Jemile Weeks, Cliff Pennington Lead A's; Garrett Jones, Alex Presley Part of 19-Hit Pirate Attack

Players of the Day for Thursday, March 15, 2012

Garrett Jones

Grapefruit League

Alex Presley

Pittsburgh scored ten times in the first inning and banged out 19 hits en route to a 17-6 trampling of the Twins, at Minnesota's Springtime home in Fort Myers, Florida.

Garrett Jones was the rudest of the guests, going 3-for-4 with a single, double and his second home run of the season. Leadoff hitter Alex Presley also singled, doubled and homered in four at-bats, driving in a pair and scoring three times. A rookie, Presley is vying for the Pirates' center field position and is having a solid Spring, hitting .429 through nine games.

Jones is also off to a strong start, batting .400 with eight RBI.

Cactus League

Jemile Weeks

Cliff Pennington

Oakland second baseman Jemile Weeks socked a pair of home runs and shortstop Cliff Pennington went 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles, two singles and two RBI as the A's topped the Rangers, 11-7, in exhibition action.

Both of Weeks' home runs - his second and third of the Spring - were solo shots, the first blast led off the game. He later singled and scored as the A's pounded out 14 hits against seven Texas hurlers.

The 1-2 batters in the lineup, Weeks and Pennington are batting .419 and .464, respectively.

Pennington is back for his third full season with the A's after batting .264 last year. Weeks returns following a successful rookie campaign in which he hit .303 and swiped 22 bases in 97 games.

Jemile Weeks Leads A's to 9-2 Win; Brett Lawrie Drives in Four for Blue Jays

Players of the Day for Saturday, March 3, 2012


Grapefruit League

Brett Lawrie

Brett Lawrie socked a pair of two run doubles for the Toronto Blue Jays in a 7-1 Spring training opening day win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lawrie, who is vying for the 3rd base position with Edwin Encarnacion, drove in four runs - two in the second and two more in the sixth - and stole a base, his first of the Spring.

In 2011, Lawrie played in 46 games for the Jays, batting .293 in 150 at-bats, with nine homers, 25 RBI and seven steals.

Cactus League

Jemile Weeks

After batting .303 and stealing 22 bases in 97 games as a rookie with the Oakland A's last year, Jemile Weeks may be looking forward to a breakout season as the A's regular second baseman and leadoff hitter.

Weeks singled, homered, stole a base, scored twice and drove in two runs as the A's dropped the Mariners, 9-2, in their second Spring game.

Oakland banged out 16 hits against six Mariner hurlers after Hector Noesi pitched two hitless innings. Especially hard hit was Kevin Millwood, who gave up three runs on three hits, working the third and fourth frames.