…But from this day every day will be Boxing Day
It’s a fight to the finish
Let there be no doubt
As the seconds turn into minutes
I can count you out
   –Elvis Costello, TKO (Boxing Day)

If you haven’t noticed, I have a fun little thing on my sidebar called “MLB Heavyweight Champion”. I’m keeping track of the baseball championship as if it were boxing: if you defeat the champion, you become the champion.

I’ll also keep track of their records in title bouts, and the team that wins the most title bouts at the end of the year shall be deemed the Heavyweight of the Year.

Tonight, the A’s get their first crack at the title, as they take on the current MLB Heavyweight Champs, the Toronto Blue Jays. (The champs this year so far: Red Sox, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays.)

Seeing the A’s go into their first home series with Saarloos, Haren and Blanton as the scheduled starters doesn’t fill me with the warm fuzzies about their immediate title chances. That’s probably just a matter of unfamiliarity, however. I certainly wouldn’t count them out.

Joe Sheehan said in a premium Baseball Prospectus article today that in trading Hudson and Mulder, the A’s “traded perceived value for actual value, and in doing so, made their team better in the short term and in the long term.”

I think he’s probably right, but I’ll put it another way. The A’s traded Warm Fuzzies in exchange for Hope.

With the exception of Barry Zito, the pitching thus far has been fabulous. The non-Zito starters have yielded just 4 runs in 22 1/3 IP. And while so many other bullpens around major league baseball seem to have imploded during the first week of play, the A’s pen has allowed just one run in 20 1/3 IP.

With results like that, Harden and Haren and Saarloos and Blanton certainly give me hope. The bullpen gives me hope. But hope is an instant emotion; if you’re looking for it, it takes only seconds to minutes to find it.

Mulder and Hudson were Warm Fuzzies. No rookie can provide it. It requires turning weeks of results like these into months, and months into years.

Warm Fuzzies linger, far beyond the source of the warmth. You don’t mind cleaning up on December 26th, because December 25th was so much fun. You can milk it for a week or two, but eventually, you have to return to the realities of daily life.

I still get warm fuzzies from my Barry Zito package, but the hope I get from him is fading with each bad result. Hudson and Mulder provided a lot of joy in Oakland, but it couldn’t last forever, either. You have to let the old fuzzies go, and start making new ones.

The calendar turns. Tonight, a new year, a new era, begins in Oakland.

The A’s pitched well tonight, but lost 3-2 in 10 innings to the Devil Rays. As usual in these kinds of losses, the A’s had plenty of baserunners, but absolutely sucked at driving them in.

Tonight they were 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. And only scored two runs. Add that to the 4-for-23 they hit in Baltimore, and the A’s are batting .179 with RISP in 2005.

Such a small sample size shouldn’t really bother me that much, but I’ve been frustrated by this for years. *Sigh*.

Nick Swisher had a bad night. The Devil Rays decided Swisher would see a steady diet of slow stuff away away away. Swisher looked like he was trying to pull everything. He’ll need to adjust and take a couple of those pitches the other way if he ever wants to see another fastball to hit.

That doesn’t bother me so much, as that sort of failure and adjustment are part of the process for a rookie. I was more disappointed with a couple of terrible Eric Chavez ABs. He struck out twice when making any kind of contact would probably score a run. I’ve come to expect better from Chavez; tonight seemed like a regression for him.

On the positive side, the pitching has been fabulous so far this year. Eight runs allowed in four games is excellent. Keep allowing only two runs per game, and even a teamful of the least clutchy hitters in major league history would probably win most of their games.

Bob Kennedy, who managed the A’s in their first year in Oakland in 1968, has passed away at age 84.

Kennedy is probably best known for serving stints as manager and as GM of the Cubs. He played 16 seasons in the big leagues. He was the father of former Giants and Padres catcher Terry Kennedy.

Kennedy only managed the A’s for one season, guiding a very young team to a 82-80 record, before becoming one of many managers to be let go by Charlie Finley.

I think if you boiled baseball games down to a few basic plot formulas, Thursday’s nice A’s-O’s game could be a prototype for the pitcher’s duel, ruined by generous bullpen plot.

This plot was the A’s basic winning M.O. from 2000-2003; the starters would keep the game close until the A’s could beat up on their opponents mediocre middle relief.

