[RobDogBucky]

Yo, Ak;

I spent the night with about 20,000 out of 32,200 that were my good friends on dollar night, dishing out the third win in a row against the beantowners. Aside from their one inning rally, when the Youuuuuuukilis cheer rang out, the Rude ones were rather subdued to say the least. Up in our section, they were hunkered down most of the night with nothing to cheer about, so it wasn't too bad. The cheap $2 seats had a few red clad in them, but up on the plaza level around the bowl, there were way more A's fans. That was good to see/hear, as you alluded to, it was/is not fun when they are out in force. The icing on that cake was Papi almost getting tossed and Francona actually getting tossed for arguing balls/strikes. I think the reality of losing about 5 in a row has finally sunk in and the Bostons are experiencing the hangover of their lives right now. At least as far as this season goes. That lineup is uber dangerous and can explode at any time for several runs. The A's pitching, still the best in the league in my opinion, or at least the equal of Anaheim right now, is the answer obviously. Can this pitching keep up?

I think they (Geren and Romanek) left Kennedy in just a little too long, as he was at 80 pitches when that inning one scoring inning started, and was at 99 after the damage was done and 2 runs were in. But not to worry (see above) Santiago Casilla and the other two from the pen that came in before him, Lewis and Marshall, all got the job done. Kennedy pitched very well, and as per usual the supporting cast did not let him down. Do people realize how good this group is on defense? They set a record I think for number of double plays in a 2-game period. Especially Chavez. I will say that again so the naysayers that may stop by can be sure not to miss it, Especially Chavez.

From the plate, the A's got solid contributions from Crosby, Cust, Kendall, Swisher, et al. Three in a row against the team with the best record. I won't say that they are the best team because I do not believe that they are. They benefit from being in their division and not having to travel until now, but things will change and they are not the best. They may have the current lineup with the highest BA overall and they can be menacing, but as in the days of old, the A's seem to have their number.

Why does this team play to the level of their competition? Why do they get beat 3/4 by KC at home, then be on the verge of sweeping the Sox? I would say injuries and the weather. What else can explain this predictable June surge? They are like some creature of nature that responds only to the seasonal diurnal cycle and do not wake up until there is about 15 hours of sunlight in the day, namely in June.

Amazing. And today they can complete the job bringing Country Joe against Schilling. Let's hope they can keep this going for a while and put some pressure on the Anaheims when they return to earth from their current streak.

And to answer a few other questions that are out there, the A's stole so many bases because Wakefield was on the mound, and he insists on throwing the knuckler with runners on (I don't think he has the choice as it would become batting practice if he didn't). The A's have had a lot of 2-out rallies recently and this is not a new phenomenon to those of us that actually watch them play. Cust started hitting in the last couple of games, not just last night, and even though the much maligned Chavez did not hit the game winner in this game, his teammates picked up the slack. Ortiz obviously did not say any magic words to the ump, but Francona was obviously beefing from the dugout for a while before he and the ump got into it when Pedroia was at bat and had a called strike on him. I am sure he took the walk to fire up his team. Oh, yeah, Kendall had a nice hit last night as well, even though he also killed a rally earlier.

Go A's!

Later,
RDB