Ah, yikes well, the A's have struggled against the Mariners in this series and it's been a bummer for sure.
Gage Jump's MLB debut went reasonably decent yesterday I'd say. Nothing outstanding but considering it was his debut I was pretty impressed for the most part. After a slightly rocky second inning where Jump allowed three runs, he settled down pretty nicely. In the end he actually managed to get through five innings, allowing four runs in total. He seems pretty confident on the mound and has a pretty smooth throwing motion.
But the A's were completely shutdown yesterday offensively. I'm normally pretty confident in the A's offensive power, but lately it seems they've fallen asleep a bit. The A's only totaled four hits yesterday and were nearly shutout until the bottom of the ninth when Tyler Soderstrom hit a solo shot, his 6th of the season. To make matters more depressing, Nick Kurtz failed to extend his 48-game on-base streak! He was on the verge of breaking the A's single season record had he reached base one more time! Nuts! Oh well, that's life sometimes. Kurtz still made his mark in A's history by tying Mark McGwire at 48! In a way, that's kinda cool he only tied it. Kurtz is only 23, he's got plenty of time to break more records, maybe even that one!
Today's game is pretty critical. If the A's lose they will get swept AND officially fall out of first place in the AL West. This normally strong offense has all of a sudden averaged only 2.33 runs per game in their past six contests. Not too great.
Jeffrey Springs takes the mound for the A's today, let's hope he brings his best stuff and is dialed in! It's a pretty big late-May game!
