Pretty simple formula, really. When you need runs, Daric Barton drives a double to the wall somewhere -- maybe an RBI double left-center in the 1st, a two-run double to the RF corner in the 2nd, and an RBI double to right-center in the 7th -- and the rest is left to Trevor Cahill, to scatter two hits over 7.2IP and strike out a career high 10.
Why didn't we think of this sooner?
Kurt Suzuki, who had been popping everything up for a week, chimed in by popping one over the left-center field wall for the only run not driven in by Barton. If Suzuki hits another one someday, the A's will actually have a player in double-digits in HRs.
Sorry, I got carried away.
Cahill looked great, and I don't just mean the throwback jerseys. He got most of his strikeouts on offspeed pitches, baffling the Pirates with both his changeup and new-found curve -- except when he was freezing left-handed batters with the two-seam fastball. Cahill is now 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA, making Ken and Vince's talk tonight about a possible all-star selection far from fetched. Not bad for a guy who didn't quite make the 5-man rotation out of spring training.
And Bobby Crosby is 0-7 in the series. Plus ça change, Ed, plus ça change.
