A's season so far through 101 games and other news around the MLB

So far this year through 101 games the A's have managed to hold on to the best record in the majors with their 13-1 demolishing of the Astros yesterday pushing their record to 63-38. In their division, despite having the best record, the A's are only 3 games ahead of the Angels who are having the type of season that people expect when you have so many stars on one team.

Earlier this month the A's bolstered their rotation by getting Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Cubs for their two  best prospects--2012 1st round pick Addison Russell and 2013 1st round pick Billy McKinney--along with Dan Straily, a right handed pitcher who's shuffled between Triple A and the Majors a lot. I'm upset that they traded two talented young players, but I want the A's to win the World Series this year and two proven right handers should definitely help.

Those two guys should make the rotation really good considering that the A's already have two 11 game winners so far in Gray and Kazmir. Unfortunately, Milone will have to be sent down to Triple A to make room on the roster.

Run DMC (Donaldson, Moss, and Cespedes) all have put up outstanding numbers at the plate driving in runs and hitting bombs.

Donaldson- 21 homers,72 rbi's
Moss-23 homers, 71 rbi's
Cespedes-16 homers,61 rbi's

They're not the only ones who are hitting as the A's balanced lineup is one of the best in the majors and there seems to be a new hero each game.


Most recent A's news:
Josh Reddick just came off the DL and has upped his hitting in his return.
Alberto Callaspo is close to coming back from his hamstring injury.
Jim Johnson got DFA yesterday which means that he's no longer on the team as he keeps struggling and the A's couldn't deal with it anymore.

Doolittle has stepped in as closer and been lights out.

The MLB trade deadline is coming  up soon and one swirling rumor is whether or not David Price of the Rays will get traded.

The Phillies also seem to have some players that they might trade to contending clubs.
Whenever it is, it should be a fun time and it will be cool to know which big names get traded.

I look forward to the rest of the season and seeing who makes the playoffs and who falls short.
I hope that the A's hold on to the  division and go far in the playoffs this year.

Cal vs Colorado men's basketball

Yesterday, i went to the Cal basketball game at Haas Pavilion on the Cal campus in Berkeley. There was a ceremony before the game acknowledging Justin Cobbs, Richard Soloman and Jeff Powers who are the three seniors on the team.They barely beat the Colorado buffaloes in overtime 66-65. Colorado led most of the game with their biggest lead being 8 points. Cal was able to hang with them because their defense got stops when they needed to and some players provided timely scoring on offense. Justin Cobbs paced them with 21 points and he got help inside from Richard Soloman and David Kravish who each had a double double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Colorado was missing their best player Spencer Dinwiddie who was lost for the year with an injury earlier in the season. They still managed to get 24 points from Xavier Johnson and a good game from their point guard Askia Booker who almost won it. The game was  tied 59-59 at the end of regulation, but Cal almost pulled it out at the end of regulation. The Colorado point guard  dribbled down with his team looking to win the game, but Cobbs stole the ball and threw up a shot that barely missed going in. Cal ended  up missing their final 10 shots in the end of regulation and overtime, but they still managed to win by knocking down free throws. With 2 seconds left Wallace missed their first free throw in a while and Booker dribbled down court hoping to win the game. He put up a wild shot that missed and sealed the win for Cal. It was a good game because it went right down to the end and was close the whole game and i enjoyed going and seeing the final home game of the season.

The Pac-12 tournament is next week at the MGM grand arena in Las Vegas. The winner of it gets an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament while the other teams have to wait and see if they will get an at large berth to the tournament. The top four teams receive byes and they play on Thursday. They are Arizona, UCLA, Arizona State, and Cal while the other teams have to play on Wednesday I predict that either Arizona will win, but anything can happen. I would enjoy it if Cal wins because then they wouldn't have any chance of not making the tournament, but we will all find out who wins next weekend
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Spring training Giants and A's 2014.

