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		Michael Duca on A's and Giants By Michael Duca April 12, 2010

	Sportstalk: A's second baseman Adam Rosales looks like he won himself some game time he had a good series against the Angels on Sunday going 2-3, with one run and four RBIs and manager Bob Geren likes what he sees in his hitting ability so much that he took out Willy Taveras who was on a $4 million salary but is not with the team any more. Talk about what impact that Rosales has meant to the A's lineup? I'm really not sure what they plan to do here. Mark Ellis is their starting second baseman; Kouzmanoff has third locked up, and Cliff Pennington is their shortstop of the future, until they can't afford him any longer. It makes you wonder, when you consider they ate $4 million on Taveras, if they are planning to shop Ellis around near the trade deadline. Of course, Ellis has had some trouble staying healthy in the past couple of years, so maybe the thinking is just that they have a major-league quality replacement ready. Time will tell how this one plays out; it's hard to guess what the logic and thinking are in this case. Sportstalk: The A's had a schedule switch in Seattle for Monday night's Mariners home opener some were confused by the announced 7:05PM start but it was switched to a day game with very little fanfare. Let's get your take on that one and also the A's are taking no prisoners with their sixth win in eight games now 6-2? They play the games; as a player, your job is simply to show up and participate, whatever the start time is. 45,876 people managed to get to the park despite the time change; Randy Johnson was there to throw out the first pitch. Apparently, only the Mariner's offense failed to receive the memo on the new starting time. As for that 6-2 record, it's very early in the season to go off half-cocked on something like this; however, that being said, it's certainly a lot nicer to see them at 6-2 than at 2-6, and I'm pretty sure Billy Beane would not argue with me on that point. There's 154 more games left . . . Sportstalk: Barry Bonds returned to Pac Bell Park for the 20th anniversary reunion of the 2000 Giants and the 10th anniversary of the park. It was a day that former Giant and teammate Marvin Bernard admitted steroid use on the 2002 team. Is it about time that Bonds own up and tell what he really did on that 2002 team and what Greg Anderson's role was if anything it seemed like Bonds, Bernard and steroids was the theme for Sunday's game rather than the game? I'm not here to talk about the past. And, I'm not going to say whether it's time for someone to "own up and tell what he really did" --- I think Bonds' position on this is that he already HAS owned up and told what he did. As for Marvin Benard, this was the very first time ANY reporter has had access to him since his name surfaced in the Mitchell Report -- and, if what he "owned up and told" was accurate, it's a cautionary tale about assuming things based on a mention in a report. Benard said his involvement, while "stupid", was based around trying to heal faster from injuries and in no way occurred before he signed his $11 million contract, so all those people who assumed this meant they were defrauded on the $11 million were not only wrong, they were utterly wrong -- he was trying to get back into the 2002 lineup, and the case can be made that he was trying to "earn" his high salary that year. Sunday's game had plenty of story lines already, and those people who think Sunday was about Benard and Bonds and steroids are living in the past and obsessed in a way that prevents them from enjoying a well-played game Sunday.