Tonight Inge made his home debut for the A’s and was slotted into the fifth spot in the lineup and on the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays was Ricky Romero who has dominated the A’s. Jarrod Parker got the start for the A’s as Brandon McCarthy who was scheduled to pitch the game was moved back to Saturday due to shoulder soreness. Both Romero and Parker struggled to find the strike zone with the two combining for 10 walks, yet each pitcher was able to minimize any damage due to the walks.

Each pitcher did give up a two-run home run, Parker to Kelly Johnson and Romero to Josh Reddick. Parker went seven innings and Romero six innings and the game became interesting in the ninth inning. Grant Balfour who has struggled of late gave up a leadoff triple to Eric Thames, the A’s then brought the infield in and Balfour was able to get Brett Lawrie to ground out to Jemile Weeks for the first out, Balfour struggled to find the strike zone with Colby Rasmus and walked him on four pitches, Omar Vizquel pinch hit and for some inexplicable reason he bunted the ball up in the air which was caught for the second out of the inning. Johnson then ripped a single to right field to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead and Balfour was able to get Yunel Escobar  to ground into a fielders choice to end top of the ninth inning.

Francisco Cordero was brought into close the game out for the Blue Jays and Michael Taylor was the first batter he faced and Taylor was able to take an offspeed pitch down the right field line for a double, Weeks then sacrificed putting Taylor on third base with one out. Cliff Pennington came through with a single and then got into the head of Cordero who was constantly throwing over trying to keep Pennington close, yet even with the throws to first base it didn’t work as Pennington easily stole second, Reddick ended up walking, after a passed ball in the dirt to Jonny Gomes the A’s had runners on second and third, so Gomes was walked as well.

So, Inge who had struck out twice, grounded out, grounded into a double play, had a chance with the bases loaded and one out. The Blue Jays brought in Jose Bautista from the outfield and had five infielders, all Inge had to do was get the ball into the air and now that fifth at-bat will now be etched in the memory of A’s fans. Inge not only got the ball in the air, he also hit the ball over the fence for a walk-off grand slam! Inge now joins Mark Ellis, Mark McGwire who did it twice, Gene Tenace and Tony Armas as the only other players who have hit walk-off grand slam for the franchise in Oakland.

While history has shown with Inge he isn’t going to hit for a particularly high average he has come up with a number of big hits in the handful of games he’s been with the team. He now has two home runs two home runs and nine rbi since joining the team and so far the signing has worked out great for the A’s.

May 8th is also an important date in Athletics history as well as Catfish Hunter in 1968 threw a perfect game.

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Parker started one game for the Diamondbacks last season. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher last five and two-third innings not allowing any runs. Parker is a former Top 10 pick of Arizona being drafted in the 2007 MLB Draft.

He was rated as the 26th top prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America. He started four games for Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate the Sacramento River Cats and came out with a 1-0 record. He threw in 20 and two-thirds innings pitching 21 strike outs allowing five earned runs on 22 hits. Recently, Parker allowed just one hit in over two innings against the Reno Aces.

Parker is scheduled to face Chris Sale of the White Sox. Sale is another former first round draft pick of the White Sox back in 2010 MLB Draft. He was originally brought in as a reliever but made his way to the White Sox rotation. Sale, this year, is 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA in three starts.

Oakland is currently 8-9 in the American League West division sitting only five and a half games behind the Texas Rangers who are in first.

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Sizemore came over from the Detroit Tigers in 2011 and was moved from second base to third base by the A’s once he was acquired. He hit .249 with 11 home runs, 52 rbi, 21 doubles and a triple in 93 games with the A’s and defensively the more he played at third the more comfortable he looked.

Now with Sizemore out for the 2012 season the A’s will likely look at Adam Rosales, Eric Sogard, Stephen Parker, Wes Timmons or Josh Donaldson third base position. There may be a chance the A’s do attempt to acquire a third basemen before the 2012 season begins.

At this point there’s no clear front runner for the A’s at third base.

Even better though was that Enteen included Anderson’s tweet in regards to Ramirez’s mistake and the response from Anderson was classic:

For those wondering  according to Baseball-Reference.com Ramirez does not have an at-bat against Anderson. If there’s anything to be taken from Ramirez’s first day is that Spring Training should be entertaining.

