Baseball baseball baseball. Baseball Oakland baseball baseball Athletics. Baseball baseball baseball baseball baseball!

Here we go! The 2011 season begins and the expectations for Oakland are higher than they have been in several years. Meanwhile, the Mariners are coming off of a horrendous season and look to be still far from convention. But it's a three game series and Felix Hernandez will take the mound for one of those games, to begin the defense of his Cy Young award. Could this be a seventh consecutive opening day loss for Oakland? Or do you have the same warm and fuzzy feeling about this team that I do?

If you don't know what this GOG thing is all about, or if you are a veteran but still haven't posted an entry for GOG #00, then click here now. Everyone else, just scroll down and make your guesses.

GOG 2011 #01 -- I've been waiting since September!

1. Predict the series outcome. [3 points] 2-1 Seattle
2. Last year, the Mariners scored only 513 run, which is a whopping 74 runs less than the second worst offense (Pittsburgh) and averages out to just 3.17 runs per game. Does Seattle score 5 or more runs in any game of this series? [2 points] yes
3. In 2010, Trevor Cahill started the season on the DL and then in AAA. This year he gets to start game 1 against King Felix. Predict Cahill's innings pitched, earned runs, and ground ball outs. [2 points each] 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 ground-outs
4. How many hits, stolen bases, and runs scored for Ichiro? [2 points each] 5 H, 3 SB, 2 R
5. One of the many measures of offensive futility for the 2010 Mariners is the fact that they drew only 459 walks, the third worst total in the Majors (Baltimore and Houston were worse). But now they have Jack "I can watch pitches all day" Cust. How many walks in this series for Mr. Three True Outcomes? [3 points] 3 BB
6. With Bailey on the DL, Fuentes is expected to get most of the save opportunities. Does he allow any earned runs in this series? Does any other relief pitcher record a save? [1 point each] yes, no
7. Who hits the first home run for the 2011 Athletics? (if you think that no Oakland player will hit a HR in this series, then that can be your answer) [3 points] Josh Willingham
8. Which Oakland starter has the best game score in this series? (Game score, created by Bill James, attempts to quantify the overall performance of a starting pitcher. For more details, see here.) [2 points] Anderson
9. Any extra inning games? [2 points] no

You can post your answers below any time up until Cahill's first pitch. Let's go Oakland!

Results and Standings

Thanks everyone for posting their scores. However, I have to point out that Cahill had only 5 ground ball outs (not seven, like paris7 posted). So if your grade listed below is different from the one you calculated yourself, that is the reason.

• mean score = 7.69 points
• standard deviation = 2.82 points
• median score = 7 points

I'll be keeping track of scores in three categories. Columns 1 and 2 give your names and the number of GOG that you have participated in. The next two columns give your score and rank on this GOG. After that, there are two columns which give your total score summed over all GOGs and your season ranking. For the final two columns, I'm keeping track of the number of GOGs that each person "won" (i.e. they had the best score, or tied for best). So right now, the only GOG winners are Kyli and gambler.