One of those typically frustrating games for the A's, it looked like both teams were set to put up a number of runs early on but neither offense was able to do much with the chances they had. 2-1 Bad Guys.

John Danks and Greg Smith battled to see who could be more mediocre and wind up taken out first. Smith won that battle, bad news for the A's as he only lasted 5 innings while Danks went 6. Looking at their combined lines (11 IP, 14 H, 7 BB, 6 SO) it's pretty amazing they only allowed a total of 3 runs. It goes to show how they got out of trouble.  Gotta feel bad for Smith, though. Respectable numbers as a rookie but no run support at all.

Sitting right behind the plate a few rows up in the MVP section, this set of photos ended up with a lot of pitching photos and in spite of the low-scoring contest a total of nine pitchers saw action. There's not too much around the plate but I did get some more infield shots than the last time I sat in this area.

8/16/08: Chicago White Sox at Oakland A's

Have some photos.

Cliff Pennington came up just short on this one. At least he made a nice play later in the inning.

And you thought Eric Chavez made funny faces at third.

I'd love to see him hit with this, just once.

A Frank Thomas grounder with runners on and less than two out is disaster.

I don't think I've seen a split-fingered grip like this before.

This isn't going to end well.

We don't get to see this very often these days, but here's proof it does happen.

After an earlier sun-influenced error Coliseum style, Swisher made this play even though it probably didn't need to get to the point of a slide.