Crisp led the American League in stolen bases with 49 and in two seasons with the A’s he has hit .269 with 16 home runs, 92 rbi, 41 doubles, nine triples, 81 stolen bases, a obp of .324, a slugging percentage of .400 and a OPS of .724. He also gives the A’s an excellent one-two punch at the top of the order with Jemile Weeks.

In the outfield he’ll be joined with Michael Taylor and Josh Reddick who came over from the Boston Red Sox in the Bailey trade.

With Willingham not being in the A’s lineup it will hurt as he had the best home run numbers for an A’s hitter since 2008 when Jack Cust hit 33  and the rbi total of 98 was the best since 2006 when Frank Thomas drove in 114 and Nick Swisher drove in 95. Worth noting is that Willingham’s average was on the low side at .246 as well as his OBP of .332 and on the high side was his 150 strikeouts.

Another issue with Willingham is his injury history as he has not played in 140 or more games since 2007 and in 2011 he missed a number of games due to an Achilles injury. Defensively he is below average as he lacks the necessary speed to cover ground on flyballs, he does possess a decent arm.

From the numbers alone it shows that Willingham doesn’t hit for a high average, strikes out a lot, and defensively is underwhelming, one might wonder what the appeal of Willingham is and how he was so important to the A’s offense.

The reason is because of what he did with runners in scoring position as he hit .313, with 42 hits, 11 home runs, nine doubles and 72 rbi. Those numbers with runners in scoring position alone make him a valuable commodity on the free agent market. He will especially help out a team that is looking to further stack its lineup such as the Texas Rangers or Detroit Tigers.

By not accepting the arbitration offer by the A’s, Willingham will be getting a raise from his previous one-year contract he signed with the A’s and likely will find himself in a more comfortable spot in the lineup hitting in the fifth or sixth spot and with a multi-year deal which is what he is  looking for.

For the A’s it means that the team needs to find a replacement for Willingham and it appears this time that  it will be Michael Taylor who appeared in 11 games and hit .200 with a home run, a rbi, and five walks with 11 strikeouts. Jai Miller could also see time in left during the 2012 season and Miller played in seven games in 2011 with the A’s in which he hit .250, with a home run and two rbi. There’s also a rumor that has floated around that the Miami Marlins are interested in Gio Gonzalez and the asking price has been either Logan Morrison or Mike Stanton and at this point it doesn’t look like the Marlins are willing to part ways with Morrison or Stanton.

The A’s can also build for the future with the compensation that will be received when Willingham is signed.

So, at this point in the offseason it appears that Taylor and Miller will be the two battling it out to replace the departed Willingham in the A’s lineup and Willingham likely finding a new team. While it will be tough for the A’s to replace the production of Willingham, Taylor will get his chance to prove why Billy Beane was so high on him and also show that he can make at impact at the Major League level.  Of course the A’s could bring in a left fielder in a trade and that could mean seeing Taylor in right field or there could be a platoon between Taylor and Miller for time in left field. The Willingham signing also help build the team for the future with the compensation that will be received.

1. The Giants Didn’t Make the Playoffs Either – Boo hoo Giants fans. Blame injuries, blame Barry Zito (as well you should), blame the baseball gods but at the very least, I do not have to hear every stinkin’ Giants fan talking about their team in the playoffs. Meaning, the Bay Area can now officially switch over to 49ers (and Raiders I guess), and San Jose Sharks.

2. Pitching is Deep – Despite an off year from Trevor Cahill and injuries to Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson. The A’s pitching well is deep. Brandon McCarthy is legit, Guillermo Moscoso is legit, Gio is the real deal too. Rich Harden is not but he was a band-aid anyway. The pitching future looks bright.

3. Josh Willingham is a Force in the Lineup – Billy Beane… please oh please sign this guy in the offseason so at least we can build the middle of the order around this guy. Please!

4. Jemile Weeks is ROY Material – While he may not actually win Rookie of the Year, the A’s were smart to trade away Mark Ellis to make room for Weeks in the lineup. He is already among my favorites and should be a fixture long-term in the A’s lineup.

