Mccarthy interviewed

ARLINGTON, Texas — A’s starter Brandon McCarthy told ESPN the Magazine that, after being struck in the head by a line drive Sept. 5, “It sounded like a jet was flying close by. I could hear just a ringing.”

McCarthy, who needed emergency surgery later that night for a subdural hematoma, bleeding that was causing pressure on his brain, told the maga- zine that he believes he can start physical activity in a week or two and he might be cleared to travel with the team assuming the A’s are in the postseason.

McCarthy will be unable to pitch until next season, but he said that he will not be nervous about getting hit again. Injury updates: Brett Anderson is still optimistic he might pitch if the A’s make it to the postseason, and on Tuesday, he took a little step forward.

Anderson, who strained his right oblique a week ago, ran on the field before the game and said it was “uneventful. That’s good. It’s one hurdle cleared.”

Anderson said he is not sure when he’ll be allowed to try to throw.

The A’s also got better news on center fielder Coco Crisp, whose vision has improved in his left eye, according to manager Bob Melvin. Crisp hit in the batting cage and did some baseball activities on the field. Melvin called Crisp’s improvement “encouraging.”

Until the allergic conjunctivitis clears up in both eyes, however, he is not likely to do more than pinch run, which he did Tuesday, recording his 36th steal. The A’s are 52-23 when Crisp is in the leadoff spot, and 35-44 with everyone else. Colon preparing: Should the A’s get into the ALCS, Bartolo Colon, serving a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, would be eligible to return after 10 playoff games — sometime after the Division Series.

Colon’s agent, Adam Katz, said via text that Colon has continued to throw and he hopes to play after his suspension is over.

Considering Colon will not have pitched in a pro game in two months by the time his suspension ends, it’s unlikely the A’s would use a postseason roster spot for him, though the team lost has three starters — Colon, Anderson and McCarthy — in the past month. Krecord looms: The A’s struck out 15 times, giving Oakland 1,322 — two shy of the AL record set by Tampa Bay in 2007.