Holy Toledo we have the best team in the American League West!!!! Well for a day anyways.  I want to savor the fact that my team played so well tonight and that they are 1 game better than the Angels.  The Athletics have won every three game series they have played so far this season meaning they have taken at least two out of the three games.  Tonight the Athletics beat the Angels whom they were tied with for first place.  They gave the Angels a good beating of 14 - 2 and now have the best record in the entire American league! It was an amazing game and again bizarre things kept happening, as they seem to do with the Athletics.  Thomas got a triple and almost hit for the cycle, which was in my mind the most amazing thing to happen tonight.  It was his first triple since 2002 and he added a single and a double to come just a homerun short of the cycle.  Daric Barton hit a three run homerun while Hannahan and Brown each hit solo shots.  Brown has the second highest number of RBIs in the American league with 25! Gaudin won his third straight game and while that is great for him it makes me feel bad for Blanton.  He never has any luck.  The Angels pitching coach got evicted for arguing with the home plate umpire about the strike zone he was calling which I just loved. I listened to the first part of the game on the radio and on one of the announcers eloquently spoke to what the Athletics have been able to do.  "It may not always be pretty but they play to win." That sums up the 2008 Athletics right there.  All in all it was an amazing game and I am still reveling in the after glow of the win. I hope we can keep this up tomorrow.  

The Athletics are not hiting.  The hitters look anemic right now.  Last night they did not have a hit from the 4^th to the 9^th innings. Today they looked really bad up until the 9^th inning and that was just the Mariners closer screwing up.  Cust is not living up to last years numbers, and the DH spot is up in the air or day to day.  The third spot in the lineup usually reserved for a teams best hitter constantly changes.  All of this worries me.  The main reason we are able to win is standout pitching and good defense.    If it weren't for these two factors we would be dead ducks.  Thank goodness the rest of the American League West isn't very good. At this point I don't care how we win just that we do.  I'll take smoke and mirrors any day over a loss.  

Today was the Day Of Silence and while I was silent the Athletics were not.  The Day of Silence is a day to bring light to the LGBTQI youth around the globe that must keep their sexual orientation silent.  Today it was in honor of 14 year old Lawrence King who in February was shot in his classroom for being gay.  He died 9 days latter.  This makes me sick to my stomach and today I was silent.  I was silent for Lawerence I was silent for my best friend and the thousands of LGBTQI youth that have no voice.  As I type this I can barely see through my tears because this issue is close to my heart.  I wish the world was a more accepting place and I wish LGBTQI people were treated as equal.  It would be great if a famous current baseball player would come out because it would shatter a lot of the stereotypes that exist and hopefully make people more accepting.  In my perfect world sexual orientation would not matter one iota but the world is not perfect.  While I know many of you were not silent today I ask that you take a moment and think about what it would be like to spend every day living a lie and not being who you are.  It would be very hard to live each day that way.  I also ask that you love and accept those different from you no matter what their difference may be.  Spend this weekend being as loving, caring, thoughtful and open-minded as you can.   Hey I might even befriend an Angels fan or possible a Yankees fan.  It could happen.

The game today was one of those bizarre how did we win that one games.  I love them because weird stuff always happens that you may not see all too often.  The opposing pitcher walked 4 batters, the Athletics only had 3 hits total, a run scored on a wild pitch, a walk was issued with the bases loaded, and the opposing pitcher Batista left in the second with a mild groin strain.  All in all it was a crazy game.  The Athletics are tied with the Angels for first in the division.  I never thought I would see that. Again all around a bizarre day. 

Baseball is the only place in life where things make sense. I understand double plays, homeruns, pitches and all of the minute details involved in the game.  I wish the rest of my life made as much sense to me as baseball does.  I am a wiz at keeping score in a scorebook at the game but I wish I could keep a scorecard of my life all nice and organized with the hits, runs and pitch count nicely in their place.  Life is never so organized though and lately it seems that nothing is in their designated boxes on the score card of my life.  I feel like a minor league team playing the Yankees most days. Things are crazy busy and I have not had any time to keep up with the Athletics.   I promise I will be back soon with lots of posting. 

