What to do with the imminent return of Rich Harden to the rotation? Justin Duchscherer, Chad Gaudin, Dana Eveland, and Greg Smith have all been pitching excellently as part of the majors’ best rotation.

The A’s are moving Gaudin to the ‘pen, which I think is definitely the right move.

We saw how this guy broke down last year after seeing his innings pile up. We also saw how good of a reliever he could be in 2006. They’re putting him back in a role in which he’s excelled, and this only makes one of the league’s best pitching staff that much better.

Nice to get the sweep today. I was lucky to catch Mark Ellis’ walkoff as he hit it about 10 minutes after I got home from work. Go A’s!!

A’s-related things that have happened since the last time I watched a game:

1. The A’s have gone 4-0. When I last saw them, they were a game under .500. Now, they’re three games over. I have always noticed that the A’s tend to win a lot when I’m on vacation or not paying attention due to various non-baseball life events, and this is no exception.

2. Rich Harden and Justin Duchsherer have gone on the DL. No surprise on either, but some definite disappointment.

3. Dan Johnson was DFA’d. I’m actually surprised he’s not already a San Francisco Giant. In time though, I’m sure.

4. Mark Ellis stole two bases. I swear, last time I looked, Kurt Suzuki had the team lead with a whopping one swiped bag. Now Ellis leads with two!

5. Dana Eveland continued to be better in 2008 than Dan Haren. He’s got an 0.68 ERA and an 0.98 WHIP in 13.1 innings and two starts, while Haren has a 3.00 ERA and an 0.92 WHIP in 12 innings. Haren has given up 3 homers to Eveland’s zero. Eveland has also struck out more batters (13) than Haren (9). We’ll be keeping our eye on this.

6. Travis Buck, who was hitless in ‘08 the last time I watched a game, has three multi-hit games in a row. He’s got the batting average near Mendoza at .189.

7. Joey Devine, Fernando Hernandez, and Greg Smith appeared in baseball games as Oakland Athletics for the first time. Hernandez’s and Smith’s were their Major League debuts.

It’s amazing what can happen in baseball in a just a few days. Hopefully this is the longest stretch of games I miss this season. Looking forward to extending the winning streak this weekend as Lenny DiNardo brings his 54.00 ERA to his first start of the year against the Tribe’s newly signed extension man, Fausto Carmona.

Go A’s!!

Rich Harden has been scratched from his start for tonight due to back soreness. He’s scheduled to go Saturday in Cleveland instead.

The A’s are insisting it’s just a minor issue, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll be pushed back again, and then again, and then all the way to the DL.

Sounds like Chad Gaudin will be activated from the DL to go tonight. I wonder who will be sent down/DFA’d to make room…

Go A’s.

Here they are, the official 25 men who will be wearing green and gold and representing the Oakland Athletics in Major League Baseball, starting tomorrow night:

Pitchers: Joe Blanton, Andrew Brown, Santiago Casilla, Lenny DiNardo, Justin Duchscherer, Alan Embree, Dana Eveland, Keith Foulke, Rich Harden, Fernando Hernandez, Huston Street

Catchers: Rob Bowen, Kurt Suzuki

Infielders: Daric Barton, Bobby Crosby, Mark Ellis, Jack Hannahan, Dan Johnson, Donnie Murphy, Mike Sweeney

Outfielders: Emil Brown, Travis Buck, Jack Cust, Chris Denorfia, Ryan Sweeney

Eric Chavez and Chad Gaudin begin the season on the DL.

Thoughts:

1. I’m a bit disappointed that CarGo didn’t get a spot, as I really look forward to watching him play. A Denorfia/Sweeney platoon in center doesn’t excite me at all. But if it means one more year before his arbitration clock starts ticking, that’s fine with me. I’ll look forward to his mid-season callup.

