New-look rotation getting the job done
The A’s rotation wasn’t supposed to be their strength. Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill were shipped elsewhere in the offseason, Brandon Mccarthy went from No. 5 starter to No. 1 in one year, and most of the others were untested. But look at ’em now. Among A’s starters, who have a 2.93 ERA, second-lowest in the American League, only Graham Godfrey has struggled, and he’s no longer in the majors. Everyone else has low ERAS, and Tommy Milone’s is the lowest at 2.00.
The left-hander, using a well-located fastball to set up his dazzling changeup, fired eight scoreless innings, and the A’s scored twice in the eighth for a 2-0 victory over the White Sox at the Coliseum on Tuesday night.
Milone, who has three of Oakland’s nine wins, surrendered three hits, walked nobody and struck out five in his 98-pitch outing. Closer Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his fifth save.
“Probably the best my arm’s felt all year,” said Milone, calling his changeup “definitely the best it’s been this year. Just the action on it and being able to start it as a strike and then have it leave the zone.”
Manager Bob Melvin is proud of a rotation ofmccarthy, Bartolo Colon, Milone, Tyson Ross and Jarrod Parker, who’ll make his A’s debutwednesday. Said Melvin: “We know we’re developing these guys, and they’ll get better and better. We have a lot of faith in them, obviously, or we wouldn’t have made those deals.”
In the bottom of the eighth, pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki doubled home a run off reliever Matt Thornton and scored on Eric Sogard’s single as the A’s snapped their 16-inning scoreless streak. With Suzuki on the bench, Anthony Recker caught Milone for the first time since spring training and provided a big assist by gunning down Brent Morel trying to steal for the final out of the top of the eighth.
“Great control,” Recker said of Milone. “He does exactly what you want him to do. As a catcher, he’s a dream. You never worry about altering your game plan based on missing spots or not having a particular Parker is replacing Graham
in the rotation after Godfrey was optioned to Sacramento.
“For (Parker), it’s always whether or not he’s throwing the ball over the plate,” manager Bob Melvin said. “If he throws the ball over the plate, his stuff’s tough to hit. He has high velocity and plus breaking stuff. He’s talented, as long as he’s throwing the ball over the plate, and the reports say he is.”
Parker, the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft, has appeared in one regular-season game, tossing pitch. He has everything every day. It’s almost like he’s a perfectionist.”
One night after Jake Peavy shut out the A’s and three days after Phil Humber threw a perfect game, White Sox starter Gavin Floyd mostly had his way with A’s batters, who were called into the coaches’ office before the game by hitting coach Chili Davis.
Shortly thereafter, Melvin told reporters that the A’s needed 52⁄ scoreless innings against the Dodgers in September. The Diamondbacks had enough faith in the righthander to put him on their playoff roster. He had one relief outing against Milwaukee.
On Wednesday, he’ll face the White Sox, the team he rooted for as a kid in Indiana. Briefly: The A’s need to remove someone from the roster to create space for Parker, and Fautino De Los Santos hasn’t helped his chances of staying by failing to retire a batter in his past three outings. to strike early — it didn’t happen — and that his guys needed to take pressure off themselves by trusting others.
“I think we have to rely on the group,” he said. “Don’t feel like you have to be the guy. There’s other guys behind you.” … Coco Crisp was out of the lineup for the sixth time in seven games. Melvin said the outfielder felt lightheaded and dizzy Monday, perhaps a result of his innerear ailment. … Managing general partner Lew Wolff, who attended Tuesday’s game, conceded that the A’s stadium issue won’t be on the agenda at the May 16-17 owners’ meetings, and he wouldn’t guess whether it’ll be included at the next owners’ meetings in August.