Last year, the A’s used this plot quite often, as well, but they played the opposite role. Time after time in 2004, the A’s starters would seven innings, then hand over a tie game or a small lead to the bullpen, usually with disastrous results.

In the third game of 2005, it looks like the A’s might be getting back to playing the good guys again. The A’s just hung around patiently, not making mistakes, until they could get to the Orioles’ bullpen. The O’s pen, assisted by some shoddy defense, then proceeded to give a tense pitching duel between Dan Haren and Eric Bedard an anticlimactic ending.

Bedard was one of the players involved in the Hudson-Mulder rumors, and I can see why Beane was asking for him. He seemed very much like a left-handed Dan Haren. Both pitchers are young, throw hard, and have impressive breaking pitches, too.

Thursday night, both pitchers seemed to be relying more on raw talent than on pitching craftsmanship. Both fell behind in the count quite often, but their stuff was so good that their opponents couldn’t hit the ball hard off them, even if they had a pretty good idea what was coming. We entered the 8th inning, tied 1-1.

At this point, the A’s didn’t so much win the game as the Orioles lost it. Steve Kline came in and walked Marco Scutaro to lead off the inning. Then Mark Kotsay bunted to the pitcher. The pitcher fielded it, and threw it towards the second baseman covering first. But oddly, the charging first baseman cut off the throw, and everyone was safe.

Eric Byrnes then tried to lay down a bunt, which went just foul. Figuring Byrnes was going to bunt again, Kline threw a high fastball, probably hoping that Byrnes would pop up the bunt. Instead, Byrnes swung away. The Kline pitch may have been hard to bunt, but it was perfect for Byrnes to swing at, and he crushed it beyond the centerfield fence for a three-run homer.

Kiko Calero came in for the last two innings and kept the tension low for the rest of the evening. A happy ending if you’re an A’s fan, but if you want an exciting ending to a well-played ballgame, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Huston Street made his major league debut on Wednesday in the A’s 9-0 win over Baltimore. He pitched the eighth inning, giving up a walk and a single, but no runs.

His made his first out himself, jamming the batter and catching a little popup. His last out was a nice sequence which concluded with Sammy Sosa striking out on a nasty slider.

I got a good look at Huston Street last week in Tucson, and I returned home with some interesting pictures of Street’s delivery taken from above the A’s bullpen.

Here’s what our own pitcher saver, Will Carroll had to say about Street’s delivery from these shots:

Ken: I was wondering about the third picture, where it looks like he drags his back leg to the side, like he’s trying to get as much towards first base as possible. I’d never seen that before. You can see the skid mark.

Will: YES! God, that’s a great shot. It’s something I do with all my pitchers. I’ve never seen one so pronounced, but that’s GREAT. The longer the drag line, the closer he is releasing the ball to the plate. 1 foot = a perceived 3 mph.

He has a solid front leg. His glove and head are pretty close to ideal. Nasty external rotation.

I’ve talked to a lot of guys that have seen or even hit against him that say he’s frighteningly consistent, but tips.

Street’s fastball is only around 92, but perhaps the long drag line helps explain why so many people say his stuff seems so nasty.

If word got around that Street was tipping his pitches, it might explain his struggles toward the end of spring training. That problem should also be correctable.

I tried to look and see if Street’s stride on the mound in the game differed from these bullpen photos at all, but it was hard to tell. I could see that he was setting up on the first base side of the rubber as in the photos, at least to right-handed batters. But ESPN2 had their ticker running along the bottom of the screen, and obscured the view of the mound, so I couldn’t see much more than that.

No problem, though. I have a feeling there will be few more opportunities to follow Huston Street.

The weirdness of Opening Day is at long last over!

Now we can get back on our normal paths. Baseball every day. The flow of the season.

 
And we need some flow. So far in this young season, most of the news out of the A’s camp has been negative and disruptive.

• The A’s are starting on the East coast for the first time in years
• The A’s have not yet scored.
• Bobby Crosby’s mysterious rib/back ailment will (likely) land him on the DL. Marco Scutaro gets to fill in, while Keith Ginter gets his first start at second base tonight.
• Rich Harden’s shouting “I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”, so the A’s will be scrambling helter skelter to call up Kirk Saarloos to pitch today. Harden is being pushed back to the weekend against Tampa Bay.
• 5-tool prospect Javier Herrera was suspended 15 days for steroid use.
• A’s scout and former pitcher Matt Keough was arrested for drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident.

