Cespedes Takes Lincecum Very, Very Deep as A’s Rout Giants 12-5

For the duration of the last 12 months there has been quite a bit of concern surrounding the performance of the 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum for the San Francisco Giants, this afternoon the Oakland Athletics did nothing to alleviate those concerns.  Lincecum walked Coco Crisp in the first inning, and after striking out the next two batters he hung a breaking ball in the middle of the strike zone to Yoenis Cespedes that he launched into the crowd as they soaked in the sun on the hill beyond the left-center field wall.  Lincecum would wobble his way through 3 innings of work as the A’s hung 5 runs on him on 6 hits and 3 walks.  Of course it’s spring, but he looks just as inconsistent as he was in 2012.

March 23, 2013; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) hits a two run homerun against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning during a spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Tommy Milone made the start for the Athletics and didn’t exactly dominate, but he didn’t get lit up either.  Over his 5.1 innings of work, he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 4.  Milone will have one more start next week before the regular season gets under way on April 1st.  Ryan Cook worked 0.2 innings while allowing a single basehit to finish off the 6th inning.  Sean Doolittle allowed a solo home run to Cole Gillespie in the 7th inning, but limited the damage to that one mistake.  Jordan Norberto worked around a hit and a walk to deliver a clean 8th inning.  Evan Scribner allowed an RBI double to Guillermo Quiroz in the 9th as well.

The A’s offense was certainly aided by the longball off the bat of Cespedes, and home runs by the still scorching Eric Sogard, and Adam Rosales as well.  Cespedes and Seth Smith each went 3-5, and Josh Donaldson went 2-4 with 2 runs scored and an RBI.  The star of the game offensively though had to be Eric Sogard once again.  He went 3-3 with the aforementioned home run, and has raised his spring batting average to a robust .538.  He’s making as strong a case as can be made to be on the 25-man roster.

No matter the circumstance, it’s always nice to get a victory over the cross bay rival Giants.  Tomorrow they’ll take on the Los Angeles Dodgers back at Phoenix Muni.  A.J. Griffin will make the start for the A’s and Josh Beckett will toe the rubber for the Dodgers.  The game will be shown on CSN California, so we will all get the chance to not only see the A’s on TV, but have the pleasure of it being an A’s broadcast with A’s announcers.