I love beating the Halos. I love beating them in close games, and I also love kicking their asses from Anaheim to Los Angeles.

Guess who has the best record in the American League?

So much for my prediction. I thought the A’s - and Frank himself - would pass on bringing the Big Hurt back to Oakland. But he is an Oakland A again, and he was in the lineup in today’s trouncing of the Twins and went 0-for-3 with two walks and a run scored.

The roster may get dicey as guys get healthy, but you can’t do much better than the league minimum for a future Hall of Famer. Welcome back, Frank!

It was the logical thought process, once the Blue Jays cut Frank Thomas last week - “Bring him back to the A’s! We loved him here!”

Now, it sounds like there are rumblings of that actually happening.

I wouldn’t bet on it though, as who would be sacrificed to bring him back? Jack Cust, who has disappointed so far (.148/.361/.241)? Or Mike Sweeney, who has been doing well enough to keep a roster spot (.288/.367/.346)? I don’t see the A’s giving up on Cust that quickly after the season he had last year. It’s still only April.

Funny how quickly things can change - the last time I posted here the A’s were in the midst of losing four out of their last five games and they hadn’t scored more than two runs in a game in that time. I was feeling like the bottom feeder A’s that everyone expected was rearing its ugly head after such a great start.

And then, here came the Royals. Of course, these aren’t the hapless Royals of recent years, as the team from K.C. had a winning record of 9-8 going into the series with the A’s, so they weren’t a pushover team.

But the A’s pushed them over in three games, outscoring them 26-8 in the series. In the middle of that was an intriguing development, that the Oakland Athletics lead all of Major League Baseball in hitting with runners in scoring position (.321 as of today).

This is not an April Fool’s joke - let me say it again, louder:

THE A’S LEAD ALL OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL BASEBALL IN BATTING AVERAGE WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION!!!

Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and Bobby Crosby is a good hitter, folks. I never thought I’d see this day in a million years.

So keep it going, A’s. This is shaping up to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

I had a dream last night that Justin Duchscherer was out for the season. I was relieved when I woke up, as I remembered that he threw from 140 feet on Wednesday and is on pace to return to the A’s in about a week. That’s good, because I really don’t want to see Lenny DiNardo penciled in at starter for more than five games this season (he’s already pitched two).

Lenny’s 2007 shamrock is obviously gone and last night’s game was no exception. Given the fact that the A’s offense hasn’t scored more than two runs in a game in the last five games, we can’t afford trotting guys like Lenny DiNardo out there every fifth day.

So if Justin truly comes back to stay at the end of this month, that’s a good thing. Then we only have that #1 spot in the rotation to worry about, though at least Greg Smith is earning his keep so far.

This weekend we get the Royals and a look at the surprisingly good Brian Bannister tonight. If we can get the 2007 versions of both Bannister and Chad Gaudin, we’ll be OK. Too bad it’s 2008.

Go A’s!!

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already. I missed both Chicago games, as MLB.tv was on the fritz Monday night, and yesterday was a day game. I was hoping for a little WGN magic but no such luck.

So the White Sox series has come and gone and the A’s scored only three runs over two games but still came out with a series split, thanks to another great outing by rookie Greg Smith. Dana Eveland didn’t fare as well in yesterday’s game, but that’s going to come after these guys pitch a few games and teams get a look at them. I’m still very pleased with the fact that not one, but two of the guys from the Haren trade have already made a positive impact on the team.

(For the record, Haren has done better his most recent two starts than in his first one, as he now has an ERA of 2.50 and a tidy WHIP of 1.00 with 16 strikeouts.)

Tonight the A’s get their first look at an AL West opponent as we get Joe Blanton vs. Felix Hernandez in the first of two with the Mariners. King Felix has been his usual self (1-0, 1.66 ERA with 16 K’s) so Joe will need to be on his game.

Go A’s!!

The A’s are. That is, if you look at numbers, and numbers alone:

The A’s won again last night while I wasn’t looking. I think Philip Michaels has it right with the Look Away strategy.

Go A’s!!!

A’s-related things that have happened since the last time I watched a game:

1. The A’s have gone 4-0. When I last saw them, they were a game under .500. Now, they’re three games over. I have always noticed that the A’s tend to win a lot when I’m on vacation or not paying attention due to various non-baseball life events, and this is no exception.

2. Rich Harden and Justin Duchsherer have gone on the DL. No surprise on either, but some definite disappointment.

3. Dan Johnson was DFA’d. I’m actually surprised he’s not already a San Francisco Giant. In time though, I’m sure.

4. Mark Ellis stole two bases. I swear, last time I looked, Kurt Suzuki had the team lead with a whopping one swiped bag. Now Ellis leads with two!

5. Dana Eveland continued to be better in 2008 than Dan Haren. He’s got an 0.68 ERA and an 0.98 WHIP in 13.1 innings and two starts, while Haren has a 3.00 ERA and an 0.92 WHIP in 12 innings. Haren has given up 3 homers to Eveland’s zero. Eveland has also struck out more batters (13) than Haren (9). We’ll be keeping our eye on this.

6. Travis Buck, who was hitless in ‘08 the last time I watched a game, has three multi-hit games in a row. He’s got the batting average near Mendoza at .189.

7. Joey Devine, Fernando Hernandez, and Greg Smith appeared in baseball games as Oakland Athletics for the first time. Hernandez’s and Smith’s were their Major League debuts.

It’s amazing what can happen in baseball in a just a few days. Hopefully this is the longest stretch of games I miss this season. Looking forward to extending the winning streak this weekend as Lenny DiNardo brings his 54.00 ERA to his first start of the year against the Tribe’s newly signed extension man, Fausto Carmona.

Go A’s!!

I didn’t catch a glimpse of tonight’s game, but when I see that the A’s won in dramatic fashion with this in the scoring summary:

Top 6th: Oakland - J. Cust grounded into fielder’s choice, T. Buck scored, D. Barton to third, M. Sweeney out at second, D. Barton scored on shortstop D. Eckstein’s throwing error

… well, I’m sorry I missed it.

Looks like Travis Buck got not one, but two hits! And Ryan Sweeney continued hitting well. Huston Street got a save, and Chad Gaudin was not-so-good in his first ‘08 start.

Tomorrow my computer goes officially offline as we have to move all our furniture into the garage to have new carpet installed. So I’ll likely miss Greg Smith making his A’s debut tomorrow in place of the recently DLed Justin Duchscherer.

Go A’s!!

Rich Harden has been scratched from his start for tonight due to back soreness. He’s scheduled to go Saturday in Cleveland instead.

The A’s are insisting it’s just a minor issue, but I can’t help but wonder if he’ll be pushed back again, and then again, and then all the way to the DL.

Sounds like Chad Gaudin will be activated from the DL to go tonight. I wonder who will be sent down/DFA’d to make room…

Go A’s.