Tim Hudson continued to roll and show why he was the A's opening day starter, and also why he's the one of the big three A's starters that would be most important to re-sign, leading Oakland to victory over Anaheim with 7 1/3 shutout innings. Hudson gave up six hits, just one for extra bases (a double hit by ex-teammate Jose Guillen), walked none, and got seven strikeouts, before the bullpen came in to preserve the victory.

Bartolo Colon also pitched well for the Angels. He gave up three home runs, but they were all one-run jobs, and those were the only runs he allowed in eight innings. David Eckstein said:

We'll take that outing by Colon every night, because usually, this club is going to come through and get enough offense to overcome that. He pitched a good game. I just wish we could have done something for him.

And he's right. Three runs in eight innings is certainly a quality start, no matter how those three runs came, and the Angels will generally muster enough offense to put a W in the book, but nothing's guaranteed when you're facing Tim Hudson.

The A's kept the heart of Anaheim's order, Vlad Guerrero, Garret Anderson, and Troy Glaus, 0-12 overall with six strikeouts.

Eric Byrnes played left instead of Bobby Kielty, but it payed off again, as Byrnes hit one of the three homers and also popped his second double of the year. Adam Melhuse also homered while giving Damian Miller a rest.

Two negative notes:

• Tim Hudson got seven ground ball outs to eight fly ball outs. That's not a good ration for Hudson. On the other hand, on a night when his stuff was on to get seven strikeouts, maybe it's not such an ominous sign. We'll monitor this closely, though.

• Are Bobby Crosby and Mark Ellis going to wear down? When Mark Ellis went down for the year, he essentially took away their entire middle infield depth. Oakland doesn't really have a backup shortstop, but if Crosby needed a day off, Ellis could have shifted over, allowing Scutaro a day at second base. And of course, when Ellis got a day off, Scutaro would play second then, too. When Frankie Menechino comes back, maybe this won't be a big deal, because maybe Scutaro can play some short, or perhaps the A's could even tolerate Menechino at the six for a day. Miguel Tejada was an iron man, though, and I hope the A's don't forget that not everyone is capable of running out there and manning such an important and difficult defensive position every day.