Here is another poem by Robert Francis that I love. It is called The Base Stealer and is a beautiful way to describe the decision of stealing a base.  

Poised between going on and back, pulled
Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker,
Fingertips pointing the opposites,
Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball
Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on,
Running a scattering of steps sidewise,
How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases,
Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird,
He's only flirting, crowd him, crowd him,
Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate - now!

I have always loved eccentric players/ characters in baseball.  When I began to really understand/ foster a deep love for the game I was a Barry Zito fan.  (Lets all forget how he is currently pitching and remember when he was good) He died his hair blue, played guitar, and wore baby blue polyester suits.  ( Not everyone can pull of polyester suits) Not just a pitcher he often quoted philosophers as well as song lyrics and I thought he was the most fascinating player on the Athletics.  Then it was Eric Byrnes with his crazy Fan Fest antics, flying in the outfield (Look at him leap/jump after a ball. He really flies), chasing fans who ran on to the field during a game, and his surfing.  I have always loved players that were not just more than the game but those that were characters.  I have seen Barry Zito in concert (I don't recommend it by the way) and giving a yoga lesson.  Now I am looking for my current favorite Athletics crazy character and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.  Buck is a top contender right now but I don't know if he is the next Byrnse.  (They do have similar hair though.) Coming from a die hard Athletics fan my next statement might shock some but I am really into the Texas Rangers closer C.J Wilson right now. (Gasp!) In the off-season he trained with aikido, (a Japanese marital arts form), he holds guitar hero charity events, and is straight edge just like me.  (Meaning we both don't drink and do drugs.)  He is quite a character who has an MLBlog and MySpace to reach out to his fans.  Until I decide which current Athletic is out there enough for me I will go with the knife wielding guitar hero playing Wilson.  Don't hate because I gravitate towards the eccentric in life even if they aren't an Athletic. 

Article on Wilson:  http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3338075

Baseball is never the same twice. It is so different from the monotony of everyday life, and I guess that is what I love about it.  Every day could be the best game of a player's career, the day a no hitter is thrown, or there are back to back homeruns.  Teams and players can have streaks good or bad and one day, one at bat can make the difference.  My roommate and I were having a heated discussion yesterday and he wanted to know why I loved such a masculine fixation.  He couldn't understand why I (a woman!) would love watching men being aggressive and trying to win.  There are many reasons most of which he will never understand but I love the clean slate factor.  If a player has a bad game tomorrow is a new day.  Any player can be the hero in any game and I love the stories of Triple A call ups or bench players winning the game.  It is the little moments that most fans will never remember like Scutaro hitting a double in the playoffs that I love and cherish. (Well ok people might remember that because it was the playoffs but you get the gist.) This week has been full of crazy and wonderful little moments, like Hernandez making his major league debut and getting his first win after pitching one inning.  Or Buck after going 0 for 22and then hitting 6 doubles.  It was in short an amazing week full of many moments I will remember for a ong time. 

Thursday's game saw Buck go 3 for 6 and win the game in the 12^th inning.  (Extra inning games bother me but more on that later.)  He hit a 2 run double to finish the game for a 3-2 victory for the Athletics.  This meant the Athletics swept the Blue Jays for all 3 games and could take their half hour flight to Cleveland feeling elated.  Buck not only hit a double to win the game he hit 3 doubles to account for his three hits the entire night. (Has a player ever hit 6 doubles in a series before? I will need to look this up)  The winning pitcher Divine was called up from Triple A the day of the game and arrived 20 minutes before the first pitch.  He pitched a scoreless 1o^th and 11^th   to get the win.  He was added on the roster to replace the injured Harden and looks like a nice addition. Scutaro came up in the 11^th and with runners at the corners looked like he posed a threat.  I know he is not an Athletic anymore but I wanted him to get a game-winning hit so bad.  I know this sounds weird but I loved him as an Athletic and wanted him to rub the trade in Beane's face by winning the game.  Hannahan made a stellar play to record an out at first and keep the man at third from scoring.  Eevland made another great start pitching 6 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing the Jays just 3 hits. It was nice to sweep the series because the Jays are made up of so many former Athletics.  They have Thomas, Scutaro, Stewart, and Stairs so it was good to beat many former Athletics.

