Power Pros Forum

MR. SEPTEMBER
Jack Cust has been on fire since the start of September. In 9 games, he has raised his batting average 10 points from .237 to .247, hit 5 homeruns and drove in 11 runs. He also has 5 doubles in his past two games.

Huge 4 game series
The Athletics start a 4 game series with the Texas Rangers today. The Rangers are currently 5 games back of first place in the AL West, and 4 games back in the AL Wild Card race. The two teams do match up in a 3 game series later this month too, but if the Rangers can't do anything this series their playoff hopes may be dashed.

Duchscherer to lose rotation spot?
There's been rumblings around the A's clubhouse that Justin Duchscherer may be close to losing his spot in the roatation. He currently has a 5.19 ERA on the year. Dana Eveland is getting a spot start today because none of the regular starters are ready to go, and if he performs well the A's manager will have to make a tough decision on who he keeps in the rotation.

AL West Standings update
Oakland Athletics 78-68
Seattle Mariners 75-69 2 GB
Texas Rangers 73-73 5 GB
Los Angeles Angels 69-79 8.5 GB

Texas Rangers(73-73) @ Oakland Athletics(78-68)

Kevin Millwood vs. Dana Eveland

Dana Eveland started the game off pretty nice, but got into trouble in the 3rd. With two on, and Josh Hamilton at the plate Eveland made a mistake with a fastball and Hamilton hit it off the left field foul pole for a 3 run homerun, his 23rd on the year. Bottom 3, Felipe Lopez led the inning off with a double to right field. Emil Brown drove him home with a single, but Lopez was in a collision with the catcher and was injured, Donnie Murphy replaced him at short. Chris Denorfia would make the game a 1 run game with an RBI single in the 6th. The Rangers went off in the 7th, scoring 4 runs and putting the game out of reach. They would add two more runs later. Emil Brown hit a solo homerun, his 13th, in the bottom of the 9th, but it was not enough and the A's lost 8-4. Donnie Murphy went 2-3 in place of Lopez, but made an error at short. After the game the A's learned that Lopez was okay and wouldn't miss any time. Rajai Davis had his 16 game hit streak snapped.

Rangers- 8
Athletics- 4

W Millwood(11-9)
L Eveland(9-11)

Lopez 1-2 2B, R
Brown 2-5 HR, 2 RBI
Barton 2-5 RBI
Utley 2-5 2B
Eveland 5 IP 3 ER 5 K's

Millwood 6 1/3 IP 3 ER
Young 4-5 2 2B, 2 RBI
Hamilton 2-5 HR, 3 RBI
Bradley 2-5 2B

Texas Rangers(74-73) @ Oakland Athletics(78-69)

So halfway through this game I accidentally pushed fast play, and didn't know how to get out of it so I accidentally simmed through the rest of the game. I was PO'd at first because I thought I lost, so I didn't copy down the stats. Then when I got to the main screen I realized I won 7-5. I will post the homeruns though.

Daric Barton solo HR #20
Kurt Suzuki solo HR #18

Texas Rangers(74-74) @ Oakland Athletics(79-69)

Jason Jennings vs. Anibal Sanchez

Michael Young started off the scoring in this one with an RBI double in the top of the first. Hank Blalock drove in Young later that inning to make it 2-0 Rangers. The lead didn't last long, as Emil Brown hit an RBI double in the bottom of the first, and Chase Utley drove him in on a sac fly two batters later. Hank Blalock picked up another RBI on a base hit in the 5th inning. The Athletics once again answered back on an Emil Brown RBI double to tie the game at 3. In the 7th, Emil Brown picked up his 3rd RBI on the night with a base hit to left field. After base hits by Daric Barton and Chase Utley, Kurt Suzuki steps up to the plate with bases loaded. He gets a great pitch to hit and drills it deep and gone to left field for his 19th homerun of the season, and his 100th RBI. Jack Cust hit a homerun the very next pitch, his 24th.

