Oakland's main nemesis this year: Left-handed starters.
The A's are 3-11 in games started by left-handed pitchers, and there's no rhyme or reason to it. Manager Bob Geren pointed out that some of the opposing starters have been established and the A's have seen them numerous times (C.C. Sabathia, Jarrod Washburn) and some have been rookies (Toronto's Ricky Romero and Brett Cecil). Some hard throwers, some off-speed specialists. Geren said if there was some pattern apart from the fact that all of them are left-handed, the team would be able to adjust, but as it is, it's just a maddening coincidence as far as the A's are concerned. Also, the sheer number is surprising: 14 of out 29 games have been against left-handed starters.
For contrast's sake, Oakland is 8-7 against right-handed starters. The team is batting .259 against right-handers and .207 against left-handers.
The lineup does skew a bit left-handed, as usual, but the fact that right-handed hitting Matt Holliday is off to a slow start hasn't helped. Two of the A's best hitters so far, in fact, are right-handed: Kurt Suzuki leads the club with a .318 average and infielder Bobby Crosby is at .262.
Losing Nomar Garciaparra to a calf injury isn't ideal for a club with problems against left-handers, although Garciaparra is batting .188 against lefties himself. He's expected to come off the disabled list in the next week or so.
BLUE JAYS 5, A'S 0: Dallas Braden took a line drive to the back of his left hand and to his neck in the first inning on Sunday but he remained in the game, allowing three runs in six innings despite severe swelling in his pitching hand. The A's didn't get a runner past second against Toronto rookie Brett Cecil and they dropped to 3-11 in games started by opposing left-handers.
