Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Big Hurt Plays Small Ball by Rick Kaplan


Rick Kaplan
Staff Writer

OAKLAND (June 6) – Oakland is 9-14 in one-run games (games decided by one run) in 2006.

The A’s have had difficulty scoring thus far, and in holding leads when they do.

Knowing this, Frank Thomas, of all people, “manufactured” the Oakland Athletics’ first run on Sunday against the Minnesota Twins.

Leading off the bottom of the second, Thomas lined a ball into the left field corner. Hustling out of the box, even if in slow motion, the Big Hurt surprised everyone at the Oakland Coliseum, including Twins’ leftfielder Lew Ford, when he set off on a gingerly jog to second base, arriving a hair before the ball.

Then, in a relative burst of speed, Thomas scored from second without as much as a throw from right field on Bobby Crosby’s line single.

Click below for more!Ultimately, the A’s won going away, 5-1, but the way the first three games of the series had gone, with the Twins winning 2-1 on Friday night, and the A’s returning the 2-1 favor on Saturday afternoon, it looked like one run could again be pivotal.

And that’s why the daring Thomas “ran” the bases.

Hopefully, the reoccurrence of soreness in his left foot, which caused him to leave the game in a precautionary move before his next at-bat, won’t keep the A’s hottest hitter out of the line-up as they begin and eastern swing on Tuesday night in Cleveland.

Thomas has recently started to look very much like the two-time American League MVP and first-ballot Hall of Fame player that A’s fans hoped they would see this summer. He seems to get more menacing with every at-bat. Frankly, this column didn’t expect this level of intimidation, the kind of raw fear that A’s fans shuddered with over the years when the White Sox came to town with Big Hurt batting clean-up.

Now, rather than hoping to see his name missing from the Chisox line-up, we hope OUR slugger is OK.

At the same time, Eric Chavez, having easily his best season as an Athletic and finally emerging as the kind of impact player and leader he was always expected to be, seems very uncomfortable at the plate since injuring his hand last week. He is still managing to produce, but is swatting everything to the opposite field.

In spite of these momentary setbacks, however, something tells me that the A’s are not going to be on the short end of as many one-run games as they have been thus far in 2006.

Their bodies and their bats are starting to get healthy.

Suddenly, Chavez and his early season partner in run production, Nick Swisher, aren’t doing it all by themselves.

It’s not only Thomas who is starting to hit. Dan Johnson has starting waiting for his pitch and driving the ball to the fence recently, although, for the moment, someone always seems to be there to corral his long drives. Bobby Crosby and Jay Payton are now making good contact and getting big hits.

Though Mark Ellis will be out another month, even the long-slumping Marco Scutaro, who had three hits on Sunday and has had some long fly-outs and line drives caught recently, is bouncing back from his hitting woes.

Adam Melhuse is finally going to get more playing time, and the mercurial Milton Bradley (Big Game) is about to once again add hustle and production to the line-up.

Until very recently, the A’s offense hasn’t impressed anyone, and this is understandable in view of their team batting average being the second lowest in the American League.

But this team is going to begin to score a lot of runs.

And they are going to give up far fewer. The addition of a thus-far solid southpaw Brad Halsey and a rapidly emerging Chad Gaudin to a bullpen, when finally healthy, which will include Kiko Calero, Justin Duchscherer, lefty Joe Kennedy, and closer Huston Street, means that the Athletics’American League rivals won’t be seeing as much of Randy Keisler, Steve Karsay, and Ron Flores.

The revival of the A’s bats and healing of their pen means that those one-run games are going to start to have a different outcome, and the A’s are going to be in a position to climb into first place.

And Frank Thomas won’t even have to take the extra base!

Eric Chavez is right when he says that, due to all the injuries, nobody really knows how good the A’s are.

But I think we are going to find out soon.