Athletics- 9
Rangers- 3

W Andrew Brown(4-3)
L Thomas Diamond(0-2)

Lopez 2-5 2R
Brown 3-5 2 2B, 3 RBI
Suzuki 1-4 HR, 4 RBI
Cust 2-4 HR
Sanchez 5 1/3 IP 3 ER 6 K

Jennings 4 2/3 IP 3 ER
Kinsler 2-5 2B
Young 2-5 2B, RBI
Blalock 3-4 2 RBI

Texas Rangers(74-75) @ Oakland Athletics(80-69)

Josh Rupe vs. Brett Myers

Chase Utley drove in the first run in the bottom of the first on a sac fly to deep center that plated Felipe Lopez. Jack Cust plated two more runs on a single to right field. Eric Chavez capped off the scoring in the first with a 2 run homerun to center, his 11th of the year. Josh Hamilton hit a 2 run bomb in the 3rd to cut the score to 5-2. In the bottom of the inning, Chase Utley his an absolute bomb to center, his 24th homerun of the year. The homerun was measured at 472 feet, and almost made it into the 2nd deck above the batters eye in the Oakland Coliseum. Eric Chavez would hit his second homerun of the night in the 8th inning, his 12th of the season. In the 9th, the game looked pretty much in hand, but the Rangers were able to get 2 runs off of Dallas Braden. Tom Gordon came in, and completely shut the Rangers down and the A's held on for the 7-4 victory.

Athletics- 7
Rangers- 4

W Myers(16-5)
L Rupe(5-3)
S Gordon(12)

Brown 3-4
Utley 1-3 HR, 2 RBI
Cust 2-4 2 RBI
Chavez 2-4 2 HR, 3 RBI
Myers 7 IP 2 ER 4 K's

Rupe 2 1/3 IP 6 ER 1 K
Young 3-5 RBI
Hamilton 3-5 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Bradley 3-5 RBI
Byrd 3-4 2B

Cust wins player of the week award
Jack Cust hit .448 with 4 HR's and 10 RBI's this past week.

AL West Standings Update
Oakland Athletics 81-69 Magic #12
Seattle Mariners 78-70 2 GB
Texas Rangers 74-76 7 GB
Los Angeles Angels 70-79 10.5 GB

Los Angeles Angels(70-79) @ Oakland Athletics(81-69)

Ervin Santana vs. Justin Duchscherer

Chone Figgins kicked off the scoring in the 2nd with an RBI single just over the head of Daric Barton at first base. In the bottom half of the inning, Kurt Suzuki and Jack Cust hit back to back homeruns to take a 2-1 lead. Gary Sheffield answered back for the Angels in the 3rd with a solo homerun, his 24th on the year. The homeruns continued to come, as Chase Utley hit a 2 run homer to give the A's a 4-2 lead. Felipe Lopez singled in Rajai Davis on a single to right field in the 4th. Justin Duchscherer pitched a great game, going 7 innings allowing just 2 runs. After he was removed, Gary Sheffield would hit an RBI double to make it a 2 run game, but the A's went on to hit two more homers courtesy of Mike Sweeney and Chase Utley to win the game 7-3.

Athletics- 7
Angels- 3

W Duchscherer(11-10)
L Sanatana(6-13)

M. Sweeney 1-4 HR
Utley 2-4 2 HR, 3 RBI
Suzuki 1-4 HR
Cust 2-4 HR
Duchscherer 7 IP 2 ER 6 K's

Santana 5 IP 5 ER 1 K
Sheffield 2-4 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Guerrero 0-4

Los Angeles Angels(70-80) @ Oakland Athletics(82-69)

Kelvim Escobar vs. Rich Harden

Rich Harden struggled today, as he only lasted 3 and 1/3 innings. He gave up RBI's to Vlad, Gary Sheffield, and Chone Figgins before he was replaced by Dana Eveland in the 4th. Eveland didn't fair much better, giving up a solo homerun to Vlad, and RBI singles to Torii Hunter and Mike Napoli in the 5th inning as the Angels went up 6-0. The Athletics would make it interesting in the bottom of the 5th, scoring 4 runs, but weren't able to get anything else going the rest of the game and lost 6-4.

