Game 24 Recap or U-G-L-Y

Toronto 10, Oakland 2 (WPA Graph from Fangraphs)

A's Current Record: 12-12
I try to look for a silver lining when the A's get so thoroughly pummeled.  In games like this its obvious what went wrong; Trever Cahill didn't look like a big league pitcher and the A's hitters made Brandon Morrow look like Walter Johnson (or, Phil Hughes).  The worst part is, though, that I don't see a silver lining.  Kevin Kouamanoff got two hits?  Meh.  Seriously, the best news is that the bullpen got a rest because Cahill and Chad Gaudin managed to get through eight innings.

I'd really like Cahill to succeed and his minor league numbers going into last year looked like he would.  His minor league K/rate was above 9 per inning and he was a groundball machine.  His control sometimes was shaky, but never awful.  I know he was rushed to the big leagues last year, but his statistical profile was of a much different pitcher.  His strikeout rate fell to about 4.5 per 9, though he still managed to get a ton of groundball outs.  He had major problems against lefties, as his FIP versus lefties was 6.52.

I was hoping that tonight's game would show us what kind of pitcher he'd be this year.  I sure as heck hope this game isn't an indicator of the rest of his season, though.  His stuff simply wasn't very good.  His sinker was constantly up in the zone and his slider was mashed for homers twice.  He gave up hard hit balls to lefties and righties alike.  To make matters worse he wasn't getting groundballs; the Blue Jays hit eight grounders, as compared with nine flyballs and three line drives off of Cahill.  I guess the best thing you can say is that he only walked one, but his command was not strong.  He consistently missed his spots and the Blue Jays took advantage by hitting the ball hard.

The A's placed Kurt Suzuki on the DL and they called up Josh Donaldson to take his place.  They also sent Matt Carson to AAA to make room for Cahill.  Presumably, the A's will call up Vin Mazzaro and put Justin Duchscherer on the DL in a couple days.  Also, Michael Wuertz looks like he'll be ready to rejoin the A's next week.

The A's best chance at a victory comes on Saturday with Gio Gonzalez facing Dana Eveland.  The A's winning the last two games of the series would salvage this road trip a bit, so here's hoping they look better tomorrow and Sunday.