Bored

Bonds played last year, he just skipped the homerun derby I believe.

Not like you were going out on a limb picking the Astros. On a completely unrelated note Rob Neyer picks his Top 10 catchers of all-time. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor..._rob&id=1800264

The tree in the logo is based on a redwood known as El Palo Alto which is a landmark in the city of Palo Alto where Stanford University is located. Stanford was the Indians until 1972 when they went the PC rout.

A's beat the Tigers in 15 innings. Justin Duchscherer is the hero with five shut out innings in relief, allowing just two base runners.

Woo hoo A's optioned out Frank Menechino to Sacramento! Too bad he wasn't released. Mark McLemore was actived off the DL.

It's Tuesday, so new All-Star picks. Players not listed last week have an asterisk next to them. AMERICAN LEAGUE C: JORGE POSADA, New York; Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit; Jason Varitek, Boston 1B: JASON GIAMBI, New York; Rafael Palmeiro, Baltimore 2B: RON BELLIARD, Cleveland; Alfonso Soriano, Texas 3B: TROY GLAUS, Anaheim; Hank Blalock, Texas; Melvin Mora*, Baltimore SS: MICHAEL YOUNG, Texas; Juan Uribe, Chicago OF: MANNY RAMIREZ, Boston; CARLOS BELTRAN, Kansas City; VLADIMIR GUERRERO, Anaheim; Jose Guillen*, Anaheim; Rondell White, Detroit; Carl Crawford, Tampay Bay Pitchers: KEVIN BROWN, New York; Curt Schilling, Boston; Freddy Garcia, Seattle; Tim Hudson, Oakland; Carlos Sliva*, Minnesota; Kenny Rogers, Texas; Roy Halladay, Toronto; C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland; Pedro Martinez*, Boston; Mariano Rivera, New York; Keith Foulke, Boston; Joe Nathan*, Minnesota NATIONAL LEAGUE C: JOHNNY ESTRADA, Atlanta; Mike Piazza*, New York 1B: JIM THOME, Philadelphia; Lyle Overbay*, Milwaukee; Todd Helton*, Colorado 2B: JEFF KENT*, Houston; Mark Loretta, San Diego 3B: ADRIAN BELTRE, Los Angeles; Scott Rolen, St. Louis; Mike Lowell*, Florida SS: JACK WILSON, Pittsburgh; Khalil Greene*, San Diego OF: BARRY BONDS, San Francisco; ADAM DUNN, Cincinnati; MIGUEL CABRERA*, Florida; Luis Gonzalez*, Arizona; Moises Alou, Chicago; Lance Berkman, Houston Pitchers: ROGER CLEMENS, Houston; Joe Kennedy, Colorado; Brad Penny, Florida; Matt Clement, Chicago; Carlos Zambrano*, Chicago; Kerry Wood, Chicago; Jake Peavy, San Diego; Livan Hernandez, Montreal; Al Leiter*, New York; Armando Benitez, Florida; Eric Gagne*, Los Angeles; Billy Wagner, Philadelphia

He cited personal reasons. I'm sure he ain't happy with the Pirates but he wasn't happy with the Yankees either last year and pretty much quit on them too. Great news for Pirates fans though as now Lloyd McClendon has completely run out of reasons to bench Craig Wilson when Randall Simon comes back.

Yup a lot of harm those injuries have done, only have the best record in baseball. Yankees will humiliate their fans if they can't beat them.

What scouts? Anyways he's had three years in the minors, had an excellent year at Triple-A, and is 24-years old so that's not really rushing someone. The expectations were probably too high for him this season. Tejada didn't exactly have a good start to his career.

