From Chronicle Staff Writer Susan Slusser

The A’s hired former Oakland second baseman Phil Garner, who has had a long and successful past managing in the big leagues, to be a special advisor to GM Billy Beane.

But having a longtime big-league manager around will not make current manager Bob Melvin uneasy. Melvin has cited Garner as one of the people most important to his own career – he even wore No. 3 in honor of Garner when he managed the Mariners.

If anything this is an indication – not a guarantee, an indication – that Melvin, currently in the job on a interim basis, will be coming back next year. Garner is his guy. Melvin has been Garner’s bench coach, and I wonder if Garner could be a possibility for that role with the A’s next year.

The A’s infield defense has been much worse than expected this year, and it certainly would make sense to have Garner take a look at that part of the team’s game. He’ll be out there tonight, and I’m sure that’s going to be one of the things he’ll be checking out.

I got a text from Dallas Braden today that he’s left a little message for C.J. Wilson, the Rangers’ starter tonight. Wilson took some shots at Oakland the other day, telling ESPN Dallas he doesn’t like to pitch at the Coliseum, and the fans “suck.” He went on to say that the fans who do show up are great – which has been a little lost in the retelling, I plead guilty on that charge – but he added that there are sometimes only 6,000 fans. Wilson also said the A’s players hate him.

Well, with these comments and the lawyer-ball comments in May, Wilson might have brought that on himself, and that’s the gist of Braden’s message, which he inscribed on one of his perfect-game T-shirts, paraphrasing Mark Twain but in more colorful language. It reads, in part:

“It’s better to let people think you’re a (jerk) than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. … Hey, nobody’s perfect!”

Cynics might suggest that Braden, like Wilson not afraid of a little attention, is trying to grab some of the spotlight for himself, but knowing Braden, I think he just wants to stick up for the team and the fans. We know he doesn’t put up with any slights, perceived or otherwise, and an opposing player saying anything disparaging about the team or fans is exactly the sort of thing that would get Braden riled up.

And….one of the first things Wilson ripped was the Coliseum mound. “The mound sucks,” Wilson said.

That’s Braden’s mound he’s talking about. And there’s even a t-shirt for that. Maybe that could be the next item of clothing inscribed for Wilson.

If you missed it today, ex-Rangers Brandon McCarthy (who is starting for the A’s tonight) and Rich Harden had thoughts about Wilson’s comments, and Harden had plenty of nice things to say about A’s fans.