Sickness and life have conspired to make today the Apricot clan's first live game. This is a little report on our visit to the game today, followed by some win expectancy numbers and pictures.

(huh? what is this? and what are these pictures?)

• Hopey had lots of fun smiling at A's fans and Dodger fans alike and eventually napped from the 7th inning on.
  
• No one told me they put comfy cushions on all the seats. Big improvement.
  
• They closed Our Black Muslim Bakery too!! Darn it!!
  
• No one told me that Sundays after games kids 14 and under could run the bases! If Hopey weren't asleep we would have gone for it. If anything, Mrs Apricot was way more excited than any kid at the chance to run the bases. I didn't understand why none of the kids were sliding into bases; there must have been a rule against it.
  
• They dumbed down the "item under the cap" game so that even I could follow it without my brain exploding. Seriously, the level of difficulty was absurd the last few years... in the past, I had to avert my gaze to stay sane.
  
• The atmosphere was actually very festive and excellent. The food crowds were significant but there were none of the five-innings-on-line-for-a-hot-dog lines.  And there were a lot more vendors coming by the seats (Sec 220). If the tarping of the holy third deck was supposed to improve the vending experience, it worked.
  
• The announcer was okay, but I miss Roy Steele. One of my favorite ballpark pleasures (which I've never heard anyone else appreciating publicly) was Roy Steele narrating the Dot Racing. Imagine James Earl Jones or Pat Summerall narrating a Benny Hill chase, completely deadpan.  I hope he's well.
  
• I loved the Bill King tribute where they (presumably) play a new great radio call, though it was a little funny to have the hero of the clip be Saenz. Grady should have sent Saenz up to pinch-hit immediately.  I'd love to have a whole DVD of those, synched with video.
  
• Despite being a father, I received no free Father's Day Tie because we couldn't arrive hours early.  It is a source of irritation to me that it is such a trial to get a giveaway at the Coliseum. But once I saw the actual tie (gold with little A letters), I got over it.
  
• 7th Inning stretch was "God Bless America", which, sorry, I think is a lousy song. I prefer "America the Beautiful".
  
• Generally speaking, the park looked more spiffy with exhibits around and flat screen ads. There was the clever (new?) idea of giving kids little wristbands with the seat numbers of their parents. There were several giveaways ($50-$100) throughout.  
• All in all, it was just a great day at the park... sun, the A's in control with the requisite dollop of anxiety at the end, Cupcakes getting DPs seemingly at will.  Next time we'll hit the bases and get Hopey to harass Stomper.

Okay, here are the win expectancy contributions of MLB players and A's players to date.

MLB To Date         WXC     Events      A's To Date     WXC     Events          

STL Albert_Pujols   4.605   239         Nick_Swisher     1.778  306
NYY Derek_Jeter     3.541   298         Dan_Haren*       1.418  405
ARI Brandon_Webb*   2.859   420         Barry_Zito*      1.158  410
BOS David_Ortiz     2.644   291         Bobby_Crosby     1.044  252
NYM David_Wright    2.582   308         Brad_Halsey*     0.942  290
NYY Jorge_Posada    2.383   223         Eric_Chavez      0.903  265
CHW Jermaine_Dye    2.372   239         Joe_Kennedy*     0.635  61
HOU Lance_Berkman   2.371   271         Mark_Kotsay      0.598  277
TEX G_Matthews_Jr.  2.359   274         Huston_Street*   0.585  139
DET Cur_Granderson  2.250   310         Kiko_Calero*     0.541  115
PHI Ryan_Howard     2.235   278         Dan_Johnson      0.393  212
STL Chr_Carpenter*  2.224   360         Frank_Thomas     0.257  218
BOS Jona_Papelbon*  2.200   135         J_Duchscherer*   0.224  74
PHI Chase_Utley     2.178   311         Steve_Karsay*    0.199  53
BOS Kevin_Youkilis  2.176   287         Rich_Harden*     0.124  143
BOS Manny_Ramirez   2.146   270         Joe_Blanton*     0.117  386
COL Matt_Holliday   2.114   283         Milton_Bradley   0.089  113
TOR B.J. Ryan*      2.099   123         Chad_Gaudin*     0.014  103
MIL Bill_E. Hall    2.088   243         Santi_Casilla*  -0.020  11
MIN Joe_Nathan*     1.989   97          Jay_Witasick*   -0.022  29
MIN Joe_Mauer       1.970   258         Mike_Rouse      -0.093  16
NYM Duaner_Sanchez* 1.962   172         Kirk_Saarloos*  -0.257  321
MIN Johan_Santana*  1.939   410         Marco_Scutaro   -0.268  153
CHC Carl_Zambrano*  1.938   422         Randy_Keisler*  -0.269  42
ANA Orlando_Cabrera 1.926   299         Ron_J. Flores*  -0.354  34
TB  Ty_Wigginton    1.922   256         Matt_Roney*     -0.390  19
PHI Pat_Burrell     1.918   253         Esteban_Loaiza* -0.547  120
STL Scott_Rolen     1.852   246         Jay_Payton      -0.643  217
CHW JA. Contreras*  1.794   353         Bobby_Kielty    -0.715  112
MIL Carlos_N. Lee   1.791   297         Antonio_Perez   -0.720  50
COL Todd_Helton     1.788   241         Mark_Ellis      -1.143  187
CHW Paul_Konerko    1.781   292         Jason_Kendall   -1.492  237
CIN Ken_Griffey_Jr. 1.780   183         Adam_Melhuse    -1.661  90

Before one gets too excited about Crosby and Ballsy Brad Halsey's rise, their big jumps are almost entirely due to the 17-inning marathon game. Maybe next time we'll have some pictures of how their seasons have been going.