Kuzul

I have been a Texas Rangers fan my entire life.  Well, except for when I was a kid and loved the A’s, but that was just because they were the best team of the era and as a kid you always pick the winner.

It has not been easy being a Rangers’ fan, and despite their debateably unexpected success last season, it is still not easy.  I am convinced that even if the Rangers had beat the Giants the media would have come up with excuses as to why the Giants lost.

There has been no bigger moment than with the World Series appearance last season, but the past does little to help the present and future, so lets look at how the Rangers started their American League title defense. 

As the commentators of today’s game repeatedly pointed out, the Red Sox are widely considered the World Series favorite.  This is no surprise with the players they acquired and the team they already had. 

They are going to have a great season and may very well win it all, but today they had no such luck.

This Rangers team, who opted to start the season with a guy who is only one year removed from the bullpen, fought through adversity and brought down the giant. 

It started with a terrible defensive play that is the part of entirely different discussion, and ended with the most underrated player on the team coming through once again. 

What I loved most about this game was how the team fought back after going down early and often.

They went down two runs in the first, but tied it back up in the second.  Down two more in the third, and answered with three more in the fourth. Lost the lead on a home run in the eighth, and answered with four more runs in the eight to close it out.

Obviously they will not be successful if they have to fight back every single game, but this team has acquired a swagger that I have never seen on a Rangers team before. 

My only guess is that the World Series did it to them, but whatever it was I am sure glad it happened.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is only one game out of 162, Josh Hamilton looks like he is disinterested right now, Michael Young obviously struggled in his new role and CJ Wilson did not perform to his exceptionally high standards, but it is still just one game.

The bullpen that is such a major question gave the team a chance to win, and that is about all we can ask for at this point. 

As a side note to the commentators, it was the Rangers who added a bunch of runs after the fifth inning, not the Red Sox.  It was also the Red Sox who used five relievers, and not the Rangers.

Finally, I have to give all the props in the world to David Murphy.  I have regularly commented on how big of a class act Michael Young is, but David Murphy is right there with him.

Despite having consistently quality numbers he has never broken through as an everyday player. 

However, the guy gives everything he has everyday, and this team would not have succeeded last year, and will not make it far this year, without him.

So my hat is off to David Murphy for his game winning double and to my beloved Rangers for the great start to a season.  Opening Day is always sweet, but it is that much sweeter when your team wins.

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Is it next year yet?

If today is any indication how the Chicago Cubs season will play out, fans will wait anxiously for the next season to begin.

The struggles for the Cubs that plagued them all last season continued in their opening game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bad pitching, bad fielding, and bad hitting, all of which are the formula for a bad ball-game.

The Cubs had a chance to break the game open against their newest nemesis, the Pirates, in the fourth inning when they had the bases loaded with only one man out.  However, the Cubs were only able to scratch across one run when Carlos Pena grounded into a fielders choice.

Ryan Dempster was cruising through the first four innings, but he labored in the fifth.  

Neil Walker delivered a crushing grand slam to put the Pirates up for good, 4-2.

Andrew McCuthchen would add to the Pirates lead with a home run of his own with a runner on, to put the Pirates up 6-2.

The Cubs did provide a glimpse of hope in the bottom of the seventh, when they rallied to cut the lead to 6-3.

But, the annual theme of lack of clutch hits continued.

The lone bright spot for the Cubs was there bullpen.

Entering the season with a bunch of question marks, the Cubs bullpen threw 2 1/3 innings of shut out ball when Dempster was relieved.

This is just the first game of the season for the Cubs, but if they continue to falter against the Pirates, it will be a long year.

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Welcome to BoxPlus, where I give you just a little more than the box score does.

For the first eight innings of the 2011 season the Phillies seemed a little dead offensively and rusty defensively. 

Jimmy Rollins made me cringe in his first at-bat of the season when he swung at the first pitch and hit a weak ground out.  Ryan Howard got the Phillies first hit of the season with a line drive to right-center in the second inning.  Halladay looked good through his six innings with six strikeouts.  He was forced to throw an extra 18-plus pitches (about an inning’s worth) due to an error and a bad play by Valdez; no runs were scored as a result of those errors.  He did give up one manufactured earned run.

In the seventh, J.C. Romero failed in his designated role and allowed the sole left-handed batter he faced to single to left.  David Herndon then allowed that runner and two more to score in that inning.  The big hit was a Michael Bourne triple to center.