Five Teams to Watch in MLB

How knowledgeable can someone be about who are the best teams in all of MLB when solely relying on some free tickets to the Coliseum, box scores, MLB.com stats, a few nightly minutes of Baseball Tonight, and reading about what other observers think? I am about to test this hypothesis, as I do in almost every column I write, in totally unscientifically picking five teams who might surprise the experts. Remember, too, that the Wild Card has been regularly providing World Series champions in recent years, and these are the kinds of teams that could fit that role very nicely.

1. BLUE JAYS. While the Yankees and Red Sox maul each other, Jays could even win the AL East. Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball. He just has to avoid being hit by line drives. If the Jays got A.J. Burnett back, they would go from a team to watch to the favorite to win it all, in my opinion. Who is Casey Janssen, by the way, with his 3.6 ERA and where did they get him? A lot depends on Ted Lilly pitching up to the level he showed in his last month with the A’s in 2003. A really bad infield defensively, but with their hitting it doesn’t matter.

2. GIANTS. As little as I like to admit it, this ancient team has potential. They have the requisite three or four credible starters (Schmidt, Lowry, Cain, and maybe Wright), a closer with ability, even though questionable of heart, Benitez, and they now have Moises Alou, who can make Barry scary and dominant again. Find someone to replace Matt Morris and you really might have something, Ed.

3. ANGELS. How can the experts dismiss a team that has this much pitching? When Colon gets back, watch out. John Lackey, probably the best number two in all of baseball, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar, whichever Weaver is throwing well (probably the kid brother, Jared) and a still-solid bullpen anchored by KRod (What is wrong with J.C. Romero, by the way?). This team just plays baseball the right way, and once they get going won’t give games away (except against the A’s).

4. INDIANS. The starters, who are going to pitch better than they have (then again, maybe a 5.00 ERA is good enough in today’s game?), really tail off after Sabathia, Westbrook, and Lee, although Paul Byrd somehow manages to win big league games with no stuff. And the same goes for Bob Wickman, their closer. But this is a really electric line-up, and the Indians are going to find some consistency with their young players soon.

5. ATHLETICS. I really believe that a healthy Oakland club is the most balanced team in MLB I (I didn’t say the best necessarily). There is hitting, tremendous starting pitching, defense, a deep bench, and a strong bullpen. Again, when, and IF, healthy. Other teams must be drooling over Zito plus the new big three – Harden, Haren, and Blanton – and if the A’s brain trust would forget about Loaiza and install Saarloos in his rightful spot in the rotation, it would be a Big Four plus Zito (who could be gone by the July 31 trade deadline).

All of my “teams to watch” have good front line starting pitching and a credible bullpen. That’s just one reason why I don’t think some of the more conventional choices – such as the vastly over-rated Cardinals, or the Astros, with Brad Lidge’s ineffectiveness, or the Braves, or the now-fashionable Diamondbacks and Dodgers, are going to go very far. For example, once you get past Chris Carpenter, who has been hurt, the Cardinal starters, including Mark Mulder, are very mediocre and hittable. This shallowness seems to be the case with the Braves also, with Hudson, who has real trouble getting through the rigors of a season, and John Thompsen, following Smoltz in the rotation. And are Miguel Batista, Russ Ortiz and Juan Cruz really going to help Brandon Webb bring a title back to the desert? Incidentally, although I’m not necessarily picking the winners, I think the Mets look very strong if Pedro holds up.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 06.07.06 at 11:36 pm }

Rick: I am not nearly as optimistic about the Giants as you are. I like the “ancient players”, a really classy bunch. I am not sold on the closer. I am of the opinion that Barry is washed up, physically damaged beyond repair and a detriment to the club. The jury is still out, as far as I am concerned ,on Wright. Metheny is a very important part of the team and if his injury is not quickly resolved they will be in trouble. Having said that, I think there is enough high-class talent to give them a chance to play a while in October. By the way, Halladay is a fine pitcher but he has some real competition for “best pitcher” from Schmidt. The ninth inning last night was the finest bit of clutch pitching I have seen in a long time.

Ed

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