Oakland Athletics starter Brett Anderson sat
in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium last week with the resigned look of
a player who desperately wants to contribute but can't provide a lick of
assistance to the cause.Browse the Best Selection of buy mosaic and Accessories with FREE
Gifts. Anderson might be tempted to laugh over this latest twist of fate, except
that laughing ranks somewhere between pitching and breathing on the list of
activities that cause him discomfort.
After an arduous recovery from Tommy John surgery, Anderson was rounding into form when he slipped on the mound in Detroit and strained his right oblique muscle. Now he's out for the rest of the regular season while a bunch of newcomers will try to fill the void. Anderson is no workout warrior, so he's looking for an explanation that can't be found by surfing "House'' or "Grey's Anatomy'' repeats.
"I thought you had to be shredded and ripped to have an oblique injury, so it's kind of a mystery,Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles,'' he said. "Maybe I need to spend more time in the food room.''
While Anderson sits, watches and heals, several members of his peer group will be entrusted with pitching Oakland to its first playoff appearance since 2006. Along with a killer schedule, a toasted bullpen and a massive slump by team home run leader Josh Reddick, it's just another obstacle for an A's team that collects setbacks like badges of honor.
The A's, 3-5 on a challenging road trip to Detroit, New York and Texas, are trying to fend off the Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays for the second American League wild-card berth with a rotation that's getting greener by the day. Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, A.J. Griffin, Travis Blackley and Dan Straily have combined for 103 career big league starts. That total leaves them only 387 behind Andy Pettitte, who leads active pitchers now that Jamie Moyer has retired (we think).
If someone told you in the spring of 2011 that a precocious rotation would be pitching for a contender in Oakland this season, you might have said, "Sure,'' and reeled off the names of Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Anderson, Dallas Braden and Brandon McCarthy. That was before "Moneyball'' earned an Oscar nomination and general manager Billy Beane embarked on his latest retooling project. The A's sent Gonzalez to Washington and traded Cahill to Arizona last December, and Parker, Milone and reliever Ryan Cook were among the return haul.
Attrition has been a prominent theme in the Oakland rotation this summer. Bartolo Colon received a 50-game suspension in late August for a failed drug test. Two weeks later, McCarthy suffered a fractured skull on an Erick Aybar line drive through the box. Then,Airgle has mastered the art of indoor tracking, Anderson slipped at Comerica Park and walked gingerly off the mound to the trainer's room. Just like that, manager Bob Melvin was flexibility-impaired.
"We went very quickly from thinking, 'What are we going to do with all these starters?' to 'OK, we're down to five,'" said Oakland assistant GM David Forst.
If the A's make the playoffs and Anderson is unable to return, they could become the first team in history to start exclusively rookies for the entire postseason. As it stands, Milone made the 80th start by an Oakland rookie Tuesday night in Texas. That blows away the previous rookie record of 69 starts set by the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers.
It takes a village to assemble a staff that can compete this effectively on the fly. Beane and Forst made the trades for Parker and Milone and acquired Blackley, a former top Seattle prospect with a lengthy injury history, on waivers from San Francisco in May. Scouting director Eric Kubota and his crew selected Griffin in the 13th round out of the University of San Diego and landed Straily as a 24th-round pick out of Marshall. Gil Patterson, Oakland's minor league pitching guru, molds the kids in Stockton, Midland and Sacramento, and pitching coach Curt Young instills confidence in them once they arrive in the big leagues.
Parker, 23, is the golden boy of the group. He was a big-time prospect out of Indiana who spurned a scholarship from Georgia Tech to sign with Arizona for a $2.1 million bonus as the ninth pick in the 2007 draft. But his ascent up the chain stalled when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery in 2009. The experience helped strengthen him mentally and prompted him to make a change or two to his repertoire. Midway through last season, Parker added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal, and he sinks it effectively to both sides of the plate.
"I never take anything for granted now,'' Parker said. "If you can go through that monotonous rehab the way I did, pitching here doesn't seem like such a huge feat. It helped me put things in perspective a little bit.''
Griffin, 24, is the surfer boy and free spirit in the bunch. He grew up in El Cajon, Calif., and was a big Trevor Hoffman fan as a youth. He throws a changeup but concedes it's not in Hoffman's league.
"I don't even think they're in the same solar system, man,'' he said.
Griffin is supremely confident, very energetic and chattier than his fellow starters. His given name is Arthur Joseph,Choose quality sinotruk howo concrete mixer products from large database. but very few people refer to him that way.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety,
"Just my girlfriend and my mom when she's mad,'' Griffin said. "She hasn't been mad with me lately. It was more when I was younger. I guess I was kind of a smart-a--.''
If the A's make the playoffs and Anderson is unable to return, they could become the first team in history to start exclusively rookies for the entire postseason. As it stands, Milone made the 80th start by an Oakland rookie Tuesday night in Texas. That blows away the previous rookie record of 69 starts set by the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers.
It takes a village to assemble a staff that can compete this effectively on the fly. Beane and Forst made the trades for Parker and Milone and acquired Blackley, a former top Seattle prospect with a lengthy injury history, on waivers from San Francisco in May. Scouting director Eric Kubota and his crew selected Griffin in the 13th round out of the University of San Diego and landed Straily as a 24th-round pick out of Marshall. Gil Patterson, Oakland's minor league pitching guru, molds the kids in Stockton, Midland and Sacramento, and pitching coach Curt Young instills confidence in them once they arrive in the big leagues.
Parker, 23, is the golden boy of the group. He was a big-time prospect out of Indiana who spurned a scholarship from Georgia Tech to sign with Arizona for a $2.1 million bonus as the ninth pick in the 2007 draft. But his ascent up the chain stalled when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery in 2009. The experience helped strengthen him mentally and prompted him to make a change or two to his repertoire. Midway through last season, Parker added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal, and he sinks it effectively to both sides of the plate.
