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A's commentary
By George Devine Sr. May 27, 2009 |
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OAKLAND--No the A's aren't the 1927 New York Yankees by any stretch of the imagination but you know what back in those days they had 18 teams in one division called the American League today we have four teams in one division called the Western Division. The A's are now 8.5 games out of first in the division, the Angels, the Mariners, and the Rangers have all taken turns leading the division. The Rangers happen to be leading right now by four over the Angels but that can change as the A's still have a lot of games in the division and the season is still quite young. As far as the pitching staff is concerned I hope that they're not going to get hurt, Joey Devine is out for the season, Jason Isringhausen has been hurt in the different places he's played over the years including in Oakland and Justin Duchscherer has now done the same thing as a current Athletic. Devine is hurt and was hurt for awhile when he was with Atlanta and he's hurt now as an Athletic some of these guys just take a freak injury then there out for a little while and then some are out for a long while. Right now with the A's of course are thinking about Devine and their thinking about Duchscherer but even with that there have been some moments of brillance.Josh Outman has looked good lately Dallas Braden has looked good lately these guys need to find their rhythm. On the offensive side when you talk about injuries third baseman Eric Chavez has publicly apologized in effect to General Manager Billy Beane saying "I'm sorry I put you in this position by getting hurt." What the heck Eric it's not your fault, you got hurt but I know he feels bad because he wants to achieve and in the meantime we've seen guys step up look at Adam Kennedy the A's second baseman who set a record for an new A's acqusition for the most hits 27 in 15 games. Kennedy's coming on the Athletics is a unknown quantity especially if he's coming up from the Tampa Bay Rays minor league system in a deal to come to Oakland and how much film is there to study especially if you compare how much film there is on Giambi and Matt Holliday. Holliday is a different player from what he was when he was with the Rockies. He's not playing in the National League he's not playing against N.L. pitching and he's certainly not playing at Coors Field. So he's got to hit his stride with Oakland and he will but he hasn't yet. Giambi is making adjustments and he'll contribute to the team this season and I'm not sure if he'll contribute more in the clubhouse as mentor or more with his bat but all he has to do is have a few strategic clutch hits and that'll make a difference in a few games. So the strength of the A's over the years has been their youth and when you walk into that clubhouse it's like a bunch of college kids with a "we can do it" attitude and they're all slapping each other on the back. You don't have any divas you don't have any loners. Even a veteran like Jason Giambi does not come in there as a celebrity he's one of the guys and he helps the younger players and it's wonderful. Look at Detroit right now they're .568 in the A.L. East, they're three games ahead of Kansas City in a tough central division so losing to Detroit is not a shame. It's a disappointment but it's not a shame. That's a different division too. George Devine Sr covers A's baseball for Sportstalk Radio on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays |
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