I think we can mark May 8th as the day A's fans completely turn on Bobby Crosby. He is a horrendous slump right now and his defense is suddenly shaky after being flawless early in the season. Today he grounds into a double play in the 8th with 1st and 3rd, in field in, and no one out to fail to the put the A's ahead. Then his error in the 10th inning costs the A's the game. He his now hitting just .183 with a pathetic .253 OBP (coming into the game), .586 OPS., and 32 strike outs in just 82 at bats. It's tough replacing a fan favorite and Crosby is likely to be scapegoated for the A's lack of success so far this season. Expecting a lot of boos for him tommorrow.

Ken Macha needs to be fired. He has no clue what a LOOGY is. It stands for lefty one-out guy. Ricardo Rincon is a LOOGY. He got his one man to end the 7th. YOU NEED TO TAKE HIM OUT THEN!!!! He pulled the same shit in the Yankee series with Rincon. Took the A's bullpen one night to get back to it's normal self.

The stadium was rennovated but not for the better in the eyes of most fans. The old look of the Coliseum with regular bleachers, a giant manual out of town scoreboard, and a view of the Oakland hills actually made the place feel like a baseball stadium. Now it feels like just a dark, dank football stadium with the addition of Mt. Davis. The A's were basically treated like second class citizens when the Raiders moved back and it turned a lot of fans off. Only good thing about the rennovation was replacing the old, sun scorched, orange seats with green ones. Sure I'd love a new stadium but all that being said the Coliseum is hardly preventing the A's from being a success and it really isn't that bad of place to watch a game. I also only want a new stadium with a new ownership who pays for it themselves. For the attendance thing it's just a smaller stadium gives a more intiment feel to the place. Also the fewer the seats, the more in demand those seats are. And for the last question....yes that's basically it. New stadiums are meant to attract the non-die hard fans and tourists. Of course what Bud never seems to realize or just ignore that these new stadiums will become old stadiums eventually and then what then? 20 years from now just ask everyone to build yet another new stadium?

Oh Bud you big silly! Bleh, he says this every year when he stops by in Spring Training. Hey Bud did you notice the A's turn a profit every year? Did you notice that they signed Eric Chavez 6-year, $66 million deal? Did you hear that it's highly likely that Tim Hudson will be signing a big money extension this offseason? What is this a threat? What you gonna do Bud? Contract them?

Wow the A's come back from a four-run defecit (although pretty early), Mark Kotsay provides some offense (3 for 5 with 4 RBI), and the A's bullpen doesn't blow it (MECIR slams the door!?). It's Bizarro World!

Did Dusty Baker take over as the A's manager? I can't believe Harden is still in there. I know the bullpen has just been hopeless lately but the guy is only 22 and last thing you want to do is overuse him and it's too early in the season to go for broke. Was on a nice roll but just walked two batters with two out in the 8th. Now out of there after 121 pitches.

I know...how can the A's keep giving up hits to Enrique Wilson? Let's see if a miracle happens and the A's bullpen actually doesn't blow a fourth game to the Yankees.

It's the first time he's EVER been to the Coliseum. I can't see the game where I am but I'm hoping there has been at least one "Selig sucks" chant. Is he sitting in the stands or a luxury box?

Speaking of people who souldn't be on the air...Harold Reynolds gave his opinion of OBP: http://www.futilityinfielder.com/archives/...y_archive.shtml

Zito was already having problems last year and that's why he tried to make a change. Yeah, yeah hear the same thing every year. Written off in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Might as well have them written in 2004...IN MAY! Hasn't the AS topic on the Yankees taught anyone, anything?

I think it's time to close this topic. AS can create another when the Yankees lose back-to-back games.

Hey the Red Sox are some roll too, huh? Sorry Hudson isn't going anywhere but feel free to take Zito off their hands. Anyways they've actually had worse starts than this one and survived. They were 8-18 to start the 2001 season and weren't even over .500 until July that year. I have no clue why they always struggle in the first half and it's really gotten old. I'm thinking they aren't too far off from a Beane house cleaning similar to 2002 where three or four guys get shipped to the minors and he makes a couple out of no where trades. The bullpen is just a complete disaster right now. Oh and I didn't really care about bunting in that situation last night but problem is Kotsay can't bunt. Kotsay has been a major dissapointment as Chris Singleton has seemingly taken over his body at the plate. One more thing to add if the skid continues I won't be shocked if Ken Macha is fired. Rumor was during the offseason Beane was already unhappy with him.