The home half of the seventh saw the Phillies get on the board with two runs.  Placido Polanco led off the inning with a walk.  Rollins saw some pitches and was able to single on a line drive to right.  Still with no outs, a passed ball with Howard up moved both runners up and Howard hit a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Polanco and moving Rollins to third.  Raul Ibanez then scored Rollins on a ground ball out to first.

Madsen had an uneventful eighth, posting two strike outs.  Baez also did a nice job in the ninth, giving up only a two-out single and, following a steal, an intentional walk.  He ended the inning when Angel Sanchez followed with a ground out.

The home half of the ninth is where all the magic happened. 

Rollins led off the inning with the first of a string of good, patient at-bats that resulted in a ground ball that split the first and second basemen for a single.  Ryan Howard exercised some patience and ran the count full before singling on a liner to center, moving Rollins to second.  Raul Ibanez (0-4, 1 RBI off a sacrifice fly) popped up for what would be the only out of the frame.  Rollins stole third with Francisco up and then Francisco sharply lined a single over the shortstops head, scoring Rollins and sending Howard to second. 

Carlos Ruiz then stepped up and nearly ended the game on a deep line drive into the left field corner that just barely went foul.  He would eventually single to left, loading the bases.  Wilson Valdez, who was filling in for the injured Chase Utley, went 2-4, garnering his second hit in the ninth after Francisco.  Valdez’s hit scored Howard to tie the game.  Pinch-hitter John Mayberry stepped in and worked the count to 2-2 before hitting the game-winning single just over the center-fielder’s outstretched glove.  The outfield was playing shallow in an attempt to stop the winning run from scoring.

For the Phillies: The bench went 2-3 and drove in the game-winning run.  The bullpen gave up three earned runs in three innings.  The Phillies were 6-7 (all singles) in the ninth inning.  Ben Francisco had the only Phillies error when he misjudged a fly ball.  Rollins, Howard and Valdez all went 2-4; Valdez had the sole extra-base hit for the Phillies with a double off of Myers.

For the Astros: Brett Myers gave up 3 hits and 2 runs in seven strong innings.  He had three walks and no strikeouts.  He also had two hits at the plate.  The Astros new closer has started the season with an 81.00 ERA.  

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The weather is getting nicer outside, and Opening Day came and went with six games that each had interesting endings.

We had studs like Mariano Rivera and Heath Bell shutting the door on their opponents, and John Axford and Ryan Franklin looking just a bit shaky.

Let’s take a look at the news we missed in the preseason edition and then dive into Opening Day.

Quick News

Shortly after the preseason edition of this column went live, it was announced that Neftali Feliz will be the closer for the Texas Rangers to begin the season.

The certainty that he is the closer for this team moves him into my top five closers and if you’re drafting this weekend, he’s absolutely worth taking at the right value.

The consensus is that he will be set up by Mark Lowe pitching the eighth and in deep leagues that count holds, he might be worth a look. 

The Phillies shut down Brad Lidge with shoulder pain during the final few days of spring training and they expect him to be out 3-6 weeks. Jose Contreras has been named the fill-in over younger Ryan Madson while Lidge is out.

If Lidge is on your team, hopefully you have gone out and gotten Contreras to fill that hole while Lidge is on the DL.

Previously, there was just speculation about Andrew Bailey and Brian Wilson, but now it is confirmed that both California closers will start this season on the 15-day DL. 

Wilson is eligible to come of the DL April 5 and will likely take over as soon as he gets back to full health; until then, Sergio Romo will likely fill in at the closer role. 

Bailey will also be available on the April 5, but the Athletics may take a little extra time bringing back their young closer, especially with an experienced veteran like Brian Fuentes in the bullpen able to close games.

If you need quick saves for a week, I like Romo more than Fuentes while their counterparts are out.

Finally, Frank Francisco will start the season on the DL for the Blue Jays and Jon Rauch will be the closer to start the year. Rauch is the best option in the bullpen while Francisco is gone and could regain the job if Francisco struggles in his comeback.

Opening Day Games 

In the first game of the day, C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander both went six innings and neither got a decision, leaving the ballgame to their respective bullpens.

Joba Chamberlain pitched a clean top of the seventh and Phil Coke could not do the same in the bottom of the inning, giving the win to Chamberlain.

The Yankees used Rafael Soriano in the eighth and earned a hold and will be a great guy in holds leagues. Mariano Rivera came in and shut the door like he does so well and got his first save of the season.

None of these sentences are particularly surprising and this will likely be consistent for the Yankees, barring any injuries.