Bad news all around. Strange, abnormal, disturbing. Time to reverse field. Game #2, coming up…

With Google maps, you can toggle between a map view and a satellite image view. To view satellite images of MLB parks, click the links below, then click on the satellite link in the upper right corner.

A couple of pictures (Milwaukee, Cincinnati) are only low resolution images. A couple (Philadelphia, San Diego) show the ballpark under construction. The Marlins’ home looks like it’s configured for a bowl game, while Anaheim seems to be set up for some kind of dirt bike race or something.

AL West
McAfee Coliseum
Angels Stadium
Safeco Field
Ameriquest Field

AL Central
Jacobs Field
Kauffman Stadium
Comerica Park
Metrodome
US Cellular Field

AL East
Rogers Centre
Tropicana Field
Oriole Park
Fenway Park
Yankee Stadium

NL West
Bank One Ballpark
Coors Field
Dodger Stadium
SBC Park
Petco Park

NL Central
Minute Maid Park
Miller Park
Busch Stadium
Wrigley Field
PNC Park
Great American Ballpark

NL East
Turner Field
Dolphins Stadium
Shea Stadium
RFK Stadium
Citizens Bank Park

11:37 am PT: Pregame show. Team introductions. A’s get booed mildly. Ginter’s on the bench, Ellis is starting.

11:39 A’s starting lineup announced:
CF Kotsay
C Kendall
3B Chavez
DH Durazo
1B Hatteberg
LF Byrnes
SS Crosby
RF Swisher
2B Ellis

P Zito

11:43 Orioles coaches introduced. Elrod Hendricks in his 37th opening day with the Orioles!

11:45 The O’s are coming in on a long Orange carpet from center field instead of out of the dugout.

11:49 Orioles’ starting lineup:
2B Roberts
3B Mora
SS Tejada
RF Sosa
1B Palmeiro
C Lopez
DH Gibbons
CF Matos
LF Bigbie

P Lopez

Dang, that’s an impressive lineup.

11:50 Moment of silence for Johnny Oates, Chuck Thompson, and the Pope.

11:51 Have to go pick up my daughter from preschool. Gonna miss the opening pitch…but back soon.

12:03 First guffaw via Hank Greenwald, filling in on radio for Bill King, who is nursing a leg injury: “Starting lineup brought to you by Valero: Gas with vroom…Sorry, I didn’t read that very well. But nobody does gas like Bill.”

12:06 Kotsay leads off the season with a 10-pitch AB. A’s Brand baseball.

12:14 A’s go down 1-2-3.

12:17 79mph changeup from Zito. Good sign that he’s throwing it hard. If he’s not being aggressive, it’s in the 60’s. Then he jams Roberts with an inside fastball.

12:22 Zito walks Tejada, bringing up Sosa for his first AB as an Oriole. Gets a standing O. Zito throws him three straight inside fastballs, but then Sosa lines a low changeup to left for a single.

12:23 Zito vs. Palmeiro. I always love watching this battle. Zito gets him to pop up to center to end the inning.

12:29 Hatteberg pokes a single to left for the A’s first hit of the year.

12:37 Crosby gets a lucky two-out infield single. Swisher popups up to Tejada, who runs circles in the wind and makes a diving catch to end the inning.

12:43 Zito is missing too far high with a lot of fastballs. Walks Gibbons, then gives up a homer to Matos on a hanging curve. 2-0 Orioles.

12:54 Kendall throws his bat and fouls of a hit and run attempt. Repeat: the A’s tried a hit & run!

1:06 Tejada, Sosa, and Palmeiro repeat their first inning at bats. This time, there’s only one out, though, and Tejada scores on a sac fly. 3-0 Orioles.

1:09 Crosby bobbles a grounder, but Sosa rounds third and is thrown out at home. Kendall makes a nice tag, as Crosby threw a two-hopper.

1:22 The A’s have two runners on for the third inning in a row. They strand all of them, just like last year. OBP OBP OBP OBP, but nobody can get a damn RBI.

