No plans for shaking up the middle of the A’s lineup right now, Bob Melvin says

The general reaction in the A’s clubhouse to Brandon McCarthy being released from the hospital: Relief and joy. “I think it’s great,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s made some big strides here in a few days, and we’re very happy that he’s home.”

“Overwhelming positive feelings,” left-hander Brett Anderson said. “It’s such a quick turnaround. For a couple days you didn’t know what the outcome was going to be. Now he gets to go home, sleep in his own bed. Hang out with his dog and his wife, and not be confined to a hospital room. Obviously everybody’s excited about that.”

–The A’s have won four in a row despite getting little production from No. 3 hitter Josh Reddick, and cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes has cooled considerably too. But Melvin said he doesn’t have any plans, for now, to try experimenting at the 3-4 spots in the order. “Yoenis hasn’t been swinging it as well as he’s been swinging,” Melvin said. “I don’t really know where I’d go at this point (for the third spot). I don’t want to shake it up too much. Those guys have been very important to us, and you have to stick with them to an extent. There are times you do try to give them a change of scenery. At this point in time, I don’t know that I would do anything differently in those spots.”

I’m not sure who I would sub in right now either. As I’ve written, the A’s have been getting just enough contributions up and down the order — No. 9 hitter Cliff Pennington is in a groove right now — to compensate for the lack of production from their big boppers. We’ll see how things continue to play out.

George Kottaras draws another start at catcher with the Angels throwing a right-hander in Jerome Williams. “It’s nothing DiNo (Derek Norris) has done, he’ll get his share of time too,” Melvin said. “We just feel like if we have a particular matchup working or a guy who’s hot we’ll play that hot hand.”

Reliever Jordan Norberto (shoulder tendinitis) might start throwing soon, but Melvin acknowledged time is running short to be able to work him back into the bullpen mix …