Morning Recap: A's dispose of Giants 7-3

UPDATE: A's DFA Blackley and Barton. Read more here:

Here's the basic formula: pretty decent starting pitching, a couple home runs, and the bullpen shuts down the opponent. That's how the A's victories ought to come this year, and it made it a little sweeter being against the Giants, preseason and all.

First, Tim LIncecum looked alright (as good as he looked out of the bullpen in the playoffs), but he's nowhere near the pitcher he used to be. He struck out 6 A's in his 4.2 IP, but he's missing the explosiveness on the fastball and the really hard bite on the splitter that he used to use to make the A's look silly. That said, he kept the A's off the board until Yoenis Cespedes unloaded a two-run home run in the 4th. He took a floating breaking ball up and away and deposited it into the LF bleachers to bring the score back into the A's favor, after Tom Milone allowed a run in the bottom of the 3rd. After the Giants tied it in the 4th on a Brandon Crawford triple, the A's came up in the 5th looking to take the lead again.

After Eric Sogard singled to give the A's the lead again, Josh Reddick obliged the hearty green and gold fans who attended the game at AT&T despite the hostile environment, and curious joining of forces by the Coliseum and local seagulls. He sent a Bondsian blast into the RF arcade for a three-run home run off of Jeremy Affeldt, who came in to relieve Lincecum. After this, it was pretty much a regular exhibition game. The A's subbed out Cespedes, Lowrie, and Donaldson and the Giants subbed out Posey, Crawford, Pagan, and Scutaro later. The A's scored again off of Affeldt in the 6th to pad their lead, and the Giants managed one run in the 9th off of Evan Scribner. Neither Norbero nor Scribner looked great in relief, but it's quite likely neither make the team at this point. Plus, at one point, Norbeto looked like he lost his footing on the mound and couldn't seem to find his footing thereafter. With Scribner missing badly as well, it seemed to me that there was some loose dirt on the downward slope.

So, that's it. These two teams will battle it out tomorrow out again at AT&T at 7:15. Don't be late!