See what happens when you let Evil Don write the headlines?
So let’s see, loss, loss, win. Loss, loss…well not exactly the pattern we want the A’s to stick with all year long, but it will sure come in handy today.
With the A’s sputtering out of the gate, and the Rangers threatening to wrap up the division before Memorial Day, this might be the earliest must-win situation in baseball history. More than a victory, perhaps, is the need for a clean effort. The A’s have been sloppy in areas where we assumed sloppy did not exist, except on those rare occasions. Right now it’s a rare occasion when a play is made without incident.
Meanwhile the natives are either in full panic mode or living off clichés (it’s early…if this five-game stretch happened in June, no one would notice…blah, blah, bleeping, blah). I happen to reside somewhere in between.
Truth be told the A’s are right where they deserve to be. Even in their lone win, they caught a few breaks and certainly didn’t look like world beaters, save for the young man on the mound that day. So they’ve done one thing right: they’ve eliminated the false sense of security that comes from winning ugly.
Are the A’s pressing? Did being tabbed this year's Giants create expectaions too lofty for their own good? Remember this is a team that has pretty much flown under the radar since Bob Geren took over in 2007. Speaking of Geren, even if his moves thus far haven't been horrible (as Nico suggests), is he finally on the hot seat? Right or wrong, managers are often the fall guys when their team is performing poorly. Or is this just your typical five-game stinker that inevitably plagues even the best of teams- cough*Red Sox*cough- over the long haul, and the A’s decided to get theirs out of the way early?
Or- perish the thought- is this team simply not as good as advertised?
Whatever the case, I am certain that they would have preferred not to have so many questions tossed their way during the first week of the season.
How to avoid that? Well for starters, a win would be nice.
And for that they turn to Opening Day starter Trevor Cahill, who kind of sucked the last time he pitched north of the border. Here’s hoping for a better performance, all around. Thread to follow.
