The A's limp into Seattle with a ridiculous number of injured players, including two more starting pitchers in Sean Gallagher and Justin Duchscherer. 

Yes, I'm still watching these games despite how painful it is to hope and see something special from players like Carlos Gonzalez and Kurt Suzuki.  And even hoping that someone named Daric Barton wakes up and becomes all he can be.  At the same time, this is the issue when rebuilding.  Like a manic depressive, the highs can be incredibly high with the youth the A's have, but the lows can feel like an inescapable morass that threatens to suck all the fandom right out of you.

The A's send Greg "Nibbles" Smith to the mound tonight.  I hate to call him that, but he has definitely earned it with his seeming inability to throw strikes consistently and how unwilling he also appears to pitch inside.  I do think Smith is a quality pitcher and will be a great fourth or fifth guy in a solid rotation, but he needs to get over that and go after hitters more.

Here is his stat line:

The Mariners put out Ryan Rowland-Smith tonight.  It'll be the battle of the Smiths.  I wonder if Morrissey will be contributing.  Here are Rowland-Smith's stats:

The Australian is actually pitching better against right-handed batters than lefties despite the fact that he's a lefty.  

So then the lineups are as follows:

LET'S GO A'S!!!!!!!!

Yes, folks, I sat down for a two-hour or so interview with A's owner Lewis Wolff today at his Los Angeles office and he confirmed to me that he's in negotiations to bring Rickey Henderson back to the Oakland Athletics, where the greatest player in Oakland history will be when he is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009.

Lew wasn't specific with the capacity in which Henderson will be with the organization, but it won't be as a player.  He hinted at a goodwill community ambassador-type of position but that they may also use him to tutor the young A's.  I think they're still developing what exactly that role will be.

It's been far too long that Rickey has been away from Oakland and I'm happy to report that, as long as things go well between Wolff and Henderson in negotiations, that will not last much longer.  It's only fitting that Rickey will be Rickey once again with the green and gold in the year that he'll wind up being enshrined at Cooperstown.  Even if it isn't as a player.

As for the rest of my lengthy Wolff interview which covered everything from his frustrations around the plodding movement of Cisco Field's future to the rebuilding of our beloved franchise to the recurring injury problems with A's players, I'll be transcribing and hopefully running it in several parts early next week.

Many of you have been to a soccer match in person.  Last Thursday, I popped my live soccer match cherry when I attended a match at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.  The match was two struggling teams banging heads in the LA Galaxy and Chivas USA.  Galaxy hadn't won a match in about two months and Chivas had lost I think something like their last four matches.  Since the two teams share the same "home" field, Chivas was the designated home team that night.  And rightfully so, the Chivas fans are awesome and incredibly dedicated.  But I'll get to that in a moment.

First, I want some commentary on the Home Depot Center in general.  It's a very, very nice facility.  But there are several issues that bothered me right off the bat.  My seats were outstanding.  I was seated in section 112, which as you can see below, they're pretty damn nice seats.  We were in Row J.

via www.aegtickets.com

We arrived pretty early as I wanted to take pictures of the warm ups.  Well, apparently regular people aren't allowed to bring in a camera with a large lens.  I had my wife's pretty big lens so they turned me away at the ticket gate.  I had to walk all the way back to my car and leave our $1,000 plus camera in the back seat of my car.  I was quite irate.  When I inquired why they forced me to do so, the security guard basically said that only media was allowed to bring in larger lens.  Then shortly thereafter I saw people around me with large lenses taking photos.  They probably weren't as big as my wife's lens, but still, where do they draw the line?  It made me pretty angry to start out the evening.  So if this post is a lot less photogenic than you would've suspected, well, at least you know why.

The other thing is that my nephew wanted a pizza and the pizza oven was broken.  Then I waited in line for about 20 minutes to get Camacho's Nachos which are the best thing they offer to eat at HDC.  I get up to the front of the line and they didn't have bowls to put the nachos in anymore.  I was beginning to think this just wasn't going to be my night in general.

