The A's win against the O's tonight 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th inning on Emil Brown's RBI single to center field.  The game went to the 10th inning on a blown save from Huston Street after a brilliantly pitched game by A's starter Dana Eveland.

So on a night when two MLB Davids faced off against one another, it was the guy that many A's fans didn't even want on the team in the first place who was the star of the game offensively.  Emil Brown scored the run to give the A's the lead and more importantly, wound up with the big single to plate Daric Barton to win the game for the A's.

This game was amazing in many ways and it's sad that so few people are showing up to watch this team play baseball.  They say baseball can be a game of inches, well consider all that happened this evening and dare to argue otherwise:

• Early in the game, both Mike Sweeney and Frank Thomas both looked like they hit home runs but the heavy Oakland night air knocked both balls down.
• Jack Cust got four strikes in an at-bat on a mistake by home plate umpire Ed Hickox, who also had one of those wild, completely unpredictable strike zones that led to Mark Ellis nearly being thrown out for arguing a called third strike (Bob Geren jumped in and saved Ellis from being tossed by a millisecond).
• In the seventh inning, Emil Brown just barely avoided getting doubled off second base on a Crosby fly out to center field.  He wound up scoring the only run for the A's in the first nine innings on two infield hits by Jack Hannahan and Rajai Davis.
• The top of the eighth the Orioles came so close to tying the game but an excellent play by Ryan Sweeney calling off Mark Ellis on a pop up that would've scored Adam Jones from third had Ellis caught it while moving back into the outfield.  Nick Markakis then grounded to Crosby to end the Orioles threat.  The infield hit by Payton that inning was questionable as to whether Payton was safe or not.  But as I said, this was a game of inches.
  
• Ramon Hernandez wound up tying the game for the Orioles in the top of the ninth with a ball to Bobby Crosby that could've possibly gone home had Kurt Suzuki stepped out from behind the plate and given Croz that option.  For some reason, Kurt seemed to concede that run. 
  
• In the bottom of the ninth, Brown nearly had another A's infield hit to lead off the inning when a ball rolled up the third base line and rolled foul by less than an inch and stopped.  Brown still walked, but the A's couldn't get him home.

You could not ask for better pitching from Dana Eveland than the A's got tonight.  The guy pitched brilliantly, rebounding from his tough outing against the Angels.  He was great in pounding the zone and working the home plate umpire's wild zone.  It's too bad that it was all for nothing.

The A's pen was once again great tonight, outside of Street and like I said in the comments, I thought Huston had a couple of bogus calls against him in the Melvin Mora AB, which turned into the tying run.  Street looked like he hit the outside corner on Mora twice but didn't get the call and that's when you could tell that both him and Suzuki were trying to figure out what to throw.  Street isn't the overpowering guy that some closers are and he needs that outside corner in order to be effective.

But Eveland, Devine, Embree and Brown were all good enough tonight to get the A's the win thanks to a little help from Clutchy McClutch (Emil).

By the way, I've got to admit that I got a few goosebumps in watching Chad Bradford strike out Daric Barton with that frisbee slider of his.  It reminded me of good times in the green and gold and he was always one of my very favorite A's pitchers back in the day.  It's one of the few moments that I've ever smiled when an A's player struck out.

The A's super duper funkalicious all-righty lineup wasn't nearly as interesting as I had hoped as Garrett Olson kept them pretty much off balance all night.  He kind of reminded me of hybrid of Greg Smith and Young Barry Zito (not the abomination that pitches for the Giants now).  He's a tough good young pitcher.  But I'm not sure how effective this all righty lineup is.  They don't seem to be fairing all that well against lefties.  Or at least as good as I'd like.

Ultimately, in a matchup of two Davids, it was fitting that Emil Brown, ManGod, was the one who chucked the heaviest stone.

For all the close games the A's and Angels have played over the last few years, tonight was the rare exception.  The A's blasted the hated Angels 14-2 with Emil Brown and Daric Barton leading the way with home runs and three RBIs a piece.  Frank Thomas also was a home run short of the cycle.  Chad Gaudin pitched through a rough strike zone and held the Angels to only two runs.

