Gio Gonzalez

Expectations can be tricky things.

Often times, teams with high expectations fail to measure up, while squads without expectations do better than anticipated.  For the 2010 Athletics, the latter is true.

Without any considerable power threat on the roster (Jack Cust started the season at Triple-A), it was hard to imagine the non-explosive A's coming close to .500 record.  With two games the left, Oakland is two wins away from finishing 81-81.  

Clayton Richard- 13-9, 3.71 ERA

Clayton has been a big part of the Padres' first place pitching staff. He has racked up nearly 200 innings while giving his team a chance to win. I've heard numerous Sox fans wishing he were still in our rotation this season.

However, I don't think he's that big a loss based on a few factors.

For the Oakland A's the team has a ton of talented starting pitchers and one of those pitchers is Gio Gonzalez. The word to describe his season so far has been inconsistent at one point he looked like the ace for the A's and other times he's struggled mightily. 

Looking at his numbers before tonights game he's got a record of 10-7, with a 3.51 ERA, has started 23 games, has one complete game, and has struck out 114 while walking 62 hitters. 

Gio Gonzalez was a first round draft pick in 2004, so his road to fantasy relevance has been slow to develop.  Finally, at 24 years old (he’ll turn 25 in September), he’s achieved it, putting up a solid 2010 season with these stats:

10 Wins
141.0 Innings
3.51 ERA
1.32 WHIP
114 Strikeouts (7.3 K/9)
62 Walks (4.0 BB/9)
.287 BABIP

The question is whether Gonzalez is a pitcher worth owning, or whether his success has been an aberration.

Bob Geren's continued misuse of the Oakland A's bullpen is getting very tiresome. Another game for the A's where the decisions made by Geren were headscratching to say the least. 

Although, there was one decision that Geren made right was taking Gio Gonzalez out after pitching seven solid innings and bringing in Craig Breslow. This because Breslow has been the most consistent reliever out of the bullpen this year for the A's. Every other decision after that has cost the A's runs and the game. 

The Oakland Athletics were hanging tight in the race for the American League 
West division title. After the past two series where the A's have lost five games out of six that were played, it has become clear the A's need to make some major adjustments. 

That would involve making trades for a big time bat in the lineup. The only problem is, what self-respecting player would want to play for Bob Geren? This was shown by the most recent trade the A's have made. 

With Brett Anderson being on the injured list for most of the season, the Oakland A's needed someone to step up to become the ace of the staff while Anderson recovered from his injury. 

All signs pointed to Dallas Braden as being the new ace of the staff.

The highlight of Braden's success came on Mothers Day when he pitched a perfect game. Since then, Braden has struggled. 

Part of the problem has been the lack of run support for the perfect pitcher.

Last week I told you it was time to add Buster Posey and Stephen Strasburg to your roster.

Less than a week later Posey collects three hits and three RBIs for the big league club in a 12-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

If you listened to The Hot 8 last week you already had Posey on your roster causing the rest of your league to search for him and witness that you indeed already had the coveted backstop.

That is what The Hot 8 is all about, being ahead of the curve and especially your league.

On May 1, 1920, the Major Leagues would witness the longest game in the history of the sport. The Brooklyn Robins battled the Boston Braves in a game that would eventually end in a 1-1 tie, due to the fact that it was getting dark out, and stadiums were not built with lights at the time.

After the Oakland Raiders traded for the Washington Redskins' Jason Campbell, the speculation in the swirling rumors of JaMarcus Russell's imminent demise was replaced with inevitability.

The big man with the even bigger contract was due $9.45 million in the upcoming season and, by all accounts, nothing about the kid warranted rolling the dice when that kind of money was at stake.

And so the axe fell on May 6th, putting Russell firmly in the running for the title of Biggest Bust in the History of the National Football League.

That's gotta sting.

The news has been fodder for numerous punchl