Craig Kimbrel got the first shot in the committee in Atlanta and finished the job in a 2-0 win over the Nationals, striking out two in the process. Jonny Venters pitched the eighth and earned a hold, keeping the Nationals hitless.

If you were to draft this weekend and you wanted a Braves closer, I’m leaning harder toward Kimbrel being the better guy for the year, but I still believe it’s a committee. If the Braves go a couple weeks and Kimbrel pitches every time he’s available, then the job is his and Venters owners can go ahead and release him. 

The first blown save of the year belongs to John Axford and his awful mustache of the Brewers as the Reds scored four runs in bottom of the ninth to beat the Brewers 7-6. Takashi Saito pitched an ugly, but scoreless eighth inning and would likely get the first save chance in the bullpen if Axford were to struggle.

I believe Axford has a bit of leash but as a young guy, if he were to blow three in a row, maybe Saito gets the next chance. 

Fernando Rodney closed a two run game against the Royals in the afternoon game, despite giving up a hit and a walk. I have a hard time believing in Rodney coming into the year and the Angels are high on Jordan Walden, but want to ease him into a setup role behind Rodney.

I believe Walden will settle into the eighth inning role and possibly a chance at saves when Rodney is not available.

We got bonus baseball and a second blown save in the win by the Padres over the Cardinals, 5-3. The Padres were helped by a blown save by Ryan Franklin and a poorly timed error by Ryan Theriot.

I’m not worried about Franklin for now, but Jason Motte is the guy in the shadows in case Franklin really struggles. Heath Bell closed the door in the 11th for his first save of the year. 

And finally, as much as I was hoping to get a look at Sergio Romo, the Dodgers beat the Giants 2-1 and Jonathan Broxton got the ugly save. Broxton gave up a home run to Pat Burrell, but gave up no other hits and walked none.

Broxton looked slimmed down in appearance in comparison to last year, which may help his stamina. Hong-Chih Kuo got a hold and may be the king of the holds this year just like he was last year.

Written by Jim Dingeman exclusively forwww.thefantasyfix.com

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After ending last season with a bad taste in their mouth, the San Diego Padres opened the 2011 campaign against the team that ended their last two playoff runs.

Despite having only one win in their last 13 meetings in St. Louis, the Padres got off on the right foot against a familiar foe.

After three forgettable at-bats out of the eighth spot in the Padres’ lineup, offseason acquisition Cameron Maybin tied the game with a two-out solo home run in the ninth inning. 

Maybin then grounded a single that led to the go-ahead run in the 11th inning on Thursday in the 5-3 victory.

“We fight, we claw, we hang around,” Maybin told the Associated Press. “We find a way to do it.”

One huge reason why the Padres were able to hang around was because of their ability to shut down Albert Pujols (0-for-5), who grounded into a career-worst three double plays and left five men on base.

Compare that to Pujols’ Opening Day in 2010: 4-for-5, two home runs and three RBI’s. 

The Cardinals grounded into five double plays in total, and it was the Padres’ new middle infield combination of Jason Bartlett and Orlando Hudson who looked like it wasn’t their first time turning two together.

Padres General Manager Jed Hoyer—now entering his second full season, signed Barlett and Husdson to two-year contracts in the offseason.

One of his more recent signings, former Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Pat Neshek, worked his way around two walks in the 10th inning on Thursday and earned his first win since 2007.

Heath Bell needed just 10 pitches to close the door for the save.

The turning point in the game came when, with two outs in the 11th and the game tied at 3-3, Chase Headley singled off Bryan Augustein (0-1).

Maybin followed with a single through the right side that Theriot bobbled off right fielder Jon Jay’s bounced relay back to the infield.

Headley kept running and made a headfirst slide to beat the throw home.

Nick Hundley added an insurance run with an RBI single, plating pitch-runner Cedric Hunter.

“That’s how we have to play,” Headley said. “We’re a team built to pitch, play defense, get timely hits and run the bases hard. We won a lot of games that way last year. Hopefully, we can continue to do that.”

The Cardinals and Padres take the day off on Friday and return to action on Saturday at 1:10 pm. The Padres will send lefty Clayton Richard to the hill against Jake Westbrook. 

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The Giants did not expect to start their trek to a repeat title like this.

The Giants hit a road block on Thursday’s opening day at Dodger Stadium, kicking the ball around in the sixth inning.

