A's Outslug Padres in Second Spring Training Win

Want a fun game from Sporcle? Play the 2013 Oakland A's Roster here and see how many of the 59 players you can name.

Well, if you were concerned about the A's offensive production so far this season (and let's be real, you weren't - it's game 5), you should be quite excited that the bats showed up in Phoenix today. The A's plated eleven runs mostly under their own power and cruised to a victory in the early week of training.

Jemile Weeks had a perfect day in his quest for second base. All he did was lead off the game with a homerun, walk to open the second inning, hit a sac fly in the third, and single in the fifth. That's the day you want to have when you're competing for a roster spot.

The A's got the party started early, as they followed Weeks' homerun with singles by Rosales and Smith. Cespedes walked to load the bases, bringing up today's third baseman, Jed Lowrie. Lowrie singled to plate two, and John Jaso brought in the A's fourth run with a sac fly. Interesting note: Michael Taylor would later walk in the first inning, in what would be his best at-bat all day. Not that I'm complaining; February is a perfect time for garbage at-bats, but Taylor should probably take the Jemile Weeks approach if he wants to be heard of again this season.

It would be more of the same in the second inning, as a double by Rosales scored Weeks, and a Seth Smith homerun (yay! homeruns!) would score Rosales. A Barton double and a Weeks sac fly in the third would give the A's their eighth run, and a single by David Freitas (C) would load the bases in the sixth after back-to-back walks from Addison Russell (DH) and Andy Parrino (LF). The A's would grab their ninth and tenth runs on a single by Scott Moore (1B - RF) and a groundout by Michael Taylor. A wild pitch would score the eleventh and final run for the A's in the seventh inning. Weeks, Rosales, Lowrie, Smith, and Freitas all collected multiple hits on the day.

Now for the pitching. In his first Cactus League start, Dan Straily (not to be confused with Ghostriding a Volvo) lasted just over an inning, pitching to eight batters, and allowing two hits, two runs, one walk and one strikeout. Former Athletics Mark Kotsay and Travis Buck both got in on the first inning action. Bruce Billings made the most of his Spring Training outing, quite literally; he allowed three hits and two runs of his own. Pat Neshek and Chris Resop both pitched a scoreless inning and Justin Thomas was tagged for two runs of his own in his two innings. Jesse Chavez impressively closed the game with two strong innings, allowing no hits and no runs, while striking out two.

And there you have it! Final score 11-6, A's are winners of their second game in five chances. We do it all over again tomorrow against the Cubs, and I'll be there on Friday live from Phoenix as the A's take on the Giants in what we hope is the start of a little 2013 Bay Area dominance.