1:27 Scutaro is in the game for Crosby. He must have aggravated his wrist injury striking out.

1:33 Swisher misplays a fly ball for a double, and now it’s 4-0 Orioles.

1:39 Shadows creeping between the plate and the mound. Going to be hard to hit for a couple of innings.

1:43 Two runners on again in the fifth. How much you wanna bet they strand these guys again?

1:44 Yup. Hatteberg pops out, inning over.

1:54 Scutaro hits an opposite field double. Only one stranded runner this inning. Improvement!

2:03 Zito has his second consecutive 1-2-3 inning. He should pitch in shadows more often…

2:06 Steve Kline is the pitcher, Geronimo Gil is catching. What’s up with that? If you take one Lopez out, you have to remove both?

2:07 Kotsay leads off with a single, and then breaks up a double play grounder by Kendall.

2:11 Chavez flies out, and now it’s Durazo. Here’s the problem with the A’s lineup; with all those lefty bats in a row, the Orioles can just leave Kline in there. Durazo flies out, too.

2:16 Justin Duchscherer is now pitching for the A’s.

2:20 Reports come in: Javy Lopez and Crosby were both removed with back pain.

2:24 A’s not doing anything off Jorge Julio. The O’s bullpen looks a lot deeper and better this year with Kline and Reed out there, and with Julio setting up Ryan instead of the other way around. If the O’s can get any sort of decent starting pitching this year, they might be a pretty darn good team.

2:30 Here’s my first look at Kiko Calero in an A’s uni, facing Sosa.

2:32 Scutaro airmails a throw from shortstop, E-6.

2:37 Calero’s slider is nasty looking, and it looks like he has good control of it.

2:38 Hank Greenwald says Ron Darling will do do color analysis for the Washington Nationals.

2:40 Calero gets out of the eighth inning, and now we’re going to the ninth with the Orioles ahead 4-0. B.J. Ryan is on his way in.

2:43 Swisher batting right-handed. Ginter is on deck.

2:44 Swisher strikes out on a check swing.

2:46 Mora makes a nice stop, and then Palmeiro digs out the throw. Two outs. Mora hurt himself going to his knees. Not sure if he hurt his knee or wrist. He’s staying in the game.

2:50 Kotsay grounds out to Tejada. Orioles win, 4-0. I guess we’ll have to wait until Thursday for the A’s to score their first run of the year.

When in Tucson, do as the Tucsonians.

I felt left out that I had never been to a Dairy Queen when Ken Macha treated the A’s to ice cream after a game in Tucson earlier in March.

So naturally, when I went to Tucson last week on vacation, I had to visit a Dairy Queen.

So I packed up the family, and we headed downtown to visit the oldest Dairy Queen in Tucson.

This particular Dairy Queen opened in 1952, and it didn’t look like it had been remodeled at all since then. It was tiny; there was no indoor seating, and enough room in the building for maybe ten people to stand and wait for their order. Obviously, the drive-thru is the thing.

The wife and kids ordered chocolate-dipped vanilla cones, but I had to try the Blizzard. I was looking for the $7 one that Nick Swisher joked about ordering, but the most expensive one cost $3.55.

I still didn’t really know what a Blizzard was, and there were a gazillion flavors to choose from. I had no idea what to pick, but I like cookies & cream, so I decided to go with a small Oreo Blizzard, and see what I got.

Then it was time to go outside and take my first scoopful of Dairy Queen ice cream:

The Blizzard, I discovered, is like a milk shake without the milk. They stir the ice cream around with a mixing machine until it’s soft and frothy, but it’s not as liquidy as a shake.

The texture was nice, and it tasted pretty good, but I’m glad I just ordered a small one. That was plenty. I think the $3.55 one would have made me sick, and a $7 one…well I can’t even imagine that. If Swisher had a $7 Blizzard, it’s no wonder he had a lousy spring training. Eating one that size would probably leave you bloated for weeks.

So now I know what I’ve been missing. I can say I’ve done the Dairy Queen. What’s next?

I had plans.

Yesterday, I was going to take in a game at Hi Corbett Field here in Tucson between the Rockies and the White Sox. Then today, I was thinking of driving up to Phoenix to catch the last Cactus League game for the A’s before they head home to the Bay Area.

