Post by Fish Troll on May 26, 2007 10:31:40 GMT -5
Haren strong as A's top O's
Red- hot righty retires 11 straight at one point in game
By Pete Kerzel / Special to MLB.com
BALTIMORE -- Dan Haren breezed and Alan Embree labored. As comfortable as the Oakland A's starter looked mowing down the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, newly-anointed closer Embree, charged with protecting a precarious one-run lead, looked equally uneasy.
But if the A's are going to make do with a makeshift back of the bullpen in closer Huston Street's absence, they're going to have to absorb a few gut-wrenching ninth innings like the one that played out at Camden Yards.
Haren pitched seven innings of two-hit ball to win his fifth consecutive decision, Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer and the A's beat Baltimore, 3-2, for their second consecutive victory.
A's manager Bob Geren trusted his gut, removing Haren after the right-hander threw 91 pitches and with Oakland ahead, 3-2. Geren didn't want to extend Haren on an 86-degree evening. And with Embree pegged as the bullpen stopper while Street (right elbow nerve irritation) and Justin Duchscherer (right hip strain) recover, Geren turned to the left-hander, whose save last Saturday was his first since 2005 and the ninth in 731 career outings.
"One of the tougher decisions of the year," Geren said when asked if he debated sending Haren out for the eighth. "He was [coming] off a fairly high pitch count game last time. It was a warm evening. It's one of those judgment calls you have to make and tonight was a tougher one. I felt like it was the right time to take him out."
Haren didn't argue with Geren's decision.
"It's only May. ... I don't think it's any time to be pressing right now," Haren said. "If it's August, September, I probably go out there. The way our bullpen's banged up, I might need to go back out there. I knew I wasn't going to throw any more than 100 and I was close to 90. There's no sense coming out in the middle of an inning. Let someone else start fresh."
Up until that point, Haren (5-2) was dominant, even if he acknowledged he had to work out some kinks during an uneven first inning where he didn't have command of his offspeed pitches. Pitching coach Curt Young pulled him aside after Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first and told Haren he needed to erase some poor body language that was sending a wrong message.
"Curt told me, 'Act like you have good stuff. Act like you want to be out there.' So I went out in the second inning, kept my head up and got some outs that inning," Haren explained. "And as the game went along, I felt I got stronger."
Haren spotted the Orioles a first-inning lead when Brian Roberts drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Miguel Tejada's one-out single to right. After Swisher's seventh homer of the year, off an 0-1 pitch from Orioles left-hander Erik Bedard, erased a 1-0 deficit, Haren was practically unhittable.
The right-hander cruised from there, retiring 18 of the next 20 hitters he faced. He walked one, struck out three and improved to 5-0 in nine starts since April 7. Oakland evened its record on the current six-game road trip at 2-2.
The few Orioles who did reach weren't a factor. Jay Payton hit an infield single to lead off the fifth, but was thrown out on a delayed steal for the third out. Tejada was hit by a pitch leading off the seventh, but erased on a nice double play started by first baseman Dan Johnson.
"He kind of, after the first inning, found his breaking ball," Geren said. "Then he kind of found his rhythm in the middle innings with his fastball. He had a nice string in the middle of the game where he was pretty unhittable."
Oakland added an insurance run in the fourth, exploiting two errors by the Orioles. Mark Ellis reached when third baseman Aubrey Huff mishandled a grounder, moved to second on Marco Scutaro's single and took third on a fielder's choice. Ellis scored on Hiram Bocachica's sacrifice fly to left, Payton's strong throw home from left bouncing off of a sliding Ellis for another error.
Jay Marshall started the eighth, but gave up a one-out homer to Kevin Millar and a single to Corey Patterson. In came Kiko Calero, who got Payton to fly out. Then Geren called for Embree for something that's become a rarity -- a four-out save.
"I gave [Embree)] a tough assignment and he answered it," Geren said. "He knew when he came into the eighth, it was his game -- especially [after] using Kiko already and Marshall already."
Embree got a fly ball from Roberts to end the eighth, but had to work out of trouble in the ninth. The left-hander walked Nick Markakis, a left-handed hitter, on a 3-1 pitch and got Tejada to fly out to center. Aubrey Huff, another lefty swinger, singled through the right side of the infield and was replaced by pinch-runner Freddie Bynum, whose hard slide into second on Ramon Hernandez's grounder to short broke up the potential game-ending double play. But Embree bore down against the third left-handed hitter of the inning, fanning Jay Gibbons on a 1-2 pitch.
Said Embree. "I'll tell you what, that was work. An inning and a third -- I don't know how many times I went an inning and a third this year. But it's a little more pressure when it's the last inning and a third. It's definitely more intense."
Bedard (3-3) remained winless in seven starts since April 18. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over seven innings, walking three and striking out eight. Bedard retook the American League lead in strikeouts from Minnesota's Johan Santana and now has a Major League-best 83.
