Greetings from Phoenix. It's been an interesting trip so far, starting from the security check at Oakland Airport, where I was "randomly selected" to be thoroughly inspected (translation: personally violated). After feeling me up repeatedly with explanations and apologies (to which I replied, "Really, don't apologize - this is the most action I've gotten all week"), the authorities proceeded to protect America by confiscating my "dangerously over 3oz" of toothpaste and shaving cream, thus foiling my master plan to storm the cockpit waving a bottle of Edge and shouting, "Take this plane to Cuba or the co-pilot loses his beard!"
Once on the ground following a near-fatal (warning: I might be exaggerating) bout of turbulence, my attention turned to baseball, where I had a chance to see Dallas Braden pitch and then had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Braden for an interview that I will post on AN in the next 2-3 days. Braden looked strong on the mound, using his cutter to claim the inside corner and in turn force hitters (and Jose Uribe) to lunge at changescrewupballs down and away. Is Braden throwing the screwball these days? Stay tuned...
Today the A's are in Tempe to take on the Angels, and last I knew Trevor Cahill was scheduled to pitch for Oakland. I'll be at the game, so there may be a game recap a bit later than usual, or...it may be pre-empted anyway by something even better...
Starting Lineups:
Oakland A's: 9 cool people
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 9 not-cool people
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