I'm a terrible blogger.

Tonight's A's-Orioles pitching matchup really struck me. Esteban Loaiza brings his 6+ ERA in to face Russ Ortiz's 7+ ERA. That's ugly, especially for two famous guys, particularly since the former is in the first year of a $21M contract. Maybe Billy Beane ought to hire somebody else to deal with the whole free agency thing. Or maybe the owners should pretend they don't have any money.

Oh, wait, they already do.

The A's are down to a half-game lead as the Angels have streaked their way into second place. Just as the A's tossed Jason Windsor into the fire for his first major league start last night, the Angels did the same with Dustin Moseley against the Indians. Moseley (four runs, ten hits, two homers in five innings) came off worse than Windsor (three runs, five hits, three walks in five innings), particularly since two of Windsor's runs were unearned (though on his own error on what was reportedly a really shaky throw to first base). Unfortunately for the A's, the Angels bludgeoned the Cleveland staff for ten runs, so they were able to grant Moseley his first big-league win.

Tonight sees another rookie making his big-league debut for Anaheim. Joe Saunders, who's apparently an actual prospect (as opposed to Moseley, who's apparently more of a fill-in), will throw for the Angels against Cliff Lee.

The A's-Angels tale of the tape looks like this for tonight: Anaheim is throwing the better pitcher, but they're also facing the better pitcher, but (double-but) they also have a better lineup, but (triple-but) they're also facing the better lineup.

In other words, it all comes out in the wash, and anybody could be in first place tomorrow. If you put a gun to my head, I say the A's win 6-4 and the Angels win 8-5.