Preseason Top 25/Tour de France/A's-White Sox

College football Preseason Top 25
1 Alabama
2 Boise State
3 Ohio State
4 Nebraska
5 Texas
6 Virginia Tech
7 Florida
8 TCU
9 Oregon
10 Iowa
11 Miami (FL)
12 Oklahoma
13 North Carolina
14 Wisconsin
15 Florida State
16 Arkansas
17 Auburn
18 Missouri
19 Connecticut
20 Stanford
21 Georgia
22 Utah
23 Washington
24 Michigan State
25 Oregon State
Others
USC, LSU, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Nevada, Notre Dame, Navy, Texas A&M, Boston College, West Virginia, Houston, Cal, Penn State

Tour de France
Alberto Contador clinched the Tour de France title yesterday, racing well and playing in the Top 5. The Spainiard won his second straight title, and his 3rd in 4 years.

Oakland Athletics vs. Chicago White Sox
Jack Cust had a multi-homer game, Vin Mazzaro threw a 3 hitter through 6 innings as the A's beat the Chicago White Sox 10-2 to improve to 49-48.

Kurt Suzuki hit a homer that would have been a ground-rule double if it had landed 2 feet in front of where it did, and then Cust jacked one to right to give Oakland a 7-2 lead. Later, when the score was 9-2, Cust hit one to the same spot to give Oakland a 10-2 lead.

Daric Barton hit an RBI double and an RBI single, and he scored 2 runs. He was everything for the Athletics early. Kevin Kouzmanoff knocked in a run, and he hit 2 doubles.

Freddy Garcia was not on. He only recorded 4 outs, and he gave up 4 runs. After just 69 pitches, he was replaced by Tony Pena, who gave up an RBI double by Kevin Kouzmanoff. He shut Oakland down for 1 inning, but the back-to-back homers destroyed him.

For the A's, Vin Mazzaro pitched great. He started off slow, giving up a 2 run homer by Ramon Castro, but he then got the hang of it. He retired 14 of his last 16 batters, and he no-hit the White Sox for the last 16 batters.

Brad Ziegler pitched well, continuing the 19 batter no-hit streak. The White Sox got a double, but Ziegler shut them out to keep the score at 9-2. In the ninth, Ross Wolf came in, and forced 3 infield outs to end the game. Wolf recorded his first save as an Athletic.

The A's threw a combined 4-hitter, and they 2-hit Chicago for the last 23 outs.

Kurt Suzuki and Jack Cust combined to hit 3 homers, go 5 for 7, and draw 4 walks. Kevin Kouzmanoff went 2 for 4.

Oakland will try to win their 4th straight series Sunday at 1:05 PM PT. Dallas Braden is on the mound for Oakland, while Daniel Hudson pitches for the White Sox.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Script - That Is, the Revised Script - Had This Super Bowl Matchup All Along

Image
Screenwriter Goodell has done it again! It's admittedly not the script I saw written in the stars - or rather in the combination of the NFL's Super Bowl logo and a Memphis radio station's (now) false advertising. The best explanation is that not even Goodell could have foreseen the Taylor Swift effect - and called in the cast midseason to push the Chiefs' Super Bowl hangover back one more year at Baltimore's expense. When the Harbaugh family threatened to sue, he called in a favor to the NCAA - and Jalen Milroe - to have Jim pocket the family's due 2023 ring. And then, to give big bro the upper hand, inflicted Jim with the worst curse in all of sports - that of the LA Chargers. Equilibrium is restored. It looked like the revised script was about to bring the 49ers down too in favor of the bookended schedule Super Bowl that Jake Marsh wanted to see so badly - the same kickoff game and championship game matchup. The thought crossed my mind as a minor consolation i
Read more

Taking My Talents Back to Baily's Sports and Stuff...And My Thoughts on Al Davis vs the NFL

I've recently gotten captivated by the practice of journaling - generally on my own thoughts that I notice and how I feel at various moments. This has been a transformative practice in my personal life in enabling me to be more honest with myself (which is really hard!) - whether that be about discomfort I feel, what conditions provide a state of flow, or anything in between. The ability to document my life on paper - and go back and read what resonated with me at a particular point in time - has been a similarly great practice for me. Recently, the excitement of playoff football and midseason basketball has led to me pursuing a similar practice in my personal journal - airing out thoughts on sports ranging from stats I've tried to memorize to my (often unwanted) psychological analysis on a given athlete / situation. I love the process of putting pen to paper, and plan to continue this in my personal life.  But when it comes to sports, I had the thought that maybe there's n
Read more

A's Fall To White Sox On Walk-Off Home Run

Image
In late innings, the Oakland Athletics are almost unstoppable. However, Jordan Danks found a way to stop the A's. Danks hit a home run to right with two outs in the ninth to propel the White Sox to a 4-3 win over the A's. Both teams are competing in the AL Wild Card race, so the loss is crucial for the A's, who received a solid outing from Brandon McCarthy in his return from the DL. McCarthy allowed three earned runs in six-plus innings pitched, and the two teams were tied after seven innings. Both teams received solid efforts from the bullpen, but the White Sox triumphed at the end. Dayan Viciedo, A.J Pierzynski and Alexi Ramirez also homered, all taking advantage of mistakes by McCarthy. McCarthy gave Ramirez a meatball in the fourth, and he hit it deep to left field. Viciedo and Pierzynski both hit outside pitches into the seats for the White Sox. With the game tied at three, submariner Pat Neshek delivered a pitch. Catcher George Kottaras wanted it away, but Nes
Read more