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		Michael Duca on A's and Giants By Michael Duca July 10, 2010

	Sportstalk: All the talk has been about Washington's Stephen Strasburg with all the coverage on him you would think he would be doing a powder toss before ball games himself. Strasburg beat the Giants after struggling a little bit in that first inning on Friday night but came back with the win. In watching him is he all the hype that he's lived up to be or is he just a rookie just trying to feel his oats? He's very, very good. That having been said, so were a lot of other rookies -- Todd Van Poppel, Mark Prior and others come to mind. Durability is the key issue here - and whether or not he will be as effective when he's touching 92 regularly instead of 99. Let's give him time, and let's hope the Nats bring him along slowly so he lasts a lot longer than Prior did. Sportstalk: Pablo Sandoval has taken a dip in his batting average is the concern hear that he's being scouted better, is he hurting turning on the ball, or is his weight still an issue? Pablo is hitting quite well left-handed, and rather quite poorly right-handed. That needs to be worked out, and might get worked out by making him the left-handed hitter they need in the lineup -- or not. He's not taking his plate troubles to the field with him; he's been exemplary out there. The offense is worrisome, though. I, personally, think this is a watershed for him -- if he decides this simply isn't sufficient, and really loses and keeps off 25 pounds this off-season, I think he'll be a different player next year, quicker to the ball. He's clearly working on strike-zone knowledge, he's taking more pitches this year, but not yet seeing the kind of payoff from that he'd like. Sportstalk: Money Ball is set for production, the story of A's owner and General Manager Billy Beane being played by Brad Pitt. Beane has played off the hype and is more worried about this current A's team which is struggling rather than beaming about the 2002 A's and other A's teams that got to the playoffs on a shoe string budget. Where is Billy's head in all of this, is he consulting in the production and who will play the part of our own Jeremy Harness in the film? How would I know these things? I don't have my SAG card, so I can't respond to the casting calls that seek people with experience as sportswriters and official scorers -- I don't think any of those people have SAG cards -- so they will probably fill those roles with people who haven't the slightest idea what we actually do up there. Come to think of it, most of us haven't the slightest idea, either. Jeremy Harness can only be played by the late Ernie Kovacs. Good luck with that.