Monkeyball was at the game tonight, I believe, on a night that was cold not because of the fog, but rather due to the constant breeze batters produced as they swung at pitches by Matt Cain and Rich Harden.
Cain struck out 8 in the first 3 innings, while Harden struck out the side in the 3rd to give him 6 at that point. Harden would settle for 9 Ks in 6 dominant innings (one hit, no runs), while Cain finished 7+ innings with a season-high 11 strikeouts.
In the last four games between the A's and the Giants, San Francisco has scored exactly one run - and that run was Omar Vizquel's steal of home last night.
What stands out to me is that the A's are firing on all "little things" cylandars right now. They have three sacrifice flies in the series (which is good news for the local population of sacrifice frogs), they are walking, bunting for hits, putting on the occasional hit-and-run, going first to third, and whacking the first pitch - as Cust did tonight for an RBI double in the first inning - to the point where Oakland's offense is as unpredictable as it is effective.
Sure, tonight the offense got some help, twice scoring on wild pitches, but I have to tip my hat to Oakland for hanging 3 ER on Matt Cain on a night where he was dealing. A word to the wise: Go for the jugular while you can and get the sweep tomorrow, because the trip to Arizona will be a major challenge with the A's facing Brandon Webb, Danny Haren, and Doug Davis. Though if Oakland continues to create, and take advantage of, opportunities, and gets pitching anything like they got tonight, things might just work themselves out.
