April 18, 2006: vs Detroit

The A's face the Detroit Tigers for the first time this season in Oakland. Verlander with a 6.52 ERA will face off against the A's $21 million dollar man with the 11.42 ERA. I don't know, but something in my gut tells me Loaiza is one of Billy Beane's mistakes that will go the way of Rhodes or Redman after the season. Over the past several offseasons, Beane has always had at least 1 head scratching move that didn't pan out. It's just a matter of how much more patience Macha and Beane have.

We'll post the lineups later, but here's hoping Kotsay stays in the top spot. Ellis will have to get some at bats sooner rather than later, but the leadoff spot is not where I would like to see him getting his groove back.

Update:
Took them long enough, finally we have tonights lineups:

Oakland:
2B Mark Ellis (uh oh)
CF Mark Kotsay
SS Bobby Crosby
3B Eric Chavez
DH Frank Thomas
RF Milton Bradley
1B Nick Swisher
LF Jay Payton
C Adam Melhuse (yay!)

Detroit:
CF Granderson
2B Polanco
C Rodriguez
RF Ordonez
DH Thames
1B Shelton
SS Guillen
LF Monroe
3B Inge

Ok, it's the top of the first and already Loaiza has given up a 3B and a single and 1 earned run with ZERO outs. Loaiza's velocity is crap, I'm ready to have him pulled now. Yeah, I am getting tired of his lousy outings. He just isn't showing anything that impresses me.

Wrap:
Ok, before you jump over all over me about the "ready to pull him now" jibe, Loaiza really didn't pitch all that well. He got lucky. His velocity was still down, and Detroit was getting wood to ball - 10 of his outs were flyball outs. He allowed 6 hits and 3 earned runs in 6 innings, not exactly a recipe for success. On a bright note, he did manage to strike out 3 batters.

The A's offense belonged to Nick Swisher, who hit 2 HR, but let's not forget that it was canny at bat by Bradley with a walk that allowed the 2 run HR by Swisher. We should also give a big thank you to Detroit's defense which allowed one of the runs on the board.

Another bright note was Street's comeback, striking out 2 for the save. But those were some long at bats, Street, a lot of pitches were thrown. Still, he looked good out there.

I can't forget The Duke either, my favorite pitcher in the A's bullpen. Beautiful curveball tonight. And he still has a 0.00 ERA. Unbelievable.