But then I got sick. I spent yesterday just lying around watching TV, nursing a low grade fever and a stuffy head. I felt better today, but not good enough to spend 3+ hours driving back and forth to Phoenix.

Instead, I took a much shorter trip with my family to the Tucson Children’s Museum. They had a nice exhibit on dinosaurs with a video documentary narrated by Martin Short. I quite enjoyed it, but my two girls hardly seemed interested at all. They spent most of their time in a farmer’s market exhibit, pretending to shop for food. Boys will be boys, girls will be girls, I suppose.

So I had a nice day, even though I missed a very encouraging performance by the A’s, as they beat the Brewers, 7-1. Barry Zito allowed just one run in seven innings, and Octavio Dotel gave up just one hit in two innings.

I finally feel ready for the season to start. Zito looks ready, Dotel looks ready (at last). The sale to Wolff/Fisher is official now. Meyer has been sent to Sacramento. Yabu is in the pen. There are just a few final things to clear off the plate.

The A’s will fly back to the Bay Area, pray that Crosby’s wrist isn’t broken, fiddle around with the Giants for a few days, make a few final roster decisions, and then get busy winning the division.

Meanwhile, I’ll fly back to the Bay Area, pray the Crosby’s wrist isn’t broken, fiddle around with this web site for a few days, and then get busy watching the A’s go win the division.

Well, that’s the plan, anyway…

I’m in Tucson today, where I took in my first ballgame of the year. The White Sox beat the A’s, 12-8.

There were only 4,500 people at the game, so I was able to walk right up to the bullpen and watch the A’s pitchers warm up. I stood and watched from about six feet behind the catcher, about 10 feet up above the pen. I tried to imagine myself trying to hit off of Haren. I’d probably be scared to death. Haren’s pitches sizzled through the air and popped in the mitt.

Haren and Curt Young seemed to be having an entirely non-verbal discussion about his breaking pitches. Every time Haren threw one, he was shaking his head. Young was holding a baseball and demonstrating something (grip? release?), and Haren would nod. I could hear everything they said, but nothing was said at all. Haren seemed to know what he was doing wrong, but couldn’t stop doing it, whatever it was.

And he kept not doing whatever it was in the game, as the White Sox bashed him around for seven runs in 5 2/3 innings.

In the middle innings, some guy got up that I did not recognize, and watching him warm up, he certainly suffered in comparison with Haren. His fastballs didn’t sizzle, the mitt didn’t pop. I thought that even I might be able to stand in the box against him without getting killed by a HBP.

When he came into the game, I found out who it was: Tim Harikkala. He promptly hit the first two batters he faced, Everett and Konerko. The batters seemed upset. Not upset that they were hit, but upset that they lost an AB. I guess they didn’t feel afraid against him, either.

Jermaine Dye followed with a rocket double to drive in two. Dye looked great, going 3-for-4 and almost nailing Charles Thomas taking too big a turn around first base on a single. But then again, he looked good last spring training, too. Then the regular season started.

Later, I got my first look at Huston Street. Several articles have compared his delivery to Dennis Eckersley, but I didn’t get that impression at all.

As Street was warming up in the A’s pen, Shingo Takatsu was warming up in the White Sox pen. It struck me that Street had kind of a funky Japanese-style delivery, too. I tried to figure out what it was that was giving me that impression. I looked over at Takatsu, and Street’s delivery didn’t really look like Takatsu’s all that much.

Then I realized whose delivery Street reminded me of: Shigetoshi Hasegawa. Similar arm angles, similar size, similar follow-through, similar landing position. I’ll have to look at Hasegawa again to see if I’m remembering him right. But that’s who Street reminds me of. And for more realistic expectations, Hasegawa is probably a better comp than Eckersley.

When Street came into the game, I went and stood at the back of the section right behind home plate to watch him work. I’ve heard that Street has impeccable control, but that wasn’t evident today. His slider was too far off plate, nobody was chasing it. His fastballs were missing the black. He did strike out Carl Everett on a nice changeup, though.

The White Sox also stole two bases off him. Part of that may have been because Jeremy Brown was the catcher, but Street didn’t seem to be doing much to prevent them from running. Given that Street has given up runs in his last several outings, I’m beginning to think that Street might be working on a few things in Sacramento for awhile before we see him in Oakland.

