Cahill needed one more good start tonight to close out his incredible season, which is even more impressive considering he didn't even make the rotation out of Spring Training. He got the start he needed--and then some--tonight. Cahill notched his 18th win and lowered his ERA to 2.97 on the strength of his seven scoreless innings (he struck out six). Cahill's sheer number of wins is particularly noteworthy when you consider the quality (or lack thereof) of the A's offense. For more on this subject, see Felix Hernandez' record.
Daric Barton made sure Cahill had the run support he needed tonight; he notched a first inning solo homerun, a second inning grand slam, and an RBI double in the sixth, totaling 6 RBI. He was removed in favor of Jeff Larish in the sixth, who would come up later with two runners on in Barton's spot. Pennington singled another run in, Rajai walked in another, and Ellis also collected a RBI single, giving the A's the easy 9-0 win. Henry Rodriguez and Ross Wolf would finish the game and preserve the shutout.
So the A's record is 79-81 with two to play; should they win out, they will finish the season at an almost unbelievable .500. The pitching has been so good this season, it's almost cruel to the fans that the A's just couldn't stay in the race. But what's done is done, and we have to believe we have brighter times ahead.
Meanwhile...the Giants are locked in a tight game with the Padres across the Bay. A win would give them the NL West.
Current Series
Athletics lead the series 2-0
| Thu 09/30 | WP: Gio Gonzalez (15 - 9) LP: Doug Fister (6 - 14) |
8 - 1 win |
| Fri 10/01 | WP: Trevor Cahill (18 - 8) LP: Luke French (5 - 7) |
9 - 0 win |
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Oakland Athletics Saturday, Oct 2, 2010, 7:10 PM PDT Brett Anderson vs David Pauley Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 60. |
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| Sun 10/03 | 1:10 PM PDT | |
