A’s win!! REALLY! YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!

are we improving?

but can I at least remind AN that Gallagher missed a start and was “going to be out forever as they sky fell” – then returned five days later feeling fine (his poor pitching had nothing to do with his shoulder; it had more to do with his being 22).

It’s not that shocking that after throwing 150 innings a few months following hip surgery, the hip might finally balk (luckily not in the 14th inning in Seattle). It doesn’t mean Duchscherer’s career is over or that having him in the rotation in 2009 will not be a good thing.

My bet is that if he was offered anything, it was garbage and I’d rather have nothing than garbage because if you have nothing, you don’t have to worry about how to get rid of the garbage,

he was going to be unavailable for at least two games and that left the A’s literally without a long reliever – and with a rotation that includes a pair of 22 year olds, and four rookies, you can’t assume that you won’t need a long reliever.

are you suggesting they had duke fake an injury so they could DL him, or that duke was already injured but they had him pitch 2 2/3 innings anyways?

you think that’s more likely than calling up saarloos because dan meyer pitched 3 of the last 4 games?

It could be that Duchscherer had some doubts about his readiness so Saarloos was called up for a possible emergency start/ long relief stint. Meyer just pitched Sunday so he wouldn’t be available tonight. If Duchscherer is okay and Saarloos isn’t needed right away, there’s no harm done. Meyer didn’t do anything to cement a spot on the Oakland roster. If Duchscherer is hurt, Saarloos can step in and Meyer can be recalled. Seems okay to me — if that’s what happened.

so we can see him a bit in less than two weeks.

Can you believe the September call-ups are almost here already? Sheesh.

didn’t help me the last time I was tested for Herpes.

Anyone know whether it was getting swinging strikes outside the zone (less likely to translate to MLB) or actually pounding the zone (which just means he needs to be FITZ in the bigs)?

we’re done here

Well played.

…2006

I was at the game and went home happy under a big moon. Now this evening I am happy with the win in Minn, plus thank you, Nico for the Lansford pitching good news.

actively causes it to stop.

but “tried to push through it”. It’s unbelievable that players/teams would be so irresponsible in regards to their own health and well-being.

they moan about that. Sounds like you were going to be unhappy either way – either when Duke went down (even if it’s for only 1-2 starts) or when he was dealt for less talent than you thought GMs “should be willing to offer in return” for him.

I can only imagine how you’d feel about the Duke return because Harden is younger and is better when healthy.

Dan Meyer, who was somehow able to convince the "brain"trust that it was no big deal he was throwing 85 MPH instead of 93 MPH. That same year, the A’s also let Loaiza throw 10 MPH slower than usual and didn’t shut him down until he had gotten lit up for weeks.

(BTW, I don’t think I can take credit for the observation you reference – I think that was said by someone else and I, like many others, agreed it was likely but not certain one way or the other.)

I think young guys like Gallagher, Meyer, A.Brown, Buck, Sweeney, and others play hurt because of the FEAR of never seeing the Major Leagues again.

Guys like Foulke, Duke, Gaudin, Street, and M. Sweeney play “injured” because they’ve done it before, and for the FEAR of losing their current jobs – Whether it be as a Starting Pitcher or as a Veteran Baseball Player, these guys are pushing themselves so they can be financially secure or Professionally Secure.

Every baseball player plays w/ Injuries. Sometimes you never hear about them (Ellis shoulder hurt?), and sometimes the injuries become more severe. But since Beane isn’t giving out Contract Extensions, you see guys pushing themselves. I mean, how many times did this website give Harden crap about not Pitching through the pain? Luckily for him, Harden was secured w/ a Long-Term Deal so he could pull himself w/o hesititation. But most of the guys on this team, Day-In / Day-Out, are playing for their Careers.

And he just hasn’t told anybody yet.