A's Dominate Scott Kazmir In 15-1 Win

By: Tyler Ward

When Angels pitcher Scott Kazmir woke up Saturday morning, I'm sure he didn't envision a start like the one he had later that night. Kazmir had the worst outing of his career against the A's, giving up thirteen hits and eleven earned runs in five innings. Not only was this hios worst outing ever, but it was also the worst in Angels history. Speaking of history, Kazmir made it Saturday, becoming one of few pitchers to have that type of outing. If he had surrendered one more run, he would have tied Mike Oquist for the worst five inning performance in the last 50 years. In 1998, Oquist, an A's pitcher at the time, gave up 14 earned runs against the Yankees in five innings.

Kazmir allowed eight runs in the in the third inning and gave up five more in the fifth, including back-to-back home runs from Coco Crisp and Daric Barton.

In the third, Kazmir threw the first of his two wild pitches, which allowed Rajai Davis to score. Coco Crisp then drove in Cliff Pennington on an RBI single to give them a two-run lead. Rosales singled shortly after that, driving in Daric Barton. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Kazmir walked Ryan Sweeney to give him an RBI after Kevin Kouzmanoff scored. In his second at-bat of the inning, Davis hit a grand slam to cap the inning off and hit his first slam since 2008.

Two innings later, Davis came up to bat again and drove in Rosales to give him five RBI for the game. Crisp then hit a three-run homer and Barton followed that up with a solo shot to give the A's a 13-0 lead. After the inning, Kazmir was subbed out for relief pitcher, Scott Shields, who pitched a scoreless inning in relief.

Kazmir finished the game with five innings pitched, thirteen hits, two strikeouts, three walks, and eleven earned runs. Rajai Davis, the stud of the game, finished 4-for-5 with one home run and five runs batted in.

The A's (42-46) have been struggling offensively in their last 19 games, scoring only 7 runs in that span. Their pitcher tonight, Ben Sheets, got his fourth win of the season after finally receiving some run support. Sheets has received the fourth-worst run support in the American League this year, while losing eight games in the process.

Entering the game, Sheets had given up a league-leading 54 extra base hits, but only gave up one in the 15-1 win. He pitched a solid six innings, while only giving up two hits and striking out four. He did not allow a run in the game.

The Angels' Cory Aldridge tripled to left in the 8th for his first MLB hit, while driving in Brandon Wood to give the Angels their lone run of the game.

Oakland's Gabe Gross hit a two-run double to left in the 8th, scoring Powell and Rosales to solidify their domination of the Angels.

The A's are now 42-46 and still stand 8.5 games back of the Rangers for the division lead. The Angels fell back down to 47-43, but are still 4 games ahead of the A's for second place in the AL West.

Yankees Sweep A's

By: Stephen Patterson

The Yankees finished off Oakland in their three game series with a 6-2 victory last night. Behind the bat of Mark Teixeira and the arm of A.J. Burnett, New York cruised to their fifth straight victory overall. The Yankees now lead the season series 5-1 against Oakland, which is pretty sad for the A's considering how much they've talked about that A-Rod/Braden incident.

Mark Teixeira hit a three-run home run in the 4th inning to continue his scorching hot streak at the plate. Derek Jeter and Ramiro Pena also contributed runs during the inning, with all five runs being scored with two outs for the Yankees.

New York's offensive burst was a great sight for A.J. Burnett, who has struggled as of late and hadn't won in over five weeks prior to last night. He only gave up two earned runs on five hits, and had three strike outs with two walks. He is now 7-7 on the season.

After destroying the Athletics Tuesday with 5 RBI, including a grand slam, Alex Rodriguez had a quiet night going 0-4 with two strikeouts. A-Rod has 597 career home runs, and is only three away from joining the 600 club, which would make him only it's seventh member.

While the A's once again tried to capitalize on the "Get Off My Mound!" phrase before the start of this series, they definitely should've focused more on their play than angering the Yankees. New York has now won more road games (25) than the Athletics have won home games (24) this season. The Yankees are 22 games above .500. The A's are 4 games under .500. That might be a sign that you are playing poor baseball and should worry about your on-field product before you worry about selling shirts.

Bronx Bombers Continue To Roll

By: Stephen Patterson

I wonder if the Oakland Athletics are regretting making all of those T-shirts now that they seem to have brought out the best in Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod blasted two home runs yesterday against the A's, one of which was a grand slam, his third of the season, as the Yankees cruised to a 6-1 victory. A-Rod is now two slams behind Lou Gehrig for most all-time with 21. He also drove in five of the six runs the Yankees scored, the other coming via Derek Jeter.

A-Rod's slam gave the Yankees nine for the season, which is second most in franchise history for a single season. They have also hit all nine before the All-Star break, something no other team in baseball history has done. Rodriguez is batting 7 for 13 this season with bases loaded and has driven in 24 RBIs. That's more than a third of A-Rod's 67 RBI on the season.

This is New York's fourth straight victory as they continue to pull away with the major's best record. Yankee's starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia picked up his 7th consecutive victory, something a Yankees pitcher hasn't accomplished since Roger Clemens won eight straight in 2001. Trevor Cahill took the loss for the A's.

The Yankees and A's have already had a drama filled season when they meet. Athletic's pitcher Dallas Braden became enraged earlier in the season when A-Rod ran across the pitcher's mound, something that is apparently an unwritten no-no in baseball. The incident attracted national media attention and has almost overshadowed the fact that Braden threw a perfect game shortly thereafter. Even though Braden is currently on the DL and won't appear in this series, it must still delight A-Rod to have such a successful game against Oakland.

While the Yankees are trying to distance themselves for the best record in the majors, the A's more worried about making "Get Off My Mound" shirts than they are about winning. Playing in a division that has been dominated by the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland might want to start working on their priorities and stop worrying with angering a superstar. After his two blasts last night, A-Rod has now hit 21 at the Coliseum, the most all-time by a visiting player. That might mean it's time for them to get over the Rodriguez/Braden media storm and focus on something new, such as winning.