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A's left-hander Barry Zito has struggled before, but never like this.
Coming into his start today against the New York Yankees, Zito is 2-3 with a
6.83 ERA in five starts. The past two starts rank among the worst of his career.
Thursday, Zito yielded a career-high four home runs to New York in a 7-5 loss at Yankee Stadium. That was six days after he was tagged for a career-worst nine runs by Anaheim.
"When he has two starts in a row where he gets hit around pretty good,
there's some concern," Manager Ken Macha said Tuesday. "We're looking
at a whole bunch of things; how much is he throwing his curveball, how is he
throwing his change-up, strike percentage, all that stuff."
The A's insist Zito isn't far removed from his old form that helped him win
the 2002 Cy Young Award. But in 29 innings, he has yielded 40 hits -- including
six home runs -- and has walked 10 and hit three batters.
"He's just making mistakes right now, and they are capitalizing,"
catcher Damian Miller said. "When he's going good, those balls are fouled
off or popped up. Mechanics-wise, he's about as solid as anyone we have."
Macha scoffed at the suggestion that Zito's problems stem from the absence of
former pitching coach Rick Peterson (who left for the New York Mets) or catcher
Ramon Hernandez (traded to San Diego), citing the success of the rest of the
rotation.
"If you point to one guy struggling and say it's the pitching coach, it's
an incorrect assumption," Macha said.
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