Ross Gload made a great play at first base in the ninth, snaring a screaming liner by Nick Swisher, and almost doubling off Bobby Kielty. Kielty barely made it back to the bag ahead of Gload. After watching some shoddy defense by Keith Ginter and Dan Johnson earlier in the game, it was nice to see a major-league quality play to help finish things off, even if it wasn’t my team that made it.

In the early 90s, I worked for a computer service company. One day, the VP of Sales sent out an email:

Subject: Dress code tomorrow

Executives from The Gap, a potential large customer, are coming for a tour of our facilities tomorrow.

You’re not required to wear clothes from The Gap (although it’s encouraged), but above all, please do not wear Levi’s to work tomorrow.

I found it amusing to think of Levi’s as the enemy. The Haas family, which owned Levi Strauss & Co., also owned the Oakland A’s at the time, and has been a major contributor to UC Berkeley, my alma mater. Levi’s, in my mind, was a force for benevolence.

Nevertheless, I dressed the part. And I think we got the deal. All thanks to my pants, of course.

On Wednesday it is expected that the A’s ownership change will become official. Lewis Wolff will apparently be the managing owner. However, the majority of the team will be owned by the Fischer family. The Fischer family owns, naturally, The Gap.

I guess this is kinda like having a team that was once owned by Coca-Cola getting sold to Pepsi. Probably doesn’t mean anything, but I enjoy the irony of it.

When the deal becomes official, the A’s will have the third-wealthiest owners in baseball. If the tradition of stingy A’s ownership continues, it can only be because of philosophy. It won’t be because the owners can’t afford it, or because they are up to their ears in debt, like some teams.

I fully expect the penny-pinching philosophy to continue. Partly because Steve Schott is staying on for awhile in an advisory capacity. But mostly because if the A’s got a new owner who went all Arte Moreno on us, I would have no idea how to react. It’s beyond my ken.

I’ll keep my pants on.

The March 28 issue of ESPN: The Magazine has a feature story on Dan Haren, Joe Blanton and Dan Meyer, entitled “Beaney Babies”, written by Buster Olney.

The article doesn’t tell us much we didn’t already know, but the story has a few amusing anecdotes about each of the three pitchers. Haren had bought his dad a copy of Moneyball as a gift, and then had to borrow it when he was traded to Oakland. And there’s a funny story about how Blanton got mad at someone who showboated after a home run.

On a side note, looking at one of the photos of Blanton in the magazine, I kinda got the sensation that his face seemed familiar to me. Then it struck me that if you did a facial merge between Will Carroll and Zachary Manprin, the result might look an awful lot like Joe Blanton. Willie Joe Blanprin?

Anyway, Blanton and Haren have locked up spots in the rotation, but not so Dan Meyer. Meyer gave up four runs in 4 2/3 IP today in a 5-2 loss to the Cubs, making it increasingly likely he’ll start the year in Sacramento.

Ken Macha stated yesterday that the A’s are leaning strongly towards going with 12 pitchers. That’s bad news for Marco Scutaro (despite his home run today), and good news for Huston Street.

• Rich Harden gave up five runs to Texas in the first inning today, and then was told by Hiram Bocachica that he was tipping his pitches.

  I suppose that could be the reason, but I’m always skeptical when I hear that explanation. It always sounds like grasping for straws. More likely reason: the pitcher sucked.

  I’m glad to hear that Harden and Curt Young were more ready to blame bad mechanics than pitch-tipping.

• As expected, Tyler Johnson got shipped back to St. Louis.
• 2004 top draft pick Landon Powell is out for the year with a torn ACL. I asked Will Carroll if having surgery on the ACL will hurt his long-term prospects as a catcher.

  Will said that he couldn’t find any catchers to compare him to, but he thought it was likely that there must be somebody who’s done it.

Ken Macha took a split squad of A’s down to Tucson on Saturday, and treated the whole bus to an ice cream break at a local Dairy Queen.

It’s a cute story. But I kinda feel left out.

Not because I think Macha should treat me to some ice cream. Because I have never once even stepped foot in a Dairy Queen.

So when Nick Swisher jokes about ordering a $7 Blizzard, I have no idea what that means. I feel like someone is preventing me from experiencing a core piece of American culture.

