The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants are currently battling down in Phoenix for early 2011 spring training bragging rights. The A’s lead this Cactus League matchup 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, but A’s fans have likely already seen what they want out of this game. Brett Anderson started for Oakland and went three innings, giving up one hit and one walk while striking out five. Although Buster Posey and Aubrey Huff are not in the lineup, Anderson has faced the likes of Pat Burrell, Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada.
The A’s also received a strong showing from relief pitcher Joey Devine, who is in the midst of recovery from Tommy John surgery. The A’s added a lot of bullpen talent this offseason but a healthy Devine could be as important as any of those additions. Devine threw one inning of relief in the fourth inning, with only one batter getting on via error. He’s thrown three innings of relief and given up one hit and no runs this spring.
Since starting this update the A’s have taken a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning. Landon Powell led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a Michael Choice single, and advanced to third on an Eric Sogard single. Coco Crisp then singled to right scoring Powell and Choice. As you can tell, Powell is very much a station-to-station player.