baltimore series 04/23 - 04/24..

[ak4na2]

the a's starters have been absolutely unreal.. the bullpen is floundering now for a bit.. but i am not too concerned about it.. fortunate today with some baserunning blunders..

swisher seems to be locked in which would only help the offense.. and he looks to be having a little fun as usual.. caught the end of the a's postgame and it looked like he wrote on a baseball "the official scorer felt sorry for you.." and handed it to danny putnam to congradulate him on his first hit.. =)

dallas braden is called up and will make his first major league start.. lets see if he can continue the pace the a's starters have paved out..

[Nat]

Yea they definitely got lucky last night.....Kiko's been struggling ever since last year, so I'm not sure it's a fluke. It was a fun game to watch tho, unnerving and all.
But having Harden and Milton on the DL

[RobDogBucky]

Nat;

It is not Calero that is messing up. He has actually been pretty good since the first week when I agree he messed up.

It most recently has been Duke (something is wrong with him, maybe came back too quick and is not fully healed) and Embree (first pitch outa here last night to Huff), who has been touched up a lot in the last week. Street has not had his control where he wants it either. Look for Duke to go on the DL and for Embree to not be used so much. Other teams have scouts, and when Embree is reported to throw a first pitch fastball for a strike to every batter he faces, it is not too hard to guess right.

I am as distressed as anyone about risking any of these fine starts by our pitchers, but if it ain't the pen it's the bats. At least Piazza and Swisher and Crosby seem to be getting it together at the plate, as well as Stewart. Contrast all of those with our kvetching of one week ago. I look for a steady curve of wins upward as our injuries get better, as the weather warms, and as our lineup starts hitting more on all cylinders.

Don't worry about Harden and Milton, as they both will be back within 10 days. Harden will only miss two turns. Keep the faith, this is a part of the schedule where the A's could get by with lesser starting pitching and now that the bats seem to be warming up, hopefully we will score enough that any lead will be big enough to withstand a couple of runs given up by the pen in the process.

What is the word on the Halo injuries to Guererro and Kendrick?

Gotta love those quick 2-game series out east. We will have both games in the books in the time it takes to say "what the heck is wrong with Gameday?"

Go A's!

Later,
RDB

[RobDogBucky]

Well, welcome to Gameday refry here. The display no longer shows speed/break, etc. of pitches, and it has no listings for HRs or RBIs by the batter, but it does tell us that it is 85 degrees today at Camden Yards, with a 10MPH wind left to right.

In the top of the first, the A's have a little rally going, with Swisher on third (single and to second on wild pitch) and Chavez on first with one out and Piazza up. Quick bulletin, Swisher taken out of game while at third, replaced by Scutaro. Oh, boy, here come more injuries. Piazza reaches on an error, Scutaro scores, Chavez to third, Piazza on first. 1-0, A's with one out. Walker up to bat, hits sac fly to left, Scutaro scores, 2-0, A's, with 2 out and Crosby up. He singles, with Piazza going to second. Ellis up. Coaches to the mound for conference. A's are starting to score runs at last, and we need to get this win in the books and find out how badly Swisher is hurting. My bet is that hammy he was grabbing. Ellis grounds out to end the 1st, A's lead 2-0. Am going to ge lunch now.

[RobDogBucky]

Well, the O's got on the board in the bottom of the second after a Huff triple and a sac fly to get him in. After 2 complete, A's 2, O's 1.

Scutaro starts off the inning with a 3-pitch strikeout, making it easy on O's pitcher Guthrie. Scoot is in right field and Putnam moved over to center. Chavez flies out to left, Piazza up with 2 out, nobody on base. Flies out to right, 1,2,3 inning for Guthrie and after 2 1/2 innings, still A's 2, O's 1.

Our best friend, Corey Patterson will lead off for the O's. I still have the residual of a knot in stomach from last night's 9th inning adventures, wherein Patterson, Mora and Tejada collectively allowed the A's to eek out the win. Grounds out to second, one out, Castillo the catcher is up. He used to briefly be in the A's organization, or so Fosse said yesterday about him. He strikes out after fouling off several from Braden, 2 outs, top of the order in Roberts at bat. C'mon Braden, shut them down. Roberts also fouling off a lot of pitches here. Finally strikes out swinging. Alright Braden, but can you do that with fewer pitches?

A's 2, O's 1, after 3 full.

[RobDogBucky]

Walker grounds out to open the top of the 4th, Crosby up with 1 out. He strikes out. Ellis up with no one on base, 2 outs. And after Ellis meekly pops out to the catcher, it is still A's 2, O's 1 after 3 1/2 innings.

Mora makes the first out with a fly to right, Markakis then strikes out meekly, and brings up Miguel, who takes the first 3 pitches! 2-1 on Miggy, who after taking 3 straight pitches (stop the presses), doubles down the left field line. 2 out, man on 2nd, Huff to the plate. He gets Huff to ground out to short. Inning over, Miggy stranded on 2nd.

After 4 complete, A's 2, O's 1.

[RobDogBucky]

Kendall singles to open top of 5th, Putnam up. 3 pickoff attempts on Kendall at 1st during this at bat. 7-pitch at bat for Putnam, 3-2 now, Kendall getting a workout at 1st base. 8 pitches, foul ball, runner going, everyone does it over again. Ball 4, Putnam at 1st, Kendall at 2nd, 0 outs and Stewart up to bat with 2 on and no one out. Let's go Shannon, make him pay. Stewart strikes out, making it 1 out, 2 on, with Scutaro up to bat. GIDP to end the inning and the threat of 2 on, no one out. Rally dead on arrival.

To the bottom of the 5th, A's 2, O's 1.

[RobDogBucky]

Well, the site got me on that one. I had the whole 2-run inning input and when I had to re-register I forgot to cut and paste to save before logging back in on the front page. Oh, well, A's ground out 2 runs, by being gritty and having a good eye at the plate.

Gotta leave for a while now, lunch is over. Will check back in with a summary for anyone interested. Braden is still pitching a 2-hit, 1-run game so far. Not bad, not bad at all. The excellent starting pitching continues for this team.

Later,
RDB

[RobDogBucky]

Well, they did it, they won this game.

After looking shaky and allowing another run, the pen came in with Wit, Duke, Marshall and finally Street to shut down the O's in the 8th and 9th. A's win, 4-2.

Who will the A's call up? At least Buck came into today's game in the last inning to spell Scoot in right field. Johnson up? Bocachica or Hererra up?

[Nat]

Putnam = the new Greek god of walks

[GreenMachine]

Go A's!