Precipice

One of the worst losing streaks in baseball this season ended on Wednesday when Lenny DiNardo pitched a gem of a game and shut down the Texas Rangers as the Oakland Athletics picked up their first win in 9 games, stopping an 8 game slide.

It took a combined effort from DiNardo, who pitched a strong 7 innings of 3 hit ball and Santiago Casilla who finished the Rangers off with 2 shutdown innings for the A’s to kick the losing skid. DiNardo has had an up and down season for Oakland but he has come up big for a spot starter/long relief guy. DiNardo is cruising along with a nice 2.51 ERA and is becoming very appealing in the eyes of opposing GM’s looking for a little pitching help for the stretch drive, as the A’s were virtually eliminated with their recent crash.

The Athletics got solid offensive support in the 6-0 game, helping them buck their losing skid. The A’s had scored only 20 runs over their 8 losses, and had not hit the 6 runs scored plateau since July 2nd against Toronto. The team has been offensively inept all season which has been crippling their solid pitching staff.
With another game against Texas than three vs. Baltimore before a trip to face division leader Los Angeles and Wild Card contender Seattle the A’s need to get their offense rolling and use today’s victory as a turning point. If not, expect Billy Beane to start the sale, auctioning players like DiNardo, fellow pitcher Joe Kennedy, Shannon Stewart and perhaps even Mike Piazza, if he’s back in time. Beane has never been overly hesitant to sell the old and bring in the new.