Byrnes plays 'like his hair is on fire'
Leaping catch proves outfielder's defense still an adventure
April 6, 2003
By JEFF FLETCHER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
OAKLAND -- Eric Byrnes is not going to win a Gold Glove, but he seems to find ways to get himself into the highlights.
In the fourth inning of the A's 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Angels on Saturday, Byrnes was racing to his right after a Scott Spiezio line drive. The ball was hit deeper than he thought, so he had to leap to snag it.
It was reminiscent of a play Byrnes made last year in Cincinnati, when he got a bad jump on the ball but still made a circus catch.
"The one in Cincinnati I just took a bad route," Byrnes said. "This one I thought I had a good angle, but it just took off at the last second."
As long as he finds way to catch those balls that "take off," the A's will simply get some laughs from watching Byrnes in the outfield.
"With Byrnes out there, he plays like his hair is on fire," said manager Ken Macha.
Later in the game, after Byrnes had moved to left, he nearly made a diving catch of a blooper. Instead, the ball kicked out of his glove, directly to shortstop Miguel Tejada, who threw out Shawn Wooten trying to go to second.
"Yeah, me and Miggy work on that in spring training," Byrnes quipped.
EXTRA SWINGS
Ramon Hernandez got Friday night's game off and caught on Saturday -- the opposite of how managers normally handle their catcher for a day game after a night game -- because Macha wanted Hernandez to be able to spend more time working on his hitting Friday afternoon.
Hitting coach Thad Bosley said they had a productive session.
"He's doing a lot of extra things he hasn't been able to do the last three years," Bosley said. "It's not just extra batting practice, but a lot of drills to work on mechanics. Hopefully later in the year we'll see some results."
Hernandez hit the ball very well in two of his three trips on Saturday, lining a single and hitting a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left.
BRIEFLY
Terrence Long's consecutive-games streak stretched to 404 when he entered for defense in the ninth inning. Macha said before the game that he wouldn't mind if Long's streak came to an end, because he thinks some rest will help him down the stretch.
Erubiel Durazo became the first player in Oakland A's history to drive in 10 runs in the team's first four games. He drove in his 11th run on Saturday.
Scott Hatteberg, who turned his ankle on Thursday, was out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive game, but he pinch hit and played first base for the last two innings. Hatteberg is expected to start today.
The A's have won four of their first five games for the first time since 1992.
Contact staff writer Jeff Fletcher at 521-5489 or jfletcher@pressdemocrat.com.
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