They get absolutely no hype because well they're the Oakland A's and they play in the AL West but damn, Billy Beane has really constructed a young rotation to die for.
The Boston Red Sox got their first taste of it in 2011 last night as they opened a nine-game road trip at Oakland Coliseum.
Anderson (1-1) completely baffled Red Sox (5-11) hitters for eight innings as Oakland (9-8) won 5-0.
Anderson allowed just four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in picking up his first win of the 2011 season.
John Lackey (1-2) actually pitched very well, for him, since he was facing an old AL West foe that he was familiar with from his days in Anaheim. Lackey kept the Red Sox in the game with six innings of work, allowing four hits, one earned run, one walk and three strikeouts.
In falling to 0-7 on the road this season, Boston proved that they still haven't figured out how to hit consistently despite coming in on a three-game win streak.
Old friend Coco Crisp gave Oakland a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a hit, steal and two groundouts. Woo, small ball!
In the seventh and eighth innings, Dan Wheeler (1 hit, 1 earned run) and Hideki Okajima (2 hits, 3 earned runs in his return) did their best to blow the game although truth be told, there was not a chance in hell Boston was scoring any runs last night.
Daric Barton's RBI single that scored Cliff Pennington in the eighth for a 2-0 lead was enough but Oakland padded their lead with three more runs in the frame.
Hideki Matsui added a two-run double and Kurt Suzuki notched an RBI single.
Clay Buchholz will try and help the Red Sox avoid the sweep this afternoon as he takes on another young A's lefty stud, Gio Gonzalez, in the conclusion of this brief stay in Oakland.
