The 3-4 Oakland Athletics head out for their first road trip of the season this week. The A’s open up the week in Houston to take on the Astros in a AL West divisional match-up and then close out the week with a three game, weekend series against the Kansas City Royals.
The A’s leave Oakland coming off of a disappointing weekend series against the Seattle Mariners, having lost two of three with both losses coming in extra innings. Oakland’s bullpen has been less than stellar to start the season, giving away both games against the Mariners.
Somewhat surprisingly, the A’s offense has looked solid thus far, putting up 6+ runs per game on average through the first week. While extremely early in the season, offseason acquisitions Billy Butler, Mark Canha, and Ike Davis are all batting over .300 and have fit into Manager Bob Melvin’s lineup perfectly.
Beginning Monday night, the A’s will face-off against the 3-3 Houston Astros, who are looking to turn the corner and show significant signs of improvement this season. Here are the expected pitching match-ups for the series in Houston - all times in PST:
- Monday, 4/13, 5:10pm, Scott Kazmir (1-0) vs. Scott Feldman (1-0)
- Tuesday, 4/14, 5:10pm, Kendall Graveman (0-1) vs. Asher Wojciechowski (0-1)
- Wednesday, 4/15, 5:10pm, Drew Pomeranz (1-0) vs. Collin McHugh (1-0)
Predictions: While it would be nice to get a sweep here for the A’s, they really need to concentrate on winning series and getting everyone acclimated to one another. Taking two out of three, with a day off on Thursday, would be a nice way to travel into Kansas City.
The A’s will take on the Royals this coming weekend, a small attempt at some form of retribution for knocking them out of the playoffs last season in the Wild Card game. It will, of course, be a homecoming for Billy Butler, who should receive a heroes welcome from the Kansas City faithful.
The Royals have rocketed out of the gate, winning all six of their contests this past week. That kept pace with the undefeated Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. Here are the expected pitching match-ups for the weekend series:
- Friday, 4/17, 5:10pm, Sonny Gray (1-0) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (1-0)
- Saturday, 4/18, 4:10pm, Jesse Hahn (0-1) vs. Yordano Ventura (2-0)
- Sunday, 4/19, 11:10am, Scott Kazmir (1-0) vs. Danny Duffy (0-0)
Predictions: This series will be a nice measuring stick for the A’s to see where they stack up against some of the favorites in the American League. With the top of the pitching rotation set for Oakland, they may be able to take two of three from the Royals if their bats can match the performance from week one of the 2015 season.
Who’s Hot?
Billy Butler, Sam Fuld, Stephen Vogt, and Mark Canha all have batting averages north of .350 to start the season. While you can’t expect that to continue on throughout the month, let alone the season, all four players are off to a very nice start to the 2015 season.
While he didn’t get the win in his second start, Sonny Gray has been phenomenal to start the season. Kazmir and Pomeranz were almost equally impressive to start their 2015 campaigns.
Who’s Not?
The bullpen - particularly Dan Otero and Eric O’Flaherty - will need to step it up a few notches in order to provide the consistency and reliability the A’s need. This will also help save the arms of the starting rotation as we get deeper into the Summer months.
A’s Roster Movement
Outfielder Josh Reddick returned to the A’s lineup on Sunday, having missed the first six games of the season due to injury. The A’s sent Tyler Ladendorf to the minors to make room on the roster for their Right Fielder.