You can be nothing but extremely pleased with the Oakland pitching in yesterday's win over the Mariners. It doesn't matter who you're playing, it doesn't matter how early in the season, it doesn't matter whether it was more luck or skill, a one-hitter is a glorious thing. The Mariners only put four baserunners on overall, and two of those came on hit batsmen by Barry Zito. Richie Sexson knocked the only hit, a double that Mark Kotsay apparently almost ran down, and Willie Bloomquist worked the only walk, taking first against Kiko Calero.

Jamie Moyer didn't pitch as well as I thought he would, giving up three runs in 5 2/3 innings, but the Seattle bullpen threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings to ensure that the A's didn't run away with anything. Mark Kotsay hit his first homer and first triple of the year and Marco Scutaro, after knocking two triples in earlier games, hit his first double.

Bobby Crosby came back and went 1-4 in the three hole. It almost didn't matter, in my mind, how he hit yesterday, so long as he started and finished the game, both of which he did.

In other lineup matters, I was surprised to see Dan Johnson, who's still hitless for the year, getting the start. Macha sensibly batted him ninth, but with a lefty on the hill, why not put Swisher at first, as he did against Randy Johnson?

Finally, in what might be the oddest bit of information in the box score, the A's actually attempted two steals: Jason Kendall was successful, while Milton Bradley got caught. Bradley also attempted (successfully) a steal yesterday, so I wonder if Kenji Johjima, the M's rookie (in MLB, at least) catcher, comes with a poor throwing reputation.

As I write this, the A's are playing the series finale in Seattle. The pitching matchup is Rich Harden v. Joel Pineiro. Given the way the A's have treated the Mariner offense the last two nights, I like the A's for this one, even if Pineiro can pitch a good game and only give up 2-3 runs, as Moyer did last night. (Note: I'm intentionally keeping myself from knowing the score until the end of the game.)