Battle Of The Bay: Round One In Oakland
By Kevin Mendez
If you are a fan of the Oakland Athletics or the San Francisco Giants, it is time to bring out the boxing gloves. Let the trash talking and betting begin. It’s a time that every baseball fan in the Bay Area looks forward to, it’s the battle of the bay. Our boys in the green and gold are back home on Monday to take on the Orange and Black from across the bay at 1:05.
May 20, 2012; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) is hit by by Oakland Athletics outfielder Collin Cowgill (12) while attempting to tag out Cowgill at home plate in the fourth inning at AT
The Athletics have won eight of their last nine games and are coming off of a three-game sweep of the Houston Astros. The San Francisco Giants have won five of their last ten and are coming off a series against the Colorado Rockies in which they won two of the three games. Both teams have nearly identical records: The A’s are 28-23, and the Giants are 28-22. The Athletics are currently in second place, 4.5 games behind the division leading Texas Rangers. San Francisco is tied for first place with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.
The Athletics will send Dan Straily to the mound for game one of the series in Oakland. Straily will go into the game with a 2-2 record and 5.73 ERA in six starts this season. He has not performed as well as most have expected him to thus far. Going deep into games is something he has struggled to do, but in his last start he showed signs of correcting whatever problems it is he had. Going into Texas in his last start on May 21, many held their breath and kept their fingers crossed in hopes Straily would perform well against the powerful Rangers lineup. Straily surrendered only two hits over seven shutout innings while striking out five against Texas’ potent offense. Hopefully he can have an even better start when he faces the Giants on Monday.
Bruce Bochy and the San Francisco Giants will have lefty Madison Bumgarner take the hill for them in game one. Bumgarner has had an excellent start to his 2013 campaign. He is 4-2 with a 2.89 ERA in ten starts. His last start was very similar to Straily’s last start. Against the Washington Nationals, Bumgarner pitched seven innings, gave up one earned run on four hits, and also struck out five hitters.
Like most Bay Bridges Series games, Monday’s game should be another grueling game that leaves the fans biting their nails until the very end.
DownSide: The A’s will face the Giants best starting pitcher on Monday.
UpSide: The Athletics have been playing very good baseball and are coming back to Oakland after going 5-1 against teams in Texas.
FanSide: Lets go Oakland!
Probable Starters
Tuesday, May 28, 7:05 PM PDT
Mike Kickham (making first career start) vs. Jarrod Parker (2-6, 5.76 ERA)