Bob Geren and Oakland: Still the Same Old A's

Let me be the first one to say that I'm not a fan of Bob Geren.

Billy Beane made a huge mistake in giving Geren a contract extension, but for now, Oakland A's fans are going to have to live with his questionable decision making.

The A's got a strong start by Dallas Braden in their first game of the season on Monday night. He went toe-to-toe with Joe Saunders, a 17 game winner from last year for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The problem for the A's, though, was that there was absolutely no offense for Braden: The A's were shutout again for the third time in five years on Opening Day.

There were very few mistakes made by either club, but it was the A's who made more.

Braden gave up a solid single to Jeff Mathis to open the bottom of the third inning. The next batter, Erick Aybar flew out to right field and the following batter was Chone Figgins. Braden and Figgins got into a little battle at the plate that resulted with Figgins being walked.

The problem for Braden was that instead of going after Figgins, he became too fine with his pitches rather than trusting his stuff.

Unfortunately for the A's, Braden was not able to get Howie Kendrick out: He hit a single to score the first run of the game and Figgins, of course, went to third. Braden was able to recover from the hit he gave up and got Bobby Abreu to strike out.

The next batter faced by Braden was Vladimir Guerrero who hit a ground ball to the hole, and Orlando Cabrera, one of the better defensive shortstops, was able to two-hop the throw to Nomar Garciaparra who was unable to catch the ball. This allowed the second run for the Angels to score.

Braden was able to get out of the inning with no further damage. The only other mistake by Braden was leaving a pitch too nice for Kendrick who belted a home run.

The A's had base runners against Saunders. The biggest mistake was when the A's had runners on first and second, and Geren called for a double steal with Cabrera at the plate. Instead of putting pressure on the Angels (specifically Saunders), catcher Joe Mathis made a strong throw to third and Mark Ellis was easily thrown out.

The problem is that there was no reason for Geren to send the runners that early in the game. The A's offense has improved from last year and there was no need to try to manufacture runs at that point.

The problem that will more than likely plague the A's all season is in right field, and that is Jack Cust. He is not suited for right field: he has a poor arm and he's slower than molasses. The A's need his bat in the lineup but it should be at DH.

In terms of an Opening Day performance, the A's offense managed just three hits and, of course, as mentioned earlier, the A's did not score a run.

As a grade for the offense for the opening day game the A's get an 'F'.

The pitching, which looked superb with Braden on the hill, gets an 'A'. Even though Braden made some mistakes, he didn't let them get to him and he pitched a very strong game.