Things didn't look good on paper going into this game. You had to think that the A's were in trouble in the pitching matchup. DiNardo had a couple of rough outings the last few times out. Carmona had been good coming in.
But you know what they say about the darkest before the light? The A's had some of the best ABs they've had all year against Carmona, approaching this game like it was an elimination game in the World Series. Carmona helped out by getting so many of his pitches up, but for once the A's gladly obliged and smacked him around the yard. They went to the opposition field consistently and regularly, basically taking whatever the pitchers were giving them.
And while the A's middle relief tried to make things interesting...Colby Lewis gave up three runs and Dallas Braden gave up two, the A's didn't stop scoring runs. And the artist formerly known as Jairo Garcia closed the door. Imagine how good the pen would be if Calero, Street and Duke were all healthy and Casilla was pitching this way. One can only dream.
Congratulations to Jack Cust, who had five RBIs for the first time in his career and now leads the A's in home runs, despite playing about half the games of everyone else. Oh and Shannon Stewart has nine hits in this series and has raised his batting average .019 since the start of the series. Not to mention the fact that we can indeed get home runs from our catcher. Do you think there's any chance we can see Suzuki in the lineup a little more now considering he has two home runs in 13 ABs compared to the two home runs Kendall has hit in three seasons with the A's.
Eric Chavez seemed to wake up. I swear he just doesn't like being in the third or fourth spot in the lineup. Geren should always keep him in the fifth or sixth. He seems to relax and have much better ABs in that spot. It's like a mental weight is lifted off his shoulders. The problem with that is that the A's don't really have anyone who is really a three or four hole guy. Yeah, Swisher is a good third hitter. Maybe Buck will grow into that guy. Or maybe Jack Cust's carriage will never turn into a pumpkin and he'll be a permanent fixture there.
I'm just glad that the five game losing streak ended. For a little while there, I thought the game was going to get interesting, but thankfully, the offense didn't let that happen. I'm not going to declare that our offense was lost in baggage claim between Oakland/New York/Cleveland and the good folks over at Feel Great Airlines just found it and returned it. It's just good to see it make its way to the Ohio at long last.
Oh and make sure you set your alarms tomorrow as the A's and Indians bang heads at 9 a.m. PST. Maybe that will help keep the offense going. Smokin' June Blanton takes the mound. He's been awesome in June so far and the A's could use another one of those starts to make sure that the trip continues in the right direction.
Ding dong, the streak is dead. Hallelujah!
