If you live in Southern California, please come out to a A's/Dodgers and/or Padres game! We still need a few more tickets sold to have a group!
Major League debuts don't come much better than this one. When all was said and done tonight, Vin Mazzaro picked up his first major league win in what was a great start. Mazzaro tossed six and a third innings, allowing only three hits (he walked four and strike out one) and zero runs. He started off a little bit shaky in the first; allowing a 3-2 single to Podsednik, who promptly stole second. With one out, Mazzaro picked him off second base before allowing a single to Dye. He walked Thome, but got out of the inning without a run scoring, and never looked back.
The A's, meanwhile, backed him up with a leadoff double to start the game (few and far between from our leadoff hitter), and a sac fly by Cust, who clearly wanted to help the kid tonight; he would hit a homerun in the fourth to increase the A's slim lead to 2.
The A's cushioned the lead in the fifth on a bases-clearing double by Matt Holliday, and the five runs were more than enough tonight. Breslow finished the seventh for Mazzaro, and seldom-seen Brad Ziegler easily closed the door in the eighth and ninth, looking like himself from earlier in the year. He certainly looked better than most of the relievers we've seen lately.
A very solid win for the A's, and it's only one start, but Mazzaro lived up to his billing tonight. I look forward to more.
