Dave Borton

A's 3-0 over Astros, bottom of the 1st. Spoiling is nice,

Rosario is one of those ballplayers you love or gasp at. For me, his erratic defensive playing (particularly throwing to wrong base or bypassing/missing the cutoff man) drove me nuts. Base running was always a pleasure from hell as well (winks). He needed a change of scenery and Cleve didn't work. He seems to have settled down in Atlanta.

A's, 4-0, top of 9th over Houston. May to relieve bottom 9th.

A's playing spoiler? Early, 3 complete. A's, 1-0 over the Astros. HR by... Rooker , 442 ft off Valdez.

Arozarena. .208 last 15 games. Will he heat up for the series?

Our threads will get pizzy again <winks>.

Jays, Rays, A's, now there's a difference. Even I can see that one.

Liking the lineup and liking odds of Gray going deep into the game after teammate Lopez did. Gray will want to not be left behind in that comparison; that kind of competitor.

Airmail Eddie is hitting .265 for the year, .801 OPS, and .324 for last 30 days.

Man, I must have been asleep at the switch. I totally missed this, thx.

Vazquez, 84 games C Jeffers, 72 games C

Even from way up in section 319, I could tell how tall Lopez is. Bud remarked how "stork-like" the delivery is with a very deep delivery point. You could tell that from the landing point on the mound. I said, looks like he has ball bearings in his joints. From up top, looked like he was working the upper zone a great deal. Looked just a bit tired in the 8th inn but radar gun said I was wrong. Reported crowd of 22,000. And I am the pope. All the season tix holders were at US Bank. I put the crowd, BISs, at about 13,000. Noisy crowd -- great. Very responsive to Lopez. The standing O at end of 8th (believe he was at 100 pitches) was very spontaneous and he professionally acknowledged the cheers. The whole scoreboard arrangement, the ads, the "visual litter" all over the place makes it hard to focus on pitch count, outs, pitch speed, type of pitch, etc. I just find it visually noisy. The incessant noise is overdone. I admit to being my 8th decade. But when my bud and I can't converse about the game, it is annoying as heck. And don't even get me started on "let's make some noise." The applause and ovation for Lopez were ball fans reacting quite naturally to superb performance. Isn't that sufficient. And the throwing of rubber dice over the balcony for what, a T-shirt. Come on. Professionalize it. Lines were short. The ushers and staff were once again some of the most cordial, inviting, and professional sports venue staff I have experienced. Hats off to the team you have built in customer service.

Az Fall League or is he too high to get sent?

Are stats piling up in the data dept for other clubs and pitches/weak spots ID'd?

I have seen so many nicknames for him, that I have to write out Funderburk to remember it. Two more times, Funderburk, Funderburk.

I am going to take another view, having had the misfortune of managing more than one RIF. Gallo will get $10MM this year. Workers in the trenches where I worked had put their heart and soul into the job, but when business soured and cash drawer was slim, something had to be done. Staff affected didn't get any $10MM. I respect Gallo, but I don't see the business sense or ball sense in having him hang around based on the measure he offers. Gallo gets it.

Suggest that we rely on the Prophet.

Going to see Lopez tomorrow, up in 320.

I like 320/321 w/Vets tickets.

Tongue in cheek w/self-references.

Frank Howard and Marvelous Marv. No clue. Didn't follow Twins till we moved here in 2010.

Home garden tomato sauce w/country ribs in chili. Cornbread with pickled hot peppers from the garden. 5pm.

Castro, $1.8MM Solano, $2.0MM Money well spent.