you could look at it as pulling him after 5.1 IP (early) or pulling him after 98 pitches (a lot at this time of year), and I think had Blanton's pitch count been 75 he would have finished the inning.

Geren won't be able to yank starters in the 6th inning all year, but it was appropriate today with all of them rested and given the relative importance of the game.

We needed four relievers all to be "on" today, and they were. Don't want to rely on that happening too often, but it's nice when the four are as strong as these four. I'll match our pen up with any in the league any time.

as I was hanging with 2 very active kids (low 40s here, too cold for them to spend an hour or two outside) and then cooking dinner with them.  But I'm always happier to see a little bit of a win than all of a loss.

Quick observation -- the A's have an absolutely brutal schedule this April.  Open in Seattle, then go to Anaheim, home to the White Sox and Yankees, then the Halos again.  I guess we'll face a big block o' suck in June or July to make up for it.

My wife took our kids to Baby Loves Disco last weekend -- a club in Philly that opens on Sunday afternoon for hipster 'rents and kids to come and shake their booties.  They all had fun.  So when my wife was looking for little Easter gifts, she picked CDs -- for our son, a disco compilation.

Playing in the background now?  "Celebration"!!

Harden (yay!) vs. Contreras.  Whose ERA right now is 63.00.

His only start (in Cleveland):
1 inning
7 hits
8 runs, 7 earned
1 homer
1 BB
1 K

Was he pitching left-handed?

...congrats to Blanton for his first win against the Angels!!

they are always intense and seemingly come down to several crucial plays and decisions.  It is literally like the playoffs in April.  It's going to be a letdown playing other opponents because I get so into these games.

And Embree was awesome.  Geren seems to be willing to take advantage of the A's biggest strength, their bullpen.  I really like most of the decisions he's made so far this year.

The offense is going to be the team's Achilles Heel all year, but if Blanton can pitch that well (keep in mind the Angels aren't exactly the Yankees) all year, this rotation is going to be fine.

This is my first time tuning in this season. WTF is up with Kruk's hair?

There were plenty of more frustrating games in past seasons. It's far too early to peg this team as anything. Yes, the A's have poor numbers so far with RISP this season, but they also have he second most ABs in such situations, at 59 (Marlins have 60). Point is, they aren't doing a terrible job of scoring runs. Sure, a bit below average when you consider the pitchers they were working against and the 9 run affair in Seattle, but it's not that disastrous, and too early to call it so anyway.

A split away against the Angels? Sounds good to me.

Sure our bullpen is strong and the starting staff is pretty good right now, but the offense is an absolute black hole.

I think the starting staff is just on a hot streak and I fully expect drop offs from everyone except Harden. You can't tell me with a straight face that Gaudin and Kennedy will only give up 2 ER per start. You may then say they don't have to if the offense will just pick up some of the slack, but I see no proof that the offense will be able to.

I think we were extremely lucky to win two games here in Anaheim, I think with the type of production we received offensively, we should've been swept. The RISP problem isn't a minor thing, it's a MAJOR problem. This offense won't slug a lot of homeruns, it's gonna need a lot of two out hits with RISP and to be able to drive home that run from 3rd with less than two outs and we've been unable to do any of that against mediocre pitching (exception to Hernandez and Lackey). 1 run against Moseley is unacceptable, 2 runs off Escobar is unacceptable, and I can argue that the 1 run off Lackey last night was unacceptable. The offense needs to pick it up right now in order for us to weather the definite dropoff from the rotation and probably the bullpen, too.

in the offense to improve than I have in the back end of the rotation. Bradley, Piazza, Chavez, and Swisher form a very good nucleus, and only Buck (growing pains) and Crosby (just a pain) strike me as concerns.

I think that the A's will be their usual "middle of the pack" in runs scored, that Harden and Haren will continue to be great, and that the bullpen will be a big strength. It's a question of how Blanton-Gaudin-Kennedy will fare over the long haul. My optimism for those three goes in decreasing order, but even if I'm pleasantly surprised, they ain't E. Santana-K. Escobar-Jared Weaver. If the Angels win the West, it will be on the strength of their superior back-end of the rotation, not on their superior offense.