Gio "Sick," Literally and Figuratively, As A's Score 4 In 2nd, Roll

Gio Gonzalez took the mound today feeling under the weather, and for all we know a less amped Gio is a more effective one. The fastball velocity was there, and Gonzalez struck out the side in the 1st, going on to fan 10 in his 6 innings.

Meanwhile, the A's poured it on early with a 4-run bottom of the 2nd and added on with 2 more in the 3rd (highlighted by Hideki Matsui's 499th career HR), and single runs in the 5th and 7th. Jemile Weeks drove in three runs with a single and a double, Scott Sizemore added two more hits, a walk, and scored three times. Keep an eye on those two, as they appear to be legitimate possibilities to help bring the A's infield back to some semblance of respectability.

Yes, Kansas City scored 2 in the 5th and 2 more in the 8th to keep Oakland honest, but despite the scares the A's were in command throughout and it was their first "laugher" since...Gosh I haven't laughed in a long time! Hopefully, Bob Melvin was at least smiling from wherever he watched or listened to the game, after he was ejected for arguing with his third umpire of the day. The A's are now 1-0 in franchise history when Melvin is ejected as their manager.

Games like this remind you that the difference between a good team and a bad one isn't that much. The A's do have good young arms capable of outings like Gio provided today, they have a couple solid additions (Weeks, Sizemore) to go with a couple guys with legitimate track records (Willingham, Matsui), and games like today's could have happened a tad more often the first half of June.

And had they, Oakland would be in the thick of things because with their 5th consecutive loss today Texas has fallen to just two games over .500. Even as it is, the A's are all of 6 games out of first place as they await the Giants. A few more days like today and we can delude ourselves all over again into thinking it's not quite over.