After another satisfying victory against the currently hapless Halos last night, the A's now stand at 22-21. This is starting to garner some national attention. Steve Berthiaume has been calling the A's "plucky", Buster Olney mused about the A's .500 record last week, and the MLB Network anchors repeatedly mention how much of a surprise it is that the A's have hung onto 2nd place for so long. Indeed, I believe most A's fans are pleasantly surprised at how this season has gone so far record-wise. And this is despite playing with Josh Donaldson a scarecrow at 3rd base most of the year, Yoenis Cespedes missing significant time with a hand injury, and Kurt Suzuki being among the worst offensive catchers in MLB. So, with Brandon Inge on track to returning next week, Brandon McCarthy being on track for an early June return, Cespedes potentially returning around then, and Brett Anderson returning around August, this team has nowhere to go but up, right?

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Tommy Milone gets his 6th win as he once again dominated at home. He went 7 strong innings with only 3 strikeouts, but he only gave up 5 hits and 1 walk. Milone now has a .60 ERA over 4 starts at home. The only run Milone gave up was in the 5th inning where Howard Kendrick led off with an infield single to shortstop Cliff Pennington, Bobby Wilson walked, and Mike Trout followed with a shallow ball that just fell fair after A's second basemen Jemile Weeks and first basemen Daric Barton had a near collison and the ball fell fair as Trout was able to get to second base with an RBI double. Milone then induced a pop out from Alberto Callaspo to end the threat.

Jerome Williams gave up 2 earned runs over 6.1 innings, only giving up 5 hits, but he was hurt by his 5 walks. Williams only had one shut down inning as those 5 hits and 5 walks were scattered throughout his entire outing. Williams gave up a lead-off single to Seth Smith, followed by a ground-rule double from Josh Donaldson and a walk to Daric Barton loaded the bases with no outs. Seth Smith was able to score as Kurt Suzuki grounded into a double play and Cliff Pennington then grounded out to end the inning.

In the 3rd inning, Williams led off by hitting Jemile Weeks with a pitch, inducing a force out from the next batter, Coco Crisp, which was followed by a single from Josh Reddick, and an RBI single from Kila Ka'aihue. With still only one out, Seth Smith was then walked to load the bases, but the Angels caught a break as Josh Donaldson lined a ball to Angels shortstop Erick Aybar who then passed it on to second basemen Howard Kendrick for the double play.

After Milone left after the 7th inning, Ryan Cook came out for the 8th and extended his franchise record for most consecutive scoreless-innings to start off the season with 21.2 as he retired Mike Trout, Alberto Callaspo, and Albert Pujols. Brian Fuentes then came out to close the inning as he was able to get his 4th save of the season as the A's won 2 - 1 in the first game of a 3 game series against the Angels.

CJ Wilson is set to face-off against Graham Godfrey tomorrow, as the A's hope to win the series against the Angels and get a little closer to the 1st place Rangers.

Tonight left-hander Tommy Milone is set to take on right-hander Jerome Williams in the first game of a three-game series against the Angels. Tommy Milone will try to continue his dominance at home, where he has maintained a 3 - 0 record with a .39 ERA. Those three games have all been against the Royals, White Sox, and Tigers, who are 10th, 16th, and 11th in MLB in runs scored.

The Angels offense has started to heat up with Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, and Albert Pujols have all started to contribute consistently. Tommy Milone is going to have to cool down these three if he wants to continue his dominance at home.

Although the A's have lost 7 of their last 12 games, they are still playing .500 ball, with a 21 - 21 record. Hopefully the A's will able to support Tommy Milone and score a couple of runs en route to get back above .500!

Here are the lineups:

Athletics Angels

Looks like Coco Crisp is back in the lineup. Let's Go A's!