Angels- 6
Athletics- 4

W Escobar(13-8)
L Harden(11-11)
S Scot Shields(14)

Barton 2-5 2 RBI
Utley 2-4 RBI
Harden 3 1/3 IP 3 ER 3 K's

Escobar 5 IP 4 ER
Guerrero 4-5 2B, HR
Sheffield 3-5 2B, RBI
Napoli 3-3 2 2B, 2 BB, RBI

Los Angeles Angels(71-80) @ Oakland Athletics(82-70)

John Garland vs. Joe Blanton

Kendry Morales led off the scoring with an RBI single off Blanton in the top of the 1st. Eric Chavez hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the 2nd to tie the game, his 13th. In the 5th, Felipe Lopez continued his great season by drivng in Chris Denorfia on a single to right field to give the Athletics a 2-1 lead. The Angels would retake the lead in the top of the 6th on RBI's from Torii Hunter and Juan Pierre. Eric Chavez tied up the game again with and RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. In the 8th with men on first and third and no out, Jack Cust grounded into an double play, but it was enough to give the A's a 4-3 lead. Tom Gordon came on to close it out in the 9th, but was unable to as he gave up an RBI single to Howie Kendrick that tied the game at 4. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th, Felipe Lopez singled to center. Emil Brown singled and Lopez went first to third. Daric Barton stepped up to the plate with a chance to win the game, and he delivered as he hit a line drive over the short stops head to win the game 5-4. This was the Athletics first walk off victory of the season. The Angels were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with this loss.

Athletics- 5
Angels- 4

W Gordon(4-4)
L Qualls(2-2)

Lopez 2-5 RBI
Barton 3-5 2B, walkoff RBI
Suzuki 2-4 2 2B
Chavez 2-4 HR, 2 RBI
Denorfia 1-4 2B
Blanton 6 IP 3 ER 4 K's

Garland 7 IP 4 ER 2 K's
Pierre 2-5 RBI
Sheffield 3-5
Kendrick 1-1 RBI
Morales 3-5 RBI
Hunter 2-5 RBI

AL West Standings Update
Oakland Athletics 83-70 Magic #10
Seattle Mariners 82-70 0.5 GB
Texas Rangers 76-77 7 GB
Los Angeles Angels 71-81 11.5 GB

Big Series ahead
The Oakland Athletics start a 3 game series with the 2nd place Seattle Mariners tonight. This is a huge series for both teams, because the A's can get some coushin or they could lose 1st place. After this 3 game set the A's go to Texas for a 3 game series and the Mariners face off with the Angels in a 4 game series. Then these two teams face off again in the final 3 games of the season at Safeco Field. This thing could come down to the final game of the year, and what better way to decide it than have the two teams face each other?

Seattle Mariners(82-70) @ Oakland Athletics(83-70)

Jarrod Washburn vs. Anibal Sanchez

Anibal Sanchez was on his game tonight, throwing a complete game allowing just one run, and that was a solo homerun to Adrian Beltre in the 9th. He got offensive support in the form of 3 solo homeruns from Emil Brown, Jack Cust, and Felipe Lopez. Felipe Lopez also drove in another run on a double, as the A's won this one 4-1.