Speaking of the fan voting might as well take an early guess as to who will be voted the starters since it's usually always established players who get voted. A.L. Catcher: Jorge Posada. He's been voted the starter the last two years but he does have stiffer competition with Pudge back in the A.L. and Javy Lopez, who was voted starter in the N.L. last year, to contend with. First Base: Jason Giambi. Beat by a late surge by Delgado last year as Delgado's numbers were vastly superior to Giambi's at the break so the fans pushed Delgado ahead. Unless Delgado and the Jays turn it around don't see him beating out Giambi this time and there are no other first baseman who have a legit chance. Second Base: Alfonso Soriano. Out of New York now so could be a bit tougher but only really has Bret Boone to contend with. Third Base: Alex Rodriguez. Really be shocker if he isn't voted the starter even with the slow start. Troy Glaus and Eric Chavez will get votes but not nearly enough to beat out A-Rod. Shortstop: Derek Jeter. A-Rod now gives up the position. Red Sox fans always have voted in full force for Nomar in the past but with him injured it will likely hurt his vote total thus leaving it open for Jeter although wouldn't be shocked if Nomar beats him out. Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki, Manny Ramirez, Hideki Matsui. The completely unfair Japanese internet vote will of course put Suzuki and Matsui in the game almost no matter what. Ramirez has been voted a starter five straight years but new A.L. outfielders Gary Sheffield and Vladimir Guerrero could make it interesting. There could be a ground swell for Carlos Beltran though as he receives more national attention with trade rumors and maybe he could knock Matsui out but still a long shot. N.L. Catcher: Mike Piazza. I was thinking maybe Lo Duca or Kendall here but surprisingly neither even finished in the Top 5 last year. Lopez and Pudge are gone thus Piazza can reclaim the starting spot even though he's playing some first now but not like fans pay attention. First Base: Albert Pujols. He was the leading vote getter last year and he'll probably nail down the first base vote for years to come even though it's a loaded position at the moment. Todd Helton, Jeff Bagwell (since it's Houston I'm sure Astros fans will try their hardest to get him in), and Jim Thome will all probably get good support but not enough. Second Base: Marcus Giles. He was the rare unestablished player going into the season to be voted a starter and probably will be again this year. The Houston vote will give Jeff Kent a shot. Third Base: Scott Rolen. He beat out 2nd place Mike Lowell by over 1 million votes last year. Ya I'd say he's the safe bet here. Shortstop: Kazuo Matsui. Again the unfair Japanese internet vote puts him in most likely. Renteria will make it interesting until the final internet tally. Outfield: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Jim Edmonds. Bonds is a no brainer obviously. Sosa was hurt last year by the corked bat incident but will probably be back as a starter this year. The final slot will be interesting but I gave it to Edmonds since he always gets strong vote totals but the Jones' in Atlanta also could get the final slot. Lance Berkman and Richard Hidalgo will get a lot of support from Astros fans with the game in Houston. I wouldn't be surprised if Adam Dunn gets a lot support especially if he stays hot.

Morgan has always stuck to that backwards logic. Going by that Aramis Ramirez was "worth more" than Barry Bonds last season as Ramirez 106 RBI to Bonds 90. Morgan has this huge thing against OBP for some bizarre reason when you consider he as a player had a career OBP of .392 but just a .271 career batting average. He seems to also think walks are overrated despite being 5th all-time in walks.

Exaggerate much? And are the Yankees home or away that weekend? Because how bad will AS freak out if his beloved Yankee Stadium is tarnished by this?? They're fucking home. So we can face the Padres of all teams. Impeach Selig. Hey Vito will be at the game!