The First Home Stand

It is time to recap the Athletics first home stand of the season.  There were numerous positives to take away from all the games and the number one in my book was the pitching.  All the starters for the Athletics looked strong and there were some surprise performances that I was really happy to see.  Harden and Duscherer were question marks for me going in to the season but they both looked really strong.  Eveland was another extremely pleasant surprise coming out of spring training and Saturday he did not disappoint.  I would like to issue Eveland a warm hearty welcome to the Athletics because he rocked on Saturday! Trading Haren, banking on a constantly hurt pitcher, and moving a bullpen member to the rotation all worried me but Eveland calmed my pitching nerves with his first performance.  He allowed one run over seven innings and the Athletics ended up winning six to one.  Eveland shut the Indians down for six straight innings and this was only his seventh start in the majors! (Holy Cow sports fans!)   Blanton whom I will now refer to as "Bad Luck Blanton" has honestly the worst luck of any current pitcher I know.  He could easily be a 20 game winner per year but he gets the least amount of run support out of all the Athletics starters.  Today he was the unfortunate recipient of a botched play at first by Daric Barton who could not turn the double play and of a lack of runs.  The Athletics gave Blanton just one run in today's game and all of last year he went something in the ballpark of 30 starts with three or fewer runs. He stands at 0-2 currently but has pitched far better than his numbers would suggest.  

However there are concerns currently plaguing the Athletics and I am getting nervous of a repeat from last year.  Duke (as he is affectionately known) left the game early Friday with a shoulder problem and had a scheduled MRI for the next day.  This made me nervous given the Athletics injury prone season last year (we do not need a repeat of the agony of injuries) and Donnie Murphy had to leave the game early the day after Duke.  Murphy is the third baseman that is currently filling in for an injured Chavez (On the DL. Disabled List not Down Low), and he collided with Cust Saturday resulting in Murphy leaving the game early.  He received a sprained middle finger from the collision which makes me say "Marco Scuttaro anyone?" (Yes Beane this is directed at you.  Don't trade guys we need and fans love.) So slowly I fear the injury curse is seeping back onto the team. 

It turns out Duke has a strained right bicep tendeon.  OH NO! He will most likely miss one start (lets hope that's all) and DiNardo or Gaudin will fill in for Duke. The story can be found here: http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080406&content_id=2499504&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

The catcher Suzuki has the longest hitting streak in baseball right now and is looking extremely good.  He has big  shoes to fill (Jason Kendall's shoes) but I really like what I see from him so far in the season.  He is a bright spot in the lineup however Buck is a dark spot. He has had trouble at the plate lately and his first hit of the season has been rather elusive.  I thought Buck did a great job last year and am reminded of Eric Byrnse when I see him.  I hope he is able to find the elusive first few hits and have a good first half.  We'll see. For now I am off to pry to the Baseball Gods that the injuries go away and stay away.