It was Mark Ellis Bat Day on the day Ellis played his 1,000th game at 2B for the A's. However, Mark Ellis Bat Day is kind of like Helen Keller Eye Chart Day, so someone else had to step up and produce with the actual bat. That was David DeJesus, who kept the "1,000th" theme going: His 1,000th career hit was a two-run triple in the bottom of the 5th as part of a three-run rally that chased starter Gavin Floyd and gave the A's a 5-0 lead.
Oakland scored two in the 2nd when Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled and came home on Cliff Pennington's seeing-eye single through the right side hole. Gordon Beckham knocked it down on the outfield grass but looked right as the ball trickled to his left, and an alert Kouzmanoff scored. Pennington came around when Coco Crisp singled him to 3B and then Daric Barton drove a sacrifice fly to CF.
DeJesus' two-run triple and Kurt Suzuki's ensuing RBI single -- Kurt leads the league in "parent RBIs" -- gave the A's their 5-0 cushion as Tyson Ross cruised. Ross struck out a career high 8 in his 7.1 IP and kept the White Sox off the board until two outs into the 6th inning, when Paul Konerko's two-run HR, the first HR all season off Ross in now 36 IPs, cut the A's lead to 5-2.
The bottom of the 7th was interesting, as the A's added on. With DeJesus at 3B and one out, Kouzmanoff hit a fly ball to medium-shallow RF. Personally, I thought the A's should send DeJesus because Carlos Quentin has a very unreliable arm, but DeJesus came 30 feet down the line to draw a throw and then stopped. However, Quentin indeed airmailed the throw to the plate, forgetting that there isn't actually a 3rd-and-a-halfth base (if there were one, it would likely have 4.5 sides), run down by the pitcher (Tony Peña), as DeJesus alertly restarted and trotted home.
With the Angels scoring a run in the 9th to edge the Rangers 3-2, the A's and Rangers are back in a flat-footed tie for 2nd place, both 1.5 games behind the Angels. There's some intense mediocrity going on in the AL West right now and if you're looking for a team that is unbelieveably .500-y, you'll like the way we look: I guarantee it.