         Baseball season is finally here! The teams have set up camp and the east coast teams are in Florida while mostly west coast teams are in Arizona.  My favorite team is the A's  and they're playing in Phoenix this year, but next year  they'll be moving to Mesa. Pitchers and catchers reported on valentines day and position players reported the next week. Some notable new pitchers that arrived in camp were Jim Johnson, Luke Gregerson, Eric O Flaherty, and Josh Lindbloom  who are relievers.Drew Pomeranz, Scott Kazmir are the two main starters that the  A's acquired, The A's also acquired some good hitters. They are Craig Gentry, Nick Punto, Chris Gimenez, and Jake Elmore. The best thing about the off-season was that the A's didn't trade away any of their regulars in the lineup or rotation which is good.The A's also hope that highly touted prospects Addison Russell, Michael Ynoa, Billy McKinney, and Raul Alcantra along with many others make a good impression and enable themselves to come up during the season and help the team out. Spring training games just started this past week and they represent a chance for prospects to show themselves and regulars to get back into the swing of things. I hope that the A's bring home a tittle this year and give Oakland a boost. I also hope that Reddick bat comes back to like and matches his outstanding defense.

    The Giants make their  spring training home in Scottsdale and they have no intention of going anywhere. Their players reported close to the same day as the A's and they made a few major changes to help get their team back into contention for the playoffs. The Giants   signed Tim Hudson a veteran pitcher who they think will bolster their rotation. They also resigned Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Vogelsong to stabilize their rotation. The Giants also signed Michael Morse to play left field and give them power in that position which they haven't had for a while. Like the A's, they brought back their entire lineup and they hope to get a better year from Sandoval and a break through year from Belt. Another thing is that they hope that their two hyped  pitching prospects Edwin Escobar and  Kyle Crick will crack the majors this year along with slugger Mac Williamson. The Giants look to return to the playoffs this year and return to prominence. I look forward to watching a lot of baseball this year and I think that this will be one of the most exciting and awesome baseball seasons ever

A's injurry report from Spring Training

A few days ago the A's  lost Scott Sizemore, their starting third basemen, for the year with  a torn anterior cruciate ligament. This is a big blow to the A's who were counting on him to provide some power from the right hand side of the plate.Now that leaves 2 key positions open.They are first base and third base.Contenders for the first base job are Daric Barton,Brandon Allen and Kila Ka'aihue.I think that Brandon Allen will win the first base job.Contenders for the third base job are Josh Donaldson,former catcher,Wes Timmons,Adam Rosales and Eric Sogard.Josh Donaldson seems to be the front runner now to replace Sizemore.

mannyball comes to Oakland

Just yesterday the A's  picked up Manny Ramirez a 39 year old DH who has been suspended 50 games for taking Steroids. The A's took a flyer on signing him because they don't know what he will do after he comes back from his suspension.The A's hope that he can be a mentor to their young players and provide a spark in their line-up.I think that this is a bad signing  because they don't know what he will do after he gets back from the suspension

new life to the A's

A few days ago the A's just picked up a guy from Cuba named yoenis cespedes who will add power to the line-up.One bad thing about this signing is that it might force Coco Crisp to move to either left or right field which he does not want to do.This   is their best pick-up of  the offseason and it will make them win more games.  will have a lot of pressure.I think this is a big pick-up for the A'S and I hope it will make them respectable in the coming years.

changing the subject

In this blog entry I will be talking about the Super Bowl.The Super bowl featured the Giants and the Patriots going at it in the Super Bowl for the 2nd time in four years with the Giants coming out victorious again.They were led by star quarterback Eli Manning who played at his best.The giants made another fourth quarter comeback in the Super Bowl.With this victory the Giants denied Tom Brady of being considered the greatest quarterback in NFL History with the title still held by San Francisco's own Joe Montana.Some of the commercials were good like the m-n-m commercial. Madonna  and other star singers were good in their halftime show performance.Overall I thought It was a good Super Bowl and I"m happy  for my cousin Sydney.