Hey, someone's gotta do this .. even the last kid picked gets a charity at-bat.

Kots has evolved to walking uprightKots has evolved to walking upright

"Kotsay's one of the biggest leaders on the team so it gives you a little extra boost at the end of spring training to see him walking around without a walker and joking around,'' starting pitcher Joe Kennedy said.

Personally, I think JFK needs to do a little less joking and a little more focusing on not giving up a run per inning.  Just sayin ...

Kennedy allowed seven hits and four runs, three earned, in 31/3 innings and the conditions affected play. He felt better about his outing than his previous starts because he was pitching more ahead of the hitters.

I'm at a loss for words ... moving on ...

On the road again ...

Highlights
Chavez misses Diego

"It's hard," says A's third baseman Eric Chavez, whose only child, Diego, was born in August 2005. "And the older he gets, the harder it's going to be. You just have to accept that, as a Dad, you're going to be missing stuff. Like this year, I know I'm probably going to miss Diego talking for the first time, because he's really close right now.

Kotsay uses tech

"I got an Apple computer with iChat, so when I'm on the road, at least they can see me and I can see them," he says.

The Gamer sucks it up.

"I deal with it fine," he offers. "I'm not one of those people who gets homesick and misses things. I just try to lock into the task at hand of playing baseball as well as I can play it."

Glenn Dickey says what we were thinking all along.

Prediction: There will be many times this season when a batter hits a fly ball that Zito expects to be caught. But, ohmigawd, there it is falling in for a double or triple.Zito’s second problem is that he’s extraordinarily dependent on the umpires. When they won’t call his 12-to-6 curve a strike, he has no out pitch — and he piles up the walks, 99 last season. Since he won’t adjust his pitching to the umpiring, his pitch count soars and he comes out early, explaining, "I was trying to be too fine out there."
His third problem is that the velocity on his fastball has declined.

And finally, your obligatory random news
Apparently, I left my detachable enispay in the City.

police shut down part of the thoroughfare for about an hour because of a suspicious package. ... The suspicious device was determined to be harmless, authorities said.

Yeah, that's what I've been told. (sob)

"Really baby, I promise I'll pull out.  Just give me a little more time"
Personally, I'm waiting for The Onion to do a story about how withdrawal is a very poor method and how we should've penetrated with more reliable protection.