A's Notes: Byrnes bidding to take Dye's job
By Jim Van Vliet -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Friday, May 23, 2003
OAKLAND -- As Eric Byrnes nears cult status in the Bay Area, former River Cats manager Bob Geren is getting some national play.
Several national media outlets are making Byrnes' tale even better by attributing a story to Geren in which he refers to Byrnes as "the worst outfielder I ever saw."
Loving life as a full-time player, Byrnes laughed off Geren's remarks.
"It's B.S.," said Byrnes, whose fifth-inning homer extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. "You know Bob. He was just having fun.
"Somebody saw it in a story and ran with it. I don't care. It really doesn't matter."
To Byrnes, it would be far worse if what Geren said didn't matter. That would mean he was back on the bench.
Byrnes, who added a sacrifice fly during the A's 6-5 loss to Minnesota, is batting .385 in his 24 starts since Jermaine Dye's knee surgery. His startling performance will make it interesting when Dye returns.
If Dye passes trainer Larry Davis' base-running drills today, he could begin a rehab assignment this weekend with the River Cats and possibly rejoin the A's for their 12-game road trip that begins Tuesday.
"To be honest, I haven't even looked that far ahead," Byrnes said.
Not today, Skip -- Manager Ken Macha is frustrated with reliever Jim Mecir, who continues to experience occasional swelling in his surgically repaired knee.
Mecir hasn't been available since suffering inflammation after throwing in the bullpen Tuesday night. He had fluid drained Thursday, and his status for this weekend's series against Kansas City is in doubt.
Macha is becoming increasingly annoyed at having to compete a man short in his bullpen.
"It'd be nice to have the guy available because he's such a big plus," Macha said.
Welcome to the bigs -- With Mecir unavailable, Macha finally used rookie Mike Neu in a pressure situation. And though it wasn't pretty, the former Sacramento City College pitcher danced around trouble.
The A's trailing 5-4, Neu replaced starter John Halama to start the seventh.
Despite giving up four hits in 1 2/3 innings, he didn't allow a run for the ninth time in 10 appearances and lowered his ERA to 0.71.
"He needed a big double play to get out of the seventh and needed help (from Micah Bowie) in the eighth," Macha said. "We're proceeding cautiously."
Et cetera -- With Ron Gant suffering from a stiff neck, Adam Piatt grounded out to end the game. A's pinch hitters are 3 for 27 this season.
* Tonight's game begins at 6:05 to accommodate postgame fireworks.
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