Pete Kerzel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Red- hot righty retires 11 straight at one point in game
By Pete Kerzel / Special to MLB.com
BALTIMORE -- Dan Haren breezed and Alan Embree labored. As comfortable as the Oakland A's starter looked mowing down the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, newly-anointed closer Embree, charged with protecting a precarious one-run lead, looked equally uneasy.
But if the A's are going to make do with a makeshift back of the bullpen in closer Huston Street's absence, they're going to have to absorb a few gut-wrenching ninth innings like the one that played out at Camden Yards.
Haren pitched seven innings of two-hit ball to win his fifth consecutive decision, Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer and the A's beat Baltimore, 3-2, for their second consecutive victory.
A's manager Bob Geren trusted his gut, removing Haren after the right-hander threw 91 pitches and with Oakland ahead, 3-2. Geren didn't want to extend Haren on an 86-degree evening. And with Embree pegged as the bullpen stopper while Street (right elbow nerve irritation) and Justin Duchscherer (right hip strain) recover, Geren turned to the left-hander, whose save last Saturday was his first since 2005 and the ninth in 731 career outings.
"One of the tougher decisions of the year," Geren said when asked if he debated sending Haren out for the eighth. "He was [coming] off a fairly high pitch count game last time. It was a warm evening. It's one of those judgment calls you have to make and tonight was a tougher one. I felt like it was the right time to take him out."
Haren didn't argue with Geren's decision.
"It's only May. ... I don't think it's any time to be pressing right now," Haren said. "If it's August, September, I probably go out there. The way our bullpen's banged up, I might need to go back out there. I knew I wasn't going to throw any more than 100 and I was close to 90. There's no sense coming out in the middle of an inning. Let someone else start fresh."
Up until that point, Haren (5-2) was dominant, even if he acknowledged he had to work out some kinks during an uneven first inning where he didn't have command of his offspeed pitches. Pitching coach Curt Young pulled him aside after Baltimore took a 1-0 lead in the first and told Haren he needed to erase some poor body language that was sending a wrong message.
"Curt told me, 'Act like you have good stuff. Act like you want to be out there.' So I went out in the second inning, kept my head up and got some outs that inning," Haren explained. "And as the game went along, I felt I got stronger."
Haren spotted the Orioles a first-inning lead when Brian Roberts drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Miguel Tejada's one-out single to right. After Swisher's seventh homer of the year, off an 0-1 pitch from Orioles left-hander Erik Bedard, erased a 1-0 deficit, Haren was practically unhittable.
The right-hander cruised from there, retiring 18 of the next 20 hitters he faced. He walked one, struck out three and improved to 5-0 in nine starts since April 7. Oakland evened its record on the current six-game road trip at 2-2.
The few Orioles who did reach weren't a factor. Jay Payton hit an infield single to lead off the fifth, but was thrown out on a delayed steal for the third out. Tejada was hit by a pitch leading off the seventh, but erased on a nice double play started by first baseman Dan Johnson.
"He kind of, after the first inning, found his breaking ball," Geren said. "Then he kind of found his rhythm in the middle innings with his fastball. He had a nice string in the middle of the game where he was pretty unhittable."
Oakland added an insurance run in the fourth, exploiting two errors by the Orioles. Mark Ellis reached when third baseman Aubrey Huff mishandled a grounder, moved to second on Marco Scutaro's single and took third on a fielder's choice. Ellis scored on Hiram Bocachica's sacrifice fly to left, Payton's strong throw home from left bouncing off of a sliding Ellis for another error.
Jay Marshall started the eighth, but gave up a one-out homer to Kevin Millar and a single to Corey Patterson. In came Kiko Calero, who got Payton to fly out. Then Geren called for Embree for something that's become a rarity -- a four-out save.
"I gave [Embree)] a tough assignment and he answered it," Geren said. "He knew when he came into the eighth, it was his game -- especially [after] using Kiko already and Marshall already."
Embree got a fly ball from Roberts to end the eighth, but had to work out of trouble in the ninth. The left-hander walked Nick Markakis, a left-handed hitter, on a 3-1 pitch and got Tejada to fly out to center. Aubrey Huff, another lefty swinger, singled through the right side of the infield and was replaced by pinch-runner Freddie Bynum, whose hard slide into second on Ramon Hernandez's grounder to short broke up the potential game-ending double play. But Embree bore down against the third left-handed hitter of the inning, fanning Jay Gibbons on a 1-2 pitch.
Said Embree. "I'll tell you what, that was work. An inning and a third -- I don't know how many times I went an inning and a third this year. But it's a little more pressure when it's the last inning and a third. It's definitely more intense."
Bedard (3-3) remained winless in seven starts since April 18. He allowed three runs -- two earned -- on six hits over seven innings, walking three and striking out eight. Bedard retook the American League lead in strikeouts from Minnesota's Johan Santana and now has a Major League-best 83.
Pete Kerzel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070525&content_id=1985432&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak
