FanNation

After finishing a surprising 17-11 in April, and sitting one game back of the Angels, it appeared the A's early season magic was over. The Angels dropped the first game of their four game homestand to the A's, but then had come back to assert their AL West dominance, with wins of 2-0 and 6-1. As May began, it seemed the Angels were ready to take the assumed spot on top the division. The A's however, had different ideas.

Unfortunately for the Angels, A's management decided to run a promotion for this game. For every hit the A's got, $1 would come off the price of a Plaza level seat for Sunday's home game with the Rangers. The A's hitters responded by pounding out their most hits in any game since 2005, hammering the Angels for 20 hits en route to a 15-8 shellacking of the LAA of A. In doing so, they have exposed a great weakness in the Angels, a weak link in their chain - the Angels bullpen, particularly the middle relievers. Also in doing so, the knocked the price down to $4 for a ticket Sunday. See the A's website to get in. Through the first 4 innings it appeared the A's would need to keep hitting that much just to stay pace with the Angels. But while the Angels middle relief struggled against the A's, Andrew Brown and Santiago Casilla were able to set the Halos down and lead the A's to victory.

So after the first 4 of their 19 meetings this season, the  scrappy A's ended up fighting the Angels to a draw. Both teams entered the series tied for first, and both teams leave still tied for first. Anything accomplished? One clear message sent to the Angels - This Division is NOT yours for the taking. It may only be May 1, but these A's are going to fight you through the summer heat and into September. Better be bringing your best game to the park Angels, because you are going to need every W you can get this year to stay ahead of the Amazin' A's. The A's outscored the Angels 30-18 in this series, and proved they can win on the road against the best in the division.

Although he did not overwhelm, Justin Duscherer was back on the mound for the A's in the final game of the series. He got the win, but it looks like it will take him some time to regain form, as he gave up 6 runs in 5 innings of work. Every man in the starting lineup got at least one hit Thursday night. Emil Brown went 4 for 6 and Jack Cust was 4 for 4  with a HR and two walks.  An impressive offensive effort to say the least. Emil has raised his average to .292 for the season, and has 3 HR's and an amazing 26 RBI's already. Frank Thomas appears to be getting into a groove as well, going 2 for 4 last night and hitting a 2-run single in the A's big 5^th inning. Don't forget the Big Hurt started out slow in 2006 with A's, hitting .190 for the month of April, before coming on strong later in the year.

Is this a team that is going to contend? The experts say no, they are too young, too green. One thing was clear from last night's game though, the Green & Gold ARE playing like contenders so far, and now into May, they cannot be written off yet. Stay tuned, this week we have a homestand versus the Rangers and the Orioles. The Orioles stand just one game back themselves in the competitive (surprise!) AL East. The Angels have the O's first and then go on to play KC. Check in next week and see who's still in first place in the West.

So now for some Group news. I've just taken over the Oakland Athletics Fan Group here at FN. At the point I took over, there were 35 members, including myself and the Fannation Administrator. From the age of the Locker Talk and taking a look at the roster of members, I'm guessing out of the other 33 members, there may be only 1 or 2 users who are still active. So this is going out to any A's fans or potential A's fans. If you're looking for an active group, and lots of A's talk, I want to make this the place. I have an open call for anyone with knowledge of the Athletics and wants to share, let me know and we'll get you blogging here. I have been posting these A's blogs for awhile, over at the Baseball Fan Club Group, but since I was the only one blogging there, it sorta of became the Oakland A's Fan Club Group, so I think its more appropriate to post the blogs here. If the tone of these blogs offends anyone, non-A's fans, Good! I blame DC Sportsnut and his Nasty Nats blogs. Its time for A's fans to get interested in this great young team we have here. Looking for other A's Fans! Come jump on the bandwagon.