The A's had a pretty impressive opening series against Baltimore, allowing just five runs over three games against a team that was supposed to have a very strong offense. Oakland was shut out in the first game, which is embarassing for two reasons: who gets shut out on Opening Day?; and who gets shut out by the Orioles?

Some of the play-by-play stats for the series:

MVOP (Most Valuable Offensive Player) of Game 1 (4/4): Marco Scutaro, 0.3103, on the basis of a 1-2 day with a double.'

LVOP of Game 1 (4/4): Mark Ellis, -1.0477, with an 0-3 with 3 men LOB for the day. He was spared further ignominy (or a chance to redeem himself) when Keith Ginter pinch-hit for him in the ninth inning.

MVP (Most Valuable Pitcher) of Game 1 (4/4): Kiko Calero, 1.1772, with a nice one-inning debut with the personal value pumped by having to get an extra out due to Mark Ellis's throwing error.

LVP (Least Valuable Pitcher) of Game 1 (4/4): Barry Zito, -0.7726, with a mediocre start at best, though his last two innings were very nice and turned an awful day into a merely bad one.

MVOP of Game 2 (4/6): Nick Swisher, 2.902, with two bombs.

LVOP of Game 2 (4/6): Erubiel Durazo, -0.6225, despite getting on base twice.

MVP of Game 2 (4/6): Kirk Saarloos, 3.2274, for shutting down the Orioles for six uneventful innings (the best kind a pitcher can hope for).

LVP of Game 2 (4/6): Technically, there were three, as all three relief pitchers (Huston Street, Ricardo Rincon, and Octavio Dotel) pitched innings without giving up any runs, earning 0.5379 ARC for their efforts, but I refuse to award an LVP to a non-negative ARC-earner.

MVOP of Game 3 (4/7): Eric Byrnes, 1.9169, for the big three-run homer.

LVOP of Game 3 (4/7): Bobby Kielty, -1.1103, with an 0-4 with 3 LOB.

MVP of Game 3 (4/7): Dan Haren, 2.2274, with a very solid 6-inning Oakland debut.

LVP of Game 3 (4/7): No negative scores.

The up-to-date totals are here. The team leader thus far is Kirk Saarloos, with the most valuable offensive player being Eric Byrnes.