It's been the unlucky 13 for the Oakland Athletics in 2008.  The A's have had 13 different pitchers start at least one game for the A's this year.  You ready for this list?  Joe Blanton, Rich Harden, Justin Duchscherer, Gio Gonzalez, Kirk Saarloos, Lenny DiNardo, Chad Gaudin, Dan Meyer, Josh Outman, Sean Gallagher, Dallas Braden, Dana Eveland and Greg Smith.

Some of those guys were traded, some were injured and some didn't perform up to expectations.  Yet when I look at that list, I see several pitchers who make me excited about 2009.  Gallagher, Duchscherer, Outman, Eveland and Smith could very well be the opening day rotation for our green and gold next year.

And that doesn't even take guys like Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson into account who very well could prove to be ready by the end of spring training next year.  Gio Gonzalez could also very well bounce back and have a stellar spring training.  And Dallas Braden has probably at least put himself in the conversation with his pitching performances of late too.

Now it's probably going to take one or maybe two pitchers to possibly get a bat if that's the route Billy Beane and company want to go.  And with the A's history of having injured starting pitchers, the truth is that the team could probably use as many starting pitchers as possible. 

But it's going to make for a fascinating spring training and the good news is that even if the starting pitchers are all healthy, a few of them will be excellent additions to the bullpen.

Now that you've pretty muc h seen all the A's starters at least once this year, who do you think wind up being the starting five on opening day next year?  Course it won't matter much if Beane can't significantly improve this offense this offseason.  But I'll just pretend for a moment that our offense could somehow approach league average and therefore pretend that the starting rotation will matter.

If the A's miss out on someone great in this next draft to the Texas Rangers, I might just find Travis Buck and give him a wedgie.  I'm just kidding.  It was nice to see the A's keep up their recent hot streak by beating the Rangers in 11 innings.  At the same time, it was disappointing to see Brad Ziegler blow his second save.

I was watching this game tonight just thinking about how fantastic the A's bullpen is going to be next year.  I mean, Smith was out after five innings tonight, throwing 97 pitches over those frames, yet the A's bullpen just threw up goose egg after goose egg.  Blevins, Devine and Street did the job and while Ziggy blew the save with the bomb to Blalock, Embree and Casilla then followed up with two more scoreless innings.  It's not easy to do that in Arlington.  And just think, there is a good chance that someone like Braden will wind up in the pen as well.  If the A's could ever get a lead with the abysmal offense, they should win quite a few games.  The problem will be getting a lead.

Yet again, Travis Buck and Cliff Pennington came through.  First Pennington with a very nice opposite field double and then Buck with a splendid AB that plated Pennington.  I've got to admit that it's awesome seeing Travis Buck back.  He was a complete mystery to me as to why he struggled this year and I think the A's could become a lot better offensively in 2009 if Buck can regain his 2007 form.

I've got to admit that I didn't see what happened to Ryan Sweeney as I was caring for my daughter since my wife can't with her broken ankle.  Anyone want to fill me in on it?

So the A's are back in second place with five games left to play (the Baltimore rainout has been cancelled so the A's are playing 161 games this year).  I would say that if the team can finish in second place despite all the injuries, trades and issues this year, that would be quite an accomplishment, wouldn't you?

Diamond Dallas Braden was great tonight as he led the A's to a 2-1 win over the Costa Mesa Angels.  He needed to be as the A's offense, as is expected, could only muster a Daric Barton solo home run off of Jered Weaver and the winning run was a wild pitch that plated, of all people, Big Frank Thomas.  The only blemish on Braden's night was an opposite field bomb to Mike Napoli.

There was some discussion in the game thread as to whether or not to leave Braden in for the eighth inning because he had only given up seven hits through seven innings and no walks.  My feeling was that A's have these excellent assets in Devine and Ziggy, so why not use them and let Braden walk away knowing that he pitched well and get a confidence boost for next time?

Any way, it always feels good to beat the Angels, even if the A's are not playoff contenders.  And better yet, I like how Braden is pitching.  Yes, he's not only of the higher profile A's prospects, but he could be a fill-in guy until some of those higher profile pitchers are ready.  Course Braden didn't have to face Vlad tonight and that will weaken any lineup. 

Any victory for this team is good at this stage in the season because it shows that they aren't just rolling over, but it's especially sweet to knock down the Angels.

Oh and don't forget, I will be posting the second part of my Lew Wolff interview tomorrow morning around 7 a.m.

Dallas Braden is pitching to contact nicely.  He's gone seven innings and only given up a Mike Napoli home run.

Braden also just had a fantastic web gem.  A's up 2-1 going to the eighth.

LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!

The A's are scuffling.  No duh.  But Zack Greinke ran over the A's lineup tonight like it was, well, the A's current lineup. 

The only A's players who seemed to have any kind of chance against Greinke tonight was Suzuki, Sweeney and Gonzalez.  And don't look now, ANers, but the A's now have two .300 hitters in their lineup in Sweeney and Suzuki.  Even though Sweeney only got one hit tonight, he looked confident and had a hit taken away by old Sacramento farmhand Esteban German.  Those three players, more than anyone else in green and gold (with the obvious exception of record-setting ANer Brad Ziegler), are the ones I look forward to watching on a nightly basis.  Suzuki does a great job behind the plate calling games, but he's also fun to watch with a bat in his hand.

As for Sweeney, everything I see in him makes me think he's going to come crashing down.  His swing often looks long and sometimes looks a bit too awkward.  Still, he continues to be the guy in the lineup that I feel remarkably confident every time he steps to the plate.  Then again, I'm the guy who never thought Travis Buck would ever go into a slump because of his incredibly level swing that helped his bat remain through the zone longer than most, so what do I know.

Finally, Gonzalez is just a machine.  And he's still so young.  He pulled a pitch tonight that looked like was six-eight inches off the plate to the outside.  It takes remarkable skill to do that, especially how hard Greinke was throwing the ball tonight.  The reality is that you can't do that on a consistent basis unless you are supremely skilled.  Perhaps that double tonight off Greinke was a fluke, but I've seen Gonzalez enough now to think it most definitely wasn't.

OK, so I know I said finally, but I did want to say something about Dallas Braden.  Braden is someone the A's have been high on for quite a while.  Watching him tonight you can understand why.  He seemed to be around 90-92 on his fastball most of the night (at least according to the Royals radar gun) and his changeup was working well.  He also throws a nice slider.  Granted, Braden is not going to be a guy that dominates lineups, but he kept the A's in the game and wound up with seven strikeouts along the way.  These next few months are crucial for Braden's future with the A's.  If he's to factor in their plans he has to perform and perform well.  It's just that the A's offense didn't show up outside of the three guys I mentioned above, and that's a shame for Braden.

A's now down 4-1 because of an Alex Gordon two-run bomb.  Braden had been pitching pretty damn well up until now.

And how much do I love Carlos Gonzalez?  Way, way too much.

LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!