A’s take game two from rival Angels, 6-4

Man I love having “the bouncer” back in the lineup. He makes me wanna scream, “you’re my boy blue!”

Tonight, although a nail-biter for Major League virgin pitcher Trevor Cahill and some of us fans, showcased what the A’s are capable of offensively and defensively.

Cust will drop some little league fly balls and cost the A’s runs, while the remaining Oakland defense will mostly do what’s expected of a major-league club.

Garciaparra tonight gets my praise, as he dug up some difficult in-betweener’s from Erik Chavez and Orlando Cabrera.  Also, I’m swallowing my words (for now) from yesterday but not digesting them until I can see some consistency from Garciaparra at first, but tonight he really was big for the A’s.

I won’t waste any time on the Cust in right field drama, we all know too well by now, but I will say this, he got one more than he gave up, so that’s a plus. The remaining offense was great tonight, 16 hits! Nice 2009 coming out parties for Giambi, Cust, and Sweeney, all with three hits, while Gaciaparra and Ellis had two apiece.

Young Trevor Cahill had to be feeling it tonight, facing the division rival Angels, a huge stage, bigger expectations, and a bunch of family and friends all watching. Considering all of that, he did pretty well. He will have to be more consistent though, to stay up, but he held his own going five, walking five, and giving up five hits, while serving up three runs (two of them earned).

Oh, and I forgot to mention, Matt Holiday was absent.

Nice job without their stud.

Until tomorrow, go green and gold!

Going into the season, most of us knew the A’s rotation would make or break the season, but how many projected out a four-man lefty rotation? This is either an extremely temporary situation or Billy Beane is showcasing some young talent for a proven veteran, at least I hope.

Believing in the 21-year-old’s (Cahill, Anderson) is already asking a lot, but four lefty’s, most without much experience is asking too much.

So that’s why I say Billy Bean is up to something, as he is every year.

The A’s have a ton of depth -even after Cahill and Anderson- in the pitching department so why not package one of the two and a couple of minor-leaguer’s with promise for a proven Big-league talent, say Jake Peavy? The A’s could afford to lose one of the two, if it meant receiving a player of Peavy’s caliber. The money I know would be an issue but the A’s will be off the hook next season for a considerable amount after Crosby, Cabrera, Holliday (most likely), and possibly more. This move would continue in the philosophy of Billy Beane of building for the future while staying competitive, as it will also (other than the money) provide the young pitchers, a stable ace to provide leadership. This move would not inhibit their future too much and it would provide a much needed lift in the pitching department for this year’s pennant race.

So is a move such as this, farfetched or is it something that needs to be done? From an A’s fan point of view I can’t see the young pitching withstand the length and adversity in which a Major League season brings.

The West will come down to pitching as it always has, and right now, with all the pitching injuries, the division is up for grabs.

After seeing the A’s and their possible opening-day roster, it looks like their lacking two vital components: Chemistry and pitching experience (obvious).

As most A’s teams in the past, chemistry and some timely pitching and hitting is what has driven this team for the past decade if not longer, and this will come eventually. Pitching, however, I’m not so sure of. After watching Trevor Cahill escape inning after inning on Friday against the lowly Padres, and then eventually getting tagged for a inevitable long ball, I have to say I’m worried. Aside from what many think, Cahill is in the running for that final spot in the rotation. If not for some very good defensive plays by Orlando Cabrera, and Erik Chavez, he might have surrendered a bunch more runs and left an inning early. His problem is that he gets behind the count on almost every batter, and when it’s time to finish the guy off, he loses control about 50 percent of the time. If he could someone get this problem fixed, there’s no doubt he could provide the A’s a good outing more times than not.

Brett Anderson looks more controlled and might have already taken the fourth spot. As a commenter pointed out, it would be nice to see the A’s start this guy (and Cahill for that matter) in the minors in order to retain him for an extra year before the dreaded free agency time comes around, but this guy seems ready.

Orlando Cabrera is looking like he’s going to be real fun to watch this season, on defense and offensively. He was making some plays at short look effortless. Seeing all these new guys in the green and gold was fantastic and it looks like we can have fairly high expectations for the offense.

The chemistry will be there in a couple of weeks and when this team clicks, no other team can really counter it, the offense will be raking!

Did anyone catch the lineup on Friday? Holliday batting fourth? Not to brag but I do remember someone predicting him in that spot We’ll see if it last’s.

The A’s today sent Vin Mazzaro to minor league camp, after two not so good appearances where he gave up 10 runs in his last 4 1/3 innings.

The rotation is still up in the air with prospects Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Josh Outman, and non-roster Edgar Gonzalez still very much in the running.

Who wins the final two spots is up to anyone, it seems every week one leapfrogs another, or until one explodes as Mazzaro did. I’m taking bets, anyone have a projected rotation? Anyone dare to make a guarantee?

I will give my predictions after I see the group later this week instead of making educated guesses, but ultimatley, it could come down to early spring favorites, Outman and Gonzalez.

Billy Beane is a mastermind we all know, yet an unlikely off season has people questioning his strategy, “Yeah they have a new offense but their pitching is a question mark.” So does Beane have an answer to those skeptics? Cue Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson.

We all know the A’s pitching depth in the minor leagues is stacked, full of prospects but when and how will the A’s promote burgeoning stars, Cahill and Anderson? The A’s will need the two pitchers (at some point) in the rotation in order to win this year.

The two top prospects will continue to show their stuff this spring but how will their first taste of the Major Leagues come about? Is there a wrong way to promote a young pitcher? The A’s will need replacements at some time this year due to injury of course (it seems inevitable with their injury history) but who will get the first call and why?

Those are alto of questions to answer in one post so I’ll tackle one or two and let the rest of you take the rest.

In a perfect scenario, the two prospects would emerge onto the big-league scene together successfully, but that’s unlikely. So I’ll say that of the two, Trevor Cahill gets the first nod, and soon after the season starts. Here’s where the trickery comes in. The promotion won’t be injury related. The A’s will need everything they can get out of many of their pitchers in order to compete this year because the current rotation will not sustain the length of a 162 game season. It wont be consistent enough to withstand the adversity of major league hitting so the A’s must constantly rotate the rotation, switching things up, up and down from Sacramento they go…(River Cats) well you now the rest. I’ll continue.

With Cahill’s stuff, he could come up quick and dominate. The league will not know what hit them and it will take a while to get used to Cahill’s stuff, and in the meantime, the A’s could bring up Brett Anderson.

More trickery, Love it!

Yet another unseen stud, further confusing the league’s hitters. If Oakland can effectively alternate pitchers, the A’s could put something spectacular together, at least until the league acquaints itself. Do they have a chance without these pitchers? I don’t know. Oakland has many other prospects as ready as-or more primed-than Anderson and Cahill but these two will ultimately be the “wild card” of the season, with game-changing stuff.

Leave me any intriguing or “regular” ideas to the success of the 2009 Oakland A’s. Leave the boring stuff at the door.