Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling,
From glen to glen and down the mountain side;
The summer's gone, and all the leaves are falling;
'Tis ye, 'tis ye must go, and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow;
'Til I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow;
Danny boy, Oh Danny boy, I love you so.
Can we get some Danny Haren love? Granted, he was facing a very impatient Tampa Bay team, but Haren was fabulous tonight. Ever since Ken Macha and Curt Young called the meeting with the young pitchers, Haren has come in the zone with authority. The gist of the meeting was, stop with the walks. We'd rather have the hits go up a little, but just stop giving up walks. Haren's given up a grand total of three walks in the past 22 1/3 innings.
I also like the fact that Kendall called for splitters a bunch in the early innings, which confused the Rays hitters and allowed Haren to work the fastball in the later innings to both sides of the plate. Haren also saved a bullpen that's been rather overused of late.
The offense suddenly did to Hideo Nomo what it should do. Pound him. And can I also get Ken Macha to please, please leave Jason Kendall in the leadoff spot? Not only does it keep him in a position he's very comfortable, but it allows one of the better RBI men on the team (Kotsay) more opportunities. Kotsay's also 12 out of 36 with runners in scoring position. Leave Kendall in the leadoff spot!
And having Crosby back has seemed to energize the offense a bit. He had some absolutely GREAT at-bats tonight against Nomo. He's laying off the outside slider like a seasoned pro. Byrnes and Durazo should take notes.
Celebrate. This is only the sixth time this year that the A's have won as many as two in a row. If they can win tomorrow, it will be only the second time they will have won as many as three in a row in 2005. Who cares that it's the Devil Rays?
Finally, I wanted to let everyone know that I sent out AN Day tickets today with details about the left field BBQ Plaza and the menu for the day. You should receive them in the next week or so. Let me know if you don't. As for those of you that missed out on the first round of AN Day tickets, I'm going to have a two-week window coming up really soon to get more orders in. AN Day at the Coliseum is August 13th.
