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		Michael Duca's A's and Giants Q&A By Michael Duca April 10, 2008

	1. If Stella has got her groove back does that mean the same for Brian Sabean and the San Francisco Giants who have staged two come back from behind victories in extra innings on Tuesday and on Wednesday in the bottom of ninth to win it 1-0. It may not be comforting but does that show this team might be onto something here? Everybody wanted to see the kids play. That's all you read in the letters to the editors, all you hear on the radio. Well, when the kids play, it's gonna be erratic. They are, some of them, being force-fed into the big leagues. They are going to develop faster than we think, and they are gonna develop slower than we want. Go back and look at Greg Maddux' record, or Tom Glavine's record, in his first couple of years in the bigs. Bad teams, development, and then all of a sudden, they got great. This is how it will be around here for a couple of years, at least. There are more players down in the system who will help, eventually. Nate Schierholtz. Maybe Eddie Martinez-Esteve. Deep in the system, Nick Noonan has been described by people outside the Giants' organization as a "poor man's Chase Utley." So, rather than looking at a pair of back-to-back walkoff wins (which hadn't happened since 2004) as a projectable trend, let's just appreciate them for what they were -- a glimpse at the excitement possible on a team full of young, fast players without a superstar. Nobody to sit around and wait for -- everyone's got to do their part now. The failures will be very noticeable, but that's how kids learn. One thing is certain --- those two games were fun to watch, and people left the park buzzing about Benji Molina, about a suddenly improved bullpen (that's Bruce Bochy's calling card), and about Freddie Lewis. 2. The A's have staged a few good games of their own in the Toronto series winning on Tuesday night 9-8 and then on Wednesday night with a four run ninth inning come back 6-3. As opposed to the Cleveland series the A's look like they are getting some offense when it counts? Mark Ellis has awakened, and that puts a whole different look to the A's lineup. He's been hitting at the top of the order, but I still think that once he's grooved in his stroke, Bob Geren will have to think about putting him in an RBI spot, maybe 5th in the order. The A's have guys who will hit; I'm not too worried about that. Catching the ball, staying healthy, and pitching are bigger questions in my mind for the Athletics. 3. The Giants host the Cardinals starting on Thursday, when you get to speak with Tony LaRussa the Cards Manager about his team and coming back to Bay Area, and the Animal Shelter work he does how stimulating do you find in interviewing LaRussa when you get to? Well, Tony's an interesting guy, to say the least. If he does not know you, he will challenge you and mentally fence with you to try and learn something -- he's trained as a lawyer, after all. He knows how to evade a question with the best of them, but he can also be charmingly direct. Oddly, my best interviews with him have come by means of the telephone. I'd certainly enjoy having dinner with Tony if the occasion arose. I'd just be certain that I was the designated driver.