2005 Random A's Ramblings

[Providence A's]

Sorry, here is the link

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

The Oakland A's today placed shortstop Bobby Crosby on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to August 28 with a fractured left ankle. To take his spot on the roster the A's have recalled infielder Keith Ginter from Sacramento.
Crosby injured the ankle last Saturday at Baltimore in a collision with Orioles catcher Sal Fasano. He was batting .286 with nine home runs and 38 RBI in 77 games with the A's. This is Crosby's second stint on the disabled list this year as he was previously on the DL from April 5 to May 30 with stress fractures in his ninth and 10th ribs. Crosby's rib injury also occurred in Baltimore on Opening Day. The A's were 17-32 and were 12½ games behind Los Angeles in the American League West when Crosby was activated from the DL on May 30 and have gone 58-24 since then to take a two-game lead in the West.

Fracture left ankle.

[browntown653]

Should be interesting to see how they do without him again.

[Providence A's]

According to ESPN:

The A's pitching staff has allowed four runs or fewer in 25 of the last 29 games

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

The Oakland A's today recalled right-handed pitcher Juan Cruz and outfielder Matt Watson from Triple-A Sacramento and selected catcher Alberto Castillo from Sacramento. To clear a spot for Castillo on the 40-man roster, the A's transferred Erubiel Durazo to the 60-day disabled list.
Cruz was on the A's Opening Day roster but went 0-2 with an 8.49 ERA in 21 relief appearances before he was optioned to Sacramento on June 17. He was inserted into the River Cats starting rotation and went 5-1 with a 2.40 ERA in 13 starts. Cruz struck out 90 and walked just 28 while allowing four home runs in 75.0 innings. He allowed a .192 (51 for 266) opponents batting average, including .184 (9 for 49) with runners in scoring position.

Watson joins the A's for the fourth time this year as he was previously with the A's from May 14 to 25, June 9 to 14 and August 14 to 18. He is batting .139 with no home runs and three RBI in 13 games with Oakland this year. Watson hit .315 with 17 home runs and 81 RBI in 113 games with Sacramento. He was leading the River Cats in batting and RBI at the time of his recall and ranked second in runs (82), hits (132), home runs and walks (67).

Cruz could be a big help with Harden being out, Watson gives us some extra depth, and Castillo gives us a 3rd catcher, which will allow us to get Melhuse some more ABs.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

After Mark Kotsay received an epidural injection in hopes of relieving his recurring back spasms Wednesday, manager Ken Macha hoped the outfielder would be well enough to play as soon as Thursday. Instead, the time frame has been pushed back to Monday at the earliest.
"Today is the first day that I've been able to walk normal and get up and down out of a chair," said Kotsay before Friday's game against the Yankees.

"There isn't any kind of realistic time frame," added the eight-year veteran. "A back is a back -- it dictates when it will get better."

Heopfully, he comes back soon...we've done ok without him, but we need our injured guys back.

[A's Baby Girl]

Crap...that extension isn't looking all that great right about now...this looks like recurring back trouble.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

Depending on how the next seven days go, Rich Harden could make his next start a week from Monday.
The A's young standout has not appeared in a game since Aug. 19, when he blanked the Royals through 6 1/3 innings to improve his record to 10-5 this year. The reason for his absence is a strained right lat muscle, an injury that was confirmed Wednesday with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.

While the test confirmed what was already believed by A's head trainer Larry Davis, it also secretly benefited Harden by requiring him to rest.

Hopefully, he comes back soon

[Providence A's]

Now Zito may be hurt.

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

The last thing the A's need is another of their stars slowed by an injury, but that's what they have in the wake of Barry Zito's shortest outing since early April.
Zito gave up six runs on nine hits over 3 1/3 innings Sunday as the A's fell a game behind the first-place Angels in the American League West with a 7-3 loss to the Yankees, and the southpaw later confirmed to MLB.com that he'd pitched in pain.

"When I woke up this morning, I could hardly breathe," said Zito. "It's something with my ribs, in back on the left side."

"Barry wasn't himself," said A's manager Ken Macha, whose club has been without starting pitcher Rich Harden (lat strain), shortstop Bobby Crosby (fractured ankle) and center fielder Mark Kotsay (back spasms) of late. "He'd never make excuses for a loss, but he wasn't right physically."

Hopefully, this won't be a major concern, but with more and more injuries popping up it looks like it's going to be harder and harder to make the playoffs.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

A's lefty Barry Zito, who tried to pitch through rib pain Sunday and ended up with a forgettable outing against the Yankees, virtually guaranteed that he won't miss a start Monday.
"I know my body," said Zito, who hasn't missed a start due to injury in his career. "If I was gonna miss a start, it would have been yesterday."

Outfielder Bobby Kielty is another story entirely. Kielty strained an oblique muscle during his last at-bat Sunday night and will be out for "an extended period of time," said A's manager Ken Macha.

"It could be a week, it could be two or three weeks," Macha explained before the Labor Day opener of a three-game series against the visiting Mariners. "Rib cages are slow to heal."

Zito is in, Kielty is out

[Providence A's]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...PGC5EJA0D1.DTL

His stuff was just not very good Wednesday, Haren said, adding, "and I was up in the zone. That's a bad combination.''

He's approaching the 200-inning mark for the first time in his pro career (he's at 189 1/3 innings), but he said the workload is not a factor.

"Arm-strength-wise, I feel great,'' he said. "Not having my stuff had nothing to do with being tired, I'm 100 percent healthy. It was just a rough outing.''

Rich Harden, meantime, threw long-toss from 120 feet again and is scheduled to throw off the front of the mound on Friday. He is unlikely to start Sunday at Texas, but the A's have not announced a starter for that game yet. Barry Zito is scheduled for Friday and Joe Blanton for Saturday, making Kirk Saarloos the probable starter Sunday.

I'm glad the A's are being cautious, but I hope he comes back soon.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

ARLINGTON -- Rich Harden's 35-pitch bullpen session went well Sunday morning, and A's manager Ken Macha set Friday as the new target date for his ace righty's return to the rotation.
The A's had been pointing to Tuesday in Cleveland, but it's been decided that jumping from 35 pitches in the bullpen to a pennant-race start in two days is bit too large of a leap. The new plan is for Harden, who has been out with a strained right lat muscle since Aug. 19, to pitch in a simulated game Tuesday and face the Red Sox at Fenway Park three days later.

"If he pitches Tuesday, how many innings can we expect out of him?" Macha said before the finale of a three-game series against the Rangers. "But if he pitches three innings in a simulated game, we can get his pitch count up and maybe expect five innings [Friday].

Looks like Friday it is...I don't like that it happens to be in Fenway, though.

[Providence A's]

Now they're saying he's not going to pitch this week!

And we lost all the tie-breaker scenarios!

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

We called up Garcia and Bocachica...DFA Seth Etherton.

[Providence A's]

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/NAS...=.jsp&c_id=oak

looks like Harden may not be back this year. And this is a similar injury that Hudson has had over and over...not a good sign

[Providence A's]

It appears Harden is done for the year...he was quoted as saying he didn't understand where Macha was getting 9/25 as a return date. That his injury is causing a drastic reduction in velocity and he can't pitch.