Joe

Blanton

Blanton remains the favorite to act as Oakland’s fourth starter and would have to pitch himself out of the rotation this spring. Dan Meyer will get a chance to win the fifth spot, with Keiichi Yabu and Seth Etherton around as insurance. Juan Cruz is being looked at only as a reliever.

Although he pitched just 35 2/3 innings in Double-A last season, the plan is for Blanton to open next season in Triple-A. The 2002 first-round pick projects as a No. 3 starter -- just not on the Oakland staff.

Blanton had thrown just 84 pitches through six innings, but with the Athletics up 15-0 there was no reason to keep him in the game. Despite his lack of strikeouts (70 in 129 2/3 innings this season), Blanton is fine to use in AL-only leagues.

Macha indicated that Blanton’s strong 85 pitch effort his last time out gave him the edge over Kirk Saarloos.

The A’s lost tonight in no small part because of a blown call in the seventh. With Jay Witasick pitching, one on and two outs, Melvin Mora hit a grounder to third and Eric Chavez had to dive to make the stop. He threw a one-hopper to first baseman Dan Johnson, who had to come off the base to field the ball but appeared to get his heel back in time. However, the umpire ruled Mora safe and the Orioles went on to score three runs in the inning.

The performance lowered his ERA from 6.02 to 5.24. It was the first career shutout and third complete game for Blanton, who evened his 2005 record at 5-5. He’ll still be a risky play next week with starts against the Indians and Yankees.

Blanton gave up five hits, walked none and struck out two. He’s 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA in three starts against the Mariners this season and 4-0 overall against the AL West.

Blanton scattered nine hits and a walk through the eight innings while striking out three. He’s pitched very well in three of his last four starts, although he did lay an egg against the Indians in the middle. His ERA is 4.79, but he’s fine to use in mixed leagues against the Giants next week.

The Giants put eight men on base against Blanton, with five of them coming in the three-run fourth inning. Blanton has given up more runs than innings pitched in four outings this season while posting four quality starts in his other five starts. He’s left with a 6.24 ERA on the season.