Oakland Athletics

TGIF: Matt Holliday to Oakland

It was reported several days ago that the Oakland A’s acquired LF Matt Holliday from the Colorado Rockies. In order to land one of the best hitters in all of baseball, the A’s had to give up SP Greg Smith, OF Carlos Gonzalez, and CL Huston Street. Holliday has been one of the biggest offensive threats [...]

Red Sox Move on without Manny Ramirez

What a week!  We had a sweep at the hands of the Angels before they added Mark Teixeira (I know he played in the finale, but the Angels won five of the six games in the past couple weeks without him).  The Manny Ramirez saga played itself out with Jason Bay coming to Boston and immediately [...]

View from the Monster 7-28

The Red Sox have continued to struggle coming out of the All Star Break while Tampa Bay is tepid and the Yankees are hot.  This has tightened the division into a three-team race and the Yankees have made the run I have been expecting.  The Yankees even filled in some of their biggest holes in [...]

No No-Hitter for Lester, A’s Sweep Sox

Jon Lester’s performance was a far cry from his previous outing (a no-hitter), as he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks in five innings of work. The Sox bats were quiet for the most part again thanks to a quality start from A’s pitcher Joe Blanton, who allowed three runs [...]

Duchscherer Flirts with No-Hitter, Beats Sox

Justin Duchscherer called his shot before the game:
“I said, ‘Those guys don’t want none of me today ‘cuz I’m going to pull a Lester on ‘em,” Duchscherer recalled with a grin. “In the sixth inning, I was thinking, ‘Did I really say that before the game?”
A nice recognition of Jon Lester, who pitched a no-hitter [...]

Harden, A’s End Sox Win Streak

There’s no arguing that Rich Harden is one of the most talented pitchers in the major leagues. The one thing preventing him from taking the next big step is his inability to stay healthy. He looked very strong however against the Red Sox Friday night, striking out eight in six innings of work while allowing [...]

Lester Shuts Down the A’s

Lefty Jon Lester had one of his most dominant starts in a Red Sox uniform as the Sox beat the A’s 5-0 to improve to 3-1 on the young season. Lester pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 0 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks to go with 3 strikeouts.
Mr. Potential, Rich Harden, pitched 5 shutout [...]

Dice-K Dominates A’s 2-1

Daisuke Matsuzaka dominated the A’s late Tuesday night, going 6 2/3 innings for the Sox in a 2-1 win. He allowed just 2 hits and 1 earned run while striking out 9 Oakland A’s. Billy Beane must’ve been furious!
Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Varitek each had 1 RBI to give the Dice-K all the support he [...]

Red Sox Back in America and Back in Action

Tell me if this sounds familiar…
Game 1, Tues: Bos. vs Oak. Dice-K vs Joe Blanton.
Game 2, Weds: Bos. vs Oak. Jon Lester vs Rich Harden.
Deja vu all over again. Thanks Yogi. Even in the WWE rematches don’t come this quickly, but luckily the Red Sox and Athletics get to roll the dice again. Most likely [...]

Sox Settle for Split in Japan

Jon Lester allowed a colossal 3-run HR to Emil Brown which broke the game wide open, giving the A’s a 4-0 lead and an eventual 5-1 win.
Manny Ramirez provided all the offense for the Sox with his 491st career HR, and his 5th RBI so far this season, to bring the Sox within 3.
Oakland scored [...]

Sox Open Season with 6-5 Win Over Oakland

Read the in-game live blog
Hideki Okajima pitched a scoreless ninth inning and earned the win as the Sox bats woke up in extra innings. In the 10th, Manny Ramirez doubled home David Ortiz and Julio Lugo after Big Papi was intentionally walked before him. Papelbon was shaky in the bottom of that inning, allowing three [...]

Red Sox-A’s Live in Japan

Sox-A’s: Starting Lineups
LIVE In-game coverage below…

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Brandon Moss, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS
1. Travis Buck, RF
2. Mark Ellis, 2B
3. Daric Barton, 1B
4. Jack Cust, DH
5. Emil Brown, LF
6. Bobby Crosby, SS
7. Jack Hannahan, 3B
8. Kurt [...]

Sox Now 2-0 in Exhibition Play in Japan

The Red Sox showed why they’re the WORLD Series Champions, by every meaning of the phrase.
The Sox have impressed thus far in Japan, beating the Hanshin Tigers and Yomuri Giants in exhibition play. In the first game against the Tigers, the Red Sox won 6-5. David Ortiz and J.D. Drew had home runs as the [...]

Red Sox Nearly Boycott Japan; Situation Fixed

There was nearly a hiccup in the plan for the Red Sox to jettison to Japan after their final spring training game against the Blue Jays. Early this morning the Sox players voted unanimously to boycott the game against the Jays and the trip to Japan if their coaches and trainers were not given compensation [...]

Dice-K to Start Season Opener in Japan

For a while, it seemed he would never make it, but Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka will be making the trip to Japan after the birth of his son. Now, Terry Francona has named Dice-K as the Opening Day starter when the A’s and Sox square off March 25 in Japan.
Jon Lester is slated to [...]