Tonight's headline is not a typo. In case you missed tonight's game (which was over in the second inning for all intents and purposes), you missed the A's offense roaring to life with a bang. Only in A's-land right now would three solo homeruns (two by Coco and one from Carter) be considered afterthoughts, since they came after the eight-run second inning that saw the A's knock out the Jays starting pitcher Ricky Romero. A's-land is pretty fun right now, as the July magic continues. It's the 25th of July, and the A's have only lost two games in the entire month. Some teams lose occasionally. This is not one of those teams.
Lost in the barrage of 16 runs and 14 hits was A.J. Griffin's scoreless six innings; he allowed just three hits, walked two, and struck out nine. It was to his credit that he didn't get bored between innings, as time of possession was definitely in the A's favor. Griffin has now won three games, and the combination of Blevins and Miller made sure he kept the shutout today, too.
The A's are flirting with Miss .546, as they continue their climb up the standings, and even with Texas and Anaheim winning, they are still creating distance in the Wild Cards.
The A's got on the board in the first inning with a Gomes walk and a Cespedes double. The game thread was all, "Hey, we have a run!" About 20 minutes later, we would find that no one could count the runs anymore, as the A's beat up Romero, scoring eight in the frame. Here's what happened:
Norris walked and a wild pitch got him to second. Hicks struck out. Weeks walked. Crisp singled, Gomes singled, Reddick doubled, and Cespedes was intentionally walked. Chris Carter worked a walk with the bases loaded. Romero would leave the game in favor of Chad Beck. The fun would continue. Inge doubled, Norris singled, and Hicks collected an RBI groundout. Then Weeks grounded out to end the fun, as the A's stunned the Rogers Center by building a 9-0 lead.
Coco would homer in the third and the fifth, and Carter would homer in the sixth. The A's would add two more in the eighth on a Gomes single, a Cespedes double, and a Carter ground out. They would add two more in the ninth off Jeff Mathis (yes, the catcher) on back to back doubles by Norris and Hicks and a single by Moss.
And, oh yeah. Josh Reddick made a catch.
Everyone got into the action today; Weeks was the only starter without a hit or an RBI. It was a fantastic game. The A's go for the sweep tomorrow morning at 9:37AM. Breakfast with the A's; hopefully winners of eight straight!