Friday saw the Athletics beat Sabathia for the second time in a week which is amazing being that he won the C.Y Young award last year.  This game was by far the craziest of the season and the fact that it is a young season means thing can only get crazier.  When the bottom of the 4^th inning started the Athletics had a 9-1 lead and I mistakenly thought they had the game in the bag.   Rain was threatening on the doppler radar so it looked as if the game would be cancelled after the fifth.   All signs pointed to an easy win.  But this is baseball and there are no easy wins.  Blanton looked good early and lasted 7 and 2/3 innings only allowing 5 runs and 8 hits.  He finally got some run support and his spell of bad luck seemed to be coming to a close. The runs came 1 in the 1st, 5 in the 2^nd, 1 in the 3^rd and 2 in the 4^th.  Doubles seem to be a theme with the Athletics this week and Friday's game saw Ellis, Barton, and Cust all go for 2.  The game experienced a 59 minute rain delay and Street came in to get the last out of the 8^th and 3 outs in the 9^th. Lets hope this 4 game win streak can continue.  I would love nothing more than the team that everyone said could not win many games to win a lot.  

With the Athletics one is never bored.  Today saw the removal of Dan Johnson from the team, which makes me very sad, and Harden looking like he will not be ready for his next start.  Room had to be made on the roster to bring up a pitcher to start the game today and Dan Johnson was designated for assignment as a result.  He was drafted seven years ago with the Athletics and was a big part of the team the past few years.  Johnson was always a fan favorite nicknamed DJ, and was an extremely nice guy. But as my father said earlier today "Its business".  I wish that were not the case.  Harden is still experiencing soreness in his right shoulder blade ans was quoted today saying" I don't know if it's too likely that I'll be starting Saturday, but we'll see.  It's the one spot on my body that I don't take any chances with." That is enough however on the negatives and now on to the past two games.  This has been a crazy series and both teams will be glad to see it end. 

Tuesday's game was won on an RBI triple from rookie Ryan Sweeney for a final of 9-8. The game was a rollercoaster with the Athletics ahead 8-6 in the 8^th inning.  Embree walked Wells and then former Athletics player Thomas hit the long ball for a two run shot.  Thus the game was tied.  Luckily the Athletics had a powerful top of the 9^th.  It all began in the second for the Athletics with a five run 2^nd inning that saw Buck hit an RBI double.  He finally was able to break his 0 for 22 streak becoming the hitter he was last year.  Street cam in fir the 9^th doing what he does best aside from one walk.  All in all it was a positive game much better than the negative injury reports coming out of the Athletics camp. 

Today's game again was crazy.  Ellis recorded four hits, which included a game tying triple in the 9^th.  He is having a fantastic start to the season and so are the guys being brought in with the disabled list announcements.  Today was Greg Smiths first major league game and he was the starting pitcher.  He seemed nervous in the first giving surrendering three runs but after the 1^st inning he was able to rally within himself and settle down.  Smith had five shutout innings after the first and I was impressed that he was able to stabilize and get the job done.  When he left the game it was 3-2 and at one point he got eight men out in a row.  Very impressive stuff for a rookie in the beginning of the season.  Smith looks very promising if he is able to repeat today's performance .  Today was the day for rookies with Fernando Hernandez also making his debut, pitching a scoreless 8^th and receiving the win.  The final was 6-3 and boy was I glad to see the game end.  What I take away from this is that the Athletics have talented rookies and are able to rally back after falling behind.  All positives.  

