A's thoughts

It's been an interesting couple of days when the A's play the Jays, not at the bay, but on a day where they pay to say away to D-J...I'll stop now.

1) Chad Gaudin is on his way back, but he's not there yet. He had flashes of great form--striking out Rios, Wells, and Thomas on identical great sliders was great to watch, but seeing Aaron Hill punt that same slider over the left field fence was bad. Wells took him yard too for 3 runs in the first as he struggled early. After the first few innings, he at least knew what he was doing. He looked like he threw his pitches in the appropriate counts, and his out-pitch slider was in command. He did throw a couple juicy ones, but thankfully AJ Burnett did the same.
SUPER BONUS SECTION: Man, AJ Burnett is one mean looking fellow. He reminds me of John Gruden, the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former coach of the Raiders. When Lyle Overbay (1st baseman for the Jays) took a putout unassisted instead of flipping it to Burnett, I thought someone's face was going to get bitten off. Remind me not to cross him.
2) The Rotation is going down...fast. Harden skipped a start and is now doubtful for Sunday. Duchscherer is on the 15 day disabled list. Greg Smith performed rather well today, and it's probably good enough to keep him in the Duke's spot for now. If Harden goes down, the A's will probably go with Dallas Braden or Lenny DiNardo to replace him. Braden has a bit more upside, and could use work getting his changeup working against Major League Hitters. DiNardo is a bit more established, but the A's are fearful of his second half, when the entire League figured him out and his ERA skyrocketed. I'm not too worried about Duke--he wasn't a key piece of the rotation and the A's have arms in AA that can at least provide a positive VORP alternative, but Harden worries me. The A's really need Harden to at least provide 25 starts to stand a chance, and this is pretty early to already be suffering stiffness.
3) The Bats are picking up, although its the same ones. Sweeney and Suzuki have looked outstanding lately, and I'm pleased with them as well as Mark Ellis. Travis Buck has remembered how to put em where they aint, and the recent trend of extra base hits puts me a bit more at ease. Jack Cust is still in a funk, and he's a key provider of pop in this lineup, but we can expect him to be a bit streaky as part of his nature.
4) The Bullpen excites me more and more with every day. Huston Street settled in, recording two no-home-run saves in a row. Foulke looks like he's returned to form, and will dual with Embree for a Righty/Lefty combo of setup men. Combining those three with Santiago Casilla and Andrew Brown whom I have full confidence in as well as Fernando Hernandez who looked solid today gives me a lot of confidence if our starters can give six quality innings.

On another note, the Giants have taken two dramatic games in a row, and Jonathan Sanchez was 7/13/77 of New York on the mound today. They're close, but these heart pounding games are the kind of wins that will be typical para Los Gigantes. If the Giants are going to win games consistently this season, it will be through good pitching, good defense, and a lot of clutch plays in the big moments (Nice work, Freddy).