SF Giants Pounded by the Oakland A’s
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The woeful San Francisco Giants got rolled 23-5 last Saturday by their Oakland Athletics neighbors in a game most notable for perhaps the most lopsided spring exhibition drubbing that I can recall since first becoming cognizant of baseball in the 1950s.
The A’s charged right out the box in the 1st inning bludgeoning the lefthanded $126 million man Barry Zito for 8 runs on 7 hot and 2 walks in 2/3rd of the first inning. Zito, who didn’t pitch near up to the expectations of his price-tag in 2007, continued to unimpress putting the Giants in a deep whole from jumpstreet. Then the A’s just kept coming and coming and puonding the Giants’ bullpen, mostly minor leaguers up for tryouts, to a pulp. Only relievers lefthanded Erick Threets with his 19.29 ERA (3 games in 2007), and late season closer Brian Wilson got away unscathed in the A’s onslaught.
Meanwhile, Oakland got to give young starter prospect Greg Smith, as well as it’s bullpen, an early spring workout in a laugher with no pressure. The A’s offense pounded out 29 hits with five guys getting 3 hits each and six more registering 2 hits each. The AP report for Yahoo sports notes;
A’s starter Greg Smith, meanwhile, needed just 20 pitches to get through two scoreless innings. The left-hander, part of the offseason trade that sent Dan Haren to Arizona, is part of the competition for a spot in the rotation.
“I try not to think about it, but it is in the back of my mind,” Smith said. “I think about it at home watching television. When I get to the ballpark, we all have our work to do.”
Smith gave up a hit and struck out two, though he never got a chance to throw a curve.
“They told me to take it easy,” he said. “The heat helped a lot and it was easy to stay loose.”
The Giants currently stand at 2 wins and 7 losses for the spring while Oakland stands with almoat the reverse record, at 6-2. Former Phillies centerfielder Aaron Rowand, who missed playing in this pounding, is 5 for 15 with a homer and a couple of RBIs this spring. He’s gotta be wondering early on — was it worth the money to go from division winners to cellar-dwellers over the winter.
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