As the need to impress amplifies with each start - only two weeks remain in the Cactus League and for the young pitchers this is very much an audition for the show - Vin Mazzaro takes the mound, trying to rebound from his first shaky outing last Tuesday. I would personally gauge Mazzaro as being #3 on the MAC depth chart, with Anderson having showed the polish and command to pitch in the majors now and Cahill having the edge over Mazzaro among the "great stuff, command comes and goes" twins.
Dallas Braden, back from Chippatooth Falls, is slated to pitch in relief today. Just an observation, one that may or may carry any significance: Today is March 22nd. Add five days and you get March 27th, add five more and you get April 1st, add five more and you get April 6th. Hmm.
Something to ponder while you wait for first pitch: How would you feel about Alan Embree as a starting pitcher? Not so good? The guy has a 94 MPH fastball but it's a bit straight. He doesn't have terrible control, but he is definitely prone to walking a few too many. He has a breaking ball that's effective against left-handed batters, but he's pretty much a power pitcher when you get down to it: He'll ultimately sink or swim with a good, straight-but-hard fastball as his bread and butter. Sorry, did I say Alan Embree? I meant Josh Outman. Granted, Outman throws a changeup, but to me the best available comp for Outman among major league pitchers is Embree - which may explain my reluctance to put him in the rotation.
Starting Lineups:
Buck - RF
Suzuki - C
Sweeney - CF
Holliday - LF
Ellis - DH
Barton - 1B
Crosby - 3B
Pennington - SS
Petit - 2B
Upcoming AN Events:
Saturday, April 4th: AN's first Community Service Day, followed
by the A's-Giants game!
Saturday, May 2nd: Chez Nico: BYODA (Bring Your Own Dead Animal) BBQ &
A's-Mariners game at 6:10pm. Sign-ups are coming soon -
keep an eye out!
