Side Note: Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but someone should tell the A’s offense that Harden was on the mound. I would think that our other pitchers might need the run support just a little bit more.
My goodness, how much do I love Harden! Someone once described having Harden on the A’s like having a awesome new toy, one that you don’t get to play with very often, and one that you have to play with very carefully, but it’s the best toy that you’ve ever had and sometimes you can’t believe you even have it.
Harden breezed through the first nine batters, retiring them in order. Ichiro had Seattle’s first hit, although he needed a golf club more than a baseball bat because of its location. Harden walked a batter and gave up a hit in the fourth, but settled down to retire A’s-killer Sexson, and by the time all was said and done, his line looked like this: 7IP, 3H, 0R, 2BB, 7K. Marshall and Street finished off the game in impressive fashion, with Street striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Meanwhile, the A’s found their offense early. MaEl, en route to his five RBIs, while riding his sparkly unicorn, cleared the bases to break the game open, and it seemed like everyone else got into the action from there. Shannon Stewart looked good, literally hitting the ball right up the middle with each at bat, Bradley continued his torrid start, Piazza got his first AL hit, and before being replaced by Marco Scutaro (who ironically made an error in his first inning of work), even Crosby had a solid hit. He was supposed to sit tomorrow (for rest, I assume), but maybe that will change.
And yes, I did hear some rumors about a possible deal involving cable and MLB, but I refuse to get excited until a) the contract is inked and b) I have baseball playing in my house. However; if it does, I will quite literally be the happiest person on this planet. Expect a diary filled with nothing but random screaming.
Soooo....
<gulp>
The A’s, complete with starting pitchers Gaudin and Kennedy, take on the Angels starting tomorrow night for a four game series in what should be a preview of the AL West battle.
Let’s Go Oak-land!!