But the problem is this: there aren’t any Dairy Queens around here. There are zero Dairy Queens in Alameda, where I live, zero in Oakland, and zero in San Francisco.

There is a combo Orange Julius/Dairy Queen express shop in a shopping mall in Hayward, but if you want a real standalone Dairy Queen, you have to go over the Oakland Hills out to San Ramon, about a 30 minute drive.

So then I checked Phoenix and Tucson, where the incident took place. Which Dairy Queen did they go to? Hard to tell. There are at least seven Dairy Queens within the Phoenix city limits, and nine in Tucson.

Hmm…this is starting to look suspicious. OK, let’s look at how many Dairy Queens are within the city limits of each MLB city (by division):

City                Dairy Queens
---   ---
Oakland                  0
Arlington                1  (Dallas: 4)
Anaheim                  2
Seattle                  4
Kansas City              3
Cleveland                3
Chicago                  4
Detroit                  7
Minneapolis              7  (St. Paul: 8)
New York City            0
Boston                   1
Baltimore                1
Tampa                    3
Toronto                  6
San Francisco            0
Los Angeles              1
San Diego                4
Phoenix                  7
Denver                   8
Milwaukee                3
St. Louis                4
Chicago                  4
Cincinnati               5
Pittsburgh               7
Houston                  8
New York City            0
Washington, DC           0
Philadelphia             4
Atlanta                  5
Miami                    5

Well, I feel a little better now. The Bay Area isn’t alone in its DairyQueenlessness. But why are we, New York City, and Washington D.C. being left out? And why does Toronto, which isn’t even in United States, have more Dairy Queens than the rest of the AL East combined?

It’s all very fishy, if you ask me. I smell a conspiracy…

After Sunday’s game, the A’s sent down seven more players.

The article says 38 players are still in camp, 31 from the 40-man, and 7 non-roster invitees. Here’s how I figure it (I’ll put the non-roster guys in italics):

OF (7): Byrnes, Kielty, Kotsay, Swisher, Thomas, Bocachica, Clark.

IF (9): Chavez, Crosby, Durazo, Ellis, Ginter, Hatteberg, Dan Johnson, Scutaro, Rouse, Bobby Smith.

C (4): Kendall, Melhuse, Brown, Suzuki.

P (18): Blanton, Calero, Cruz, Dotel, Duchscherer, Etherton, Harden, Haren, Harikkala, Tyler Johnson, Meyer, Rincon, Yabu, Zito, Reames, Saarloos, Street, and, um, Bradford?

I’m guessing Bradford is the last guy on the list, because that’s the only way I can get things to add up the way the article says.

Note that Street is not on the 40-man roster, but if he makes the team, that’s easily solved by sending Johnson back to St. Louis. Or maybe by putting Bradford on the sixty-day DL.

I’m not sure why John Baker was sent down and not Jeremy Brown. But the big news is probably that Kurt Suzuki is still around. He may have jumped ahead of both Brown and Baker in the hearts of A’s management with his impressive spring.

I was just peeking at the A’s roster. Right now, I figure there are 23 spots on the A’s roster that are pretty secure:

Pitchers (10):
Zito, Harden, Haren, Blanton, Dotel, Cruz, Calero, Rincon, Duchscherer, Yabu.

Catchers (2):
Kendall, Melhuse.

Infielders (6):
Hatteberg, Ellis, Ginter, Crosby, Chavez, Durazo

Outfielders (5):
Byrnes, Kielty, Kotsay, Swisher, Thomas

 
Yabu’s role isn’t clear, but I’m figuring the A’s didn’t spend $1M on him to have him pitch in AAA. Which leaves:

On the bubble (2 slots, 7 players):
Meyer, Etherton, Street, Saarloos, Tyler Johnson, Scutaro, Dan Johnson

Which two of these seven make the team depends on two decisions: who the fifth starter is, and whether they’ll use 11 or 12 pitchers.

Assuming there will be 11 pitchers:

There are four guys battling for the fifth rotation spot: Yabu, Etherton, Saarloos, and Meyer. Meyer was “Plan A”, but he has struggled this spring, and may get some more seasoning in Sacramento. Saarloos is coming back from injury, and will probably end up in AAA to build his arm strength some more.

