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The nightmare continues for the A's
By Charlie O. Mallonee August 10, 2008 |
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Facing a starting pitcher with a 6.11 ERA should have been just what the doctor ordered for the ailing Oakland A’s. Instead, the A’s helped Detroit LHP Nate Robertson lower his ERA to 5.84 and avoid a trip to the minors! The A’s are now 3-19 since the All-Star Break and finished the ten game road trip 1-9. The loss dropped the A’s to 54-63 for the season and 20 games back of the LA Angels. What about the Wild Card you ask … “forget ‘bout it”! It was the same old situation for the A’s on Sunday. The team cannot score. The Tigers downed the A’s 6-1. Catcher Kurt Suzuki’s day summarizes the problem. Suzuki has one of the better batting averages for catchers in the majors at .286. On Sunday, he made the third out with runners in scoring position three times. Before the All-Star Break, Suzuki may well have picked up two or three RBI in the same situations. The starting pitching is no longer able to carry the team as it did before the break. A’s starter, Greg Smith (5-11), went only 4.2 innings on Sunday due to seven walks and just two strike outs. Manger Bob Geren brought Huston Street into the game. Street closed out the fifth inning by striking out Gary Sheffield. Street took the mound in the sixth inning and promptly gave up 3 runs (all earned) on three hits and two walks. It does not appear that Street will be back in the closer’s role anytime soon. Geren used two additional pitchers in the game – Joey Devine and Jerry Blevins. Devine gave up no runs and no hits while striking out three Tiger hitters. Blevins gave up two runs in one inning of work and was involved in an ugly play in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Tigers’ Ryan Raburn faced Blevins in the eighth with Polanco on first and two out. Raburn hit a fly to left that fooled Emil Brown and landed in front of the fence. Brown hit the cut-off man Crosby whose throw home was off-line. Polanco scored and the ball slipped away from Suzuki. Blevins was backing up at home, picked up the ball and side-armed it to third. The ball sailed into leftfield allowing Raburn to score. The official scorer issued two errors on the play – one each to Crosby and Blevins. The A’s managed just six hits off the Tigers’ starter Robertson. "You come into the road trip and you see Boston, Toronto and Detroit, you know it's going to be a tough trip. Obviously, this was tougher than that," said Geren after the game. The A’s have the day off on Monday. Up Next The road of sorrows just gets tougher for the A’s as they come home for a six game home stand. Up first is a three game series with the AL East Division leading Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays will send LHP Scott Kazmir (8-5,3.20) to the mound versus newcomer LHP Gio Gonzalez (0-1,6.00) in the Tuesday night opening game. The Rays have RHP Andy Sonnanstine (11-6,4.40) scheduled to start game two and RHP James Shields (10-7,3.65) to start Wednesday’s Business Person Special. The A’s have yet to name their starters for games two and three. The pressure on the A’s will continue following the Tampa Bay series as the AL Central Division leading Chicago White Sox will come to Oakland for a three game weekend series. This Day in A’s History On August 10, 1972, the A’s completed a 19-inning game with the Chicago by defeating the Sox 5-3. The game was suspended after 17 innings and completed on August 10th. The game ended when Joe Rudi hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 19th. Charlie O. Mallonee reports on baseball, motorsports and whatever else he feels like covering for Sports Radio Service. You can contact him at raydeoman@gmail.com |
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