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The whirring sound which is the Diamondbacks making roster moves continues apace today, with Billy Buckner being called up, in place of Kyler Newby, who got Zavadad. That's what we'll call it when a minor-leaguer is brought up, then sent back down without getting to make his major-league debut. Seemed to work out not too badly for Clay Zavada in the end though, so Newby is probably not too upset. Besides, we need to wait for Max Scherzer's next start, so another debuting reliever can get the W. :-)
Never a good sign when your starter's ERA has as many digits before the decimal point as after, and I can't say I feel very optimistic, though word is, Buckner has been throwing the ball better in Reno, and will probably get a few starts, rather than Augenstein being the #5. It doesn' t seem that Cahill is all that, going by a scouting report on Athletics Nation, which says, "Fastball command is not there - to the point where...Cahill really has no idea where a given pitch is going. Equally troubling is how unimpressive the offspeed stuff has been." I like the sound of that from an opposing pitcher, and hope we can take advantage to start a 'true' winning-streak. I feel I might as well skip the first six innings anyway, going by the Florida series.
We did achieve one of the goals during the Marlins series: the team is no longer last in the National League for BA. Their performance there wasn't exactly awesome, but it was enough to put them ahead of the Padres, .234 to .231. Next step: get the OBP out of the cellar too: at .310 it's two points behind San Diego and three behind San Francisco. However, the A's offense has been ever worse than the Diamondbacks, with an OPS+ of 78, compared to our 80. That's why the team has a record of 15-23 so far, and are only 8-10 at home. I'm thinking two out of three here would be quite possible, especially with Dan Haren going tomorrow, but we'll see.
'Charmer on the recap tonight, since this is basically a 'home' game for her. I'll probably be more or less about, though this does depend on potential alternative entertainments, and also how the game is going. Oh, and whether I have a bad reaction to the Mini Augie Burgers. Yep - I'm finally cracking, and we're going to get some on the way home from work tonight. Nomnomnom... And please also see Athletics Nation for the view from the home dugout.
Lineup
- Lopez 2B
- Parra LF
- Upton RF
- Drew SS
- Reynolds 1B
- Montero DH
- Snyder C
- Ojeda 3B
- Young CF, and Buckner P
Ooh! Look! A DH! And it's Miguel Montero who gets all the fun of hitting, without any of that tiresome 'playing a position' nonsense. Perhaps more interestingly, Mark Reynolds gets another start at first-base, with Augie taking over on the other side of the diamond. Chris Young, despite his struggles, is given a chance in CF, with Byrnes the odd-outfielder out on this occasion.