You bastard! Sorry for the South Park reference, but Mr. Rogers is quite frustrating. Wow, that pitcher is a pop culture gold mine.
Any way, it isn't a huge surprise that Rogers made the A's offense look pitiful. It's been well-documented that Rogers roasts the A's regularly. But the Blanton development is more disturbing. After his dominant start in Seattle, Blanton has been as hittable as Loaiza. The Tigers tagged him for 10 hits and he's given up 14 runs over the past 10 1/3 innings. His strikeouts to walks in his first three starts have gone from 6/1, 4/2 down to 3/3 tonight. I'm officially worried. Yes, the Tigers offense is good, but it is cause for concern. The A's finally got a good start from Loaiza, but Blanton put on his Esteban costume tonight.
As for the A's offense, it is looking so very reminiscent of 2005 right now. Outside of Big Hurt's bomb, it did little to make A's fans feel good. Yes, Mark Ellis got on the board late and Jason Kendall hit one that made it to the wall for the first time since 1997, but the offense needs to pick it up. It doesn't get any easier with Bonderman looming large.
Thankfully, the AL West is kind of resembling the NL West circa 2005 right now and all of the teams have kind of stumbled out of the gate. But for some fans, myself included, that can make it all the more frustrating because the team has had a chance to take an early lead. Also mercifully, the A's don't have to see Kenny Rogers again until July. Be happy that guy is out of the division.
The A's have Zito going to the mound tomorrow and perhaps it's time for good Barry to show up. Keep your fingers crossed.
One quick note, I switched around some of the sidebar boxes to try and make AN more manageable. I moved the exclusives and audio clips down below the news feeds on the lefthand side. Thanks to xbx for the excellent suggestion and I hope this makes it easier to navigate.