9 Innings.  3 Outs.  Pitch counts of around 100, a small white ball, 8 other men behind you, supporting your every move.  These are the things a major league pitcher are given to craft their art. Paper, pen, computer, language, their thoughts, these are a poet's supplies.   In their elements both strive to perfect the art of fooling their opponents: the reader and the batter.  Weather crafting an unhitable pitch or tongue-twisting sentence both as the poet Robert Francis states is trying to be "a moment misunderstood" in their art. Robert Francis uses a pitchers battle to fool a hitter as a metaphor to illustrate the battle a poet goes through to mislead their reader all in an effort to be "a moment misunderstood", while seeming eccentric, errant, arrant, and wild but being in control of their craft the entire time.  The poem The Pitcher line by line is the back and forth of an exciting match up between hitter, pitcher, reader and writer.   It is this exciting match up between poetry and baseball that I will be looking at in my new weekly Baseball in Poetry blog.  Here is this weeks poem The Pitcher by Robert Francis 

His art is eccentricity, his aim

How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at,

His passion how to avoid the obvious,

His technique how to vary the avoidance.

The others throw to be comprehended. He

Throws to be a moment misunderstood.

Yet not too much. Not errant, arrant, wild,

But every seeming aberration willed.

Not to, yet still, still to communicate

Making the batter understand too late.

It is time to recap the Athletics first home stand of the season.  There were numerous positives to take away from all the games and the number one in my book was the pitching.  All the starters for the Athletics looked strong and there were some surprise performances that I was really happy to see.  Harden and Duscherer were question marks for me going in to the season but they both looked really strong.  Eveland was another extremely pleasant surprise coming out of spring training and Saturday he did not disappoint.  I would like to issue Eveland a warm hearty welcome to the Athletics because he rocked on Saturday! Trading Haren, banking on a constantly hurt pitcher, and moving a bullpen member to the rotation all worried me but Eveland calmed my pitching nerves with his first performance.  He allowed one run over seven innings and the Athletics ended up winning six to one.  Eveland shut the Indians down for six straight innings and this was only his seventh start in the majors! (Holy Cow sports fans!)   Blanton whom I will now refer to as "Bad Luck Blanton" has honestly the worst luck of any current pitcher I know.  He could easily be a 20 game winner per year but he gets the least amount of run support out of all the Athletics starters.  Today he was the unfortunate recipient of a botched play at first by Daric Barton who could not turn the double play and of a lack of runs.  The Athletics gave Blanton just one run in today's game and all of last year he went something in the ballpark of 30 starts with three or fewer runs. He stands at 0-2 currently but has pitched far better than his numbers would suggest.  

However there are concerns currently plaguing the Athletics and I am getting nervous of a repeat from last year.  Duke (as he is affectionately known) left the game early Friday with a shoulder problem and had a scheduled MRI for the next day.  This made me nervous given the Athletics injury prone season last year (we do not need a repeat of the agony of injuries) and Donnie Murphy had to leave the game early the day after Duke.  Murphy is the third baseman that is currently filling in for an injured Chavez (On the DL. Disabled List not Down Low), and he collided with Cust Saturday resulting in Murphy leaving the game early.  He received a sprained middle finger from the collision which makes me say "Marco Scuttaro anyone?" (Yes Beane this is directed at you.  Don't trade guys we need and fans love.) So slowly I fear the injury curse is seeping back onto the team. 

It turns out Duke has a strained right bicep tendeon.  OH NO! He will most likely miss one start (lets hope that's all) and DiNardo or Gaudin will fill in for Duke. The story can be found here: http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080406&content_id=2499504&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak

The catcher Suzuki has the longest hitting streak in baseball right now and is looking extremely good.  He has big  shoes to fill (Jason Kendall's shoes) but I really like what I see from him so far in the season.  He is a bright spot in the lineup however Buck is a dark spot. He has had trouble at the plate lately and his first hit of the season has been rather elusive.  I thought Buck did a great job last year and am reminded of Eric Byrnse when I see him.  I hope he is able to find the elusive first few hits and have a good first half.  We'll see. For now I am off to pry to the Baseball Gods that the injuries go away and stay away.