2. Dana Eveland had a great spring and goes into the season as the 5th (or 4th, technically) starter. I know he’s not Dan Haren, but I will be watching his performances against Haren’s, at least for the first few starts, as I did with Haren & Mark Mulder back in 2004. Then, Haren was better than Mulder. I don’t expect Eveland to be better, but I don’t forsee a huge drop-off either. We’ll see…

3. Dan Johnson is really just taking up roster space. Something will need to be done with him once the A’s need a 5th starter or someone comes off the DL, whichever happens first. Could he just end up being DFA’d and picked up off waivers?

Go A’s!!

It’s sure been a quiet couple weeks on the A’s front, but they rumbled back to life this weekend, as the A’s held their annual Fan Fest at the Coliseum.

I went to Fan Fest once, in 2001. It was a packed house that year as the team was coming off its first division championship since ‘92, and there was a lot of excitement. I remember not being able to move around much because there were so many people. Sounds like this year’s crowd way slimmed down from years past - just 12,000 people showed up. I know why there were fewer people, but I actually think that would’ve been pretty cool, because you can get around more and see and do more things. It’s kind of like how I always liked sitting in the upper deck on the first base side at the Coliseum, all alone in my little section - that’s just how I roll.

Anyway, OaklandAthletics.com has been extra nice to non-resident fans like me this year, posting videos of the complete Q&A sessions on the website. I watched a few of them over the weekend, and they were quite enjoyable. Everyone loves Travis Buck. I heart Ray Fosse. Bobby Crosby is still the shortstop. And Dan Johnson is such a goofy, likeable guy, that I feel kind of bad that I hope he gets traded before the start of the season.

The Billy Beane Q&A session was pretty interesting. A lot of the questions to Billy were expected, and Billy almost seemed to get kind of snippy with some of the fans. I understood he wanted to defend his moves, but I know I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the other end of his “Is that what you want?” questions. I do hope that a lot of people came out of that understanding why things were done they way they were done though.

And in other news, pitchers and catchers are just 16 days away!  I’d be surprised if there’s any more A’s news before then. I just hope Shannon Stewart and/or Mike Piazza signs somewhere so we can get a compensation pick or two.

If you want to watch the A’s “home” opener, you’ll have to get up bright and early.

This article is, of course, geared towards the Red Sox only, saying that the game between the A’s and the Red Sox on March 25 in Japan will begin at 6:07 Eastern time. Luckily, A’s fans are smart enough to do the math for ourselves, and figure that A’s fans in the Bay Area will need to be up at 3:07 a.m. for first pitch.

I luck out a little here, as I live in the Central time zone, so I’m looking at 5:07 a.m. for first pitch. That’s only an hour earlier than I normally get up, so it shouldn’t hamper my day too much.

It may be super early, but I know I’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the first game of the season.

It’s official, folks - the A’s will open the 2008 season in Tokyo against the Boston Red Sox.

And the A’s are the HOME team.

That’s right - the team with 21 Americans, one Canadian, one Venanzuelan, one Puerto Rican, and one Dominican (as of today, at least) will be the home team against the defending champions of Major League Baseball, who have not one, but two Japanese studs on their roster.  Gee, I wonder who the Japanese fans will be cheering for?

I can imagine that the A’s are getting a good amount of money out of this trip - more than they’d get from two sellouts (yes, with the Red Sox in town for the season opening series, this would have been two sellouts) at McAfee Coliseum - if they agreed to do this.

This season-opening series will take place on March 25 and 26. So the A’s will likely have pitchers and catchers report a few days early (yay, baseball!)  so they can be in season form by this time. They’ll then finish the series with Boston at home on April 1 and 2. The break between the games means we could see Haren/Harden or Haren/Blanton for the first four games of the season (and probably Beckett/Matsuzaka or at least Beckett twice on the Boston side).

So despite my reservations about the A’s home team status for this Japan trip, I’m excited about the prospect of having all baseball eyes on our green and gold to start the 2008 season. And if it means A’s baseball earlier than expected, bring it on.