Well, last week was a big improvement over the previous week down on the farm, with the RockHounds snapping their 6-game losing streak and the Ports finally ending their epic 16-game skid. On top of that, first baseman Chris Carter blasted 4 homers for the River Cats, right-hander Daniel Straily struck out 15 in an impressive outing for Midland, and outfielder Dusty Robinson made a great first impression at Stockton, slamming 2 home runs in his first three games after his promotion from Burlington. And to top it all off, I had the chance to talk with A’s assistant general manager David Forst last week to get his read on a number of the A’s top prospects. You can find the complete interview on my Athletics Farm blog, and you can find a selection of choice quotes on Derek Norris, Brad Peacock, Michael Choice, Sonny Gray, Miles Head, A.J. Cole and more right here on Athletics Nation after the jump…

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It was fine day at the ballpark today, if you are an A's fan. All this week, the Bay Area baseball talk has been focused on the A's losing streak at AT&T Park. It was 9 straight victories by the Giants at AT&T going into Friday, and the A's play Friday and Saturday didn't do much to dispel the thought that the A's can't hold their own there. Friday was an 8-6 debacle, with Parker and a cavalcade of relievers combining for 9 walks, with the extra indignity of walking Barry Zito twice. Trust me, the final score belies how lopsided of a game it was. Saturday was no better, as the A's were shutout by Ryan Vogelsong and the Giants bullpen, managing only one pathetic hit.

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Halfway home! A's up 4-2!

Bartolo Colon faces off against Tim Lincecum today at AT&T Park as the A's look to end an eleven game skid in San Francisco. Lincecum has struggled this year with a 5.77 ERA but his strong peripherals (9.9 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 and 0.4 HR/9) leave his FIP (2.95) a smidgen above his career mark (2.93). The A's throw Colon out there, who has been merely OK with the A's but has the interesting distinction of very similar ERA, FIP and xFIPs at 4.13, 4.13 and 4.14 respectively.

A's lineup isn't that different from what we have seen as of late, the big news for the A's today being that Brandon McCarthy is being placed on the disabled list with a shoulder strain. The A's have called up Jim Miller in his stead.

Let's win one for Brandon!

Lineups from Baseball Press:

UPDATE: Brandon McCarthy has been placed on the 15-day disabled list...

In America we are known for fighting to get what we want. Whether it was our forefathers fighting against taxation without representations or more recent generations fighting for racial equality or marriage equality. America is a land without gimmes, it is a land where you earn your way. That is why the news stories surrounding Manny Ramirez both perplex and worry me. Everyone is speaking of Ramirez making his season debut on his 40th birthday on May 30th in Minneapolis. In fact oftentimes it is written, "Ramirez is scheduled to make his debut..." as if there is a lineup in Bob Melvin's office with his name already penciled in. If this is the case Jonny Gomes or Seth Smith (or perhaps both) are poised to lose significant playing time. These two players have been among the A's best. Using wOBA, Gomes stands at .358 (second best on the club) and Smith at .330 (tied for fourth best with Yoenis Cespedes). Using wRC+ Gomes is at 129 (also second) and Smith at 110 (in fifth). These are very good numbers and for sake of comparison, though they were offensively challenged, Gomes' numbers in both these categories would have led the 2011 A's. It is difficult to say either of these guys deserves less playing time, but that is what is being told to us and for who?

Yesterday Manny Ramirez made his debut with the Sacramento River Cats as they took on the Albuquerque Isotopes in Albuquerque. In the top of the first facing Will Savage, a Triple-A filler type for the Dodgers who has earned 4.0 K/9 he struck out on five pitches the bat never leaving his shoulder as he took a called strike, ball, called strike, ball and called strike. He was more eager against Savage in the third when first pitch swinging he lined out to second base. In the fifth against the 4.0 K/9 Savage, Ramirez swung and missed, fouled off a pitch, fought it back to 3-2 and then struck out swinging. In the seventh inning facing Scott Rice, a 30-year-old yet to make his MLB debut, Ramirez struck out swinging on three pitches.

Ramirez didn't face the much ballyhooed prospect. He didn't face the guy who is on the cusp of entering the Majors, he didn't even face a guy who has pitched in the Majors and his line was 0-for-4 with 3Ks. Vladimir Guerrero was signed by the Blue Jays on an MiLB deal and Hideki Matsui was signed by the Rays on a MiLB deal and neither of those clubs has a date for them to be in Toronto or St. Petersburg. This is what Oakland should do. Treat the MiLB deal as an MiLB deal. For now Ramirez is Triple-A filler just as Jeff Fiorentino is or just as Brandon Moss is. Because Manny is Manny is no reason for him to not have to earn his way to Oakland.