Athletics beat Angels as We Celebrate the 80s

Sooooo, there was that All-Star break. Then the A's had some games against the Angels. Believe it or not, they won three of four of them. And, well.... that's just fine. Your Oakland Athletics now sit at 42-54, 13 games behind that first place Rangers, 7 games behind the Angels, and a game and a half behind the freefalling Mariners.

Brandon McCarthy beat Dan Haren Friday night, then they stumbled against Jered Weaver, but were able to eke out a win in game two of the double header. Then, the icing on the cake, 8 runs in the first Sunday afternoon to destroy Joel Pinero. Oh yeah, then Gio Gonzalez pitched a gem to further solidify himself has one of the best pitchers in the AL.



Gio is 6th in the majors with a 2.33 ERA and 14th in the show with 119 Ks. On Sunday, he went seven innings, racking up 8 strike outs while only allowing 4 hits and two walks. He's having a fantastic season where he may now be called the ace of the staff. Yes, that was Cahill's role to begin the season, his struggles and Gio's successes have forced the roles to swap, at least for the 2011 season.

So, coming up against the trade deadline, Gio is the one pitcher of the current big three not under a long term contract. Do the A's trade him? Well.... I sure hope not. And I'm pretty sure he won't. He's not eligible for free agency until 2015, so guess what A's fans, we get to keep seeing him freeze hitters for at least a few more years.

Who might get traded? I wouldn't be surprised to see Willingham go if the deal was right. I could also see a deal for Wuertz or Balfour in the cards, but those are not super hot names either. Beane does have a penchant for making moves, however, so I would not be surprised to see someone go in the next two weeks.

One bad thing to take away from this weekend: the defense is still abysmal. Pennington's error in game 1 Saturday turned a 3-2 game into 4-2 and totally reversed the momentum that had built. On the weekend, they added four errors to their league leading total of 76. Let's just leave it at: I miss Ron Washington.

Up next, the A's play two in Detroit and three in New York. They have a horrible road record of 16-32 on the season so far, let's hope they can begin to right the ship as Guillermo Moscoso takes the hill against Rick Porcello tonight. LET'S GO OAKLAND!

Highlight of the post:
Conor Jackson hits the Slam... and the A's score 8 runs... in one inning

Song of the Post: (this was way too good to not share with the world)