Usually, when someone says “that one hurt,” in reference to a baseball game, they are referring to the manner in which they lost. But after the Oakland Athletics’ 5-4 loss to Texas in Arlington Tuesday, the pain was all too literal.
In the 2nd inning of Texas’ Tuesday night game against the Athletics, Oakland third baseman Nomar Garciaparra left the game with a strained right calf. The star turned journeyman will likely be placed on the disabled list sometime Wednesday.
Replacing Garciaparra was Bobby Crosby.
Crosby stayed at third for an entire inning, before Mark Ellis strained his left calf. Ellis is also, in all likelihood, headed to the DL.
Crosby moved to second and Jack Hannahan was put in the game at third—the third third baseman used in the first three innings.
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The injury train slowed down for a while, as Oakland starter, 21-year-old Brett Anderson cruised through his best outing of the year. In the sixth, however, Anderson was forced to leave with a blister on his left index finger.
As though Paris himself was hiding among the crowd in Arlington with his bow, another calf injury struck in the eighth. After throwing a scoreless seventh, preserving a 4-4 tie, Santiago Casilla left after throwing just one pitch in the next frame, with discomfort in his calf. He is currently listed as day-to-day.
Any given team in the league will look considerably different from the beginning of a season to the end; but Oakland has undergone such a transformation in a night.
Hannahan will likely remain at third on Wednesday, in the second game of the series against Texas, as Garciaparra and original starter Eric Chavez nurse their wounds. Crosby will remain at second in the absence of Ellis.
This is nothing new for Oakland, who tied a club record by sending players to the DL 22 times in 2007; they broke the record with 25 DL stints last season.
As they head into the second of three games against Texas, they seem poised to make yet another run.
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