A’s Look for Series Win

Last night the A’s relatively nameless offense erupted for six runs and 14 hits against the visiting Seattle Mariners. Like the night before, the A’s won in walk-off fashion, this time it was Kurt Suzuki’s double that won it for the A’s.

The offense battled all game long, and the bullpen was rock solid as the A’s took game three from Seattle. Justin Duchscherer, however, coughed up five runs in 5.2 innings and had trouble putting away hitters at times. In his return from an absent 2009 season, Duchscherer allowed seven hits, two walks and struck out four. Personally, after watching Duchscherer through five innings, I thought Geren would’ve gone to the bullpen in the top of the sixth. But instead, he gave his veteran a chance to go six innings. For the most part, Duchscherer looked healthy and should be able to shake off some of the rust that has accumulated over the span of a year.

The bullpen was amazing last night, and new-comer Tyson Ross made an impressive debut. Ross tossed 2.1 innings last night, allowed a hit and struck out two. Among his two strikeouts was Ken Griffey Jr., Ross’s idol. After Ross, Ziegler and Blevins threw an inning of work to help the A’s record their second straight win.

Today, Brett Anderson will look to start his sophomore season on a high note as he squares off against Seattle’s Doug Fister. Anderson, who won 11 games last season as a 21-year old rookie, is expected by most baseball analysts to have a very solid season this year for the A’s. As I have said in the past, I think that Anderson should win anywhere between 13-15 games this year. His ERA should be in the mid-3’s and he shouldn’t have any problems collecting his fair share of strikeouts (150K’s/45BB last year).

The A’s offense will have to continue to hit like they have in the last two games if they want to take the series from the Mariners. Last night the A’s No.1-5 hitters collected two hits each, and while it’s hard to imagine that’ll happen very often (if at all), if the A’s can hit like that on occasion, they should have no problem escaping the cellar in the west.