The series:  Hosted the White Sox (win, win, loss) and visited the Athletics (loss, loss, win).

The news:  Victor injured himself on the basepaths on Opening Day for the second straight year and was replaced in the lineup by Shoppach for the rest of the week, although he has pinch-hit.  The Tigers, expected to compete in a tight division race with the Indians, opened the season with six straight losses, put new star Miguel Cabrera on the shelf, and got outscored 39-15.  And in the biggest news of the week, manager Eric Wedge did not start Gutierrez on Sunday, sparking explosive bursts of existential angst as Indians fans everywhere try to make sense of a mysterious and inexplicable universe.

Post of the week:  Now taking nominations.

Who fed it:  Sizemore and Garko got off to superfine starts, posting near-identical lines right around .341/.442/.568.  Carmona, Westbrook and Lee rattled off easy quality starts, collectively allowing just 3 ER over 21 IP.  Perez blew a late-inning lead on his second batter of the new season but looked dominant in the next two games.  Marte went 1-for-3.  Absolute Best:  Sizemore.  Relative Best:  Lee. 

Who ate it:  Sabathia tanked his first two starts – you might say he was 0-for-4 in quality start criteria – so that'll be the last time I write 800 words about whether he will or won't or should or shouldn't leave after 2008.  Okay, probably not, but that's how it feels at the moment, anyway.  Betancourt gave up seven hits in his first two innings, and he allowed more than one run in a game for the first time since September  2006.  Dellichaels posted perhaps the worst week in the history of LF platoons, batting .050, which even a .20 walk rate can't redeem.  Shoppach looked strangely uncomfortable behind the plate and allowed three passed balls.  Finally, Gutierrez and Blake, after electrifying the faithful on Opening Day, combined for exactly one base hit, a single, in their next 28 at bats.  Absolute Worst:  Sabathia.  Relative Worst:  Blake.

UPDATE:  JulioBernazard helpfully points out that Dellichaels' lone hit of the week actually came while Michaels was playing RF, not LF, and to make matters worse, Dellucci was technically a pinch-hitter when he was HBP.  Taking these key facts into account, the LF platoon's production for the week was actually .000/.238/.000, and not .050/.269/.100 as previously implied.  LGT-WIR deeply regrets this rare understatement.  [Jay]

The other guys:  We rocked Buerhle, Vazquez, MacDougal and Dotel but were baffled by Danks, Duchscherer and Eveland, three guys who collectively had 37 career starts coming into the week.  Dye, Pierzynski, Bobby Crosby and Daric Barton all had big series; Thome hit two Opening Day home runs improbably off our lefty ace but forgot how to hit after that.  Oakland had both Ryan Sweeney and Mike Sweeney in their lineup at one point, like some kind of very weird dream, Alan Embree and Keith Foulke in their bullpen.

False alarms:

• Royals and White Sox in first place.
• Tigers in last place.
• Sabathia and Betancourt being terrible.
• Shoppach fumbling.

Open questions:

• Pronk, or just Travis?
• New Jake or Good Old Jake?
• Why must C.C. be such a disappointment?
• Too soon for a Dellichaels death watch?
• Too soon for a Tigers 2008 season death watch?
• How healthy will Victor be this season?
• Can Cliff Lee really bounce back to be a pretty good pitcher?
• Can Carmona just continue being awesome without interruption?

via www.fangraphs.com

Last season, Paul Byrd allowed 28 walks and hit 6 batters (192.1 IP). Last night, in 4.1 innings, he walked 2 and hit 2. And even when he wasn't missing the plate, he was missing wildly within the strike zone. It's a good thing this game was played at night, for the score could have been a lot worse. Or could have been a lot better, if Eric Wedge had seen the writing on the wall and pulled him after three or four innings.

A couple of defensive miscues behind Byrd in the fifth knocked him out for good. Jhonny Peralta misplayed a liner by Mike Sweeney, and later in the inning, Asdrubal Cabrera inexplicably tried to throw home on a weakly-hit grounder to second, leaving the bases loaded with nobody out.

