ARLINGTON, Texas If only the elements played along, it would have been quite the lab experiment the A's had going Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers.
Eric Chavez, a six-time Gold Glover at third base, was scheduled to make his first career start at first base, joining a revolving door of Athletics who have taken their stab at the position this season. He may still get his chance today after the A's and Rangers were rained out Wednesday night, the A's second washout on the young season and their third postponement overall.
The teams will play their regularly scheduled matinee today at 11:05 a.m., with A's lefty Dallas Braden facing Vicente Padilla. The makeup will be played as part of a doubleheader at Rangers Ballpark on May 29.
There's no rain in today's forecast, according to weather.com .
Already this season, the A's had their April 9 game against the Los Angeles Angels postponed after the death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart in a triple-fatal auto collision. Their April 20 game against the Yankees was rained out.
"It's not the best thing on the planet," first baseman Jason Giambi said. "But I always try to look at the positive, that when we make up these games, our offense will be cranking on full cylinders."
Second baseman Mark Ellis and corner infielder Nomar Garciaparra, as expected, were placed on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with calf injuries. The injuries of pitchers Brett Anderson and Santiago Casilla, the other two players to leave Tuesday's game, don't seem nearly as serious.
Infielder Eric Patterson and reliever Kevin Cameron were promoted from Triple-A Sacramento to replace Ellis and Garciaparra on the roster.
But it was Giambi's sore hamstrings that had Chavez penciled in at first base. Giambi has been favoring a sore left hamstring, and his right one tightened up as he legged out an infield single in the fifth inning Tuesday.
"I've been kind of favoring my left side, and whenever you favor one side, the other one takes the brunt," Giambi said.
He knows the remedy.
"I need to stop getting infield hits and start hitting them out," Giambi said.
If Giambi can't go today, A's manager Bob Geren indicated Chavez will play first. That plan is surprising if only because Chavez said Tuesday that his sore elbow would need two or three more days to heal.
But without Giambi and Garciaparra, the A's offense lacks firepower, and Geren said the only thing holding Chavez back was being able to make throws from third.
Chavez's only major league experience at first consists of one game in 2001 when he started at third before moving across the diamond.
He wasn't available by the time reporters were let in the clubhouse Wednesday.
"He's a Gold Glove fielder. He'll be fine," Geren said.
Josh Outman, the A's scheduled starter Wednesday, will be pushed back to Sunday. Braden makes his regularly scheduled start today, with Dana Eveland going Friday in Seattle and Trevor Cahill on Saturday.
Outman pitches Sunday, with Anderson having his start bumped back one day to Monday against the Angels , giving the blister on a finger of the left-hander's pitching hand an added day to heal.
Contact Joe Stiglich at jstiglic@bayareanewsgroup.com.a's-Rangers, PPD.today: A's (Dallas Braden 2-2) at Rangers (Vicente Padilla 1-1), 11:05 a.m. Radio: 860-AM, 1190-AM
