La Russa, Craig shake hands before Game 1 of the '89 World Series.
(photo courtesy of "Three Weeks In October")
I was really hoping to post a Q&A with the folks at McCovey Chronicles, but my family said they’d disown me if I did such a thing. Or it could be that I didn’t e-mail my questions until this morning.
This just in from the Silver Lining Department: The A’s are closer to first place than all other last-place teams in the Majors.
And for that we have to thank (do we really?) the San Francisco Giants, who used their brooms on the Texas Rangers over the weekend, while the Home Nine was taking two of three from the Padres.
The Giants are surely grateful for the wild-card, of which they are currently the front-runners in the National League. At 37-31, they are further from first in their own division (8 games) than the A’s (7), despite being even in the loss column with every first-place club (outside the NL West) except Boston.
Looking forward to this week’s matchups, especially the Mazzaro-Lincecum rematch. Livermore-born Randy Johnson brings his 301 career victories to the mound on Wednesday. That’s 276 more than the A’s five starters have combined. Yeah well, wins are overrated anyway, right?
Alas, no Barry this week.
No Zito, either. Sigh.
The A’s are going to pay tribute to the 1989 team tomorrow. Hope Mother Nature stays on her best behavior.
That’s all I got. A little less than four hours until game time. Until then, feel free to discuss your own feelings about the team across the Bay.
The A’s and Giants go at it tonight at 7:05PM. There’s going to be a thread and we’ll talk about food and zombies and how hawt so-and-so is and maybe even some baseball.