Let me get this out of the way right off the bat.  Yes, Frank Thomas hit a triple in the first inning and Jack Cust had an infield hit.  If that doesn't tell you that things have been breaking the A's way of late then nothing will.  Thomas might've had a shot at the cycle had Bob Geren not put a pinch runner in at the bottom of the seventh when he led off with a double.  The thing is, the game was actually still a game at that point because it was still 6-2 and despite Thomas' new found wheels that earned him a triple earlier in the game, I would want the extra insurance run if we can get it. 

Emil Brown decided to eliminate that by starting the pain train on Chris Bootcheck, who got the check booted out of him.  The A's started the Bugs Bunny style conga line going around the bases with Bootcheck.  But the game was probably decided earlier.  Home plate umpire Charlie Reliford had one of the most baffling strike zones I've seen in a while.  And apparently Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher agreed as he got thrown out after Frank Thomas walked in the third inning.  The funny thing is that Gaudin had to deal with the same weird strike zone and he worked through it.  Is there ever a game when Mike Scioscia doesn't complain about something?  The Angels announcers were blaming the loss on the Angels tough travel schedule about having to come home from Detroit last night late and play the A's today.  Of course, no credit given to these anonymous A's.  That's fine.  Keep dissing this team.  They love it that way.

I'm hoping Frank Thomas is now coming out of it with three hits tonight.  That's his first triple since 2002 and Mulder, Hudson and Zito were still Athletics.  That seems so long ago.  Also, Daric Barton hits his first home run of the season and I thought the reason he did was because he was patient with the baffling strike zone.  He essentially forced Garland to come in with an easy pitch right down the middle.

And finally, props to Vacafan who called Emil Brown's home run.  Dude, are you getting an Emil tat or what? 

This was one sweet night.

Note from baseballgirl: Bonus double-recap day, as we thought we'd reward the AN faithful with not just one look at the game, but TWO! Enjoy!!!!

Blez says:

The day was all about Frank Thomas returning to the green and gold, and the A's seemed invigorated by having the Big Hurt back where he belongs, spanking Francisco Liriano and the Minnesota Twins 11-2, taking the series two games to one.  Donnie Murphy smacked two home runs despite some swirling winds at the Coliseum.

It was bliss to see number 35 on a huge, hulking human being again.  Actually, scratch that.  It was great to see it on a guy who saunters up to the batter's box after wielding a giant metal pole in the on-deck circle.  The A's won this one today, fairly easily.  The jumped all over the not-all-the-way back Francisco Liriano.  Liriano couldn't seem to hit the strike zone and when he did, it was usually a cookie right down the middle and the A's hitters capitalized repeatedly.

Donnie Murphy hit two home runs and now is tied for the team lead with three.  Ken Korach made a very interesting observation during the game basically saying that the A's have an almost National League lineup because Bob Geren has so many different options off the bench. 

Today, for the first time I can remember, the A's sent out an all right-handed lineup.  The A's have become known in recent seasons for having plenty of left-handed options, but always lacking the right-handed sticks.  Yet, up and down the lineup, the A's featured righties.  And it benefited them big-time.  Mike Sweeney announced that he isn't ready to relinquish his roster spot just yet, having a really good day at the plate and just barely missing another home run (six inches to the right of where he hit it and it was gone).  Rajai Davis made a very impressive debut by going three for four and making an outstanding catch in center field that I didn't think he had any chance at whatsoever.  Mike Sweeney even played first base and didn't look horrid doing it.

I am liking the A's set up because they can put in guys like Barton and Hannahan and Ryan Sweeney to face right-handed pitchers.  Course I think Barton needs to be in there every day.  I would love to get his OBP in front of Frank's OPS which would hopefully lead to many, many W's.  As for me, given all of AN's issues lately and the new gray hairs I have from it, I'm going to go get some Z's, K?

Welcome back, Big Hurt.  It's damn nice to see you in those white shoes again.

baseballgirl says:

It's hard to remember the last time A's fans, the A's players, and the broadcast team experienced the feeling of real, genuine baseball electricity pumping out in waves as the A's take the field, but it was certainly there in spades today.

