Ingesanity has returned! (Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  I declared this game to be the most winnable against a fairly weak starting pitcher in Scott Feldman, the A’s managed to prove me right with a tremendous 8 run outburst in the bottom of the 2nd inning.  They had posted 6 runs before a single out was recorded in the inning behind a Brandon Inge 3 run homer, Cliff Pennington‘s RBI double that snapped his 0-forever slump, a 2 run single by Jemile Weeks, an RBI single by Seth Smith, and another RBI in the form of a single off the bat of Brandon Inge.  This was an indication that the offensive talent on this team is capable of hitting the ball, they just need to learn how to duplicate the strong at bats they had tonight.

Jarrod Parker tried to turn a great night into a historic night. (Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE)

ON THE HILL:  No doubt about it, tonight was all about Jarrod Parker’s complete and utter dominance of the Rangers.  A couple walks erased by double play balls made it mostly smooth sailing over the 8 shutout innings Parker ended up with.  He has shown that he possesses all the talent in the world, if he can harness his command as I’ve pointed out all season, tonight has shown that the right hander has the potential to be a true ace in the big leagues.  Jim Miller came in to mop up the 9th after Parker exited, he allowed a solo home run to Mike Napoli along with another hit and a walk, but closed down the Rangers without any further damage.

AT THE PLATE:  A little hint of “Ingesanity” returned to Oakland tonight, after not making much noise since returning from the DL Brandon Inge connected on his 6th home run as well as an RBI single.  His 4 RBI marked the 5th time he’s accomplished that feat this season.  Nobody expects him to recapture that magic from a few weeks ago, but even brief glimpses of it can be a huge boost to this team.  Seth Smith went 4-5, needing only a home run to complete the cycle, he was hitting the ball hard all night long, it was very encouraging to see him show some signs of life with the bat.  Kila Ka’aihue connected for his 4th home run of the season against reliever Mark Lowe in the 5th inning, a bizarre shot that RF Nelson Cruz apparently did not see off the bat as he initially broke in before sheepishly jogging back towards the wall as the ball sailed over it.  To those who saw the ball off the bat, it was never really in doubt.  After being mired in a 0-29 free fall Cliff Pennington caught the hit bug and tallied a couple of his own, and he surely doesn’t care that one came against Rangers CF Craig Gentry in the 8th inning.  Any time a position player pitches against your team, you know it’s a blowout, you just hope your team is on the right side of it.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Tonight was a good night for A’s fans, in a time where there haven’t been too many things to be happy about, this was an all too welcome sight.  The Texas Rangers have had a major strangle hold on the AL West for the last couple seasons, and a strangle hold on the A’s as well, so even a small statement like tonight’s impressive victory can be a building block for the A’s.

Speaking of building blocks, the MLB First Year Player Draft got underway tonight, the A’s had the 11th pick in the first round, as well as the 34th and 47th overall in the supplemental round.  The A’s grabbed high school SS Addison Russell with the 11th pick, a powerful bat from Pace High School in Florida, SS Daniel Robertson with the 34th pick and 1B Matt Olson with the 47th pick.  Those last two picks were compensation for losing Josh Willingham and David DeJesus last offseason.  There was some strong belief as the draft picks moved towards the A’s that Stanford ace starter Mark Appel might fall into their laps as he fell down draft boards presumably due to signability issues, but the Pittsburgh Pirates snatched him up with the 8th pick.

Yoenis Cespedes gave the A’s fans a slight scare in when he left the game with an apparent patella issue in his left knee, but he’s expected to play tomorrow.  Phew!

Travis Blackley tries to follow Jarrod Parker’s masterful performance after a nice outing of his own against the Twins.  He comes in with no wins or losses on his record, and a 3.38 ERA against Derek Holland who has a 4-4 mark with a 5.11 ERA so far in 2012.  Holland is a talented pitcher, so the A’s will need to continue some of the magic they brought to the park tonight to have a chance against him tomorrow.

Check me out on Twitter @SeanD25, see my take on everything else baseball at Baseball Obsessed, and follow everything Swingin’ A’s @FS_SwinginAs.

May 16, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish (11) throws during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Rangers Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE

This game probably turned out like just about every knowledgeable A’s fan expected, Yu Darvish did his thing, like only Yu Darvish can.  The guy is a freak, he features just about every pitch shy of a knuckle ball or an eephus pitch, and he pitched the entire game today from the stretch because his full windup mechanics weren’t in sync.  I was excited to see him pitch today, even though I knew it would most likely be in defeating the A’s.  They managed to scratch out a single run in the first against Darvish and that pretty much was it with the bats for tonight.

Adrian Beltre begs for his 4th inning fly ball to reach the seats... it did. (Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  Tommy Milone pretty much endeared himself to the world tonight, given we omit the 4th inning from his record.  Josh Hamilton led off the inning with a single and just like that Adrian Beltre smacked a ball into the right field bleachers from one knee.  Milone very well could have limited the damage to just the 2 runs, but a single and a walk, then a passed ball by Anthony Recker set the table for the Rangers to put the game out of reach.  Josh Donaldson (In for the probably DL bound Brandon Inge) hesitated for just a moment too long allowing Craig Gentry AKA the Rangers’ answer to Usain Bolt to reach first, driving in Nelson Cruz.  Elvis Andrus topped off the inning with an RBI single to put the game at it’s eventual final score of 4-1.

ON THE HILL:  Milone’s line for the day won’t look especially inspiring, but it really wasn’t too bad aside from the disastrous 4th inning.  He lasted 7 innings, giving up 9 hits, 4 ER, struck out 4, and walked just 1.  Many A’s fans feared that his road troubles would be amplified in Arlington and he managed to keep those fears to a minimum today.  Pedro Figueroa came in for the 8th inning, he walked a batter but skated through the rest unscathed.  All things considered, giving up 4 runs to the Texas Rangers in their park can’t be frowned upon.

Josh Reddick swinging for the fences before Darvish figured out how to own the A's. (Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE)

AT THE PLATE:  Yu Darvish did his best to neutralize the bats for the A’s today.  The lone bright spot was the fact that Jemile Weeks did his best to kick start the A’s offense from the top of the lineup, collecting 2 hits and a walk, also scoring the A’s only run of the night.  His AVG for the season skyrocketed to .210, probably buying him a couple days above the Mendoza line.  Collin Cowgill and Daric Barton were also permitted to reach base via the base hit by Darvish, once each.  Despite the lone RBI today, Josh Reddick struck out 3 times, as he told Joe Stiglich of the Bay Area News Group, ”He dominated the hell out of me.”

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Yu Darvish has taken MLB by storm as a “rookie” and the A’s learned the hard way just why that is happening.  What can you do?  Not much can be said beyond that.  The A’s move on to face the much more conventional starter in lefty Matt Harrison (4-3, 5.23 ERA), Brandon McCarthy (3-3, 2.56 ERA) takes the mound for the A’s after his dominant performance against the Detroit Tigers last Saturday.  It’s another quick turnaround series, an 11:05 AM PST first pitch, so maybe the A’s bats can wake up in time for the series finale.  Not to look too far ahead, but round 1 of the Bay Bridge Series looms just 48 hours away as the A’s will head to San Francisco Friday night, it is going to be a great weekend of baseball.