I'll Huff And I'll P--...Oops

...Although I must say, Karros didn't get many at bats, so even if there was anything left it would have been hard to know. Thomas is getting every chance to show the A's one way or the other.

The success, unprecedented this early in the season, for Chavez has been in no small part due to the better pitches he has seen with FT batting behind him, there is no disputing that.  When opposing pitchers see the Big Hurt in that on-deck circle, who looks like something out of "Land of the Giants" swinging a bat that resembles a toothpick in his hands, they are that much more around the plate (also likely to throw more fastballs, less breaking stuff) to Chop, allowing him better pitches to swing at and thus the much improved results we have seen.  It doesn't matter if he's 1-for 30, the pitcher still sees the Big Hurt, and IMO that can only help Eric.

I also love FT's intensity and involvement. He has been a great help to Swisher especially, who follows him around like Bill Walton following the Grateful Dead, picking his brain.  This is one among many reasons why Swish is posting MVP-type numbers so far, but a vital part of the equation for a 2nd-year player still finding his feet nonetheless.

FT could play the pampered, future-Hall-of-Fame superstar and sit quietly in his own Barry Bonds-world (where it's his dream and everyone else is just in it), but he has been SO involved on the bench, cheering us on.  This may sound useless and I know we have him to do more than cheerlead, but intangibles like this energy and leadership factor are tremendously valuable in a marathon season full of peaks and valleys.

I also think as the weather heats up the "old man" will do the same, and we can in all likelihood look for some memorable hits from him as the season wears on.  Just having him still healthy and not on crutches is important at this point.

Congrats to Swisher for more-or-less beating the bobblehead curse! I assume that the curse kept him from hitting HRs, and resulted in that craptastic dive for the ball and the ugly AB. Much better than any other curse day. And having righty and lefty bobbleheads is pretty badass, it was freaky to see all those around the ballpark. My righty is gonna be hanging out with Huston, I think. If an FT bobblehead joins them, Bobble Swish and Bobble Frank may have to learn a Bobble handshake.

Mad props to The Zeet. He pitched a hell of a game today, looked VERY good for the most part. Didn't like the number of three ball counts, but it was great to see him get in there with a lot of first pitch strikes. The boy remembered his daily dose of FITZ today, and it was lovely to see.

I cry for the Duke. :-( Hella glad to see how he didn't get rattled by the HR and dealt with the inning despite the elbow. ...I think we've officially seen ENOUGH of Larry Davis for the season.

Adam Melhuse. Bitch yeah.

Jay Payton has discovered the FUTURE of A's baseball. A brand of smallball appropriate to our franchise's teachings. A way to combine the precious, precious walk with the SB. Jay Payton, I salute you.

Joe Kennedy is freaking me out, the difference between his stats and his performance is... dare I say it? ...Rinconlike. I mean. DAMN. Him getting the victory is proof positive of how messed up the rules of the game are. Poor Zito (side note: watching his leg kick today was beautiful. Oakland ballet has been reincarnated into Barry Zito's windup).

This game was so weird, my brain still hurts. Hell of a way to end it, though, seems like the appropriate thing with Kendall at bat. These boys know how to work a walkoff win.

1. Big Frank.  I'm glad he's cheap... if he's not hitting at least .250 by the end of this month, I'm done with him.  No, I'm not kidding in that "mock H8r" way to make him get started.  I'm seriously done with him May 31 if he's still not doing anything useful. (And he shouldn't be the September bobblehead... that really pisses me off. Yes, he's a future HOF-er, but this is his first and maybe only year in Oakland.  I want pointless collectible doodads that represent players that we might actually feel an attachment to, before they get sold off {{{coughElliscoughDJcoughScootercough}}}...)
2. I'm worried about Duke (-scherer, that is, not -of Left Field...)
3. This adorable little old lady sitting next to us with a scorebook dropped about three F-bombs while trying to figure out that weird DP in the 9th inning.  I thought I was going to die laughing.
4. Losing track of "things that are counted" (like balls and outs) is kind of a habit with DJ, isn't it?  Wasn't he the one who started to run off the field last year after only two outs?
5. IMPORTANT QUESTION:  What were Swish and Huston doing being filmed with bobbleheads before the game???  Separately, they were each given a couple of bobbleheads and it looked like they were making them have a bobbleconversation while being filmed.  WTF?