A's Get Back to .500! 

Hot on a four-game win streak, and with a bullpen that Ken Korach calls "the envy of all of baseball," the A's are ready to make their run from the cellar back into first place.  (Not that it is such a long trip, in the AL West).  To do so, they'll have to burn through the Yankees, which is more probable given the A's 46 hits in their last 4 games.  

(Most statistics below as of 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.)

Stuff

• Probable Pitchers
• Score Your Last GOG

The Questions (37 points possible)

Game 1 came and went.  Game 2 came and went.  Badly.  Game 3 came and went.  Let's hope this is the low point of the season, yes?  Final Results follow.

1. Last year, the A's went 1-9 against the Evil Empire.  Predict the Series Outcome. [3 points] Empire, 3-0

2. In 2010, the Yankees came to Oakland twice, April 20-22 and July 5-7. Total attandance for the first series was 72,046, and for the second 79,396, with no sellouts. We sure hates it when the Coliseum is filled with Yankee fans.  Guess the Total Attendance for the series, +/1 1,000.  Do any of the games Sell Out (last year, sellout = 35,067; I think the 36,067 listed for Opening Day 2011 at baseball-reference is an error).  [2 points, then 1 point] 83,117 (35,067, 22,581, & 25,469) / Sell Out, Monday 

Congrats to GoAs, the only one to hit the Attendance Figure +/- 1000, with 83,900, or 783 from the total.  I missed points by a mere 117 persons. 

3. Yankee DH Jorge Posada made a little stink about being dropped to 9th in the batting order, due to his .174 Batting Average. He's moved back up to 7th over the last few games, though he is not playing the finale against Seattle.  Does Posada start a game anywhere other than 7th?  Guess his PA / H / BB.  Does his BA rise or fall over the course of the series?  [1 point each, 5 total] Yes, Starts other than 7th (6th) / 4 PA / 0 H / 0 BB / BA Falls to .169

4. The Yankees lead the MLB in homeruns (78) and multi-homer games (24), which are responsible for just over 50% of their total runs.  How many HR do they hit during the series? Do homeruns account for at least 50% of their total runs? Name one player on each team who hits a homerun.  [2 points, then 1 point each, 5 total] Yanks, 4 HR / No, HR fewer than 50% of Runs (9 to 12) / Teixeira, Granderson, Swisher, & Cano / DeJesus & Willingham

5. The A's are sending their "Big Three" to the mound for this series: Trevor Cahill has a 2.02 ERA, Brett Anderson a 2.84 ERA, and Gio Gonzalez a 2.17 ERA.  Predict their combined totals for the following: ER / H / BB / K. [2 points each for exact, 1 point if +/- 1, 8 points total] 17 ER / 19 H / 12 BB / 9 K

These numbers are illustrative.  However, I think we are all better off not mentioning them after this day.  Ever.

6. A's position players are slowly bringing up their Batting Averages, to the point that six A's are now batting over .250. Which A's player has the most H / R / BB? [2 points each, 6 total]  DeJesus, Most H (4) / DeJesus, Most R (2) / DeJesus, Laroche, Crisp, Jackson, Ellis, & Kouz, Most BB (1 - all of them score the points)

7. An Andrew Bailey showing has come.  Will he continue to match Joey Devine in a scoreless odyssey?  Predict the following for Bailey and Devine: IP  / R (both Earned and Unearned) / K. [1 point each, 6 total] Bailey, 1 IP / 0 R / 0 K / Devine, 1.2 IP / 0 R / 1 K

Post Answers by Gametime, 1:10 p.m., Monday, May 30.