Kuzul

Entering the second week of the Major League Baseball season, the Oakland Athletics find themselves in a comfortable spot.Sitting atop the American League West, the A's continue their road trip against the formidable Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This marks another early-season test for the Athletics: how will they fare against a team who many believe to be the prohibitive division favorites.Particularly after an offseason spending spree that saw the Angels land the heaviest of free agent bats for the second year in a row.But Oakland will look to prove for the umpteenth time that its frugal version of team building brings better results than their free-spending foes. After the A's snatched the 2012 AL West title, bypassing both the vaunted Angels and Texas Rangers squads, the question this season resurfaces: Can the A's do it again?The odds suggest that lightning cannot strike twice in the same spot ...

Everybody has been waiting four months for this day to arrive: The date that Manny Ramirez is eligible to rejoin a major league ballclub.Last December, Ramirez hinted that he was interested in un-retiring from baseball, following a seven-month absence in light of his positive drug test result during May of 2011, while he was playing for the Tampa Bay Rays.This past February, Ramirez agreed to a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics, allowing the beleaguered slugger to attempt to add to his 555 career home runs, pending his service of a 50-game suspension to start the 2012 season. Fifty games later, and here we are, about to embark on Manny Being Manny: The Summer in Oakland.Ramirez becomes eligible to play in the big leagues on Wednesday, May 30th—which happens to be his 40th birthday. But as CSNBayArea.com reports, Ramirez will not be activated for the Athletics’ game that day ...

What a slow and boring past three years it has been for the Oakland Athletics organization regarding its interest in moving to the Silicon Valley.Three bogus years of contrived interest in solving the issue of the Athletics' owner Lew Wolff’s desire to move the team down to San Jose. Three years later, and there’s still no resolution. Not even close. It’s almost as if nothing has happened. In March of 2009, MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed a committee to explore options for providing the A’s with a new ballpark—be it in Oakland or in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area.The hope was that a consensus would be found for what would be the most feasible solution given Wolff’s desire to move to San Jose. Or at least one would assume that some movement would be made in one particular direction—either I-880 North or I-880 South. But, sorrowfully, ...

This weekend, the Oakland Athletics will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the organization’s 1972 World Series championship, as part of their three-game series hosting the Cleveland Indians. The highlight of the weekend will be the fan giveaway for Saturday’s matinee—a Rollie Fingers bobblehead doll, featuring his awesome signature handlebar moustache.Renowned for his famous facial hair, Fingers also happened to have a Hall-of-Fame career as one of the first premier relievers in baseball history and clearly the most successful in the redefined role of the modern closer. His excellence on the field not only revolutionized the role of the closer in modern baseball, but it also paved the way for a long line of great closers in Oakland Athletics team history.In honor of Fingers’ illustrious career and all the wonderful closers over the past 40 years of A’s baseball, let’s take a look at eight of the greatest closers in Oakland team history.Begin Slideshow

Coming to a foreign country as your new place of employment can often be a difficult transition for anybody. There’s the obvious potential language barrier. There’s the scrutiny of your new peers and high expectations from your superiors for importing you into their business. And the obvious adaptation to the new surroundings is daunting enough as it is.For the average expatriate, these issues themselves can be difficult to overcome. Now imagine doing your new job, in a foreign land, while being followed by hordes of media, with the extreme demands of both representing your native country and performing at a high level.That’s what it has to have been like for Oakland Athletics outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who defected from Cuba this past March to seek employment with Major League Baseball. And just like that, the madness began, the international pressures of success emerged, and the resulting media crush surrounding Cespedes’ every move was spawned.Though it ...

Breaking news: San Francisco Giants Barry Zito struggled in his most recent spring outing, causing concern from the fan base about whether the veteran lefty deserves a spot in the team’s starting rotation as Opening Day approaches. What is this, 2008? Wait, 2010? No, it’s 2012! Talk about déjà vu all over again. Talk about déjà vu all over again. Since signing one of the most infamous contracts in the history of pro sports in 2006, Zito has been under tremendous scrutiny and immense pressure to live up to the bazillion dollar billing. Each year, it’s the same old story—for both Zito and for the organization. Well, actually, somehow every season it seemingly gets worse for the 33-year-old veteran. In 2007, his first season in San Francisco, Zito toughed out an 11-13 record with a 4.53 ERA. The next year, he posted career-worst marks in losses (17), losing percentage (.370), ...

According to CSNBayArea.com, San Francisco Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez is almost certain to start the 2012 season on the disabled list. Not surprising, given his slow progress in regaining full health following surgery for his season-ending shoulder injury last year. The crux of the issue in Sanchez’s road to recovery is indeed his arm strength. Having sustained a ruptured labrum in his right shoulder, the rehabilitation to recapturing his throwing velocity is indeed taking longer than anticipated. But it’s not entirely unexpected, considering the severity of the injury.As a result, the Giants have found themselves at a minor fork in the road, and will likely take the route of placing Sanchez on the DL to start the season, according to MercuryNews.com. This is debilitating news for San Francisco, who had hoped that Sanchez would be able to take the field at second base sometime sooner rather than later. ...

Last year, the San Francisco Giants experienced several problems that hampered their quest to defend their 2010 World Series title. Notably, some devastating injuries prevented the team from even returning to the playoffs, highlighted by the collision heard ‘round the Bay—the mowing of Buster Posey last May. As a result of the play, the Giants’ star catcher was knocked out for the remainder of the season. By itself, Posey’s absence would hobble any roster, but he was not the only player who suffered significant injury in 2011. In fact, Posey’s broken ankle and three torn ligaments is the least worrisome for San Francisco. Going into spring training, the Giants were confident that Posey would be able to bounce back from the horrific setback and would ultimately regain the form that led him to the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year selection. In actuality, the more troublesome road to recovery ...

One of the more important storylines in baseball this spring training is the health and bounce-back ability of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey. If you recall, Posey was the roadblock who got steamrolled last season in a home-plate collision with the Florida Marlins’ Scott Cousins, which resulted in Posey’s season-ending surgery to repair a broken bone and three torn ankle ligaments. Prior to that high-speed, high-profile collision, Posey was following up his 2010 NL Rookie of the Year campaign with a respectable sophomore season. In the 45 games played before he went down, he was batting .284 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in. Though his numbers did not exactly jump off the computer screen, Posey’s presence in the lineup far exceeds raw statistics. As the team’s cleanup hitter, he provides a legitimate right-handed bat to a famished Giants offense that ranked dead last in the league ...

It’s true: Of all the important players on the San Francisco Giants—the superstars and celebrities—the X-factor this season will be a light-hitting 30-year-old center fielder who played with the New York Mets in 2011. Yes, the Angel Pagan. This would seem to be a hyperbolic statement. After all, the Giants boast lights-out pitchers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, a couple of dynamic sluggers in Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval and a beard that is attached to some dominant closer named Brian Wilson. The thing is, the team and its fans pretty much know what to expect out of those All-Star-caliber players.Posey, despite suffering a devastating season-ending ankle injury last season, can roll out of bed and hit .300 with his eyes closed. His defense is still yet to be determined, but there’s little doubt that he can’t return to the Giants lineup and contribute at a high level again. Lincecum ...