With one swing of Danny Valencia's bat -- a three-run HR off of Dallas Braden in the 6th inning to break a 1-1 tie -- nearly three hours of baseball was decided in one moment. Before and after? The A's did get to Kevin Slowey for a Landon Powell solo HR and chased him in the 7th when they tacked another run onto Slowey's ledger, but the bottom line is that power can change a game quicker than anything else and today that's exactly what happened.

How did Chris Carter do? Well...it's now 0 for 29, though in Carter's defense he was rung up on a pitch that has always been, continues to be, and will forever be, low. Carter is still short of Vic Harris' 0 for 36 futility to start his big league career, and Harris rebounded to post a robust stat line of .217/.287/.295 for his career.

I actually most remember Vic Harris for the RBI hit he got off Rick Langford in the 15th inning of Langford's last start in 1980. Langford, who tossed 22 consecutive complete games that season, was going for his 20th win and so Billy Martin let him keep pitching in a 1-1 game to throw what would turn out to be a 15-inning complete game loss. Foiled by Vic Harris.

So you see, Chris? You can start out 0 for your first bazillion and still go on to get a meaningless hit someday that messes up a pitcher's personal achievement right before their arm falls off.

The A's love affair with the .500 mark continues tomorrow morning against Francisco Liriano, with Bobby Cramer getting his second major league start.