Athletics- 4
Mariners- 1

W Sanchez(11-4)
L Washburn(10-16)

Lopez 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Brown 1-4 HR
Utley 2-4
Cust 1-4 HR
Sanchez CG 1 ER 3 K's

Washburn 5 IP 4 ER
Beltre 2-4 HR
Ibanez 2-4

Seattle Mariners(82-71) @ Oakland Athletics(84-70)

Braden Looper vs. Brett Myers

This game was a pitchers duel until the bottom of the 5th. That's when Felipe Lopez, Emil Brown, and Daric Barton hit back to back to back RBI singles to take a 3-0 lead. In the 6th Adrian Beltre took Brett Myers deep to cut the lead to 2. In the 8th Keith Foulke got into a jam, runners on first and second no outs. But he was able to get Raul Ibanez to ground into a double play and Kenji Johjima to pop out to the catcher. Chase Utley would hit an absolute moonshot in the 8th, a 485 foot homerun, his 27th of the year. The Mariners tried to make a comeback in the 9th, as Brad Wilkerson took Tom Gordon deep for a solo homerun but Gordon was able to settle down and record the save.

Athletics- 4
Marniers- 2

W Myers(17-5)
L Looper(9-10)
S Gordon(13)

Lopez 1-4 RBI
Brown 2-4 RBI
Barton 1-4 RBI
Utley 1-4 HR
Myers 6 IP 1 ER 4 K's

Looper 7 2/3 IP 4 ER
J. Lopez 3-4
Beltre 2-4 HR
Wilkerson 2-4 HR

Seattle Mariners(82-72) @ Oakland Athletics(85-70)

Felix Hernandez vs. Rich Harden

The Athletics got to King Felix early. In the first, Chase Utley knocked in a run on high chopper ground out. In the second, Chris Denorfia and Emil Brown each hit RBI singles to bring the score to 3-0. In the top of the third, Chase Utley dropped a routine pop up, and it led to a Jose Lopez RBI. Utley made up for it in the 5th when he went deep for the 28th time this year, a 2 run homerun. In the 7th Kenji Johjima hit a solo homerun to lead off the inning. After that Rich Harden got an out, but the next pitch he threw he felt discomfort in his elbow. He was taken out of the game, and Franquelis Osoria got through the rest of the inning unscaved. Jack Cust would hit his 27th homerun of the season in the bottom of the 8th to make it a 6-2 game. In the 9th, Adrian Beltre took Keith Foulke deep for a solo homerun to cut the lead to 3. Foulke was able to get out of the inning though, as the Athletics swept the Mariners 3 games to none.

Athletics- 6
Mariners- 3

W Harden(12-11)
L Hernandez(15-6)

Brown 2-4 RBI
Utley 2-4 HR, 3 RBI
Cust 2-4 2B, HR
Denorfia 2-4 RBI
Harden 6 1/3 1 ER 5 K's

Hernandez 5 IP 5 ER
Beltre 2-4 HR
Johjima 1-4 HR
Wilkerson 1-4 2B

AL West Standings Update
Oakland Athletics 86-70 Magic # 4
Seattle Mariners 82-73 3.5 GB
Texas Rangers 77-79 9 GB
Los Angeles Angels 73-82 12.5 GB

Harden OK
The Athletics had a scare last game, when Rich Harden had to leave the game in the 7th with elbow pain. It turns out he is okay and will not miss any time.

Eveland to get start vs. Rangers
Dana Eveland will get a spot start against the Rangers. The regular starters will be pushed back a day to get extra rest.

Oakland Athletics(86-70) @ Texas Rangers(77-79)

Justin Duchscherer vs. Kevin Millwood

This game was a pitchers duel until the 6th inning. Justin Duchscherer was replaced by Joey Devine after going 5 innings and giving up just one hit. The Rangers proceeded to pound Devine, including RBI's from Kinsler, Young and Hamilton. Hank Blalock hit a 3 run homerun to cap off the 7 run inning, and the Rangers went on to win this one 8-0.

Rangers- 8
Athletics- 0

W Millwood(12-9)
L Duchscherer(11-11)

Barton 1-4 2B
Duchscherer 5 IP 1 ER 3 K's

Millwood 7 2/3 IP 0 R 2 K's
Young 3-5 2B, 2 RBI
Hamilton 3-5 2 RBI
Blalock 2-4 2B, HR, 3 RBI