A's experience deja vu in 6-1 win over Seattle

SEATTLE -- One of baseball's greatest quotes is of course a Yogi-ism. As Yankees' legend Yogi Berra once said, "It's deja vu all over again."

That's what it felt like Saturday night at Safeco Field. The final score of both Friday and Saturday's games -- 6-1, Oakland. The A's scored the first run in the first inning on an error in both games. Both games had a fourth inning George Kottaras home run, a Stephen Drew RBI single, and the A's starting pitcher on both Friday and Saturday night threw 108 pitches. In both contests the A's also knocked out the Mariners starting pitcher prior to the fifth inning. The similarities are staggering right? Deja vu, all over again. "No game is a replay of any other game," Kottaras said. Oh, alright then, maybe we should just focus on Brett Anderson? He tossed six innings, allowed no earned runs, and is now 4-0 since returning from a 14 month recovery from Tommy John surgery. Not deja vu, but seemingly unreal."I always hold myself to a high standard," Anderson said. "You have to in this game or it will beat you up."Anderson has allowed two earned runs in 26 innings pitched since his return. He didn't walk a single batter on Saturday and has only walked three total in four starts while striking out 19. He has lasted six innings, and allowed one run or less in all of his starts in 2012."His performance, I think, has been more than we can ever expect," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "To sit there and say he's 4-0 after coming back is pretty terrific." But the young lefty said he was battling himself a bit on the mound, though it was hard to tell. "Today was definitely my most grinding start," Anderson said. "Seems like it's easy when it's going good and you are getting three up, three down. It almost makes these starts more sweet because you have to pitch your way out of jams and battle through it."One thing that happened for the first time on Saturday was Kottaras catching Anderson. The battery mates had to feel each other out a tad. Anderson shook the catcher off a couple times but said he does that to everyone that catches him. "It doesn't mean anything that's just the way I pitch," Anderson said. "If I'm going to get beat, I'm going to get beat on something I want to throw." He left Kottaras impressed."He's got electric stuff," Kottaras said. "He throws anything in every count. Being back there tonight was definitely a fun thing for me."Like last night, the A's benefited from a bomb courtesy of Kottaras. His fourth inning two-run shot left the yard in a hurry. It was his eighth homer of the season and his 13th RBI in his last five games. "Yeah, I hit it pretty good," Kottaras said. "I wasn't trying to do to much, just hit it hard somewhere." The A's have won their last eight road games, the longest such streak since 2005. A run of success that couldn't have come at a better time. 15 of Oakland's next 18 games are on the road. They go for the series sweep on Sunday. The A's have swept the opposition in two of their last three series. They got swept in their previous series. More deja vu all over again.