Oakland Athletics Wish Posey Happy Birthday in Bay Bridge Series

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The A’s played the San Francisco Giants on Thursday in the first of their three game Bay Bridge Series. Scott Kazmir looked very sharp tossing 5.1 innings of 2 hit ball. He’s ready for the season to start. So is Dan Otero, who came in and pitched out of a jam in the 6th. Tim Hudson had a couple of hiccups, mainly the walk to Kazmir, who wasn’t swinging, and the deep 2-run shot by Josh Reddick.

Speaking of Reddick, he made another great play to save 2 runs in the 6th when Pablo Sandoval hit a ball deep to right and Reddick ran it down at the wall. The man that is linked to Reddick this spring, Michael Morse has been bad. He dropped a routine fly in left a la Josh Hamilton in 2012. He also dove for a ball off the bat of Josh Donaldson, missed, and watched the ball roll to the wall. Giants fans are praying that Morse starts hitting for power with this awful showing of defensive capabilities. Instead, Morse swung at a ball in the dirt for strike 3 in the 7th. The lesson we’ve learned: when playing the Giants, hit the ball to the left. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the ground (Panda has no range) or in the air (Morse can’t catch).

It wasn’t all bad for the Giants. David Huff continued his strong spring with a scoreless inning. J.C. Gutierrez allowed a single hit in his inning.

For the A’s, Drew Pomeranz allowed a hit and a walk in 1.2 innings, striking out 2. He could be a major contributor for the Athletics this season with all of the injuries they have suffered.

At the end of the night, it was a solid victory for the Athletics, and a shaky showing by the Giants, 4-0.

The highlight of Buster Posey’s night was a quick-throw to first to try and catch Eric Sogard who had wandered off a little too far. The problem was nobody was covering first, and the ball hit Sogard in the head. Happy Birthday Buster, you’re in for a long season.