After an arduous recovery from Tommy John surgery, Anderson was rounding into form when he slipped on the mound in Detroit and strained his right oblique muscle. Now he's out for the rest of the regular season while a bunch of newcomers will try to fill the void. Anderson is no workout warrior, so he's looking for an explanation that can't be found by surfing "House'' or "Grey's Anatomy'' repeats.
"I thought you had to be shredded and ripped to have an oblique injury, so it's kind of a mystery,Features useful information about glass mosaic tiles,'' he said. "Maybe I need to spend more time in the food room.''
While Anderson sits, watches and heals, several members of his peer group will be entrusted with pitching Oakland to its first playoff appearance since 2006. Along with a killer schedule, a toasted bullpen and a massive slump by team home run leader Josh Reddick, it's just another obstacle for an A's team that collects setbacks like badges of honor.
The A's, 3-5 on a challenging road trip to Detroit, New York and Texas, are trying to fend off the Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays for the second American League wild-card berth with a rotation that's getting greener by the day. Jarrod Parker, Tommy Milone, A.J. Griffin, Travis Blackley and Dan Straily have combined for 103 career big league starts. That total leaves them only 387 behind Andy Pettitte, who leads active pitchers now that Jamie Moyer has retired (we think).
If someone told you in the spring of 2011 that a precocious rotation would be pitching for a contender in Oakland this season, you might have said, "Sure,'' and reeled off the names of Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill, Anderson, Dallas Braden and Brandon McCarthy. That was before "Moneyball'' earned an Oscar nomination and general manager Billy Beane embarked on his latest retooling project. The A's sent Gonzalez to Washington and traded Cahill to Arizona last December, and Parker, Milone and reliever Ryan Cook were among the return haul.
Attrition has been a prominent theme in the Oakland rotation this summer. Bartolo Colon received a 50-game suspension in late August for a failed drug test. Two weeks later, McCarthy suffered a fractured skull on an Erick Aybar line drive through the box. Then,Airgle has mastered the art of indoor tracking, Anderson slipped at Comerica Park and walked gingerly off the mound to the trainer's room. Just like that, manager Bob Melvin was flexibility-impaired.
"We went very quickly from thinking, 'What are we going to do with all these starters?' to 'OK, we're down to five,'" said Oakland assistant GM David Forst.
If the A's make the playoffs and Anderson is unable to return, they could become the first team in history to start exclusively rookies for the entire postseason. As it stands, Milone made the 80th start by an Oakland rookie Tuesday night in Texas. That blows away the previous rookie record of 69 starts set by the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers.
It takes a village to assemble a staff that can compete this effectively on the fly. Beane and Forst made the trades for Parker and Milone and acquired Blackley, a former top Seattle prospect with a lengthy injury history, on waivers from San Francisco in May. Scouting director Eric Kubota and his crew selected Griffin in the 13th round out of the University of San Diego and landed Straily as a 24th-round pick out of Marshall. Gil Patterson, Oakland's minor league pitching guru, molds the kids in Stockton, Midland and Sacramento, and pitching coach Curt Young instills confidence in them once they arrive in the big leagues.
Parker, 23, is the golden boy of the group. He was a big-time prospect out of Indiana who spurned a scholarship from Georgia Tech to sign with Arizona for a $2.1 million bonus as the ninth pick in the 2007 draft. But his ascent up the chain stalled when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery in 2009. The experience helped strengthen him mentally and prompted him to make a change or two to his repertoire. Midway through last season, Parker added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal, and he sinks it effectively to both sides of the plate.
"I never take anything for granted now,'' Parker said. "If you can go through that monotonous rehab the way I did, pitching here doesn't seem like such a huge feat. It helped me put things in perspective a little bit.''
Griffin, 24, is the surfer boy and free spirit in the bunch. He grew up in El Cajon, Calif., and was a big Trevor Hoffman fan as a youth. He throws a changeup but concedes it's not in Hoffman's league.
"I don't even think they're in the same solar system, man,'' he said.
Griffin is supremely confident, very energetic and chattier than his fellow starters. His given name is Arthur Joseph,Choose quality sinotruk howo concrete mixer products from large database. but very few people refer to him that way.Visonic Technologies is the leading supplier of rtls safety,
"Just my girlfriend and my mom when she's mad,'' Griffin said. "She hasn't been mad with me lately. It was more when I was younger. I guess I was kind of a smart-a--.''
If the A's make the playoffs and Anderson is unable to return, they could become the first team in history to start exclusively rookies for the entire postseason. As it stands, Milone made the 80th start by an Oakland rookie Tuesday night in Texas. That blows away the previous rookie record of 69 starts set by the 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers.
It takes a village to assemble a staff that can compete this effectively on the fly. Beane and Forst made the trades for Parker and Milone and acquired Blackley, a former top Seattle prospect with a lengthy injury history, on waivers from San Francisco in May. Scouting director Eric Kubota and his crew selected Griffin in the 13th round out of the University of San Diego and landed Straily as a 24th-round pick out of Marshall. Gil Patterson, Oakland's minor league pitching guru, molds the kids in Stockton, Midland and Sacramento, and pitching coach Curt Young instills confidence in them once they arrive in the big leagues.
Parker, 23, is the golden boy of the group. He was a big-time prospect out of Indiana who spurned a scholarship from Georgia Tech to sign with Arizona for a $2.1 million bonus as the ninth pick in the 2007 draft. But his ascent up the chain stalled when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery in 2009. The experience helped strengthen him mentally and prompted him to make a change or two to his repertoire. Midway through last season, Parker added a two-seam fastball to his arsenal, and he sinks it effectively to both sides of the plate.
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