it can’t be underestimated that the A’s offense actually gave him some breathing room. I’m glad that Geren let him at least start the seventh inning.

Breslow has been pitching just about every day, hasn’t he?

but I think I caught most of the key parts (Cust’s smoked jack and Holliday’s near-granny, Mazzaro’s working loose from the jams and then settling in like an old pro)…. what most impressed me was the pickoff to Kennedy, who called that? I felt in the moment like it was AK, talk about helping a kid out, that was just what the doctor ordered and may have been the play that cast the die of this game — if it doesn’t happen or he’s jittery and throws it into center we might be having a different conversation about the recap right now.

What is this dippy pitch that has all this down movement? He got it working real nice, he was throwing it from the outset but it took til the 2nd time through the order and then for some reason — maybe he was able to elevate it just a little bit so they no longer could resist — he started buzzing through them with it. They are hackers too, Konerko, Dye, Thome (I think he’s a shoo-in HoFer at this point. no?), it’s not like VM was shutting down some scrub offense. I joked to my pals here that he had such great stuff & movement that if he had been making his debut for the White Sox, he’d have no-hit us!

Anyway, the play that ended the game really makes it seem like Kennedy and Cabrera are making a champion effort at The Most Ridiculous Put-out Ever Made At Second Base, maybe they should be called the Keystone Kops but at least this “roll it” play makes for highlight reel entertainment, which we’ll take from this team which often shows its potential as the best cure for insomnia out there. Something I noticed at the start was that when Mazzaro came back in the dugout after warming up, they were all over him, just patting him on the head and yakking at him and really actively energy-engaged… that was a good sign and I really really hope it’s a sign of things to come in general.

OK, I gotta go back to the studio & then after that I think we are gonna make a “roll it” play of our own on some of this MK Sour Diesel ;-]

And if Maz can be effective, it means the A’s could give a few of the young pitchers some much needed rest whenever they don’t need a 5th starter. As much as I enjoy watching them all right now, I really don’t want to see them overworked this year.

On a side note why send down Kameron down when Cassilla and Rajai both suck. We should keep our good players in the bigs and send the crap, (sorry Santi but you are pitching like crap right now) down.

The ball jumps out of his hand and is on the hitter quickly, which is an important part of a fastball that you don’t see on the radar gun. His slider was actually quite good at times, his command so-so (totally expected for a debut). Overall I was impressed.

I see Anderson being the best of the bunch, now and later, Mazzaro coming along next, and Cahill being the roughest (he really has mechanical / release point / repeat delivery issues to work out). Cahill should be better in the long run than Mazzaro, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Mazzaro outperform Cahill overall for a while. His mechanics are just smoother and he usually knows where the ball is going.

link

i also heard a rumor Obama was throwing out the first pitch of a Giants game

Good, smooth delivery, and a decent idea of where the pitch was going to end up. In these times of dire straits, I’m pretty pleased with that. I’m also pleased with a solid W, and a shutout at that.

I’m not completely comfortable going all that in-depth because I was distracted by trying to dispose of a rat living in my house using the following tools: fingerless gloves, plastic bags covering the fingerless gloves, sunglasses, a handkerchief covering my mouth, and pepper spray.

Results thus far are inconclusive.

Great win, though.

Was he dominant? No. Was he steady? After the first inning, yeah, pretty much.

Did he show guts and a level head when being squeezed in the strike zone and when in a tight spot? Oh yeah!!! That’s what impressed me the most.

Saying win with a German accent sounds like Vin. I’ll take that. Anyone down to go 70-42 over the next 112 games? If not, and we have to compete with the Natinals for worst in the Bigs, please don’t register www.athleticsnatin.com. I don’t think anyone would enjoy that.