Anderson out for remainder of regular season

DETROIT -- When starting pitcher Brett Anderson left Wednesday's game in the third inning with a right oblique strain the A's held out hope it wouldn't keep him out too long. They didn't get the good news they had hoped for when the MRI came back. Anderson has a grade two strain, and will be out for the rest of the regular season. "We've had to go through some issues this year so we are battle tested as far as that goes," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's a guy that's got ace type of stuff so it hurts to lose a guy like that, but we've lost several starting pitchers over the course of a month."It is a tough blow to absorb for Anderson who just came back from a 14 month recovery after "Tommy John" surgery. It is also tough for the team, as Anderson joins Brandon McCarthy, and Bartolo Colon on the list of A's pitchers that are out for the season."This team has handled adversity all year and has been able to over come it and play well in the midst of it," Anderson said. "From a team aspect these guys have been picking each other up through the course of the season I don't expect anything less now." Anderson's return from reconstructive surgery on his left elbow was one of the A's best stories in a year packed full of good ones. He won his first four starts upon returning to the rotation. He is 4-2 with a 2.57 ERA in six starts this year."You go from one injury to another, you never want to be labeled as a guy that's on a perennial DL," Anderson said. "I tried to get myself in the best shape possible and it was one of those things where it is a fluke deal. It wasn't one pitch, one play, it was over the course of a couple innings." Anderson would've been on turn to make three more starts this season. He is holding out hope that he can take the mound again this year. That will require some help from his teammates. "Hopefully I can help this team win in the postseason," Anderson said. 'It would be a good story if I came back and threw the play-in game, but we'll see how it goes." "I've never been in the postseason so I am going to do my best to get there and help this team win some ballgames," he added. Melvin likes to keep his focus more narrow when it comes to the team. His one-day-at-a-time mentality has worked well thus far. He wouldn't rule out letting Anderson get his first taste of playoff baseball, but understands a lot has to happen first. "If it went that far we'd take a look at that," Melvin said. "We're just concentrating on the regular season right now and he will not be available during that period." Anderson says his oblique is still sore to the touch and it hurts him to sit down, which won't help him much on the team airplane. He says it might take five to seven days before he can start trying to rehab the injury with some core strengthening work, and then shortly after he hopes to be able to start throwing again. That is of course, if all goes according to plan. For now he can't do much but wait until it starts feeling better.