The Yankees broke loose from their mini hitting woes in Seattle Thursday night beating the Mariners senseless 16-3.

After losing two of three to the A’s last weekend in NY, the Bombers now come to the Bay Area to see if they can hit Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder.

In NY, the first two simply pitched as well as they could shutting the Yankee bats down.

For the A’s to duplicate the series victory this weekend, they will need seven plus innings from the big three, continue to play flawless defense against NY, and hit in the clutch. The Yankees make the A’s hit the ball, no steady stream of free passes for the walk conscious Athletics, so offense is at a premium for the A’s.

Meaning, hitting behind the runner, scratching for runs early in the game, taking an extra base, maybe a hit and run if they have the chance, and using the dreaded sacrifice bunt late in the game.

Sounds like one heckuva weekend. Jeff Weaver and Roger Clemens, two pitchers the A’s seem to find a way to beat against Tim “sinker ball” Hudson and Cy Young winner Barry Zito, open the series on Friday and Saturday.

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One of the most heralded pitching prospects to come along in a while pitches for the Miami Marlins tonight against Colorado in Miami. Dontrelle Willis, 21 year old lefthander obtained from the Chicago Cubs in the Matt Clement deal last year, was the minor league pitcher of the year in 2002. The young man has tremendous stuff, places the ball where he wants, and has his head on straight. The scouts tell me he is the real deal. Not a flame thrower, but a pitcher. The Rockies will wait him out and make him throw strikes no doubt, so we’ll have to see what happens, but I’m interested.

The Giants run into a Braves team coming off a double header sweep of the Rockies yesterday. The Braves can hit big time, have a bull pen, and would like to pass this test against SF. Throwing a rookie Jesse Foppert is nothing but trouble for the Giants. Having three young pitchers in the rotation will start to show as the Giants play meaningful series against the better teams in the NL as the summer grinds on. I think it starts this weeeknd in Atlanta.

One of the best longtime rivalries begins again in Chicago with the Cubs entertaining the Cardinals who just lost three straight to the Reds. Tony La Russa can’t be a happy camper, but the Cards should outhit the Cubs today and prevail with Matt Morris on the hill. After today the advantage goes back to Chicago. Exciting weekend in Wrigley.

Houston is rolling along. Jimy Williams is getting his bullpen down pat, and will need it tonight in Philadelphia since Roy Oswalt has yet to put back to back positive efforts together.

Matt Kinney has thrown extremely well for Milwaukee. He faces Chris Reitsma in the Great America Ball Park in Cincy, so let’s see if he can slow down Aaron Boone and the new homer hitting Reds.

The A’s didn’t need Keith Foulke to throw 29 pitches to close out the White Sox Thursday with NY in town tonight. Jeremy Fikac couldn’t get the job done and forced Ken Macha to go to his closer. Fikac may be AAA bound shortly if he doesn’t pull it together.

If Jim Parque ever has a chance to pitch well it will be tonight against the Tigers who don’t always bring their bats to the park. Adam Bernero hasn’t embarrassed himself on the hill, so maybe a decent game coming up for these two losing teams in Tampa tonight.

Aaron Sele comes back tonight for Anaheim. Kevin Appier pitched OK last night. Now, if the Angels could just get Darin Erstad back, things might look up in Disneyland.

The key in the early season is getting to .500 and staying above the break even as the games roll on. There is so much baseball left, that just hanging around is all you need because all these teams playing .650 ball or more will definitely come back to the pack. You just want to be there when they do.

This is a special weekend in Oakland.

Hardball at its best. Let’s see who blinks first.