On the other side, Justin Duchscherer, making his first start in five season, was Byrd's anithesis, throwing every pitch in his arsenal for strikes. He racked up 6 strikeouts in five innings, then had to leave with a bicep injury. He had thrown just 72 pitches up to that point.

Let's close out with some good things that happened last night. Jorge Julio, who IMO is being used in the right role so far, ate up 2.1 innings after replacing Byrd, then Craig Breslow finished the game with a 1.1-inning outing, saving the Circle of Trust for the rest of the series. And Travis Hafner and Ryan Garko both hit their first home runs of the season.

Gametime: 10:05 (STO)

Justin Duchscherer will be making the start, his first since 2003. He's technically on a pitch count (100), but that could be said of any MLB starter in the first week of the season.

MLB has been dragging its feet in regarding PED suspensions, so Paul Byrd will be making his first start of the season as scheduled. Byrd's MO is six and split; even if he's going good, it doesn't take long for him to fall apart after 80 or so pitches. Last year, from the seventh inning on, opposing batters hit .384/.442/.558 (95 PA). For comparison's sake, CC Sabathia held hitters to a .224/.274/.333 (160 PA) line in the last third of the game.

2007 At-A-Glance

The Oakland A's last year were again hampered by major injuries, including Rich Harden, Milton Bradley, Eric Chavez, and most of their key relievers.  Oakland finished the season at 79-83, but GM Billy Beane decided to blow the team up and rebuild. Essentially, that meant anyone with more than 3-4 years of service time was traded or not re-signed, with a couple exceptions.

Important Offseason Transactions

11-1-07: Traded IF Marco Scutaro to Toronto for RHP Kristian Bell and RHP Graham Godfrey

12-14-07: Traded RHP Dan Haren and RHP Connor Robertson to Arizona for OF Carlos Gonzalez, et al.

1-3-08: Traded OF Nick Swisher to Chicago for LHP Gio Gonzalez, et al.

1-11-08: Signed OF Emil Brown to a one-year contract ($1.45M)

1-14-08: Traded OF Mark Kotsay to Atlanta for RHP Joey Devine and RHP Jamie Richmond

2-8-08: Signed RHP Keith Foulke to a one-year contract ($700K)

2-11-08: Signed 1B Mike Sweeney to a minor-league contract

Mike Piazza and Shannon Stewart also left via free agency.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Oakland bullpen was left mostly intact, though Justin Duchscherer has been moved to the rotation. If everyone stays healthy, the leads Oakland do take into the late innings should stay intact.

The rest of the team is a big question mark. The rotation beyond Joe Blanton is pretty shaky; Rich Harden is healthy but the last time he made more than 20 starts in a season was 2005. There's a couple of gaping holes in the lineup as well - Bobby Crosby was awful at the plate in 2006 and 2007, and left and center field are being manned (for now) by Emil Brown and Ryan Sweeney, respectively.

2008 Outlook

The A's, thanks to all the trades, have brought in a lot of young talent, but most of that young talent isn't going to help this season. There are however, a couple of young players who grew up in Oakland's farm system ready to contribute. Daric Barton, who came over from St. Louis in the Mark Mulder deal, is Oakland's starting first baseman. And Kurt Suzuki, who took over for Jason Kendall mid-way through last season, is entering his first full season as starting catcher.

In many ways, this season looks similar to what the Indians went through in 2003: some youngsters, but also a lot of stopgaps to hold things down until the next wave of prospects are ready. Bobby Crosby, though he was once a key player for Oakland, has to been considered a stopgap, at least until Oakland can unload the rest of his contract. Emil Brown shouldn't be Oakland's starting left fielder for long. Mark Ellis, who's been a very valuable player for several years now, will be a free agent after the season, so he may be dealt in July. So even with all the trades last winter, there's still more turnover to go.