Miguel Tejada botched a throw to second with a runner at first with one out, followed by a rare Posey throwing error with the bases loaded. Just nanoseconds before, Posey made a great save on a pitch by Lincecum in the dirt.

The Dodgers drew first blood in the game on the error.

As Posey threw the ball, the runner at third, Matt Kemp, appeared to already be back on the base.

“I thought he was off the base,” Posey said after the game. “I would not have thrown it if I thought he wasn’t.”

To complicate matters further for the Giants, Clayton Kershaw was dominant for the Dodgers. In seven shutout innings of work, Kershaw held the Giants to four hits and one walk, including nine strikeouts.

Cleanup hitter Buster Posey was one of the few to get something going against Kershaw, finishing the night one for four, but with two strikeouts.

“He did a good job of moving the ball around and mixing up some off-speed pitches,” Posey said of Kershaw.

The Giants seemed to struggle in all facets of the game in their three-error debacle—except for pitching. Tim Lincecum was nearly as fantastic as Kershaw, but earned a tough loss, pitching seven strong innings of unearned one-run ball.

The Dodgers tacked on another run in the eighth inning on a James Loney RBI double.

The Giants avoided embarrassment by scoring in the ninth off Jonathan Broxton. Burrell lined a screamer over the left field wall, reminiscent to his game-winning home run off Jonathan Broxton last July.

Brandon Belt had a game to remember. In his first at bat, he accomplished an important milestone—his first major league hit, an infield single.

Belt had impressive at-bats throughout his 1-for-3 night, including a walk off Clayton Kershaw.

Although he made the last out of the game on a soft line drive to Uribe, Belt battled Broxton till the end.

Starter Tim Lincecum shrugged the loss off as best he could.

“Games like this are going to happen,” Lincecum said. “Hopefully, we’ll get them tomorrow.”

One noticeable improvement was the defensive play of Pablo Sandoval. During the sloppy sixth inning, Sandoval shined, as he saved two runs with a diving play on a line drive to his left. Runners were on second and third at the time.

The good news for the Giants? Tomorrow is a new month.

WP: Clayton Kershaw (1-0), LP: Tim Lincecum (0-1), Broxton (S, 1)

HR: Pat Burrell (1, 9th inning off Broxton)

My Thoughts

Aside from the errors in the sixth inning, the Giants cannot expect to win many games by scoring two runs. Clayton Kershaw is a great pitcher, but some questionable at-bats hindered their chance at mounting a rally.

An at-bat of note was Andres Torres’ eighth inning plate appearance. Hong-Chih Kuo threw six straight balls to start the eighth inning, but Torres swung at what appeared to be ball three.

Torres would go on to have a good, long at-bat and line out to Andre Ethier in right field, but Torres probably should have taken a strike there with Kuo struggling with his control. If he takes the 2-0 pitch, the count might be 3-0 (the pitch was borderline) and who knows what happens?

Although Belt did not get the ball out of the infield, his approach was good. In the fifth inning, Belt somehow laid off Kershaw’s two-strike off-speed pitches and worked out a walk. Even his last at-bat off Broxton was a two-strike battle, although it was a line drive out to third base.

A questionable defensive miscue came from Buster Posey in the defensive nightmare sixth inning.

After Posey made an amazing block to keep the runner at third, there was no reason to throw the ball. The runner at third, Kemp, was standing on the base as Posey fired an errant throw to third.

The bottom line is the Giants did not get it done offensively or defensively. Scoring one run will not win many ball games.

Regardless of the errors, the Giants gave up few enough runs to win. Every team makes mistakes, but the good teams make up for those errors and pick up their teammates who caused the blunders.

The Giants have to do what they did last year to win. That is to catch the balls they could get to, get timely hits, and have fun.

The Giants will try to rebound tomorrow against the Dodgers at 7:10 p.m. from Dodger Stadium. Jonathan Sanchez will make his 2011 debut against Chad Billingsley.

Follow me on twitter @vintalkingiants

This article was featured on the blog Talking Giants Baseball

Questions or comments? E-mail my blog mailbag at vc4re@yahoo.com. Your questions may be answered on my blog.

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The battle for the bottom two spots in the New York Yankees‘ rotation is coming to a head, and Bartolo Colon might have just clinched a spot for himself with a very strong outing against the Tampa Bay Rays.

While the Yankees eventually lost, 3-1, to Tampa, Colon did everything he could have possibly done to win a job as a starter in the Bronx. Featuring pitches with plenty of “life” on them, the veteran righty pitched six nasty innings, allowing only one run on two hits and no walks while striking out five.

