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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Coco Crisp makes the Oakland Athletics go from the top of the order, and figures to be doing so again in 2014. The As exercised their $7.5 million club option for the centre fielder Friday, though general manager Billy Beane announced it as soon as the season ended with a five-game division series loss to the Detroit Tigers for the second straight year. A switch-hitter and speedy leadoff man, Crisp hit a career-high 22 home runs in the leadoff spot for his most homers since he hit 16 with Cleveland in 2005. Even Crisp himself was surprised by the power surge. "Luck of the draw for me. I have, I guess, enough power to do since Ive done it," Crisp said late in the year. "But thats not my game. Its part of it, a little bit but 20 home runs, 20-plus home runs has kind of caught me off guard. I think it caught a lot of people off guard, especially having more home runs than stolen bases. "Ill take it. Next year it might go back to normal where I hit 10 to 15 and steal more bases. I hope thats what it is. Its just one of those years Im grateful for." Oakland also exercised its $8 million option on left-hander Brett Anderson as planned and declined an $8.5 million option on catcher Kurt Suzuki and an $11 million option outfielder Chris Young. Young gets a $1.5 million buyout and Suzuki $650,000. Beane envisions Anderson back in the rotation in 2014 after a late-season stint as a reliever following an injury-shortened season. Anderson has a $12 million option for 2015. The As still must decide whether to re-sign 18-game winner Bartolo Colon, though the club seemed hopeful last month. Colon and closer Grant Balfour became free agents Thursday. Crisp, who turned 34 Friday, just concluded his fourth season with the As and a $14 million, two-year contract and helped Oakland win back-to-back AL West titles. He hasnt played more than 136 games in a season since arriving in the Bay Area, limited to 75 in 2010 and 120 last year. He batted .261 with the 22 homers, 66 RBIs and 21 stolen bases in 131 games this year. Former Tigers manager Jim Leyland considered containing Crisp the biggest key for Detroit to beat the As in the division series for the second straight season. Crisp is a career .278 hitter in 30 post-season games for Boston and Oakland. "I think everybody feeds off of Coco here, not necessarily just experience, just how good he is," manager Bob Melvin said before the playoffs. "Ive said often when were playing well, hes playing well. He sets the tone for us, and youve seen hes taken his game to a whole new level this year as far as the power dynamic goes, but still has the ability to steal bases. Hes got quite the awareness in game when he needs to run and when he doesnt, and since weve been swinging the bat better, hes been a little less apt to run because he doesnt want to run into an out. He knows that weve been better offensively." Sean Bunting Jersey .Y. -- The New York Islanders were merely content with a lopsided victory. Wholesale Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . -- The Minnesota Vikings released reserve cornerback A. http://www.cheapbuccaneersjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-matt-gay-jersey . Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffrin, Bode Miller and Tim Jitloff underlined the squads enormous potential on the Rettenbach glacier in Austria. Anthony Nelson Jersey . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal. Wholesale Buccaneers Jerseys . Ireland was the last unbeaten side in the championship after France fell to Wales on Friday, and was favoured to end a three-match losing run to England with a side with more than twice as many caps, rampant momentum, and added incentive to celebrate Brian ODriscolls world record-tying 139th test cap. VANCOUVER -- Jay DeMerit sounded like a boxer who did not see the knockout blows coming. The Vancouver captain and his teammates were left stunned after Jose Mari scored a pair of goals three minutes apart in the second half as the Colorado Rapids came back to beat the Whitecaps 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 21,000 at B.C. Place Stadium on Saturday. "We all feel like we got punched in the gut a little bit there," said DeMerit. "Unfortunately, that happens in our sport. Some things you cant control. I thought the things we could control (were) enough to win. Unfortunately, that didnt happen tonight." It was the Whitecaps first loss of the young season. "Ultimately, its disappointing," said DeMerit. "I think everyone will walk out of B.C. Place tonight thinking like something got taken away from them." Mari scored in the 79th and 82nd minutes shortly after Matias Labas ejection for a second yellow card reduced Vancouver to 10 men. "It kind of hit us at the wrong time, too, when we think we had the game by the scruff of the neck and were controlling things," said DeMerit. "It was kind of a one-two punch there, and you find yourself