One of the downsides of a rebuilding season is that occasionally a player will be put in the majors before they're ready, especially when you have a series of serious injuries.  Gio Gonzalez seems to be a victim of this.  He's still only 22 years old (he'll be 23 years old in 11 days).  I don't really think his stuff is bad, I think it's just a matter of him having a tough time hitting the zone and when he finally does, it's in predictable fastball counts where a hitter can tee off on his 91-92 MPH fastball.  He should probably get pulled from the rotation before he gets ruined mentally.  Course you have to expect a lineup like the Tigers to be itching to face someone like Gio.  He's a lefty, struggling to hit the zone and when he does, it tends to be centered.

Josh Outman followed and didn't fair much better.  He gave up three runs in less than three innings.  He does look like he has a pretty good fastball, but the Detroit announcers kept commenting on how straight it was.  Speaking of Detroit announcers, I love it when folks from larger markets continually rag on the A's.  I mean, Dude, all the Pizza, Pizza money in the world isn't going to get you into the playoffs this year.  Who cares if you have guys like Sheffield, Ordonez and Polanco in the lineup if you aren't going to come anywhere near the postseason?  I really wish Major League Baseball would get with the 21st Century and give us the option to watch the A's broadcasts.  After 143 games, I'm pretty tired of hearing all the chumps calling games for other teams.  The A's TV team isn't the best one in the majors, but they aren't revolting like so many others out there.

The A's actually outhit the Tigers 13-12 but A's pitching wound up giving up a lot of extra base hits as well as walking five batters and hitting three.  It's just one of those games where the A's offense actually showed up but the pitching wasn't in sync.  

It's weird because I can honestly say that outside of these last two years with the A's, I can't remember going through a whole lot of losing seasons with my favorite teams.  The New Jersey Devils have been very good for a long, long time.  The A's have been very, very good for a long time.  It really makes one appreciate those good times and long for them.  Remember the days of Giambi and Dye in the middle of the order and Hudson, Mulder and Zito going every three out of five days?  I'm going to appreciate this so much more when the team finally takes that jump forward again.  It's nights like this with Gio that make you realize that it might be longer away than I think.

By the way, check in with fellow A's fan saint over at Silver and Black Pride tonight.  The Raiders open up the season and with JaMarcus Russell and Darren McFadden, you never know if the Raiders could be bound for a good year this year.  I'm no Al Davis fan, but the silver and black are somewhat interesting in 2008 because of those two young talents.

I've settled in to watch my own personal baseball marathon today.  I've watched the Tigers and Royals battle to a 4-4 tie in the eighth inning.  I look at the Detroit lineup and it's just absolutely frightening.  Ordonez, Sheffield, Pudge, Cabrera, Guillen AND then you add A's killer Placido Polanco in that mix?  Holy mackerel, is there any wonder I picked them for my World Series champs 2008?

I'm also flipping back and forth between that game and the Cubs/Brewers game on ESPN2 and Fukudome wound up with a long double on the very first pitch he saw from Ben Sheets.  Cubs fans have completely and totally embraced the idea of Fukudome as many of them have Japanese headbands on in the outfield.

I love opening day.  Especially when their is a ton of rain and cold for the East Coat games.  As a matter of fact, the Cubs and Brewers just went to a second rain delay.  It just reminds me why I love the West Coast so very much.  There's no wonder why it costs so damn much to live here.

I also just saw Chris Young take former Athletic Aaron "Big Show" Harang into the upper deck in Cincinnati right now.  And former Athletic Eric Byrnes just followed up with a monster home run of his own.

Any way, I did want to mention one thing.  Rob Neyer recently released a book called "Rob Neyer's Big Book of Baseball Legends".  It basically deals with all kinds of myths and legends surrounding baseball.  The biggest and most famous one is the Babe Ruth "called shot" in the 1932 World Series against the Cubs.  But Neyer actually has collected a ton more myths and legends that I'd never even heard of.  One of my favorites from the book is when Tommy Lasorda was pitching and supposedly asked God for help when he was in the minors pitching for the Montreal Royals (and subsequently supposedly got a triple play).  I guess I mostly enjoyed it because I think Lasorda is totally full of hot air and I like someone showing people that the emperor has no clothes.  Yes, Lasorda got a triple play induced, but it wasn't late in game like Lasorda claimed and the bases weren't loaded.  And who knows if he really paused to "talk to God"?

Any way, it also debunks a myth that Rube Waddell hit a foul ball against Boston that supposedly caused a bean factory to basically explode and rain beans down on the Boston crowd in the bleachers.  It turns out that the person who wrote that piece was actually a humorist, but somehow the story got told throughout the years as though it really happened.  I figure people just really love a great yarn that they'll carry on something even if it's completely fiction.  As for the Babe Ruth called shot, well, you'll just have to pick up the book.  But it isn't really conclusive what really happened.  This is one of those instances where it's basically you can believe what you want to believe.

And lastly, one thing that I wanted to remind AN is that we've purposely created FanShots so that you can write something short and sweet, or put up a poll or a photo or video or something that doesn't take a lot of work.  FanPosts are reserved for people who want to write something lengthy and in depth.  So try and keep that in mind when posting something.  Thanks.

Only about 29 hours or so until the A's make their 2008 debut at the Coliseum.  I can't wait.