Oakland Athletics: What to Take from the Blue Jays Series

Six games in and four games back. Perhaps the A's should only try day games?

After a pair of disappointing losses to the Blue Jays in Toronto, the A's found a way to pull out a win in the series finale at Rogers Centre. Trevor Cahill pitched brilliantly in the lone bright spot in an otherwise dreary game. But the A's got the W and head to Minnesota tomorrow with a one-game winning streak.

On Monday, I highlighted the five big questions raised after the first series of the year. Let's run down how the A's responded over the past three games.

Coco Crisp

Crisp struggled at the plate—going 2-13 in the series—but scored the decisive run on Thursday after reaching on a strikeout, wild pitch and stealing second and third.  He struck out four times in the series and appears to need to gain a little more discipline at the plate.

Defense

Improved, but still lacking. Two errors plagued the A's in the series opener which cost Brandon McCarthy a chance at the win. The defensive bright spot has been Andy LaRoche, who started at second, third and short in the series.

Starters

The A's one strength this season has been the starting pitching and it continued through the Toronto series. Brandon McCarthy pitched eight solid innings, giving up five runs, four earned. It must be noted that only a late-scoring change altered a Kouzmanoff error to a hit, and changed McCarthy's line from two earned runs to four.

Braden pitched seven solid innings and, if not for a misplayed potential double-play ball, could have escaped giving up only two runs. Cahill followed up his less than perfect opening day start with a fantastic eight innings, striking out seven and giving up only three hits and one run. So far this season, the A's starters have amassed a 2-1 record with a 2.87 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 40.2 innings.

Bullpen

Not the best, as Grant Balfour yielded a walk-off homer to Yunel Escobar in the 10th inning of the Blue Jays 7-6 win on Tuesday. Other than that, Fuentes was able to get a save in Thursday's win but, overall, the starting pitching limited the role the bullpen needed to play in the series.

Newcomers Hitting

Although the A's hitting was limited throughout the series, each of the newcomers to the offense contributed at some point. Josh Willingham hit the go-ahead homer on Tuesday. David DeJesus went 3-8 in the series and Hideki Matsui had a two-run double on Wednesday.

Thursday's comeback victory was keyed by a lead-off double by Andy LaRoche, and a go ahead single by Conor Jackson. In essence, although no one is having a standout season yet, everyone is finding a way to contribute in one way or another on offense.

Hopefully the A's can improve on bullpen pitching and defense as they head into Minnesota tomorrow afternoon.