More than a month ago, the LFR was demoaning the fact that the A's were swept by the lowly Devil Rays in such a fashion that surely portended for an excruciating summer. What difference a month and some first class baseball makes.
In hindsight, the A's poor play could just be attributed to an influx of rookie pitchers merely straightening out the kinks or, most notably, the dreaded injury bug that bit so many key players like Bobby Crosby.
I'll offer this simple equation. If the rotation continues to produce at this pace or a bit under, the A's bullpen will be able to shorten games to seven innings. The A's will ride the duo of Huston Street and Justin Duchsherer to the wildcard.
Astonishingly, the A's are a better pitching staff without Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. The two-headed monster in the bullpen will significantly reduce the stress that the other members of the bullpen will feel in addition to the notion that the A's starter need something short of a quality start and the lead to guarantee a victory most nights.
Street is lights out. His wicked stuff is evident everytime he makes quality major league hitters look baffled and Duchscherer has been sensational this first half and solid for the better part of his A's career.
In the A's recent run the past five years never before have they had such immense potential in the bullpen. Could this possibly have been the missing ingredient?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
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1 comment:
Nice article, this is the type of thing that needs to be submitted to the local papers, tell them that if they ever need another writer...you're their man!
However, I disagree that the A's turn around is related to their pitching, I attribute it to their bats finally warming up.
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