Spring results are rarely important, and this game was no exception. It’s not the results, it’s how Colon got them—specifically how he threw the ball—that matters most.

According to one scout, Colon reached 93 with his fastball on Monday. But there was more than velocity on the four-seam fastball to get excited about, if you’re a fan of the Yanks. He also had wicked movement and location on his two-seam fastball, giving both righties and lefties fits with the offering.

There were also multiple broken bats and some sort of filthy splitter/slurvish sort of offering that dropped straight down off the end of the proverbial table to rack up another strikeout. Overpowering would not be too strong a term for what Colon did to the Tampa lineup on Monday evening.

The Yanks might not be ready to announce any final decisions just yet. But with only a week and a half until opening day, and with Colon pitching this well (his spring ERA dropped to 2.40), and with rag-armed Freddy Gacia having imploded in his most recent start, it’s difficult to imagine Colon NOT having locked up a spot in New York’s starting rotation.

Courtesy of Yankees ‘n More

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A beautiful day for baseball in Surprise, Ariz., on Sunday, but a loss on the field 11-8 makes the day for Rangers fans feel cold.

The closest the Rangers ever came to the defending World Series Champions was 2-1 in the third inning. In the top of the fourth, the Giants wiped the spring summer grass with the Rangers.

Tommy Hunter gave up a five-run fourth, and the Giants never looked back.

Hunter’s frustration clearly showed in his post-game interview when said “Today was…shoot, I don’t know what it was, I’ve got to get better. That’s the bottom line.”

He does.

In the top of the fourth inning, Julio Borbon didn’t help Tommy Hunter’s cause much, by dropping a fairly easy fly ball.

The sun was the main cause for the error, but he still needs to make that catch, although Hunter was lit up by giving up four earned runs in 3 1/3 innings at that point.

In his interview, you can tell his effort and the dropped fly ball of Borbon’s in the top of the fourth, clearly had Hunter rattled emotionally.

After all, giving up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings isn’t going to impress anyone, regardless if only four of the seven runs were earned.

They could have won the game, or at least had a chance without the costly error. Rangers want wins. Stats will come and go, but as long as they get wins. They will be OK.

The AL West isn’t the strongest division in baseball, so getting wins will be important.

Hunter is trying to earn a spot in the rotation for the Rangers. He is really isn’t showing he can handle the work.

With a 8.31 ERA in three spring training games, his quote is correct: “I didn’t give us a chance to win. That is a starter’s main objective. I didn’t get it done today.”

Ron Washington said of Hunter, “As long as he’s pitching and getting his work in, that’s all that matters. This is Arizona: there are a lot of things that happen down here that don’t happen during the regular season. He needs to work on things and we’re certainly going to give him that opportunity. No decision has been made.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement of his talent, or for that fact, making the team.

“I know I can win in the big leagues. I need to get back to where I was last year,” Hunter said.

As for the outfield, going into this season, the powers that be in Texas want Borbon to have his spot in center field, but his play early into spring hasn’t been all that stellar. Sunday’s mishap didn’t help him much, either.

The Rangers want Hamilton to be in left field because, “Hamilton has a less of a chance of getting hurt in left,” according to former CEO Chuck Greenberg on “The Ben and Skin Show” of 103.3 ESPN Dallas/Ft.Worth last week.

The Rangers like Hunter. They also like the fact he was somewhat successful last season with a 13-4 record. Will that help him “earn” a spot for this season? Seems likely.

Borbon, on the other hand, is costing this team runs this season…something the Rangers can’t afford.

This season, the pitchers have to do what they did last season when Cliff Lee wasn’t on the team. They need to get a fast lead in the AL West.

Errors in the outfield will not help Borbon’s cause, nor help this team’s chances of winning games.

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After Adam Wainwright went down for the season, Kyle McClellan looked like the leading candidate to take the open spot in the starting rotation. After his first outing of the spring, that spot is now McClellan’s to lose.

He looked strong in three shutout innings, needing only 38 pitches against the Astros today. He threw 25 of those for strikes, and only two balls even made it out of the infield off the bats of a Houston lineup that only started two of its regulars. McClellan only faced one batter over the minimum.

St. Louis also got strong returns from its relief corps, getting a scoreless fourth from lefty Trevor Miller. Prospect Bryan Augenstein sat down six batters in a row, and John Gast gave up a single but erased the runner with a pickoff in the seventh.

