Cindi now writes the headlines. For at least two batters, today's game was way cool. Finally put in the #2 spot AN has lobbied for all season, Jack Cust hit the first pitch he saw into the RF seats to give the A's a 1-0 lead against Matt Cain. Cust would hit the second pitch he saw to the wall for a double in the 3rd inning; unfortunately it would be the A's last hit.
Meanwhile, for the young pitchers this weekend it was kind of like Bobby Crosby going back on a pop-up yelling, "I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! I got it! You get it!!!" Any coach's mantra with young pitchers is "throw strikes!" and yet for the second day in a row the A's failed to turn the Giants hitters' aggressiveness against them. The Giants are last in the league in walks partly due to their offense depending heavily on talented hackers Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval and today, after the Giants had tied it 1-1, Anderson tried to sneak an inside fastball past Sandoval and had a while - as the ball was sailing into the LF bleachers - to ponder the wisdom of throwing such a pitch. That made it 3-1 Giants after an inning.
Then in the 3rd, with two on, Anderson once again came inside, this time to Nate Schierholtz. Lefties have had a lot of success against Anderson (.350 BAA), and my take on it is that while Anderson has often pitched effectively inside to right-handed hitters, he often does not get the ball in far enough to lefties. Such was the case with Schierholtz, who hit one high, deep, and off the wall in RF, for what turned into a 3-run inside-the-park homerun, 6-1 Giants, rout on.
Speaking of pitching inside, opposing hitters have had awfully good swings against the A's lately on pitches inside and I cannot recall a single instance where an Oakland pitcher has brushed back an opposing hitter. Just pointing it out - perhaps hitters are too comfortable against A's pitchers?
Meanwhile, doctors will soon be performing a microdiscectomy on Eric Chavez, trying to locate the A's team batting average. The A's scored 3 runs in the series in 25 IP against the Giants' starters, with two scoreless innings thrown in by the SF bullpen. Lovely.