on the back foot therea You have to say that the guys fought for 90 minutes tonight, even when we went down a man. We had enough chances to win." Laba was sent off in the 77th minute following his deliberate hand-ball as he fell and grabbed it to prevent a scoring chance. He had already received a yellow card for a foul in the 54th minute. A Colorado (2-1-1) player said a few words of reminder to referee Ioannis Stavridis, after he showed Laba another yellow card and the official pulled out a red one. Mari then sliced home a left-footed shot off the goalpost from the left flank. With the Whitecaps (2-1-2) still reeling from that goal, Mari put a right-footed chip shot from the top of the box over Vancouver defenders that shocked Whitecaps goalkeeper David Ousted. "Youve gotta give credit to their two finishes," said DeMerit. "Same guy. Same two finishes. And, if he doesnt win player of the week this week, I dont know who will." Darren Mattocks scored for the Whitecaps as all of the goals came in the final 45 minutes following a scoreless first half in which Vancouver had more scoring chances than the Rapids. Colorado triumphed despite playing without strikers Vicente Sanchez, who shared the MLS scoring lead before Saturdays games, and Edson Buddle. A team spokesman said the two players missed the game because they chose not to play on artificial turf. Meanwhile, Colorados No. 1 goalkeeper Clint Irwin excelled in his first game of the season after being sidelined in the pre-season with a strained quadricep. He was kept busy, and won many races to the ball, as the Whitecaps pressed for most of the first half. Vancouvers Mattocks had a goal disallowed in the 14th minute because he went off-side, slightly behind a Colorado defensive wall. Pedro Morales took a shot and the rebound from Irwins save came right to Mattocks, who made no mistake in converting, but was victimized by his own mmiscue seconds earlier.dddddddddddd Mattocks had another chance five minutes later as he raced in on a breakaway, but Irwin got his hand on the shot and the rebound bounced off the Vancouver striker and over the end line for a Colorado goal-kick. In the 37th minute, Irwin knocked over Caps striker Kenny Miller as they both raced to the ball inside the bottom right corner of the Colorado box. But to Millers chagrin, no penalty was called and the Rapids were awarded another goal-kick. Mattocks luck finally changed in the 67th minute as he outraced Colorado defender Drew Moor to a lead ball from Miller, raced in on goal and scored. Irwin got his hand on the shot, but could not keep the ball out. The goal resulted after Vancouver coach Carl Robinson had injected more speed into his lineup by inserting speedy substitutes Sebastian Fernandez (57th minute) and Kekuta Manneh (74th), providing even more opportunities off long balls that created many chances in the first half. "Obviously, when Im walking off with (about) 15 minutes to go with Manneh coming on, I could never have envisioned that we were going to lose that game," said Whitecaps striker Miller. "But, obviously, the red card had turned the game on its head." Robinson was contemplating a defensive change to help preserve the lead when Laba was ejected, but Mari struck for his quick markers. "The first one, especially, just gave us so much life," said Colorado captain Moor. The two Colorado goals prompted Robinson to make further goal-oriented substitutions instead, but they did not pay off. While the Whitecaps lamented a win that they felt got away, the Rapids gave themselves credit for their comeback a week after they had lost to Kansas City by allowing a late game-winning goal. Moor called the early-season win over a Western Conference rival "a good sign." "We want to play against teams," said Moor. "We dont want to sit in and come in on the road and hope to get a point, hope to get a tie. We want to go win games. In the game last weekend against Kansas City, I thought we were unlucky, a couple lapses of concentration. But this week, I think we just had the belief the whole time that we were going to get something out of it. Its pretty powerful sometimes." Irwin was credited with three saves in the opening 45 minutes and six on the night, while Ousted recorded just one save. Vancouver put seven shots on target compared to Colorados three. "You can create chances, but youre not always going to score three or four goals every week," said Miller. "You want to (finish) the chances when you create them." Notes: Injured Whitecaps midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker (concussion) missed his second consecutive game, but has resumed training. a Rapids midfielder Kamani Hill received a yellow card for a deliberate hand-ball as he palmed Russell Teiberts intended cross for Miller on a counter-attack off Colorados lone corner-kick in the first half. a Colorado defender Marc Burch was cautioned in the second half for taking Morales down with a hand to the head. 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