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Oakland brings the brooms to TorontoApril 12th, 2008
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How much better can the A’s get after winning two of three from Cleveland? How about sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays and being tied for first place in the AL West? That is just what the A’s finished up yesterday after playing three games north of the border.
It took extra innings, but it looks like Travis Buck may be coming out of his season-opening slump. Buck tied an Oakland record with three doubles and all three runs batted in. Set in 1936, the frachise record for doubles in a game is four.
After playing out a slugfest in the first game of the series which resulted in a 9-8 A’s win, the next two games were much closer. All four former A’s currently playing for the Blue Jays appeared in game one. Frank Thomas did the most damage, hitting his 516th career homerun in the Jays losing effort.
Game two wound up 6-3, after the A’s scored four in the top of the ninth off Blue Jay closer Jeremy Accardo. Huston Street pitched the bottom of the ninth to notch his second save of the year (and in as many days).
The series finale was tied 1-1 after nine innings, so extra innings we played. The A’s scored two off of Buck’s third double of the game to take a 3-1 lead. Former A’s closer Keith Foulke took over in the bottom of the 12th to notch his first save for the club since 2003.
In 2003 Foulke had a 9-1 record with 43 saves and a 2.08 era. Those were by far the best numbers of his career. After he left, the A’s went through a few closers: Arthur Rhodes, Octavio Dotel, and Huston Street. Now that Foulke is back, he is one of Street’s primary setup guys. Both Embree and Foulke can come in to close a game out if Street is unavailable as well.
Of the three scheduled starting pitchers, only rookie Dana Eveland (Danny Haren trade) made his scheduled start. Both Rich Harden and Justin Duchscherer landed back on the 15 disabled list. Starting in their place were Chad Gaudin (who came off the DL) and rookie Greg Smith (also Danny Haren trade).
Today the A’s take on the Cleveland Indians in Cleveland for their second meeting this season. Scheduled to start for the A’s this series are Joe Blanton, Lenny DiNardo, Chad Gaudin
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