6/28 Game and Other Topics

Tonight's game was great. Sure it was great that the A's won; it was great that Zito had 7 solid innings and the offense kept up its hot streak.

However, I think there were some great things about tonight's game that a casual fan or newcomer to the game would never understand, and it is with smug pride that I can sit back and go, "yeah, this is why I love baseball."

It was so brutally apparent that Jamie Moyer was getting squeezed by Bruce Froemming tonight, everyone was pausing before trotting to first base. But the truly appealing part of the game was the dance that Moyer and Froemming went through early in the game. Froemming makes a bad call, Moyer slows the game down. Moyer doesn't like something, asks for a new ball...over and over and over.

This of course doesn't help Moyer, he's just digging himself a hole, and of course 7 earned runs later he finally gets some mercy from Mike Hargrove. When I saw Froemming was behind the dish tonight I had a feeling someone was going to get thrown out of the game, and it almost happened with Moyer, who had just about popped his lid late in the 2nd inning.

Anyway, perfect execution by the A's, and should they continue to do this they should be at .500 or even up by a game or two by the ASB. The White Sox will be a great test this weekend to see which direction this team is really going. Beating up on Seattle and SF is one thing, lets see what we can do against someone really hot.

As for the trading deadline, I can see the A's cutting off some dead weight and making some sound financial decisions here and there, but not a whole lot going on. There's no way Beane can justify moving Kotsay without assurances that an extention will not be signed and Kots will indeed opt out at the end of the year. I don't care what kind of prospects people are offering, moving Kotsay puts us 2 steps back to go only 3 steps forward in 3 years.....translation: not worth it.

Rincon, Hatteberg, Ginter could be trade victims, but the beauty of this year is that Beane doesn't "have" to make a move. The team is performing well and is setup well for this year and has the flexability to make necessary changes this offseason, rather than midseason. Gives Billy a ton of leverage, which other GMs dread.

Great game tonight, keep it up boys.

-Adam