The last time he took the mound, Gio Gonzalez allowed seven runs to the Rangers before the game -- and all of his ugly numbers -- were washed away forever by rain. Tuesday night, that same start might've been good enough to get Gonzalez a win.
Angels Vs. Athletics: Los Angeles Blown Out As Oakland Reaches First Place Tie
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In the second game of a brief two-game series, the Oakland A's finished a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels by completely dismantling them, winning 14-0 and knocking around rookie Tyler Chatwood in the process.
It wasn't a laugher from the start, but it was a laugher from the almost-start, as the A's scored three times in the second and four more times in the third. All of those runs scored on hits by Mark Ellis, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Coco Crisp, and on an error by Alberto Callaspo on a ball hit by Kouzmanoff. Chatwood came out after allowing seven runs in just 2-1/3 innings, raising his season ERA to 4.50.
The A's only continued to pile on against the Angels bullpen, scoring once in the fourth and six times in the sixth to set the final margin. I'm not sure which is more remarkable - that the A's scored 14 times without a single homer, or that Rich Thompson issued consecutive bases-loaded walks to Ryan Sweeney and Daric Barton. When you're already losing 10-0, I don't know why you'd nibble around the plate.
Of course, Oakland’s offensive eruption hid an outstanding bounceback start by Gonzalez, who allowed just a hit and a walk in seven frames. After sparing his ERA a trip to the high-3’s the last time out thanks to a little luck, Gonzalez on Tuesday lowered it to 2.31. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the fourth, nor a hit until the fifth.
With the A's sweeping the Angels and the Rangers splitting with the White Sox, the AL West now has the A's and Rangers at the top, with the Angels a half-game back and even in the win column. For all intents, the AL West has a three-way tie for first place.
In other words, everybody's basically back where they started. Everybody but the Mariners, anyway, but nobody cares about the Mariners. Except instead of facing a 162-game season, the A's, Angels and Rangers now have about 120 games to show they're the class of the group.
Who will it be in the end? That’s hard to say. The Rangers were the preseason favorites and they’re getting healthy, but the A’s and Angels have already played convincing baseball, and a shorter remaining schedule allows for more variation around the mean. Even if the A’s and Angels are worse than the Rangers, now they only have to be better over a 120-game stretch, instead of 162. And they may not be worse at all.
With nobody looking like they’re about to pull away, the AL West might end up featuring the best race in baseball.
For more on the Angels and A’s, please visit Halos Heaven and Athletics Nation.
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