If Barton had in fact turned the DP then we'd all be sitting here saying how well Blanton pitched and not questioning whether he was tired or if he should've been pulled earlier. It's just unfortunate that Barton muffed his transfer and its a tough loss to swallow.

Lee was very lucky to pitch as well as he did today. He missed location badly on numerous occasions where Shoppach would set up on one side of the plate only to have Lee's pitch end up on the other side. I guess you could say Lee was effectively wild.

Buck looked good today in that 1st AB and when he lined out to short later on. The one thing that scares me is that Buck's season (and career thus far) mirror one of AN's favorite whipping boys; Dan Johnson. Both had stellar first seasons in the bigs only to come back and go 0-fer to begin their 2nd season. Both are completely different players obviously and I trust Travis not to end up like DJ but they do have curious parallels.

And finally, Suzuki is sure proving me wrong in that he's had an excellent start to the season not only at the plate but also behind it because our starters and staff as a whole have been pitching exceptionally well against 2 of the tougher lineups in the league.

of the games they should have won. This is #2 by my count. The A's should be 5-2 and leading the AL West.

Cust's bat must be in the lineup everyday, even against lefties. If you want Brown in there against a lefty, put him in CF.

Score runs or lose games we should have won. Simple as that.

First of all, I do think Blanton pitched great - as noted already, if Barton starts the DP successfully we're talking about shutting out a very good offense for 7 innings. And when a guy has pitched that well - and is the reason you're in the game because it sure ain't your offense - you give him a chance to finish the inning and get the win. And you don't let Travis Hafner beat you in that spot. So it comes down to Blanton vs. Garko. And yes, you have to challenge him on 3-2 after throwing slop to get there.

I was at the game, and when the ball was hit to Barton my first thought was "come home!" because I thought it was a tough DP on a lefty hitter who has good speed. Of course that scenario would have left Hafner up with the bases loaded and who knows what would have happened from there.

I'm not even going to ask you to guess who said it -- shooting fish in a barrel.

I'm encouraged. I feel I made a lot of progress from my last start. It's a shame I had to go out and lose the game, as far as the team goes, but I'm excited to go out there again in five days and implement this stuff.

Reliever Keiichi Yabu was doing an arm exercise, pulling a long rubber tube attached to a hook inside his locker, when the tube came loose, snapped back to his face and hit both of his eyes. It happened Saturday, and Yabu's vision remained blurry with corneal abrasions Sunday. The proof came when Yabu was asked if his vision was better and he told a reporter (Henry Schulman), "Yes, you look good."

i wouldn't even hire it to run errands

(why the hell can we still not embed video in comments??)

I was trying to post in Safari, and couldn't. "Preview" and "Post" commands both got me "Page Not Found". CXCXCXCX also was not working, and attempts to insert blockquotes returned me to the top of the page. Firefox seems to be normal.

The A's aren't looking all that bad...and they are fun to watch as an added bonus. I had nice seats today and I enjoyed watching how well the players treated the young fans. Even though, one kid sitting behind me didn't know what players he had gotten autographs from. I helped him Identify the signatures because i watched as he got his ball signed by 7 different players.

Not the greatest outcome from a home stand, but I think the team is headed in the right direction. We just played the two teams from last year's ALCS. I've seen nothing from any of the other West teams at this point to make me think we are done in the division.

the wheels are coming off the Tigers in their game against the White Sox. Lots of booing in Comerica Park.

Yeah, Blanton got into a little trouble (thanks, Barton), but he still pitched pretty effectively-- with a little help from his friends-- to get out of a bases loaded jam with only 2 runs scored. Geren gave the staff ace a chance to pull himself out of a jam. I think it sends a message to the other guys in the rotation, and if you buy into that sort of thing, then it should give them some confidence.

I'm 50/50 on the low changeup to walk Garko; it's never very swift to walk someone with the bases juiced, but it was a good-looking pitch and a fair gamble-- he'd been throwing it all day, and the Indians had been swinging at it. Give Garko credit for having a good AB and barely checking his swing in time.

I like that Ryan Sweeney is starting to remember how to hit.

Never sit Cust. Ever.

There's no way a lineup like the Tigers' should put up only 1 run after 6 innings.

I've seen more offense at an MLS event than at this A's game.

Everyone was swinging for the fences and not even getting that far.

Beane didn't trade for Carlos Quentin during the offseason. Right handed bat, Tommy John surgery, torn labrum... injury risk with high upside. Seems like a true Athletic to me.

strain his biceps;

"The MRI revealed a strain in the biceps tendon," Geren said. "He feels better, but his start is still in jeopardy."

We will lose many many games like today. Good pitching, no hitting.
I think it was the right move to let Blanton finish the 7th. He was very close to getting out of it.

Can somebody explain why you lead off with Cust in the 8th against a lefty when it was pretty obvious that Borowski was going to pitch the ninth if Cleveland had the lead?

If you start Sweeney against Lee, it means you think he can hit lefties. So either keep him in there or use one of your other guys on the bench (Denorfia or Bowen would have worked in that situation). Save Cust for one of two things: guys on base in the 8th or against Borowski in the 9th. I was dying when Sweeney walked in the 9th only to have E-Mail come up to bat. Yeah, he gave one a ride, but I would have been significantly more confident with Cust at the plate then. If nothing else, he's more likely to get on base if not end the game. Then you have runners on 1st and 2nd, one out, so Crosby could hit into a game ending double play instead of just a game ending force out!

Cust is Bobblehead #4

I don't want to see him in CF very often. Okay, ever (again).

1. You need to avoid the hit there with the game tied and runners on 2-3. Garko had a higher BA by about 20 points than Hafner last year, and likely will this year. That IBB seemed largely based on "Hafner is famous for being an awesome hitter and Garko is not."

2. Obviously it lets a BB beat you, as happened.

3. Blanton could have pitched carefully to Hafner (as he did to Garko) without fear of the BB, thus reducing even more Hafner's chances of getting a hit relative to Garko. League wide guys generally hit about .010 points higher with the bases loaded than with 2nd and 3rd for that reason. The pitches Blanton actually threw to Garko would have been great with a base open.

Don't walk guys just because you can! It's dumb!

As a die hard halos fan, who plans to attend beer fest this season, one quick question to my NorCal friends, where's the best seat at the coliseum? You'll know me when you see me, I'll be wearing my G.A. jersey and my world series cap, and drunk off my a_s !! Any info would help.

3rd deck, centerfield. They're great. I'll look for you there.

I have noticed over the past two years that some pitchers have lost a few MPH on their fastball and some power hitters are now gap hitters. It is appearing to me that scores are now more like 1986 than 1999.

Does anyone else feel that the game is now in the post steroid era?

I would like to see E. Brown dumped he isn’t the answer to any question. Send Denorfia to AAA to regain bat speed. Put Cust in LF, Mike Sweeney at First and DH Barton. I would next like to see a trade of DJ and Street for a proven player. We already have a few pitchers who can close and Huston seems to have lost something. I would scour the dumpsters for a Dave Stewart type pitcher. That is the missing piece.