Coco Crisp would lead off the top of the second inning with his 4th home run of the season, in his 4th straight game.  Coco is on fire to say the least.  But after that Wilson would settle down nicely and would last 6 innings.

April 9, 2013; Anaheim, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss (37) hits a two run RBI single in the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Parker was not so fortunate, lasting only 3.1 innings while allowing 9 hits, 3 walks, and 2 ER, with just a single strikeout.  We’re still in early season territory, but after struggling during most of the spring and in his first start of the regular season, there isn’t much to inspire confidence in the young right hander at this point.  It won’t get much easier for him either as his next start will pit him against the equally tough Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

Chris Resop provided crucial innings once again, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings in relief of Parker, but Pat Neshek gave up a lead off triple to Mike Trout (always a bad idea) and that’s when things started to get ugly.  Brendan Harris (who replaced Erick Aybar who left with an injury) attempted to hit a sacrifice fly, but Chris Young couldn’t make the catch and put Harris on second as Trout scored.  An error by Jed Lowrie put Albert Pujols on, and Harris to third base.  Jerry Blevins relieved Neshek to face Josh Hamilton, he got Hamilton to fly out but the tying run crossed the plate.  Ryan Cook joined the party and allowed a triple from Howie Kendrick that scored Mark Trumbo from first base to give the Angels a 5-4 lead.

The A’s stormed back though in the top of the 7th when Coco Crisp reached on an infield single, while Chris Young and Jed Lowrie failed to continue the rally, a walk by Yoenis Cespedes put two runners on with two outs.  John Jaso came to bat in place of Derek Norris, needing just a single to likely tie the game once again.  He smacked a Kevin Jepsen pitch down the right field line that bounced off the top of the 4 foot wall and over for a 3 run home run to give the A’s a 7-5 lead.  Brandon Moss would put the exclamation point on the rally with a 2 run homer of his own to make it 9-5.

Cook, Sean Doolittle, and Grant Balfour would slam the door shut to seal the victory.

Brandon Moss led the charge offensively tonight going 3-4 with the home run and 4 RBI, Yoenis Cespedes went 2-3 with 2 runs scored, and Coco Crisp went 2-5 with 2 runs scored and the solo home run.  Chris Young was on the opposite end of the spectrum, going 0-5 and having a bit of a rough time in right field in place of the injured Josh Reddick.  Chances are Seth Smith will start in right tomorrow night.

Lost in the shuffle of tonight’s wild game was the injury to Scott Sizemore, who appeared to pull up lame chasing down a pop up.  The team announced that he had suffered a knee sprain in his surgically repaired left knee and will get an MRI to evaluate any potential damage.  If Sizemore misses any time, expect to see Jemile Weeks or perhaps even Grant Green finally getting his chance in Oakland.

It was hard fought, and in that respect the A’s passed this first test with flying colors.  They made a lot of mistakes, and bad pitches and still managed to come out on top; that really says a lot about this team.  Good teams are able to win games when they aren’t at their best, so this win was very important.

October 1, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss (37) hits a sacrifice fly to score center fielder Coco Crisp (not pictured) during the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The catcher position underwent a major transition from Kurt Suzuki to Derek Norris last season, and Norris showed tiny flashes of power but largely struggled to make consistent contact of any kind.  The A’s saw fit to upgrade the catcher position and acquire a platoon partner for Norris in the person of John Jaso.  Chances will be that they play a real strict platoon as well, which is fine if the net production is increased.

The elephant in the room if you will is Daric Barton.  Once thought to be well on the outside looking in, the departure of Chris Carter has opened the door for Barton to make his way onto the A’s 25 man roster.  He may get some playing time at first, and he’ll be sure to log time late in games for defensive purposes.  For the record, ZiPs projected Carter to hit 25 home runs next season, he could hit that number of even surpass it in Houston.

So for those still with the Athletics, we’ll figure out what to expect from them in 2013.