So starter #5 is likely either Yabu or Etherton. If it’s Yabu, Huston Street probably makes the team in the bullpen. If it’s Seth Etherton, Street probably goes to Sacramento, and Yabu ends up in the pen.

Rule 5-er Tyler Johnson hasn’t pitched well, and is likely now to be offered back to St. Louis. He has an outside chance if the A’s decide on 12 pitchers, I suppose. But really, he doesn’t deserve to be on the team ahead of Street or Etherton.

My guess is that Etherton will be the fifth starter, Yabu ends up in the pen, Street, Meyer and Dan Johnson get a little more time in AAA, Tyler Johnson is sent back to St. Louis, and Marco Scutaro ends up with the last roster spot.

We all know spring training stats are meaningless. So are horoscopes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t read them anyway.

Like horoscopes, we tend to read into them whatever we want to read into them. If the prediction is wrong, we ignore it. If it’s right–wow, that’s great!

In that spirit, I tend to seek out the stats which look like they’re supposed to look. I know it’s not logical, but they reassure me.

I’m currently finding a lot of comfort in these Cactus League numbers:

Player      ERA
--- ---
R Harden    3.75
B Zito      4.00
D Haren     2.00
J Blanton   4.00
K Yabu      4.00
S Etherton  2.25

Hey, the starting pitching looks good! No worries.

Of course, I then go and rationalize away numbers like this:

Player      ERA
--- ---
O Dotel     9.64
D Meyer    10.38

Those stats look bad, but that’s because in this case, we’re talking a small sample size.

Using a similar lack of logic, I have chosen to ignore all of the A’s spring training batting stats, except Jason Kendall’s. His are the only numbers that seem close to what I’d expect. So Kendall: wow, he’s gonna be great, I’m sure.

Otherwise, the spring stats have been nonsense. Half the team’s home runs have been hit by Eric Byrnes. The star hitter in camp has been Mark Ellis. Nearly everyone else is hitting around .200.

Using numbers like those to project the upcoming season is just crazy talk. It’s as silly as astrologers predicting the future by staring up at the sky.

But hey, check out that big fluffy cloud over there. It kinda looks like Jason Kendall, doesn’t it?

Question: Will the steroid hearings be televised?

I’m not so much interested in what the congress members ask or what the witnesses answer. I’m just curious to see how much the temperature drops in Washington when Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco share the same room. I’m sure Jose’s gonna get quite a few icy stares.

Answer: Yes, on C-SPAN3. Don’t get C-SPAN3? View it live online, on the CSPAN web site: Real Media, Windows Media.

 
Question: Should I feel any differently about the Bash Brothers era because of the steroids? And never mind how I should feel, how do I actually feel?

Answer: I had always felt rather cheated that the earthquake ruined the joy of winning the World Series in 1989. It wasn’t appropriate to whoop it up after what had just happened. It didn’t feel as fulfilling as it should to have my team win it all.

Now we know that my “cheated feeling” may have fit the accomplishment quite appropriately.

In those days, I’d always arrive at the ballpark just as the gates opened, because Canseco and McGwire put on a simply amazing show in batting practice every day. I can’t look back on it now without bringing back the sense of fun and awe I felt at the time.

So perhaps I should feel bad that this era was tainted with chemical enhancements, but I don’t. The relationship might have ended with accusations of cheating and a chilly divorce, but it was sure fun while it lasted. I can’t change that.

To continue the religious theme around here, it was Christmas in March at the Arneson house today. The FedEx Santa delivered my favorite package: season tickets.

I get to play Santa for the people I share the tickets with later, but first, I have to open the package to see what they look like, and feel them in my hands. This is when the baseball season truly becomes tangible.

It appears the A’s are sticking with the “A’s Brand” marketing scheme they used last year. The ticket booklet declares on the cover: “INSIDE: this book contains up to 6 months of pure bliss.”

The tickets are very cleverly designed. Instead of just having pictures of players as they had in the past, now they have given the tickets some extra utility. Some tickets have coupons, some have silly lists like a “Dot Racing Wager Card” and a Pre-Game Checklist (“foam finger”, “emergency backup foam finger”…) and some have games, like a word search, and a mad lib.

But this one really cracked me up:

 
No wonder Eric Byrnes hasn’t been traded yet…