SunflowerseedGate

   In keeping an eye on the SF Chron's Athletics coverage the past couple of days, it seems that a behind-the-scenes controversy is developing.  You might say the A's are embroiled in it.
   After Sunday's Angels game, wrote Chronicle writer Ron Kroichick, "On the dirt in front of Oakland's dugout, a white bucket rested on its side, with bags of sunflower seeds scattered nearby."
   A crime had been committed.  A crime of passion.  And so, suspicion immediately fell on the most notoriously-passionate Athletic:
   "I wasn't throwing them out there," manager Ken Macha said.
   Riiiight.  Like we said, suspicion immediately fell on the most notoriously-PASSIONATE Athletic.
   As Kroichick wrote, "Given ... his combustible history, Bradley was a logical bucket-toppling candidate, but he calmly denied any involvement."
   Yet a witness (Kroichick) says Bradley "angrilly flung his bat" after his ninth-inning pop out in Sunday's game, just minutes before the bucket went from upright to sideways.  
   The incriminating evidence continued to pour in against Bradley yesterday, when A's beat writer Susan Slusser's excellent investigative reporting brought forth two anonymous sources:
   "Two members of the team confirmed Sunday's suspicions that Milton Bradley tossed the bucket of sunflowers seeds during the game vs. the Angels," wrote Slusser, who then attempted to fight the flames of controversy by adding, "but the general sentiment was: good. The A's like Bradley's intensity and desire to win, seed-tossing and all."
    But who were these anonymous informants who turned Bradley over to the media hounds? And faced with the now-mounting evidence against him, will Bradley confess? Or is he being framed? And how many buckets of sunflower seeds will be overturned before these treacherous snacks are banned from the clubhouse?
    And finally, will this controversy overshadow the team and the game we love? Will baseball ever be the same, or will the bucket, now toppled, never be truly upright again, seeds scattered in the dirt like children's tears?