The A's take two out of three from Baltimore, winning one last night on offense and solid pitching. They won tonight with solid pitching and timely offense.
Here are my thoughts:
- Scutaro went to winter ball this season working on being more patient because that's what Billy Beane is looking for. The A's scored four runs in the eighth because Scoot took that walk. Well that and the bone-headed Jay Gibbons play. Not sure I've ever seen a player cutoff a throw from the pitcher to first.
- How nice is it to have the bullpen we have now? It's only three games, but the bullpen has given up exactly four hits, two walks and six strikeouts over eight innings. More importantly, they have given up no runs. And we haven't even seen Juan Cruz yet.
Rincon - two innings, one hit, no walks
Calero - three innings, one hit, one walk, four strikeouts
Street - one inning, one hit, one walk, one strikeout
Dotel - one inning, no hits, one strikeout
Duchscherer - one inning, one hit
It's still too early to make any long-term judgments, but it feels like we're long past the days of Jim Mecir and Arthur Rhodes. They also did it against a great hitting lineup, so you can't completely write this off. It's nice to not reach for the Maalox every time Macha reaches for that bullpen phone.
- Danny Haren came as advertised. Three hits, three walks in six innings, but also six strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA. He also worked out of some tough jams.
- Byrnes murders left-handed pitching and should almost always be in the second or third spot in the lineup against lefties.
- Mark Kotsay deserves so much more recognition than he gets. The man has great at-bats almost every time. Not only that, but he plays gold-glove quality defense constantly. Sooner or later, people are going to realize that the A's have one of the best players in baseball hitting leadoff for them. He's picked up right where he left off last season.
- 2-1 right now and winning their first series. That's all you can ask for throughout the season.
