Miguel Tejada should remain with the Oakland A’s when his contract expires after next season.

Oh, I know everyone says the team needs him, but in reality he needs the team.

Miguel has grown up with his coaches (Washington, Quade, and Macha), his manager, and his teammates. They have been his support group. Miguel is still maturing as a person. He is very emotional as a player. The A’s understand him and his needs.

Tejada needs a comfort level to be successful, he has it in Oakland. Miguel is not Jason Giambi. He is a much more needy, complicated young man. He didn’t grow up in Southern California, he doesn’t have the immediate family behind him as Jason did when he made the jump to NY. He doesn’t have the self discipline that Jason has.

The A’s know this very well and have worked with Miguel on many of his issues, that is why he is successful today.

Miguel has a chance to be one of the best shortstops of all time. It will happen if he stays with the friends and family he knows in the A’s organization.

Money should not be the issue for Miguel. If the A’s offer two million less than the Cubs, Dodgers, or Mets, this kid should stay home.

Looking at this from the best interest of Miguel Tejada, he should remain an Oakland Athletic for the next ten years, without a doubt.

I hope someone makes this clear to him and his agent and soon because he is going to be an MVP this year.

Click below and let’s talk about tonight.

[Read more →]

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in

San Francisco for a four game set

against the Giants.

A very important homestand for

the Giants continue,after splitting

series of two with Colorado. They

get Bill Mueller back in a deal with

the Cubs

By Amaury Pi-González. [Read more →]

In Las Vegas, you receive odds when trying to roll 10 the hard way at the dice table. The A’s rolled twenty the hard way on Wednesday night, barely beating the odds after surrendering an 11-0 lead, finally winning 12-11 over KC in the bottom of the ninth.

The winning streak has a life of its own, it will not die.

The A’s lead the Mariners by seven and the Red Sox by 10 with 23 left to play. The playoffs are a done deal as far as I am concerned, the division isn’t too far away either, but the streak needs to go because it is making the team press and wearing them out.

Last night’s game saw the A’s play their sloppiest game in weeks, one that exposed some weaknesses which may hurt them come October.

Here’s what I mean. [Read more →]

Baseball statisticians love round numbers. Tonight in Oakland, the A’s go for their 20th win in a row against Paul Byrd and the Kansas City Royals.

20 is one of those lovely round baseball numbers.

As fate would have it, Tim Hudson goes to the hill for Oakland. There is no one who better epitomizes the grit of this team than the slender righty.

Not possessed of the smoothness on the mound of Mulder orZito, or the compact delivery of Cory Lidle, the high energy, full throttle every pitch Hudson gets the most out of his ability and is the spiritual and vocal leader of this team.

After the A’s won Sunday, the home plate umpire Steve Ripley had words with Hudson during the celebration. Hudson, who had been vehemently objecting to the missed calls by the veteran umpire in the ninth inning didn’t back down, but it should be interesting to see what kind of strike zone he gets tonight from the umpire.

What about the rest of the West? Click below. [Read more →]

A winning streak for the ages, but

where are the Oakland A’S fans?

On Labor Day, an inter-league

game between the Astros and Rangers

had 24,408 paid attendance, on that

same day, the hottest team on the planet

had 26,325 (and that was with

close to 10,000 tickets being sold

just prior to the game). [Read more →]

I’ve seen some amazing baseball moments watching baseball for almost 50 years, but this winning streak by the A’s, now 19 games, has really opened my eyes as to how difficult it is to win a baseball game.

Everything has to go right. The game changes every day, controlled by that day’s starting pitcher, one bad inning can ruin the game, one mistimed fielding mistake or base running blunder can sink the team that game. Clutch hits are needed routinely, the bull pen, especially the closer, must come through time and again.

And to do it over the course of 19 straight games is simply unbelievable. I don’t care who you beat, this is the major leagues. It is not easy, in fact a streak like this happens once every fifty years or so.

They will nail number 20 Wednesday night behind Tim Hudson.

Now the reality check. The A’s are up by four games on Anaheim and six on Seattle with 24 left to play, with twenty of those games in the West, where the A’s are a pedestrian 19-19.

They ain’t won nothin’ yet. Now the race is on, every game counts. The pressure is on. The streak is secondary to the job at hand.

Here’s what I think. [Read more →]

The Athletics won their seventeenth in a row Saturday night, beating the stubborn Minnesota Twins 6-3.

The A’s can break the franchise record which has stood since 1931 if Mark Mulder can beat Joe Mays on Sunday.

Can 20 in a row be far off? After Mulder on Sunday, comes Zito on Monday against Runelvys Hernandez and KC, then Tim Hudson on Wednesday against Paul Byrd.

The Cards win a big twin bill, the slide continues for Seattle and Anaheim keeps pace with the A’s.

Boston’s bull pen coughed up another game and the Dodgers, behind lifesaver Omar Daal beat Houston.

Here’s more. [Read more →]

An amazing baseball story is taking place in Oakland, the A’s have won sixteen games in a row, one off the all time franchise record of seventeen, set by the ’31 Athletics.

The A’s and Twins played like it was the playoffs Friday night.

Art Howe, the master chef, of the A’s magnificent baseball season, pulled Tim Hudson at just the right moment, and brought in lefthanded specialist Ricardo Rincon, who induced pinch hitter Matt LeCroy to hit into an inning ending double play.

Ron Gardenhire pinch hit for Jacques Jones in that critical seventh inning rally with LeCroy, causing a lot of baseball strategists to shake their heads in disbelief.

Why take Jones out? Even as a lefthanded hitter, Jones has a chance to hurt Rincon, plus it was only the seventh inning.

These two teams may meet in the first round of the AL playoffs, if so, it will be quite a competitive series with the A’s holding a huge edge in experience.

It showed last night.

The Giants beat Arizona, more on that below.

[Read more →]

With the races heating up in the NL West and AL West Shooty Babitt, the major league scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks, joins me on Right Off The Bat Saturday evening at 4:50 PM Pacific right here on loveofthegameproductions.com, the As’ web site, and 610 AM KFRC in Northern California. [Read more →]

It was the night before the strike, pain through the night.

Not a newsflash was breaking, what a dreaded sight!

Trying to sleep, I imagined the best, but with still no word, I prayed for the best.

Awaiting for news from Donald of Bud, the issues like Luxury Tax will rise like a flood.

Steroids…! Competitive balance….! Let’s deal with this crap…It’s time to see the Royals back on the map.

The owners and players, both do I blame. Will you take away the joy, I get from this game?

It’s 4:00 AM and I’m still wide awake, I ponder and hope the our hearts will not break.

I think about the Twins and the fate of their fans, will contraction be a part of Commissioner Bud’s plans?

What a damn waste a strike would cause! Oakland’s 15-game winning streak, would come to a pause.

To think of the pennant races that may never be won, No MVP? This list would go on..

What great stories the season has brought! The Angels and the Twins may land a playoff spot.

So, Donald and Bud, you both need to learn, with a strike right now, we won’t return.

After sleeping two hours, I wake up in joy, a deal has been reached, it’s better than a Christmas toy.

Finally, some closure, and the games will be played, St. Louis at Wrigley, and my painful memories will fade.

Now, I can finally get some damn sleep.

The Fan [Read more →]