Oakland scoring sixteen runs is good and all, but it always gives me a little worry in the pit of my stomach because it makes me get this irrational "They've used up all their offense!" feeling.

Of course, sixteen runs in Texas is like six anywhere else, so it's also not that big a deal. (I guess that's an exaggeration. If that were true, Joe Blanton's three runs allowed would be equivalent to, what, like one?)

Travis Buck, by the way, happens to have the best headshot in the entire league. See it here.

More importantly, he's been a bit underpowered as a minor leaguer, so seeing him get his first major league homer is a nice thing. At this point, he's absolutely ripping the ball: 282/440/564. He's not making great contact (fifteen strikeouts in just 39 at-bats), but he's hitting the ball hard (seven extra-base hits to just four singles) and taking his walks and seeing pitches (10 walks (one intentional, three last night), 4.27 pitches per plate appearance). Twelve games is way too early to make long-term judgments obviously, but he's certainly doing everything the A's could have hoped he'd do.

I'm happy that Milton Bradley finally came back yesterday. He managed to walk four times yesterday to go with his single. In total, the A's walked twelve times yesterday, with just five strikeouts. The ugly? Mike Piazza had three of those strikeouts as he wound up 0-6. Eric Chavez probably would have gone 0-6, too, except that Adam Melhuse spared him a sixth at-bat by pinch-hitting for him in the 8th inning.

The defensive lineup in that last inning was a little odd: Melhuse was at third base (he's played there nine times in his career), Bobby Kielty was in center, and Marco Scutaro was playing short (which he probably plays the worst of his three positions - his range doesn't seem to be that great).