ZiPs Projections

Brandon Moss: 532 PA, .236/.305/.426, 21 HR, .190 ISO, .314 wOBA, 100 OPS+

Daric Barton: 496 PA, .231/.351/.345, 7 HR, .114 ISO, .312 wOBA, 94 OPS+

Josh Donaldson: 535 PA, .234/.299/.383, 15 HR, .149 ISO, .297 wOBA, 86 OPS+

Derek Norris: 470 PA, .198/.307/.338, 12 HR, .140 ISO, .290 wOBA, 79 OPS+

John Jaso seems to have fallen through the cracks with the ZiPs projections, the Athletics projections were released in December before Jaso was acquired, and the Seattle Mariners projections were released on January 30th, so Jaso isn’t there either.  There seems to be no sign of a ZiPs projection anywhere I could find, so I’ll go with this composite projection from Rotochamp.com.  They project him to hit .260/.365/.390 in 308 AB (not PA) with 7 HR and just 50 K’s.  This projection seems absolutely reasonable and should be close to what actually happens.

I find it odd that many people seem to expect a major regression for Brandon Moss in 2013, that it’s simply a foregone conclusion that he will slip backwards.  I may be biased by my general affinity for the guy, but the projections for him seem incredibly low.  He hit 22 home runs last year in just about half a season, so it seems weird to expect him to fail to reach that number over the course of a full season.  Just watching him hit last season, there’s not a doubt in my mind that his power is legit.  A .260/.340/.500 line with 30 longballs seems absolutely attainable for Moss.

Daric Barton probably won’t get 496 PA in Oakland this season, but his slash line seems about reasonable.  He won’t make much impact with the bat, but he’ll still be able to get on base which does have some value.

As much as the masses expect Moss to regress, there seems to be the same expectation that Donaldson’s production from the latter part of the season is the real deal.  Call me a contrarian, but I’m not so sure.  Donaldson was struggling so badly early in the season that it was a massive shock when he returned to Oakland and seemingly figured out how to hit major league pitching.  All that said, I actually think his projection for 2013 is fairly accurate.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bit more power than ZiPs expects, perhaps 20-22 home runs, but the on-base rates will probably not be overly impressive still.

I have felt throughout this offseason that Derek Norris needed to log more time in Sacramento to hone his hitting skills, but despite the addition of John Jaso it doesn’t appear that will happen.  I think the projection from ZiPs for Norris is a worst case scenario, and while I don’t have a ton of confidence that he’ll improve a lot from 2012, I have my doubts that they’ll be this low.  He’ll probably at least be able to keep himself above the Mendoza line… hopefully.

The Athletics should see a consistent level of offensive production from their lineup in 2013, and the corner infielders will likely find themselves right in the middle of that onslaught.  The final installment of the ZiP It! series will examine the A’s bullpen, from the middle relievers all the way to Grant Balfour in the 9th inning.

September 20, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Derek Norris (36) in front of umpire Gary Darling (37) during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Offensively Jaso is a major upgrade from what the other A’s catchers brought to the table last year (including Norris, Kurt Suzuki, George Kottaras, and Anthony Recker). It remains to be seen whether Norris will ever develop into the everyday Major League catcher they think they received in the Gio Gonzalez trade.

The player with the most to prove: Derek Norris. As previously mentioned Norris will need to take a major step forward if he plans to start in the Major Leagues. His .201 AVG last year is unacceptable for any player on the roster. Scouts said he has a watchful eye, but in his first Major League time he struggled to be selective and find the pitches he could drive. His defense needs improvement but overall was decent. He will need to work on blocking balls in the dirt (remember the ALDS?) and throwing out base runners.

The player with the most to gain and lose is John Jaso. Jaso broke out last year and finally developed into the catcher most thought it would be. It will be interesting to see how many games he catches this year considering he only caught around fifty games last year while playing over one hundred. If Jaso does catch more games than he did last season the A’s will have to monitor his production to see if it will slip from catching more. If it doesn’t get hindered by more time behind the dish then Jaso just might set himself up for an extension. It will be an interesting predicament if Jaso does put up similar/better numbers this season and Norris struggles. If Norris breaks out then Jaso might just become expendable and a trade candidate.

The A’s catching situation is pretty solid as of right now. Look for GM Billy Beane to add a catcher on a minor league contract to push Norris and Jaso in spring training and also to add organizational depth since Recker has since signed with the Mets and Kottaras being designated for assignment. If Jaso continues his success the A’s just might be able to push for another AL West crown again next season. That should be music to A’s fans ears.