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Whither the Athletics?
By George Devine, Sr. June 14, 2009 |
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The A’s are off until Tuesday, and it will be a time to reflect and regroup. Sunday marked the end of an interleague series in San Francisco which resulted in a 3-0 sweep for the Giants, leaving Oakland 8 games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West. This is because the Rangers, also playing an NL team, had the decency to drop two against the Los Angeles Dodgers……the Athletics’ next opponent. Baseball has a long season, and some of the predictions made two months and more ago are coming home to roost: The Giants have shown that their rotation is a force to be reckoned with, as they shut down the Elephants with Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson and Matt Cain. Eric Chavez is scheduled for yet another back surgery, and can effectively be counted out for 2009, if not longer. The A’s continue their third consecutive season at the top of the list of teams utilizing the disabled list. (Some good news there: Nomar Garciaparra just came back on Friday night and Travis Buck has been reinstated and optioned.) Although baseball revenues are down generally in a poor economy, Oakland is last in the AL for attendance, and the projection is for 25% off the glory years in the early part of the decade. The Cisco Field project in Fremont is dead and there is no prospect of a new home for the A’s, who must share the Coliseum with the Raiders for the foreseeable future while the Giants draw much better – and at higher admission prices – in a still-spiffy ball park across San Francisco Bay. Rumors of trades swirl around the outfield, centering on Matt Holliday who was Oakland’s big drawing card as the season began. During the first game of the series at AT&T Park, Vin Mazzaro’s streak of scoreless innings ended at 18. Oakland fans are becoming restless, understandably, even with their storied devotion to the lovable underdogs in green and gold. But how can the team exit the doldrums? What the A’s need right now is to keep going, make no trades, and gear up for another spurt or two, like the 7-game winning streak that is still fresh in their memories, replete with home runs by Holliday and Jack Cust, sharp fielding and hitting such as demonstrated by Bobby Crosby and Adam Kennedy, at-the-fence catches like those of Ryan Sweeney, and stellar pitching like that exhibited by starters and relievers alike. But it will all need to happen with consistency, akin to that shown by the Giants over the past weekend. |
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