After the first couple weeks

[RobDogBucky]

I drafted this, then before I could post it, I was bounced off. Will try to reconstruct. Note to self; type faster and don't take breaks from drafting message.

Looks like it's just us, Nat, ak, and last.

Anyone else surprised and please by the great starting pitching. And by Embree? And by Kennedy and Gaudin? Beane

And can't say enough about the contributions of Piazza and Walker out of the gate. Yes, Walker appears a little rough around the edges, but his plate experience and his in-game demeanor are value-added intangibles that belie the stat sheet. Oh, and did I mention he can pitch hit. And hit with two strikes? And hit to the opposite field. I hope Piazza finds his second career here in Oakland, as DH, setting records as same, for many years to come. After his HOF career as a catcher, a HOF career as DH. Beane

And that bullpen and those kids, Buck and Marshall. Who knew? Beane

Schedule, tarps, weather, and naysayers be damned. This team will get it all together and prevail. Someone on another board mentioned that they did not think this team had enough offense, like the days of the Bash Brothers, and that in this current economic era, the A's will be forced to grow their own hitting. Maybe right, as they now grow their own pitching. Back in the Bash era, all the pitchers for example from the great '89 team were acquired by trade or free agency, mostly from baseball's scrap heap. Steward, Eckersley, Honeycutt, Nelson, Davis, Moore. The only home grown ones I recall were Cadaret and Curt Young. Their hitters were homegrown mostly, with the occasional Parker or Hendu thrown in. McGwire, Canseco, Steinie, Weiss, Rickey, were all homegrown. We now seem to have to acquire offense, as our current homegrown are not up to snuff. Chavez, Crosby, DJ, have somewhat disappointed. But wait, we did home grow Giambi and Tejada, nonetheless in this era, they had to rely on Kotsay, Thomas, Bradley, Piazza, etc. We now have the new hope of Travis Buck to start changing that trend. What homegrown pitching though, in Harden, Street and Blanton! Beane

End of rainy Saturday morning rant two weeks into the season.

Let's Go A's!

Later,
RDB

[Nat]

Good to have you back, Rob.
I was just commenting in another thread on Walker's presence...I think he'll certainly complement Chavey well at the corner if given more playing time, certainly does have those old-school baseball fundamentals down pat.
I remember several years back we were having the 'veteran presence' arguement on Fanhome...with the pro- side pointing out LaRussa's teams were always a successful mix of homegrown youth and veteran players. Many were skeptical then but I think it's been proven young players respond better when complemented with the Walkers, Velardes, Mike Stanleys who are brought in each year off the proverbial scrap heap.
Jay Marshall...wow. I'm sure the new-car smell will wear off at some point, but he looks to be the real deal. And of course Buck making a few headlines himself.
Only guy who has me mildly concerned (besides the usual Crosby worries) is Shannon Stewart. Hopefully the guys in the clubhouse are interacting well with him and he'll find his place with them soon enough.

What will happen when DJ comes back?

[ak4na2]

i would expect a reliever to go down when dj comes back.. most likely dinardo.. does he still have options..??

[Nat]

Yea good point, it should be him...still I wonder how they will disperse playing time among the OF/1B.

[lastexit]

last thing this lineup needs is another .210 hitter.

[RobDogBucky]

Do you think Beane will package DJ and ship him down the line?

Is the jury still out on DJ?

Will Crosby be far behind? How long does the team wait to see if he can get the rust off before considering other options at SS? Honestly, it was painful to watch both he and Jeter this weekend. But at least Jeter is a major league hitter.



During a contract holdout with Oakland in the early 1990s, Henderson said, “If they want to pay me like Mike Gallego, I’ll play like Gallego.”


Go A's!

Later,
RDB

[lastexit]

Crosby has always needed a few weeks to find his swing. The trouble is he has had trouble staying healthy long enough to hit a stride. The next month will foreshadow his career.

[RobDogBucky]

Well, almost a week later and we have had the toughest competition I can recall for a first part of a season. On the road vs Felix Hernandez (I hope that his elbow gets better quick, the league needs good young talent) was a tough place to start with their having attitude about last year. Can't blame them. Our starters were brilliant up there nonetheless.

Then it was the 4 game split down in Disneyville, and admittedly those A-holes are not the same with so many injuries. Still, we faced Jared Weaver and The Lackey this week and beat them both. We just had to step up and beat them when they were down. Now, we don't see them until late in July and you know they won't be the same gimps we have been playing. I hope Kendrick and Vlad get their hands healed, again, our division needs to keep up the standards, against other teams of course.

Then last week with the Sox and the Yanks giving us all we could ever want to handle, and we now end up in 1st place. Pitching, pitching, pitching is the name of the game and that was shown to us all once again. The rest of the divisions appear to be shaking themselves out to their logical ends, with the Anaheim mash unit being the only last place team in any division that is a surprise. Looks like the Cubbies will have a hard time beating the curse at this rate, and maybe the Gigantes can swing a season over .500. Naaaaaaah.

Last night's no-no by Buerhle was excellent and he faced the minimum, picking off the only guy he let on. I predict one of our guys will throw a no-no this season. Heck, maybe it is the season of no-hitters.

A-Rod leads all with 9 dingers, the A's are at or near the top in pitching in MLB (please keep it up starters), and our lineup showed signs of life the last few days with Stewart, Crosby and Chavez and of course Walker and Scutaro making positive strides. Now if we can limit the slumps of Swish and Pizza Man and get Milton back in a reasonable amount of time, this roadie will be rewarding. Texas and Baltimore, then back here to play Seattle and Tampa Bay at the Coliseum. That is followed by a roadie to Bos, TB and KC. We should be able to make some headway over the next couple of weeks with that schedule, especially after running the gauntlet we have already been through.

Onward, through the fog!

Go A's!

Later,
RDB

[JMUplayer]

Why not go get Jonny Gomes from TB... he's under rated and the Rays have no spot for him and would love some AAA pitcher for him more than likely