The A’s beat the Rangers 8-5 today. The game wasn’t on TV, and I only listened to part of it on radio. Nice to hear the offense do well; the most encouraging news was that Erubiel Durazo had three hits.

Dan Haren still sounds like he’s getting by on talent rather than craft; he walked five in six innings, but only gave up three hits. Kinda reminds me or Rich Harden circa April 2004. It will be interesting to watch if he can begin to harness that talent as he goes along, as Harden did.

Does Juan Cruz have options left? That dude is messed up; he could use a few innings somewhere to find whatever it is that he lost. He darn near blew a six-run lead in the ninth, and Dotel was forced to come in and get a save.

All in all, a nice, but uninteresting victory. More interesting than what happened to the A’s today is what happened to some ex-A’s:

• Sandy Alderson is leaving the Commissioner’s Office to become the new CEO of the San Diego Padres. Good move for the Padres. The NL West just got a bit more interesting.
   
• Tim Hudson threw a nine-inning, four-hit shutout, but as usual, ended up with no decision. Roger Clemens matched his shutout for seven innings, and the Braves won in 12, 1-0.
   
• Mark Mulder pitched a bit more like the Mark Mulder we know. Eight innings, two hits, just 95 pitches, as the Cardinals beat the Pirates, 11-1. The only thing that keeps me from labeling it Vintage Mulder(™) is that he issued three walks. If it had only been one walk, I would have declared him back to form.
   
• Arthur Rhodes pitched a scoreless ninth in the Indians’ 5-1 win over the Royals. He hasn’t allowed a run all season. If he had pitched like this last year…oh never mind. Could say the same thing about Mulder, I guess…