The whole game simply felt different today, as A's fans at the ballpark found an amazing surprise when the lineups were announced, revealing the clean-up hitter, newly-signed Frank Thomas. The announcers described the ear-to-ear smile he wore on his face, a smile that no doubt only increased as the game wore on.

With Francisco Liriano starting, the A's chose to play both Frank Thomas and Mike Sweeney (first base), and they never struggled for offense. After Smith gave up a first-inning homerun to put the A's behind 1-0, the A's offense returned the favor in spades, knocking Liriano out after only 2/3 of an inning, with five hits, three walks and six runs.

Taking the 6-1 lead into the second, the A's made Greg Smith's 7 strong innings (7 hits, 1 BB, 2 ER) stand up, as Donnie Murphy hit two homeruns, and all of the starters except Thomas collected at least one hit; Murphy with three. Also with three hits was the A's new speed-demon and MUCH IMPROVED upgrade at center field, Rajai Davis, who also legged out a triple.

The A's ended up with 11 runs, knocked in by Suzuki, Sweeney, Brown, Denorfia, and Murphy, and after Andrew Brown and Joey Devine slammed the door on the Twins, the A's find themselves with another series win, in electric fashion, as they head to Seattle for the weekend still tied atop the American League West.

This is as good as I've felt about the A's since the last time Thomas worn the green and gold, and for maybe the first time, I'm wondering if the 2008 Oakland Athletics may continue to be full of surprises.

So to sum up: Pitching = great, hitting = awesome, Thomas = wearing the white shoes, AN = working again, day so far = A+.

So I'm sitting here watching the Red Sox and Rangers and listening to Ken Macha do the color for the broadcast because Jerry Remy, the Sox usual color guy, is out ill.  Let me just tell you, Ken Macha is one uninteresting guy.  Holy mackerel.

Any way, Scott Ostler of the Chronicle published a column suggesting that the A's could and probably should be interested in, get this, signing Frank Thomas AND Barry Bonds.  Hell, that would be one powerful middle of the lineup, but there's one major flaw in his plan, which Ostler doesn't even mention.  Both of these guys are basically designated hitters at this point in their careers.  And unless Charlie Finley is coming back to talk Selig into having a NEW designated hitter rule for them to hit for an alternate position like second base or catcher or something, there isn't really a place for both of them.

Yeah, well we currently have Jack Cust running out to left field on a semi-regular basis right now.  Bonds is probably an improvement over Cust there.  The A's would essentially have to let go of both Cust and Mike Sweeney in order to fit both of these guys into their plans.  At the same time, Beane would ultimately have to be convinced of two things.  First, that the A's are actually going to be good all season long and will remain in the running for the AL West.  Second, that having both of these guys would actually HELP all your young talent coming up rather than teach them to be clubhouse cancers.  Frank Thomas showed that he could be a good influence before in 2006 and he was one of the most enjoyable A's at the plate we've seen since the days of the Bash Brothers and Rickey.  Bonds...well, I'm not so sure.

Although there is this from that same article:

However, both Thomas and Bonds are hungry to play, and as one A's insider said, "Bonds has already been humbled by being out of a job."

The A's apparently seem to think he's already been humbled, but humbled enough to help a young team compete for a division title in 2008?

And then there's the question about whether or not Billy Beane really WANTS the team to be competitive in 2008.  I mean, of course he would ideally want the A's to win the World Series, but he didn't put this team together for this year.  He wants to have a good team on the field, but he also wants to look ahead and if the team hangs up by the Angels at the top of the division for a long time, it becomes harder to justify trading away a Joe Blanton or Mark Ellis to a contending team for a bunch of help-us-later talent.

I don't think there's any question that the A's would get a lot better with both Bonds and Frank Thomas hitting third and fourth in this lineup.  It's just that there is a lot more of a consideration to the season than making like Nike and just doing it.

I know there's been a ton of discussion about Frank Thomas coming back to the green and gold, but what do you guys think?  I know Ostler was just throwing crap against a wall seeing what stuck, but it is an intriguing idea, especially for a team that's been pretty damn good so far without hitting really any home runs.