Remember that 17 inning marathon on June 17th when Bobby Crosby won it on a walk-off walk for the A's ninth win in a row?
Yeah, seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? That's the last time that Kirk Saarloos has pitched in a game. Now, I understand that the A's have had two days off that have made it possible to go with a four-man rotation for the time being. But the truth is that the A's have had several opportunities to use Los Kirk out of the pen and have chosen to go with someone else, like Gaudin, Sauerbeck or even Ron Flores in that same time span.
Saarloos next appearance for the A's will likely be this weekend when he matches up against Miguel Batista at the Coliseum. But my question is, if he's good enough to be the team's fifth starter over say, Brad Halsey, shouldn't the team have been making an effort to at least get him into some close games? My guess is that his most likely opportunity was going to be this past Sunday against the Giants because the A's because Loaiza has pretty much been the Gump box of chocolates so far this year. You really never know what you're going to get. But that means that they lost out on the opportunity to use him on Saturday when they lost the lead after Haren came out after five innings.
The A's might be able to get him an inning tonight, if need be, but he won't be available for much more than that with his start coming on Saturday. The thing is, most baseball folks believe that guys who throw sinkers need to be a little tired to be successful because it means that their pitchers will be down in the zone more often.
Saarloos did pitch pretty well last year after having several long layoffs, but the truth is that if there's one mistake that Macha is making this year, it's that he's sometimes thinking ahead a little too much and not just doing what the situation dictates. Saarloos probably would've been a nice option in that Saturday game, possibly taking Sauerbeck and Gaudin's place in that game. Granted, this is all hindsight, but I think it would've been good for Los Kirk to not have to go two weeks between appearances.
Los Kirk, donde esta usted?
