Zito excels in his new role as A's stopper
Left-hander ends team's skid versus Boston
By Mark Saxon
BOSTON -- Barry Zito walked into the clubhouse just in time to catch the last few sentences of Art Howe's lambasting of his team Wednesday night.
Imagine you're the next day's starting pitcher in that situation: The manager is fuming at his team's lackadaisical play, and you're in charge of making sure it doesn't look that way fewer than 24 hours later.
Tough spot, huh Barry?
"It didn't make me feel more pressure to win or anything," the left-hander said. "It just made me confident as usual to hold them down and be the guy when the team needs me."
Zito (4-2) is growing into the stopper the A's have been searching for, and his eight-inning domination of the Boston Red Sox in a 5-0 win Thursday night at Fenway Park gave Howe exactly the impression he wanted after his fiery speech. It was also Zito's second straight outing that helped the A's evade a series sweep.
"Barry set the tone for the game," Howe said. "We played tonight the way we're capable of playing. We played with the effort I want every single night."
The hustle and effort were provided best by stand-in leadoff man Eric Byrnes, who had two infield singles and scored two runs. But Zito provided something more crucial. It's something the A's have been seeking for two weeks: a start good enough to let his entire team relax.
The starting pitching was supposed to be the backbone of the team, but lately it had needed a chiropractor.
"He's won his last three games. Now, we need to have everyone else start pitching in a little more," Howe said. "I always think he's going to be the stopper for us. Next time he pitches, let's hope he's just the adder."
The A's hitters handed Zito a 3-0 lead and he handed them a measure of comfort they've lacked since May arrived.
"Barry went out there and shoved it down their throats," Eric Chavez said. "When a pitcher does that, he relaxes everybody. I was hoping one of our guys would do that soon. Every day, I thought whoever was pitching that day would be the guy. Finally, Barry did it tonight."
The A's used some little-seen opportunistic hitting to stake Zito to an early lead. They jumped on Frank Castillo for three runs in the first inning.
First, Byrnes led off with the first of his two infield singles, then Randy Velarde blooped a single to right. Castillo walked Chavez, and Jermaine Dye hit a missile to left field. Rickey Henderson didn't get a great jump on the ball, and it narrowly eluded his glove for a two-run double. Miguel Tejada drove in Chavez on a slow grounder to shortstop.
Byrnes was starting Thursday only because the A's normal leadoff man, Jeremy Giambi, had the day off with a sore right foot. As long as he goes 3-for-4, Byrnes might have a job for a while.
"He set the tone for us tonight with his legs," Howe said. "I hope the guy goes crazy for us and forces me to play him every day. We need someone to do that for us."
Byrnes hit high-hoppers to shortstop in his first two at-bats to reach on infield hits. Chavez acknowledged there's probably not another player on the A's who beats those balls out. Speed is a foreign concept around this team, but it was part of a winning one Thursday.
And Byrnes' all-out style went well the day after Howe's plea for effort. Byrnes has been on the team fewer than 10 days, but he heard Howe's message as loudly as the team's most-established players.
"It was great to see," Byrnes said. "That was exactly what this team needed, a kick in the butt, and we got it. You couldn't really feel any energy on the bench before tonight. That's what I try and provide -- just energy. That's probably the best aspect of my game right now."
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