Jarrod Parker and the A’s Roll Dice-K

This has been a frustrating couple of days for right fielder Josh Reddick, he declined to comment on his All Star snub yesterday, today he told Susan Slusser that he was upset about being left off the roster and wanted to show everyone it was a mistakte to leave him off the roster.  He wasted very little time accomplishing that.  Against a Daisuke Matsuzaka that obviously didn’t have his A-game, Reddick drilled a home run onto the steps in right field in the bottom of the 1st inning to get back the run Parker had given up in the top of the 1st.  With 1 swing of the bat not only did Reddick show  the world he should be an All Star, he showed the Boston Red Sox first hand what a mistake they made by letting him go.

TURNING POINT:  Daisuke had nothing tonight, and the A’s made short work of him.  The bottom of the 2nd inning opened with a Seth Smith double, a Derek Norris walk, and then the other former Red Sox player and current A’s 1B Brandon Moss smashed a line drive homer above the out-of-town scoreboard.  Daisuke didn’t recover, Brandon Inge singled, Cliff Pennington walked, and just like that Matsuzaka’s night was over after just 1+ inning.  The A’s never looked back and cruised to the 6-1 victory.

ON THE HILL:  Jarrod Parker continues to impress everyone with his ability, and tonight it didn’t seem that he was at his best.  The run he gave up in the 1st could’ve really taken him down, but he recovered nicely and shut down the Red Sox for 6.2 innings before giving way to Sean Doolittle.  Parker allowed 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3, just allowing the 1 ER.  Sean Doolittle took the reigns for the rest of the way tonight, he pitched 2.1 innings without allowing a hit, a walk, anything.  He struck out 3 in the process as well.

AT THE PLATE:  Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss accounted for the bulk of the A’s offense tonight.  Reddick went 1-3 with the solo homer and added a sacrifice fly for his 2nd RBI.  Moss was 2-3 with the 3 run homer, A’s first basemen have now homered in 4 straight games with Chris Carter accounting for the first two.  Brandon Inge was 1-3 with an RBI of his own on a sac fly.  Coco Crisp, Jemile Weeks, and Yoenis Cespedes all went ofer tonight.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  It’s always satisfying to beat a team like the Red “Sawx” especially when the attack is led by two players who were former Red Sox.  The A’s will hope to build on this little 2 game winning streak on their quest for .500 once again.  Bartolo Colon (6-7, 4.22 ERA) returns from the DL and his oblique injury to take on the Sox and talented but struggling lefty Jon Lester who is 5-5 with a 4.53 ERA.  Lester can be dominant at times, but he can be very hittable as well.  The A’s have homered in 13 straight games now, and at this point Lester is a prime candidate to make it 14.