Elephant Rumblings: Giants up next as Spring Training continues

MLB news roundup

Happy Tuesday A’s fans.

We are three games into spring and it feels so good for things to be happening on a baseball field. The A’s are 1-1-1 so they’re quite the definition of average as of now, as far as the record goes. But we all know that’s not the point of spring training. There have been plenty of teams to have the best record during Spring Training only to lose 90+ games. Root for the wins, yes, but wins don’t count yet. Hopefully the Green & Gold save some for the regular season.

Our opponent today is the rival San Francisco Giants, but one has to wonder if there is still a rivalry there now that the team has left the Bay Area. Plenty of holdover fans will still resent the Giants for their landgrab of San Jose and general dislike of the team, but newer fans in Sacramento and Las Vegas won’t have any particular reason to dislike San Francisco. That rivalry has been one of the lesser talked about causalities from the relocation.

Anyhoo, we’ve known for over a day what the San Francisco lineup would look like, which is rare even for spring training. It looks like this:

None of the expected Giants’ regulars in the lineup, which is to be expected. That bodes well for the Athletics’ starting pitcher today, left-hander JP Sears. He’ll be making his first start today in what the ramp up for what will be his third full season. Yes, third already. Crazy how time flies. His rookie season saw flashes of dominance as well as the bumps you’d expect from a rookie and A’s fans thought he’d take a step forward in his sophomore year. While he dropped his ERA he also struck out way less batters, though also lowering his aleady-low walk percentage. Coaches will be hoping to see strikeouts from the lefty today.

Of course, if you look at the very bottom of that Giants’ lineup card you’ll notice San Francisco’s own lefty in Robbie Ray. The former Cy Young winner will be making his own first start of the spring as well. That’s not good news for the A’s bats, which have been mostly silent here in the early going (outside of Lawrence Butler of course). It’s spring and maybe Ray will be shaking off the rust, or trying out and experimenting with a new pitch, but it’d be great to see some offense from the A’s bats this afternoon. We’re craving runs!

Have an excellent Tuesday everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• A’s and Royals tie 1-1
• Big things from Bido in 2025? A’s see ‘frontline’ potential
• In Brent Rooker, the A’s find a centerpiece for their new home
• What do odds makers think of the A’s chances this year?
• A brief history of the Elephant and the Athletics
• Athletics’ Brett Harris getting looks at second base

MLB News & Interest:

• Guardians owner Larry Dolan dies at 94
• Giancarlo Stanton heads to N.Y. for medical evaluation for both elbows
• Mets’ Nick Madrigal ‘out for a long time’ with fracture in left shoulder
• Mets’ Sean Manaea out ‘weeks’ with oblique strain
• Brewers sign former Athletic Mark Canha to minors deal
• Tigers sign former Athletic Andrew Chafin to minors deal
• Giants backup catcher Tom Murphy out weeks with herniated disk
• One dark horse candidate to make every roster
• Bryce cements love for Philly with Phanatic tattoo
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

One final look again at yesterday’s box score:

Interesting. Worth a watch if you got six minutes to spare:

Anyone else surprised at how many?