"It feels good, especially when I read in the paper that I've got a tired act," he said. "I've done nothing but play hard. It's a shame people look to gain in their personal career by tearing me down."

Mr. Bradley obviously referring to Urban...:)

Komine was poised and effective-- lord knows if he can do that 5 or 6 more times-- or more if Harden is unable to start in September-- it will be a huge lift to this team;

And macha totally botched the pen. I'll repeat a point I made in the game thread-- if reliever A did well; and releiver B is doing well-- and there is no threat on the horizon (2 outs, no one on, a 2 run lead), why press your luck with reliever C??

But I agree that Street cannot be considered an elite level closer if he continues to struggle like this in the next inning.

10-7 since the break; a 4-3 home stand; 5-5 in the 19 game stretch against contenders or division rivals. Enough to hang on to-- keep our interest-- and i guess Zito stays. Still problems from Crosby and Ellis, but Chavy appears to be coming back and Bradley is obviously finally the guy we wanted him to be.

And now a huge series in Disneyland with the Angels tatooing Schilling as I speak and may hang with us and put first place on the line tomorrow.

I'm still headachy and dizzy from screaming.

What a perfect AN Day.

BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!!

<Collaspes into his bed>

I wish I could have joined AN day, but I thought I would have to work today. I just decided spur of the moment this morning that it was one I didn't want to miss.

I do have the honor, of being the first person to get Blez autograph.  LOL, in fact that's going to be my new sig line.

Go A's

I think Billy's right--there should be a page solely devoted to headshots of ANers. And then maybe we can come up with celebrity lookalikes like we do with the players.

But damn, that was a good game. I love Komine, and seeing him making his first start warmed my heart. When he rolled that first pitch back to the dugout, I wanted to put that boy in a box and keep him forever. He showed good poise, getting out of that bases loaded jam was HUGE -- I'd like to see a few more starts with him, though, see if his control improves closer to what should be expected of such a kickass young man.

Love for the glove. Eric F'ing Chavez, I love you.

And Kotsay + Bradley = me swooning in the aisles. The end of that game was paradise.

However, the woman behind me who thought Doc H was a knuckleballer hurt my SOUL. Just hearing the words "Wait, I didn't know Milton Bradley was on the team" made me want to weep.

Komine looked good, much better than Windsor IMO. He showed that he had command of his pitches for the most part and wasn't afraid of his stuff like a lot of young pitchers are. He made a lot of quality pitches and Chavy and the defense helped him out with some defensive plays.

MB's walkoff was two suites to the right of the one I was in. When it first left his bat I wasn't really sure it was going out, but you could tell he got it pretty good. I don't know why, but I really had one of those feelings that if Kotsay got on and gave MB a chance to hit that it was his day to shine.

This only means one thing, though: I'm going to be at the Coliseum for practically every game in September.

And I was CONVINCED that the A's would lose if I stayed there to watch it.  I jinxed Kiko and Chavy.  Right before Kiko took the mound, I was telling my sister about how awesome he has been lately.  (My apologies, woofing gods).  And what does Kiko do?  Hit, BB, Hit.  The A's lead cut to 3-2.  And then in the 9th (with Catlanatto on 1st), Wells pops out to Chavy.  I gloat about how great our GG third baseman is defensively.  And just like that, I jinxed him too.  Glaus comes up and gets an infield single.  The ball bounced off Chavy's glove.  
Anyway, going back to what I was saying... I was convinced that the A's wouldn't win if I was there.  As soon as I got up from my seat, Ellis singled.  Coincidence?  I think not.  And while walking towards my exit, I stop to watch Kendall's AB.  He K's.  And then I start walking again, telling myself that I will not stop to see Kotsay's AB.  As I was exiting the stadium, I listened to Kotsay's PA.  And then as I got further AWAY from the field (in my car now), Kotsay draws ball four.  Now we have two and and two outs.  As I'm approaching the freeway entrance, the pitch to Bradley is called a ball.  The count is 2-1.  (Korach mentions how critical 1-1 counts can be as they can change the entire AB).  As I'm merging onto I-880, Ken Korach describes the ball hit off the bat of Milton.  For a nano-second, I held my breath, trying to figure out whether the ball is deep enough for a HR, or just a can of corn.   And then when I realized that it wasn't a routine fly ball, I was almost certain that Vernon Wells will find a way to make some sort of spectacular catch to end the game.  (Oh the negativity!)  
The ball was well beyond Vernon's reach.  Milton Bradley had hit a 3 run HR to win the game.  <Sigh>
Believe me, it would have never happened had I stayed.  You all can thank me for that.  ;)

By the way, some random thoughts and ramblings:

• I ♥ Ken Korach.  I really, really, do.  But, when Milton hit that HR, I couldn't help but sigh and think of Bill King.  That was such a HOLY TOLEDO moment!  
  
• Chavy's defense is hot.  I'm so spoiled watching him play third base for the A's.
  
• It was VERY cool to see Shane Komine make his MLB debut.  This was the first time ever that I got to see (live) a player make his debut, and it was very heart warming.  The 6th inning was nerve wrecking, but it was great to see him work out of that mess.  It would have nice to see him get a W, but in the end, it was a win for the A's and that's what's most important.
  
• How many times do we see a ballgame begin and end with a HR?  kRaZeE!  :)
  Reed Johnson homered as soon as we settled in into our seats.  
  
• There's no way in hell the gametime temperature was 60 some degrees.  Yikes.  I was frying there.  

And to think I liked him after the '01 WS.