The Oakland Athletics began utilizing an opener at the end of May in hopes that it would help some of the team’s young starters. The strategy isn’t always popular especially among traditional baseball fans, but can be effective when managed correctly. Friday’s game should be used as an example of how not to use an opener.
Sam Long started and worked around a single in a scoreless first. He returned to start the second and gave up back-to-back singles. The first hit probably should have been a red flag. I can’t fault Mark Kotsay for trying to bleed another inning from Long with two left-handed hitters among the first three.