it's been obvious from the beginning...when big frank thomas lifted a deep fly out of the park in his first at-bat of spring training.  when he "dropped a souvenir" on randy johnson in his first at bat of the season; homered in his first at bat against chicago; went deep in his last at bat of the season; did it again in his first at bat of the playoffs.

it was clear when marco scutaro's line drive in the rain, in the ninth, in game two, carried to the wall to win it against new york.

you could have known what was happening when kotsay's pink bat caught life for the new york sweep.

you might have figured it out when street fanned bonds...or when milton bradley's lazy fly off of bj ryan stepped up on a shelf two hundred feet in the air and rolled out of the park to win it and take three of four from toronto.

when barry beat johan and his fifty-five thousand screaming, dedicated fans, hostile to our number one; you sensed it.  when chavez found perfection in the clinching game of the alds you sensed it.

you can see it in jason kendall's throws to second, in elly's glove, in payton's line drives, swisher's swagger, kielty's bounce, haren's split-finger fastball, e-lo's fire, blanton's curve, duchscherer's dominance, the clutch outings of gaudin, kennedy and saarloos...

the evidence is overwhelming:  we're not the only ones at these games.  up in the third deck, row 1 seat 1, section 317, the late, great, bill king's taking a break from calling the games; he's following marty, ken, ray and vince on the radio with the rest of us.  he's being a fan and eating good food.

and in seat 10, row 17, section 314 my grandfather, who's radio was stuck on the oakland a's station until his death in 1990, is watching too.  your dad's up there.  your aunt, your sister.  the old philadelphia fans that never let go.  the kansas city fans that never had a chance to hold on.

it's a sellout crowd every night at that mac.  we do honor to the fans of the past to tarp off seats for 'em.  this is a team that's blessed, a team that takes the field with much, much more than the starting nine every time.  this is a team for the ages, a team that will build a bridge between the white elephants of the past and the green and gold of the future.  this is your 2006 oakland a's.

-ben