the first 3 innings were frustrating as the a's continued their typically subpar play.  lots of opportunities, but the a's squandered these good oppty's with bad at bats and unproductive outs.

but man oh man, did the a's come alive in the middle 3 innings.  they hit, hit and ran, hit for modoest power, hit sacrifice flies, etc...and voila they scored bushels of runs.

still left too many guys on 3rd with less than 2 outs and stranded guys on second early in innings.  this offense can't squander hit percentage opportunities too often.

donnie murphy has to field easy ground balls and his sac bunt can't be directed right back to the pitcher.

other than that, a good win with a great effort by the bullpen.

 Maybe if Kendal was still play its a different game (no base hits).  Haren had no problem with the catcher so if Blanton is having a problem its his pitching not the catching.  

I agree with everything you said except for the chavez comment. We can't get angry when Chavez plays hurt and doesn't produce as well as he should and then get angry that he "can’t figure out a way to get out on the field." The guy is busting his butt all the time. He plays hurt and doesn't complain about it. We shouldn't complain about him hurting so bad that he needs to sit out.

I love Harden but he needs to figure out what the problem is.

I was at the game tonight and I have to admit the first 3 innings felt like a typical 2007 A's game.  I was just waiting for the Tigers to break open a 3-0 game and bury the A's.  Leyland looked like the genius on the squeeze play as the A's stranded runners at 1st and 3rd with one out and a runner on 2nd with no outs.

Even when the A's scored one run, it felt like we had squandered the inning.  Walking in the run but not getting the key hit felt all so familiar.

Still, Haren held the Tigers down and the A's finally broke threw.  Verlander was struggling and I did feel he was vulnerable tonight.

Suzuki came through big time!  He looked shaky behind the plate as several in the dirt balls almost got past him but he hit with authority.  I'm a bit surprised the Tigers didn't run more on him tonight.

With the frustration of this season and the lack of activity at the trade deadline, it was a great release to watch the A's take it to the Tigers tonight!

No, we won't make the playoffs and yes, the Tigers will but for one night, it was a great time at the ole ballpark.

After trading Bradley: 10-25
Without Piazza in lineup since Bradley trade: 5-21

After activating Piazza in games Piazza has played: 5-4 in a tough schedule stretch.

After Bradley was traded we had a hole in the middle of our lineup that had to be filled with a consistent bat with pop. It took the A's front office 4 weeks to figure that out and that basically cost us the postseason race inspite of all the injuries.

We could have been playing .500 ball keeping our head above water and still in this race if the A's front office recognized the black hole in the middle of the lineup and made the right roster decisions.

Wow!!!  And the poker set wern't too shabby either.  Dan looked good.  Murph made up for a couple of easy outs with a little good offense.  Suzuki, who are you?  He had an awesome night!  Swish could do only two things offensively, walk or K.  I would have liked to see him hit a good long ball just once, if only for his self-esteem.  The lack of a catch by Jack Cust, I thought, jeez we are done for the night but surprise, surprise, surprise, WE WON!!!  Yeah!

Noone thinks it takes only walks to win games.  That is a straw man set for you to knock down.

That said, Cust doesn't knock in two if Swisher doesn't walk the second guy into scoring position and swings away as he had earlier the game.

Just sayin.  

Let's not have this fight over and freaking over.  Noone thinks Scouts are stupid and noone thinks walks are all there is to baseball. You are letting the mainstream media interpretation of Moneyball win the day with this post.

taken for strike 3 look like breaking balls that will drop out of the zone.

Oh, and those called third strikes to Melhuse and T-Long were filthy pitches that initially looked like they were going to hit the batters, but then curved over the inside corner.

The real culprits in that game were not the PHers but the middle-of-the-order hitters Miggy and Chavy in the 8th inning for failing yet again to drive in the runner, against a lesser pitcher than Lowe. But I digress.

It's interesting to read the comments inferring some sort of rift or nonacceptance of Suzuki by the vets. I'll keep my eyes peeled for that.

Also -- and I could be way off here -- but I thought if you had a runner at third and a bunt gets down the catcher's fundamental purpose is to at minimum obstruct the plate, not go for the ball, which Kurt did, leaving Haren with no option but first. That could be why a squeeze works so well, however. And Rabelo did a hell of a job with the high pitch Haren gave him.

All of that said, Suzuki was still the player of the game. He drew a key walk in the chain that got the A's first run in, and then tied the game with that hard single off Verlander. I'll take 3 RBI from the 9-hole any day.