Southpaw Raul Valdes allowed two hits in the eighth but got a double play to get out of the jam, and Fernando Salas earned his second save as the Redbirds came away with a 1-0 victory.

Matt Holliday knocked in the only run.

McClellan had a 4.04 ERA in 68 games during as a rookie in 2007 and improved to a 3.38 ERA in 66 the next season. His best season came last year, when he posted a 2.27 ERA (3.92 xFIP) in 68 games.

For the last three years, McClellan has been an integral part of the St. Louis bullpen, but he was a starter in the minor leagues before undergoing Tommy John surgery, and he believes he can return to that role in his fourth full season with the Cardinals.

“It really doesn’t change a whole lot for me,” McClellan said. “This is what I want to do. The whole time I have been here, this is kind of where I want to be and the situation I want to be in. Obviously it’s extremely unfortunate with Adam but it’s somewhere where I feel like I could succeed and I have the stuff to do it.”

The biggest question for McClellan going forward is his durability. He’s never pitched at least 74 innings in a season, and only has 217-2/3 innings under his belt in the big leagues. McClellan doesn’t see this as a problem.

“I think it’s a legit question but you can’t really compare relievers to starters because as a reliever, you’re mentally and physically prepared to pitch every day,” McClellan said. “Yeah physically you may only throw 70 innings, but you’re throwing consecutive days, with no rest, with only a day rest, and as a starter, you can prepare yourself for that one day. You can go out and drain yourself for that one day and have four days to recover.

“I don’t think you can just look at it and say, ‘He’s only thrown 70, how’s he expected to throw 150?’  As long as I’m prepared physically, we’ll just go as far as I can go. You just go out and keep pitching until you can’t pitch anymore.”

McClellan also has the backing of pitching coach Dave Duncan, who recently transformed Adam Wainwright from rookie closer to a Cy Young candidate and ace starter.

“Right now he’s the guy that I think is best suited for the role, provided he can show us this spring what we need to see,” said Duncan. “He’s done that before but like I said, I’m one vote and not the final vote. In my opinion, it’s more important to get him slotted than it is anybody else.”

Duncan also dismissed any claims that McClellan will suffer from the drop in velocity that pitchers usually experience after moving from the bullpen to the rotation.

He relies mostly on deception and movement in his pitches, and he has possesses a fastball that tops out at about 93 mph, a strong curveball, and a complementary breaking ball.

This isn’t the first time that McClellan has entered camp with a shot at a starting job. Last year, he entered spring as the favorite for the fifth starter’s job, but lost the spot to lefty Jaime Garcia. It’s poetic justice, however cruel, that he could make his first start after entering spring with a solid spot in the bullpen.

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I admit that if the Athletics had lost this game, I would probably have fallen into the crowd that says “well this is just spring training and doesn’t matter, we’ll get them in the regular season.” Thankfully, the A’s took care of business (and the Giants) today behind a solid pitching performance and plenty of support from the lineup beating the World Champion Giants, 6-0.

In his three innings of work, Brett Anderson gave up only one hit and one walk while striking out five. Anderson was followed by a scoreless inning from Joey Devine, two scoreless innings from Fernando Cabrera, an inning from Gabe DeHoyas, and a combined inning from Fautino De Los Santos and Brad Ziegler. Ziegler returned to the mound to shut down the Giants in the ninth.

On the offensive side, the A’s received contributions from Coco Crisp (1-3, two RBI), Daric Barton (1-3), Mark Ellis (1-3, one RBI), Eric Sogard (1-3) and Michael Choice (2-4).

The A’s got the scoring started in the first inning when Mark Ellis singed on a fly ball to San Francisco center fielder Aaron Rowand, scoring Coco Crisp. Oakland pushed two more runs across in the fifth inning on a Coco Crisp single to right fielder Nate Shierholtz, scoring Landon Powell and Michael Choice.

In the seventh inning, the A’s scored another run when Jai Miller scored as Josh Willingham reached base safely on an error by San Francisco left fielder Thomas Neal. Michael Taylor reached on another error by San Francisco in the seventh inning, scoring Josh Donadson to give Oakland a 6-0 lead.

Brett Anderson was credited with the win, improving to 1-1 in his spring appearances. Madison Bumgarner received the loss for the Giants, moving to 0-2, although he did not give up an earned run in his three innings of work.

The Giants allowed three unearned runs to the Athletics on four errors by Mark DeRosa, Miguel Tejada, Thomas Neal and Charlie Culbertson. Oakland had one error by left fielder Michael Choice.

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