F's for the A's

The Oakland A's looked more like the team hoping to get back to .500 than the team that had beat everyone who'd shown up at the ballpark the last ten games. I didn't expect (and still don't) the rox to get the best of the A's during the three-game series. However, I also didn't expect the A's, the hottest team in MLB coming into CF, to play like they did last night. The game was what has become the norm rather than the expection at CF, in that the score was 2-0 and runs were somewhat hard to come by. But in the sixth Nick Swisher let a Holliday line drive get under his glove to allow a run to score and the A's bullpen had a difficult time throwing strikes in the eighth, walking four batters and two runs in in a four-run inning that put the game out of reach. The A's grounded into four double plays, one in the eighth with the bases loaded and one out when the score was 3-0. After a terrible performance his last outing, Kim dominated over six innings, striking out five while allowing only four hits. Now the team with the longest winning streak in baseball is the Marlins.

The NL West is getting more interesting by the day. Currently all five teams are within 1.5 games and all at .500 or better. My brother-in-law, Greg, picked the Dodgers to win the division. Now, before you advise me to never talk to him again and white out his name in the family Bible, let me explain something. Greg is studying atmospheric sciences, or, meteorology. So, I figure I'll just apply the same level of accuracy of the average weather forecast to his baseball prediction. The way I see it, it's now a four-team race. Sorry Trolley Dodger fans! Greg and I, along with my dad, will be making the pilgrimage to CF Saturday to see the rox and Rangers (Greg is a Rangers fan).

I've been thinking to myself that the A's usually seem to do what they have done so far this season. That is, struggle out of the gate when the season starts and then go nuts at some point and win games in bunches. I had no idea this trend was so prolific until the broadcast last night when they mentioned that since 1999 the A's are six games over .500 in April and May and 200 games over .500 from June 1 through the rest of the season. They were 14-2 in June this season before last night's game.

Yesterday, the RMN had a nice article about Tulo, making comparisons to Oakland's Bobby Crosby.

Until next time, go rockies!