The Battle for Second Place: DAY 2

TEX 2, OAK 7

What a game indeed. Let's start with the pitching, when I watched the game today I had a sense of Deja Vu. Zito had a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Zito has again pitched well and has gone deep into a game. Barry Zito is back, and I mean the Barry Zito who makes the best hitters look foolish with that nasty breaking stuff, not the flat curveball throwing boyfriend of Alyssa Milano. Milano may be hot, but I do believe she's the Yoko Ono of baseball.

Good job, Zito. And it's good to have you back.

Also, tonight could have been called a tale of two Jays. Jay Payton homers in this first AB with the A's and the other Jay, Jay Witasick made things quite interesting in the ninth. Let's hope Witasick's current tenure with the A's will be better than his last, when I was still in high school. Still, making the game interesting while doing mop-up duty is not comforting at all.

Also, Dan Johnson who is a defensive wizard at first base, he took full advantage of the ample foul territory at the Coliseum and made some outs in dramatic fashion. He's too good to be sent back down when Durazo's back from the DL. When Ruby's back the A's will have another logjam.