When you looked at today's starting lineup you probably said to yourself, "Well that should be good for 11 runs, easy." Because you knew, in your heart, that Eric Chavez would double, single, and drive in 3 runs in the first 3 innings, that Eric Patterson would then smoke a HR and a two-run triple, that Gabe Gross would join the triple-fest, and that the A's would hit for the cycle in powers of two: That's right, Oakland had 1 HR, 2 triples, 4 doubles, and 8 singles.
Daric Barton had three of the A's 15 hits, before slip-sliding into the Indians dugout catching a foul popup and leaving the game soon after for a pinch-hitter. With Kevin Kouzmanoff playing banged up -- oh, he also drove in 3 runs, by the way, with a bases clearing double -- Kurt Suzuki sitting out his second game in a row with a sore side, Jerry Blevins and now Barton day-to-day minute-to-minute with nagging owies, an off-day could not come at a better time.
Another bright spot today was the pitching of Gio Gonzalez, who tossed 7 shutout innings. In the 1st, with Gio struggling out of the gate and runners at 1st and 2nd, Grady Sizemore bailed Gonzalez out by breaking for 3B while Gio was still in the stretch. Gio stepped off and easily threw Sizemore out, and just like the pickoff of Shin-Soo Choo on Friday night, an Indians baserunning blunder turned the momentum as the A's scored twice in the bottom of the 1st and never looked back.
The A's fly to Tampa Bay owners of 1st place with a solid 12-8 record. Given the injuries that have already beset the A's, and given the lineup on paper even on a good day, you have to be pleased with the first 20 games.
