Two distinctly different weekends for the Bay Area teams.

The A’s came back to earth in Anaheim falling to the Tunder Stix, the rally monkey, and a good veteran line up that punished the A’s pitching.

One only has to look at the ERA’s of the big three to see why the team is in a four game funk. Tim Hudson 4.74, Mark Mulder 6.55, Barry Zito 4.50 and even Ted Lilly 3.95.

The Dodger – Giant games were close affairs. Last night the Giants prolonged the game with outstanding defense and pitching long enough to get LA’s malcontent reliever Andy Ashby in the game in the 12th inning. The taciturn Ashby blew the game for LA by his fourteenth pitch.

More on him later but there is a lot of baseball to catch up on, click below.Teams will go through two weeks of not playing top notch baseball. When the A’s do that for four days fans get jumpy about what’s wrong with the team. The A’s are built on solid pitching, timely hitting, and a decent closer. Other aspects of their game are still developing, meaning growing up as players and realizing that the season is a grind and one must grind out wins every day. One cannot sit back on one’s laurels and just throw the gloves out there and expect to win.

The key players on the A’s are still young in terms of major league service, in fact only one will be in his sixth year of continuous service with the team and that is Miguel Tejada. Eric Chavez and the rest still need to learn what it is to concentrate on every at bat in every game.

The A’s don’t bunt to get on, don’t steal bases to fuel rallies, and don’t hit and run to make something happen. Sure, occassionally they will do those things when things are going their way, but the small ball that you see in the NL is not their game.

They aren’t hitting with any authority so they cannot overcome these recent pitching failures. This will change shortly. The pitchers will straighten out and the walks and homers will come, especially against teams that are undermanned, like the weak hitting Seattle Mariners.

At some point Erubiel Durazo should be given a shot to hit in the fourth spot. I said it last week. One of two things will happen. Either Chavez gets hot and justifies hitting in the clean up spot or Chavez continues to struggle and Durazo keeps getting on base, thereby forcing the move dropping Chavez to fifth and jumping Durazo to fourth.

There is no rush because the pitching is good enough to carry the team, but in the long run the line up may be stronger with a more mature patient slugger in the four spot.

The A’s bench is not much help as well. Eric Byrnes, Adam Piatt, Ron Gant, Mark Johnson, and Frank Menechino don’t produce on a regular basis when called upon.

As Ken Macha says, “Stay the course”, he is correct. Just wait for the strength of the team to take hold, seven solid innings from the starters and a few timely hits from the big boys and all will be well.

Meanwhile, Andy Ashby is moaning and groaning about his role as bull pen pitcher on the LA staff. Ashby usually in good spirits was in a dark mood all weekend in SF. I saw it personally in the clubhouse. He was asked to warm up in the fifth inning of last night’s game when it was obvious Kevin Brown wasn’t going to last past the fifth. Ashby heated up, but didn’t get the call when Brown was removed.

After six scoreless innings from the sixth through the twelfth inning, Ashby was summoned once again as the last man available in the LA pen. After facing four batters, Ashby got to go back to the warmth of the clubhouse with his second bull pen loss of the year. The Dodgers would be better off without this selfish loser as they try to have a successful season. Ashby doesn’t want to be in the pen and makes no bones about it.

Frankly, Ashby is fortunate to still be cashing a big league pay check.

Meanwhile, now that you know my feelings about Andy Ashby, the Giants may be deluding themselves with their 11-1 start. Their starters just don’t go deep enough into the game. This is a problem which may last all season and eventually wear the staff down. Jason Schmidt threw 118 pitches in six innings, he does this too often. Kirk Reuter has a history of pitching six or maybe seven innings. Damian Moss, Kurt Ainsworth, and Jesse Foppert (who has yet to make a start) are young and inexperienced pitchers.

There is no guarantee that this will change as the summer wears on.

The Giants are playing 1970’s baseball, moving runners by bunting, bunting for hits, stealing bases, and getting production from JT Snow while they wait for Barry to start raking.

Can they play a whole season this way and be successful? Maybe, but Edgardo Alfonzo, Rich Aurilia, and Jose Cruz need to have career type years to get it done. So far, the little ball is working at home and on the road against the Brewers and Padres, but I’m not convinced that their pitching and offense justifies the rampant optimism that is sweeping the Bay Area.

The Dodgers have many offensive deficiencies right now. Only Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca are big time hitters, the team’s lack of potent offense puts pressure on those two every game.

Should be interesting to watch the progress of KC lefty Jeremy Affeldt who has been described to me by major league scouts as having a curve ball more powerful than Barry Zito’s.

Ismael Valdes got rocked by the A’s in his last start and faces Kevin Appier who was accused of doctoring the baseball in his last outing in Seattle. Appier is at the stage of his career when this typically takes place (loading up the ball) so with the eyes of Texas upon him let’s see what he does tonight.

Joe Borowski got his third save for the Cubs. It may be a blessing that Antonio Alfonseca is on the DL for Chicago because this Detroit reject has three saves and an ERA of 0.00.

The Marlins have the arms. Today AJ Burnett goes against the Phillies overweight pitcher Vincente Padilla.The righty Padilla looks more like 65 year old Jim Fregosi than the in shape all star that he was last year.

The Phillies remind me of the Angels of 2002. They can hit, will hit, and will win the East this season.

Mark Prior goes against the Reds and home run machine Jimmy Anderson. Prior’s first two starts were spectacular and this game is not in the home run haven in Cincinnati, so the Cubs win, the Cubs win!

The Giants used a lot of pitchers last night. Damian Moss needs to go seven tonight. I think it is more likely we see the major league debut of Jesse Foppert tonight at Pac Bell around the fifth inning.

Anyone notice Cal Eldred has given the Cards some quality innings out of the pen since being torched in his first couple of appearances, Tony La Russa’s patience with the former Brewer and White Sox may pay off.

Jeremy Giambi is hitting about .090 for the Red Sox, somehow I think Jeremy’s non slide against the Yankees in the 2001 ALDS, will be the last thing he is remembered for in his big league career.

Patience is a virtue and Art Howe has it, I’m sure, with Armando Benitez who blew another game yesterday. Art has been there before and will let Benitez work his way back.

Greg Maddux pitched six strong innings against the Fish in Miami Sunday. I’m sure Bobby Cox feels better about his ace, but that Brave defense is very poor especially in the infield. Cox must cringe every time Robert Fick touches the ball.

Ricardo Rodriguez can throw the pelota for Cleveland. He angered the Royals when he celebrated after punching out Michael Tucker in a key situation Sunday, but he backed it up by going seven innings and lowering his ERA to 1.35.

Another good start for Texas and John Thomson and another bad start for Mark Hendrickson in Toronto who isn’t throwing smoothly.

Sophomore jinx? Eric Hinske is now up to .162.

Derek Lowe pitched a whale of a game even if it was against Baltimore.

Jaret Wright won Sunday in relief for San Diego. He is throwing easily and looks like an effective reliever right now. Remember he is only 27 and is coming back from arm trouble.

Week three begins and more questions will come up and few answers will be found, but we are reading the 2003 book every day.

If the playoffs started today Kansas City, Montreal, and Houston would be in, not bad for week three of the story.