Second Day 2.5

This game started with a big homer, from the Hammer, off of King Felix in the first inning. Who said the Athletics have no offense? Cahill looked great until he got into trouble in the 3rd, where he allowed a bases loaded walk to Jack Cust making the score 2-1 As. This is when I went grocery shopping for the week, expecting to come home to about the same score. An hour later I turned on the TV to find the score 6-2. Apparently, while I was out, the Mariners took advantage of some ugly Oakland errors to put some runs up. Also, Chone Figgins, hit a homerun which is almost as unlikely as Milton Bradley not running his mouth off, crying, or getting in legal troubles this season.


Those extra runs was all Seattle needed as Felix settled down and continued to dominate. On just 108 pitches he went a full 9, giving up 2 earned, 0 walks, and nabbing 5 Ks. The loss for Oakland is all on the hands of Cahill. He only gave up 1 run, but needed over 100 pitches to get through his 4.2 innings, causing his skipper to pull him. Once he was out Oakland was forced to stretch out their 'pen and that's where they lost this one. The As ace did have 8 Ks in those 4.2, but also had 4 BBs. 


The final thing I'd like to touch on was the tributes to Dave Niehaus. It wasn't much, but the announcers had moments of silence for the first pitch, as well as a half inning later on. I'm looking forward to what the Ms pull out, for the voice of the team, during the home opener.


Around the Horn
More Royal Greenhorns: It was a surprising pitchers duel in LA tonight, and a 1-1 tie was finally broke in the bottom 9 off a Kila Ka'aihue walkoff shot.


Josh Johnson is still Josh Johnson: JJ was his normal dominant self, taking a no-no into the 6th, and eventually getting the win off a 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K line. The Marlin ace only needed 92 pitches, but was pulled early (most likely due to a pitch limit after going down late last season). 


Good Day for Rooks: Logan Morrison went deep for the Fish, Brandon Belt hit his first big league bomb, and Ka'aihue had his walk off blast.


Bad Day to be an Outfielder: As I said early Matt Holliday is out for an undetermined amount of time as a result of having to have an appendectamy; and, Marlin slugger Mike Stanton had to be taken out tonight with a hamstring issue.


Final Note: The Dodgers aren't going to make a San Fran repeat easy. They handed the Champs their second loss for the season off a strong Chad Billingsley start. Kemp continued his turnaround campaign with a 2-4 night with a run scored and an RBI. In the other dugout the Giants faced more fielding issues, suffering from an errant throw from Kung Fu Panda and a Jonathan Sanchez misplay.