NEW YORK -- A's executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane will be looking on from Yankee Stadium as his team's all-bullpen experiment unfolds in Wednesday's American League Wild Card Game-- or will he?
"If we get a lead, then I'll disappear," Beane said, smiling. "One time I got on a subway here during a game in New York."
:: AL Wild Card Game schedule and results ::
Beane chatted up Yankees general manager Brian Cashman before the game and came away with a backup plan for the evening.
"We actually said, 'Hey, let's go get dinner in the city and we'll just get a bottle of wine, we won't check the score, then at a designated time we'll check it,'" he said. "We'll even let someone cover it, like a reporter. We'll just have a great time, no one bothering us. We'll enjoy some wine, dinner, then at like 10:30 check the score and have someone film us doing it, see what happens.
"He goes, 'I'm serious.' I said, 'I've been doing that for 21 years, Cash.'"
A's manager Bob Melvin, meanwhile, prepared to unveil the identity of the pitcher who will be on the mound in the second inning of the game -- in the second inning.
Prior to the one-game playoff, Melvin was unwilling to reveal much in the way of the A's pitching blueprint following opener Liam Hendriks' one-inning stint, mostly because dozens have been drawn out.
Closer Blake Treinen will be waiting at the end of the line, offering as many as three innings. Just how the A's get the ball to him, though, remains to be seen; right-hander Lou Trivino is a leading candidate to take over in the second.
"It's all going to be play-it-by-ear," Melvin said. "We have a semi script. But it just depends on what the situation will be."
Melvin has 11 pitchers at his disposal, and just one of them is a starter: right-hander Edwin Jackson, who is expected to be reserved for extra innings. The all-bullpen approach is risky, but the A's believe it puts them in the best position to win.
A trip to the AL Division Series with Boston is on the line.
"We felt like we had a deep enough bullpen to be able to cover the whole game," Melvin said. "We're just trying to do what we think is best for this particular game. And our bullpen is our strength."