THE SHOULDER injury to A’s second baseman Mark Ellis not only has affected the A’s infield defense but also has had a profound impact on the batting order.

A healthy Ellis would have been batting seventh behind either Eric Karros or Scott Hatteberg. Now, rookie Bobby Crosby has been moved up to the seventh spot, a place where the rookie has some pressure to drive in runs while he gets acclimated to the big leagues.

With light-hitting Damian Miller hitting behind Crosby in the eighth hole, then utility man Marco Scutaro following, the trio went 2-for-27 in the opening series against Texas.

That’s not good for an American League offense. Looks more like the end of the Brewers lineup in the NL.

Here’s the rest of my Oakland Tribune “Batter Up” column that appeared on April 10th.

Click below!

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Seattle has been a force in the AL West over the past few years because of its excellent bullpen and stellar defense.

After watching last night’s game in Oakland, one the Mariners gave away following a dramatic four run seventh inning rally that catapulted them to a 6-4 lead, it became painfully obvious that Randy Winn is not to close to replacing Mike Cameron as a centerfielder and Rafael Soriano is nowhere near being in pitching shape for this season.

The A’s are a hungry team being carried offensively by Bobby Kielty, Eric Chavez, and Jermaine Dye.

Chad Bradford didn’t have his usual stuff last night, neither did Ricardo Rincon. Chris Hammond had a great changeup and Arthur Rhodes simply blew Seattle away for his third save.

A’s bullpen was better than Seattle’s and that turned the game when it mattered.

But the story for me was Winn and Soriano, two big parts of the Mariner puzzle.

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Yes, the season is one week old, and
most teams haven’t even gone into
their fifth starters yet, but belive me
I have seen the Angels and they
are for real.

By Amaury Pi-González [Read more →]

Fox Sports Radio’s Bay Area Correspondent George Devine, Jr. joined over 41,000 fans for a historic evening in San Diego.

Thanks George for a terrific first hand view of the opener in San Diego.
Marty

Click below for George’s story. [Read more →]

Vladimir Guerrero and company are swinging from their heels right now. They don’t come up to the plate looking to play small ball or hit the ball the other way.

They let the bats fly and are truly very scary. Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, and Darin Erstad are nice and loose right now. The key may be David Eckstein who is healthy and getting on base.

Jarrod Washburn like Steve Trachsel for the Mets last night couldn’t hold the big lead, but the Angels held on to win once the bull pen got involved, opposed to the Mets whose bull pen got rocked by Atlanta.

The Rangers have a decent bullpen as they showed yesterday against Oakland. Francisco Cordero can close and the lefty Ramirez can get the tough lefthanders out.

The Rangers are very young offensively. A different team from last year when A Rod, Palmiero, and Juan Gonzalez hit 3-4-and 5.

Blalock, Soriano, and Teixeira need to grow into their roles and they will need a full season to do it, but this team is headed in the right direction for a change.

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Marty: Yesterday was Opening Day for many of the clubs. The Dodgers opened with a game in which they had 15 hits, 5 bases on balls and two runs in an 8-2 loss. This is a club which, for some strange reason, has been picked by media observers and some baseball fans for a first place finish. The emphasis seems to be on what is perceived to be a strong pitching staff. With the addition of Bradley they may have beefed up their hitting but their pitching is likely to be the unexpected, to the media and other misguided souls, Achilles heel. Weaver in place of Brown is not encouraging.
So much for the Dodgers and on to more important things.

Click below for Ed’s initial look at the 2004 baseball season.

Thanks Ed!
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It didn’t take long for me to realize that baseball is a game of bullpens and you better have a good one.

How about Ozzie Guillen and the Chicago White Sox?

The new manager of the Sox is in for a long season.

Short reliever Cliff Politte closed the seventh and eighth for Guillen before the new manager inexplicably ran him out there for the ninth inning with a 7-3 lead.

Politte walked the first two batters in the ninth, Billy Koch added fuel to the fire, then Damaso Marte gave up two homers, the first a three run shot by Mendy Lopez tied the game 7-7, then Carlos Beltran ended it with a two run jack to win it 9-7.

Tough opening day for the Sox. The Royals will have many games like this because starter Brian Anderson got hit hard (KC pitching is suspect), but KC can smack the ball which they did in their six run ninth to win a game the Sox had in the bank.

More baseball below! [Read more →]

Now we finally can get to the real opening day. When the first pitch is thrown in Cincinnati this morning, I will feel that this baseball season is truly underway.

Growing up, I fondly remember old Crosley Field in Cincy and the ropes they used to put up in the outfield on opening day because the overflow crowd was allowed to sit on the “goat hill”, which the terraced hill in the outfield was called.

Reds outfielder Jim Greengrass hit four doubles on opening day in 1955 or so, at least two into the crowd on the hill.

Cincy always was the scene of the first pitch, that is until the comissioner decided that it was a good idea to start the season on Sunday night or in another country.

Anyway, when Cory Lidle, yes that Cory Lidle, throws his first pitch to the Cubs at 11:00 AM Pacific time, this marathon is underway.

So, what did you think of the Red Sox and Pedro last night?

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The season begins on U.S. soil tonight with the Red Sox playing the Orioles in Camden Yards.

Are the Red Sox a lock for the playoffs as Peter Gammons hopes?

Will the wild card come from the American League East?

Are the Dodgers becoming a small market operation under the direction of Paul DePodesta?

All this and more below! [Read more →]

The beauty of baseball is wrapped in the notion that somehow we can predict what will take place over the next six months in what is the greatest test for any sports team.

Who can predict injuries? Which rookies will make an impact?

Every spring each and every fan has an opinion on what will take place on the field over the course of 162 games.

Sometimes we get it right, often times we don’t.

Managers of the teams that we didn’t figure would have great seasons, usually win the manager of the year awards.

So, our predictions do have a place in the scheme of the baseball season. Predictions also give us a starting point to get the year underway.

Sort of like that first hot dog at the park. Now, you know baseball is back.

With that in mind here are a few of my picks for 2004.

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