DLD 8/11/06--Liver, Fava Beans, and Chianti

Since Apricot thinks that letting me start the link dump is like is like letting Jeffrey Dahmer pick the cafeteria menu....

Isn't it great to wake up with a 3.5 game lead?   The Angels got blown out in Cleveland, and suffered a big scare when rookie pitcher and resident A's killer Ervin Santana (1.88 ERA in 43 career IP against the green and gold) was struck on the inside of the knee by a line drive in the first inning.  The worst was feared, but nothing was broken, and Santana is day-to-day:

"It was very bad," Santana said. "I thought it was broken or something. I told Mike I wanted to stay in, but he said, 'No, no, you're done.' It was hit too hard. Tomorrow I know it will hurt, but that's OK. I'll be ready for my next start."

Scioscia wasn't as sure.

"It hit about as square as a ball can hit someone," he said. "There's no structural damage. It's a deep bruise. It could have been worse, but it still could be bad. We're optimistic, but won't know for a couple days."

Leave it to Scioscia to figure out a way to turn the situation into an argument.

Kind of a slow news day, otherwise.  Miggy is sorry for flipping fans in Toronto the bird.  Did Blue Jay fans get more vocal when I wasn't looking?  What he did seems akin to flipping off everyone in the library because you can't find the proper citation for your research paper.

Susan Slusser has a nice writeup on Dan Johnson in the Chronicle today.  Seems like it didn't take much to get him back on track:

It didn't take much to get Johnson going again. Brian McArn, the Sacramento hitting coach, has worked with Johnson for five years, and Johnson said that McArn immediately spotted the problems with his swing.

"He knows me forward and back, and he said, 'What are you doing?' " Johnson said. "We worked on my hand position, and legs and head position, and it was unbelievable. He put my hands back where they had been, opened up my stance. Then we did some old drills I used to do for a day and a half, and I felt like I was back where I needed to be."

Seems like maybe it would have been cheaper and more effective to send McArn up for a day-and-a-half, rather than have DJ languish in the minors until the rosters expand, but I guess that's why they don't pay me the big bucks.  Instead, DJ gets to have his ego served up with liver beans and a nice chianti:

Johnson is ready to come back, though. He was still with Sacramento last week for "Dan Johnson Bobblehead Night" and that was not fun -- the bobbleheads are issued for former Sacramento players who have moved on to the big leagues.

"Having to play in your own bobblehead game is terrible," said Johnson, who was the Pacific Coast League player of the year in 2004. "I might be the first one ever to have to do that."

Johnson also had to spend his birthday in the minors; he turned 27 on Thursday.

Good news for those of you coming to the Coliseum this weekend--NO TARPS!.  They need to come off for the beginning of Raider football.  This should soften the bad news, which is that centerfield should look like the parking lot at a Grateful Dead concert for the rest of the season:

On Thursday morning at 7 a.m., the A's will begin the long and labor-intensive task of taking down the 53 tarps that cover the third deck, because the Raiders play exhibition games on Aug. 20 and Aug. 25. The process will require a crew of 25, working eight- to nine-hour shifts, two days to remove the tarps, which weigh between 100 and 150 pounds. With so much manpower, the effort is expected be costly, although David Rinetti, the director of stadium operations, does not yet have an estimate.

Finally, Daniel Brown of the Merc has a long article on the resurgence of Frank Thomas.  In case you weren't aware, Frank likes to swing a 36 in, 64 oz. piece of rebar in lieu of a bat in the on-deck circle:

Before his only career at-bat, on June 29, A's reliever Ron Flores saw a gnarled metal rod lying in the on-deck circle. As he tried to pick it up, Flores quickly realized he was overmatched.

``My rotator cuff can only take so much,'' Flores said.

Outfielder Nick Swisher, a tad braver, went so far as to swing it once. ``And right away I said, `What am I doing? I'm going to hurt myself.' ''

Tonight will mark the return of Scott Kazmir (10-7, 3.36ERA) from the disabled list, as he and the Devil Rays square off against Dan Haren (9-9, 3.67ERA) and your Oakland Athletics at the Coliseum.  Kazmir is a linchpin of my world-beating fantasy team (named Holy Toledo!), so I'm quite familiar with him.  He sometimes tends to struggle with command and walk guys, so let's hope the layoff isn't good for him.

Keep on dumpin'!  Just don't let it get too kRaZeE...