Oakland Is Not Having a Field Day

Defense is suddenly a problem in Oakland, where the talented young Athletics are having a tough time catching the ball and catching on at the gate. The A’s, who rank 10th among the 14 American League teams in fielding, have made 14 errors in their last eight games, 11 in their last five and had four in a 10-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.

The situation is so dire that reliever Jeff Tam, who botched two ground balls recently, doused his glove with alcohol in the safety of the clubhouse shower and burned it beyond repair, providing a new connotation to fireman of the year.

Combined with some inconsistent relief, the shoddy defense had contributed to a 4-11 record in games decided by one run, nullifying an offense that ranked second in the league. The A’s, nevertheless, figure to remain a contender in the wide-open AL West, although no one is paying much attention in Oakland. The A’s were averaging 14,543 through Thursday, ahead of only the Twins and Montreal Expos.

Responding to an announced crowd of 6,836 Monday night, Manager Art Howe said, “Who counted those heads? Whoever did, I’d like them to pay me.”

That was the night the A’s triple-A team, the Sacramento River Cats, drew 14,111 to the grand opening of their new park. Even General Manager Billy Beane went to that game.

Maybe it’s no wonder the A’s are tied with the Cleveland Indians for the best road record in the league at 12-7 but uninspired at home, where they are 9-16.

“Home-field advantage doesn’t make any difference for us,” outfielder Ben Grieve said. “If anything, we have a road advantage.”

Inevitably, A’s management will soon be singing, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”

Or ejecting those River Cats and expanding the Sacramento facility. After all, the River Cats have sold 7,300 season tickets, the A’s only 5,000.

*

It was Black Thursday in Cleveland, where the Indians put three pitchers on the disabled list: starters Jaret Wright and Charles Nagy, and reliever Ricardo Rincon, who faces elbow surgery and could be sidelined until August. Fortunately for the Indians, Bartolo Colon recently returned from the disabled list at the top of his game, as illustrated by a 12-strikeout, 7-2 victory Wednesday over the awed Detroit Tigers.

Tiger hitting coach Bill Madlock compared Colon to Tom Seaver in his ability to add four or five miles per hour to his fastball when in trouble.

“It’s hard to say that a kid throwing 97 or 98 mph can reach back for a little extra when he’s in a jam, but Bartolo seems to be able to do that,” acting Cleveland Manager Grady Little agreed.

*

Tiger General Manager Randy Smith, under fire as his team limps through another hapless season and the Juan Gonzalez trade becomes a bust, even took an internal hit the other day when Peter Bragan Jr., general manager of the Tigers’ double-A team in Jacksonville, Fla., wondered what had become of Smith’s best-laid plans.

“Did those boys up there have a brain spasm or something when they made that Gonzalez deal?” Bragan asked Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press. “What were they thinking of?

“They told us as far back as two years ago that their plan with the new stadium was to build the team around attracting higher-caliber pitchers because they pushed the fences back in this new place, especially in left-center. Then they acquire a right-handed slugger in Gonzalez. That seems kind of strange, don’t you think? Sounds like they’re panicking up there.”

There was no response from Smith, who is signed through 2003.