with only 3 hits. Harden pitched well in his first start of the season for Oakland going 6 innings and giving up 1 run.

20040610212847.jpeg

Cairo is congratulated at home as he scores the go ahead run

Cairo started the scoring with a 2 out triple and was driven in by Derek Jeter on the next pitch. Cairo was not through as he crushed a Saarloos pitch for a 3 run shot in the 8th inning.

The bottom of the Yankees line up was extremely productive in this game and the A's looked completely helpless against Mussina. It was Mussina's 25th shut out of his carreer and his 57th complete game. The pitcher hopes to rebound after a rough season in 2005.

statistics of intrest

Jeter 3/5 1R 1RBI

Cairo 3/4 2R 3RBI 3B, 3R HR

Mussina 9.0IP 3H 0R 0ER 3BB 6K (1-0) W

linescore

NYY 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0- 5 14 1

OAK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0- 0 3 1

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Whats with the a's dynasties. (too many a's dynasties). People should do diffrent teams for once. A's are the bomb but it gets boring reading the same dynasty teams over and over again. I'll still be following though. It looks good so far anyway. good job.

A's are the only team I like. I despise every single other MLB team especially those in the AL west and the hated cross town rival Giants. I could not live with myself if i did another teams dynasty. Sorry. :evil:

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Acctually on my xbox i hadded an A's dynasty for a couple yrs. And it wasnt just because my fav player is Huston Street. So many people love the A's, even the ones that dont leave near em. For example i live in Maine. So obviouley there isnt many choices for fav teams. Most people are all Redsox fans up here...including myself, but i guess overall many people just like the A's.

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