Crisp moves back to his happy place

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Coco Crisp has finally found his comfort zone, it seemsand only had to hit .156 to do it.Crisp is moving back to center field after resisting left field so much that it became almost a mental block for him. He reached the nadir of a modern athletes life Monday when he said Im ready to boo myself, and that came after a two double-play day in Minnesota.Thus, he moves back from left to center in hopes of recreating the happy place he once had, and Yoenis Cespedes becomes the left fielder. Veteran rank has its privileges, especially when youre making 17 outs in every 20 at-bats.RELATED: Coco Crisp game logs
Is this pouting? Probably not. Only he can know that, and his position would be a resounding No. So lets take him at his word.Nevertheless, the As are so horrifyingly bad offensively that the 2011 Giants hitters are saying, God, those guys stink. And the Giants played in the National League and scored 570 runs, 35 more than the As are on pace for scoring.RELATED: MLB team stats leaders
That would be the fourth worst offense in the American League since the designated hitter rule was introduced, and manager Bob Melvin knows it. He has been managing without a bat rack all season long, and between the reintroduction of Brandon Inge, the impending activations of Cespedes and Manny Ramirez and the plan to have Josh Reddick bat third and fifth every day, he knows he still needs more, and he cant wait to do it.So Coco Crisp is the center fielder again, in hopes that the As can create a presence in the two-hole, while they wait for Jemile Weeks to create a presence in the leadoff spot, and while they wait for Cespedes and Ramirez and Inge to fill the four, five and six-spots, and while they wait for Kurt Suzuki to remember the years when he was a hitting catcher.Put another way, as Bruce Bochy understands, you dont set records for lack of run production because one guy is out of whack. It takes a team effort, and the As have been that team.Is Crisp the center fielder the answer? Maybe not, maybe not even the answer to matter of Crisp. But waiting is worse, and waiting hoping is worse still. The As arent doomed, but they are doomed with this offense, and they can see Doomville City from where they are standing.This doesnt mean that Coco Crisp the left fielder was a bad idea. It means that circumstances and reluctance made it an idea that became bad. Now it is up to Crisp to show that the left fieldcenter field issue was the only thing keeping him from being a major league hitter again.Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com