Angels 5, A's 2

It's easy to second guess a manager's decision when things go wrong.

Such was the case last night, when Bob Geren opted to have Jay Witasick pitch to Vladimir Guerrero with two on and one out in a one-run ballgame. Garrett Anderson was on deck, and an option could have been to intentionally walk Vlad and bring in rookie southpaw Jay Marshall to pitch to Anderson with the bases loaded.

But Geren had Witasick go after Vlad, and Vlad responded by crushing a three-run homer to center. Then Marshall came in and struck out Anderson.

So was it a bad move by Geren to have Witasick pitch to Vlad? Not necessarily. I remember a season or two ago when lefty specialist Ricardo Rincon came into a tight game to pitch to Anderson, and he crushed a ball that probably hasn't landed yet.

And he's not exactly a guy on who the lefty/lefty matchup tends to work. Coming into 2007, Anderson was a .296 hitter - .291 against lefties! Not exactly an automatic out.

Another thing to keep in mind - Jay Marshall is a guy who hadn't pitched above A-ball until four days ago. Yes, he's done well, but I certainly wouldn't call him battle-tested.

So Geren's decision didn't work out. He'll have many more decisions that won't work out, and many that will. I hope to at least get to the All-Star break before a Fire Geren blog appears.

It was good to see Joe Kennedy make a decent start in the fifth starter position, and Adam Melhuse get a start as Kennedy's personal catcher. I hope it works out every fifth day for both of them.

Let's keep our fingers crossed on the injury front - Milton Bradley was a late scratch from the lineup with soreness in his side, and Bobby Crosby left the game with back spasms. The A's really can't afford to lose significant time from both of those guys for the second season in a row.

Tonight it's the battle of the zero ERAs as Dan Haren goes up against John Lackey. In pitcher versus team matchups, it's advantage Lackey. But I loved the way Haren looked against Seattle so I like our chances.

GO A'S!!!