A's notes: Reddick's tooth trouble, Griffin throws, etc.

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OAKLAND -- The A's return home to a baseball diamond with a football field running through it. It must be that time of year. Chip Hale spent the morning walking the field with head groundskeeper Clay Wood who did a fantastic job converting the stadium back to its baseball set up. A's manager Bob Melvin says the key is for the outfielders to take ground balls off the strange spots. There are surprisingly few rough looking patches in the grass. - The big news of the day is that Josh Reddick is not in the lineup. He underwent another dental procedure on Friday to try and remedy the pain he is feeling from his tooth extraction. Reddick was held up at the dentist and didn't get to the ballpark until after batting practice started. "If there was any way he could be out there, he'd be out there," Melvin said. He's played in some pain this year and he is a guy that likes to be out there for his club. You know it's bothering him some if he can't get in the lineup." In a best case scenario Reddick will be available to pinch hit on Friday, and will be back in the starting lineup Saturday. - That was the bad news. The good news is that A.J. Griffin threw a bullpen and reported no issues. He threw all of his pitches. His big 12-6 curveball was bending like usual and his fastball had some velocity, as the sound of the catcher's mitt popping was pronounced. "He'll throw another bullpen Sunday and then we'll see where we're at as far as a rehab start or something along those lines," Melvin said. The A's will have some tough decisions to make soon. Griffin could be back shortly. So could Brett Anderson who will throw a bullpen on Saturday. Anderson struck out a season-high seven batters in five innings of work in his last rehab start. He threw 96 pitches. The A's want to see him get around 100 pitches. After his Saturday bullpen session Melvin says the A's will decide what the next step is for him.- Seth Smith is eligible to return from the disabled list on Saturday. He won't. He is still with the team and Melvin said he will make a couple rehab starts before returning. He was on the field and looked to be in good health running the bases and taking batting practice before the game. - Brandon Inge was on the field as well. He made significant progress on Friday, but he's still a ways from returning to the A's lineup.
"This was a big day for him," Melvin said. "He can finally lift his arm all the way up over his shoulder level. The last several days he was not able to."Melvin says the A's will take it slow with Inge because they don't want to put him in a situation where his shoulder pops out of the socket again.

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