5. A’s Are Poised to Infuse More Youth into the Lineup – Michael Carter, Michael Choice, Jai Miller, Chris Carter, Grant Green. The A’s have young guys who could be ready to step into full-time roles next year. The future is bright. The youth movement is upon us… “Release Matsui” is my new slogan.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the offseason – what Billy focuses on and how this team can become contenders once again. Again, I remain positive!

First off this movie is very well acted from top to bottom. So kudos to the casting director because you put a great crew together. Brad Pitt gives a phenomenal performance as Billy Beane. The surprising role to me was Art Howe. Phillip Seymour Hoffman did an amazing job playing the disgruntled manager of the Oakland A’s.

Secondly the story was solid. Many many things were left out from the book. To have it be otherwise would have made for a 8 hour movie so I was OK with that. The script really did a great job showing what internally was going on in the A’s organization during the 2002 season. It was all very interesting. The book was better but when is a movie ever better than the book.

The best part of the movie in my opinion was the issues between Howe and Beane. It made me understand why Beane always has his hand in the managerial cookie jar. I know Art Howe doesn’t like the way he came off in the movie but I honestly saw nothing negative about Howe’s portrayal. The skepticism Howe had in the film is probably what any coach would do in the same situation. I am sure the relationship was over dramatized for the movie but it probably wasn’t far off from the truth.

As a skeptic A’s fan going into this movie I was pleasantly surprised by it. I was also very proud of them not making it too happy of an ending. It does make me root for Beane a little more but I am sure that will wear off somewhere into midseason next year if the A’s are still struggling.

It also doesn’t hurt that he seems to get along with Billy Beane. We all know Billy has to have his hands in the cookie jar at all times and whoever is managing the A’s is going to have to accept that idea. So the fact that Melvin was able to have any kind of success and survive Beane had to be a huge plus.

I still don’t know that I am sold on Melvin as a manager for the A’s but like I said I think it was a smart choice. It will be interesting to see what Melvin does with the A’s next year. With this pitching staff the A’s are so close to being a contending team they just need someone to get that offense rolling. Let’s all hope Melvin can be that guy.

The Oakland A’s made the playoffs several seasons in a row but came up short every year. So even though I believe this movie is a story about one A’s season it actually is a compilation of several A’s season. Bottom line is the A’s blew it every season in the playoffs. Will that be represented? Will I have to relieve those failures in a movie theater or will Hollywood skip all that nonsense and just show the magical run to the playoffs those A’s teams had? Either way I don’t know if I will appreciate the outcome from a painful remembrance point of view or a movie goer who is upset because they changed the ending to make things more Hollywood.

I am also torn on how I want this movie to represent Billy Beane. While Beane does deserve credit for forever changing baseball he also has turned out to be a bit of a failure with the Oakland A’s. His system has never put the A’s into a World Series. Once they made the ALDS but never won a game. All those players Moneyball talks about never actually helped out the A’s. Maybe a bit here and there but Nick Swisher was not the savior of the Oakland A’s. Although his trade did land the A’s some nifty pieces. My point is while Beane deserves credit for some very positive things he also deserves a lot of the credit for the failures. In all honesty I don’t think Billy Beane’s legacy isn’t done yet. I think he still can turn the A’s or some other team if he ever chooses to leave and go to greener (more money to spend) pastures. Who really knows what Beane could have accomplished with an open check book.

To sum this all up, I want a movie that shows how brilliant Billy Beane can be but is also honest about his failures. A movie that shows how much fun those A’s teams were to watch in the early 2000s but doesn’t change the ending to something so positive that I have an empty feeling in my stomach because I know what truly happened. I also don’t want have to see that stupid play by where Jason’s brother decides not to slide.

I think those might be legit concerns for big A’s fans like myself who want to see this movie. Then again maybe I think too much and should just enjoy the film no matter what.

I am torn right now but I know in the end I will see the A’s movie. How many chances does one get to have a movie made about their favorite baseball team get made? I believe there is only four or five other teams that have had this opportunity.

Review to follow as soon as I get up the courage to see this movie.