Hey AN, Nick Swisher is, in fact, alive. And the sighting was great and grand this evening. Swisher belted two home runs, the second putting an exclamation point on Danny Haren's 12th win.
The thing about this game is that the A's probably should've put this game out of reach a lot earlier as Jeff Weaver was all over the place early. The first inning probably should've yielded a lot more than just one run, but Eric Chavez announced his return to the team by hitting into a key double play.
Interestingly, the A's hottest hitter of late has been Mike Piazza, making for a fascinating dilemma for Billy Beane. Piazza has been absolutely raking the ball all over the place, thus amping his value up as next Tuesday's trading deadline nears. If the A's think that they have any hope at this season, they should absolutely hold onto Piazza. The A's are a better team with Piazza in the middle of the lineup, no doubt. At the same time, with their win tonight, they are still 10 games out. They've won three out of four so far in this key road trip and they still have a double digit deficit to make up. My personal feeling is that the A's should trade Piazza, as much as I hate to say that. Piazza is obliging nicely, upping his value significantly to a team in need of a good bat, and the A's remain a long shot for the playoffs even though there are still more than two months remaining in the season.
Regardless, it's good to have Swisher back. This team needs a productive Nick Swisher. Badly. It's also good that Danny was Danny tonight. Even though he gave up two runs (gasp!), he struck out seven and kept the Mariners offense from breaking out.
So, the A's sit 10 games back, Nick Swisher has awoken from his slumber and Billy Beane is facing quite a decision (even though I think he probably made it several weeks back with the Bradley and Kendall moves). Quite a fascinating time to be an A's fan.
