It was a gutsy, bold, put-yourself-out-there move.
A struggling Orlando Cabrera--he of the .233 BA and .278 OBP and the ‘bat me 1 or 2 in the lineup’ clause in his contract--held a meeting to fire up the lackluster offense before the game. The phrase ‘lead by example’ comes to mind; if you call the meeting, you had better show up during the game.
His first at-bat was frustrating; Cabrera swung at the very first pitch--against the no-doubt nervous Hochevar making his first major league appearance of the year; lights out at AAA, but has struggled mightily in the big leagues--and grounded out weakly to shortstop. Pretty much the exact opposite of what you want your leadoff hitter to do, especially against a young pitcher. But that would be the last time anyone would complain about Cabrera tonight.
Trevor Cahill started the game in bad-Cahill fashion; he allowed a leadoff single to Crisp, and with two outs; walked two to load the bases. He escaped that jam, and was rewarded immediately in the bottom of the inning. After Cabrera’s groundout, Suzuki continued his torrid hitting streak with a single. Giambi came up and drilled a double to score the run, and just like that; the A’s had the lead.
Cahill allowed two more hits in the second, but got out of that jam as well. From that moment on, he only had to make it through five innings for the win; the A’s took care of the game in the second inning. Let me ‘splain. No, is too much. Let me sum up: Sweeney, ground out, Kennedy, walk, Buck, single, Hannahan, double, Cabrera, 2-RBI single, Suzuki, force-out, Giambi, walk, Holliday, single, Cust, homerun! Seven runs later, the A’s held an 8-0 lead.
Cahill was not especially sharp tonight; he allowed two homeruns later in the game for his only runs, racked up two strikeouts to even out his two walks, and threw 99 pitches through six innings, but the A’s gave him an easy win, and it evened his record at 2.
The A’s added two more on in the third (sac fly by Giambi, single by Holliday - who would get on base 4 times) and two more in the fourth (double by Cabrera, making him 3-5 on the night with 4 RBI’s), and the combination of Giese, Cameron and Blevins (who is now throwing 1, 2, 3 innings in blowouts) closed the door on the Royals for the night.
It was a great win.
Side note: Dallas Braden is awesome. He not only is one tough pitcher (see: Sunday’s game), but he is articulate, well-spoken, knowledgeable, and it’s a shame that the A’s offense is wasting him so far this year.
Same time, same place tomorrow night. Yes, same moderator (blame LB).
And lastly, here’s a note from the AN personals (otherwise known as tonight’s game thread), brought to you by Mini Sirloin Burgers: If you’re reading this, Lexi, Raj wants to hang out with you. And Lexi, baseballgirl thinks you should become an A’s fan. You’re good luck already!
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