But onto the game.  It was freaking awesome.  The LA Galaxy had experienced quite the disruption over the past week.  Everyone knows about Gullit and Lalas.  The upheaval I think served the team well because they came out blazing in a way that I hadn't seen in months.  If you'd watched any Galaxy games, it would seem like the team would sleepwalk through the first 15-30 minutes routinely.  But there was fire and plenty of movement with the team.  They didn't just sit back and wait for things to come to them.  That led to Landon Donovan giving the Galaxy a 1-0 lead on a beautiful run.  Donovan didn't have a great game, but his highlight was the first Galaxy goal.  The crowd was definitely very tilted in Chivas' favor, but the Galaxy contingent also made their way out and the roar was loud when the Galaxy took the 1-0 lead.

It stood that way until half time.  We decided to take a long walk around the stadium at that point and I was able to finally get my Camacho's Nachos at that point.  Course it meant missing Chivas USA tying up the game because the lines were so ridiculously long.  Since I'm a Galaxy fan, not a big deal any way.

Chivas took the lead shortly thereafter on a very nice shot as the Galaxy had a mental lapse for about 15 minutes.  Other than that, I felt they played very, very well and Alex Gordon scored on a "climb the ladder" header in extra time to give the Galaxy a 2-2 tie in a game they probably should've won.

It was also a nice rivalry game where there was a lot of anger between the sides.  There were elbows flying and someone from Chivas even took a late and very intentional run at Beckham's knees.  Then after the game, the Galaxy taunted the Chivas fans at the endlines with the SuperClasico trophy after Beckham got into a bit of a dust up with Chivas USA coach Preki.

What was amazing to me was to see the length of the pitch and how players worked it and made timed runs and moves.  The things you just can't pick up on television.  The atmosphere was fantastic as well, but it did have me wondering how incredible it would be to see a Premier League match live.  The European fans just seem incredibly energetic and just plain fun.

Interestingly, the biggest news from the evening wasn't Cobi Jones first (and ultimately last) game as head coach.  It was the ominous presence of Bruce Arena that would up overshadowing any result on the field.  But I'll get into that in a post soon enough.

I'll just close this out by saying that I wound up buying tickets to another game later this year.  And this time, I'll bring a smaller lens.  I'd like to actually have some memories besides the ones in my head.

The All-Star Break could have been seen as the turning point for these A's. Going into the break, there was hope, albeit slim, that the A's were better than anticipated, and could challenge for the playoffs, despite trailing the Angels. Also, going into the All-Star Break, Justin Duchscherer was among the very best pitchers in all of baseball, representing Oakland at Yankee Stadium for the American League.

Just over a month later, five wins and twenty-three losses later, the story is much different. The A's personnel has changed a bit, Duchscherer seems to have lost his magic touch, and the A's are falling like a rock in the standings. Not falling? The Minnesota Twins, who in the Central Divison, are tied for first with the ChiSox, with a record of 70-53.

Looking to stop both trends tonight is the aforementioned Duchscherer, who comes into the game with a 10-8 record and 2.59 ERA, opposing Nick Blackburn, who sports a 9-6 record and 3.73 ERA. In off the field news, the A's have called up Kirk Saarloos to augment the bullpen, and have designated Wes Bankston for assignment.

Roma has finally closed the deal on Real Madrid's Julio Baptista.  I'm pretty pumped up because I love Roma.  It's unfortunate that the team had to break their salary cap of 2.5 M Euros and spend 4.5 per season for him, but I think this helps make Roma a much, much better team. 

I mean Roma's front will feature Francesco Totti , Vucinic and Baptista, that is a pretty formidable attack.  I'm biased because Roma is my team in Serie A, but what do you guys think?  Does this make Roma the team to beat?  They're also pursuing Suazo from Inter Milan as a backup option where they were really thin last season.

It's a beautiful day to be a fan of the beautiful team known as the Giallorossi.  Now if only the Galaxy can win tonight.

Just for argument's sake, let's say that this list of free agents for the upcoming offseason is presented to you as a general manager of the Oakland Athletics.  If you scan down the list, what looks appealing AND affordable? Remember, we're talking the A's here and I don't think this team is looking to necessarily break the bank...yet.  If the A's are going to sign someone longer-term, it likely isn't going to be this upcoming offseason.  Not unless the A's believe that their young pitchers like Cahill, Anderson, Simmons and Mazzaro are ready to contribute a LOT in 2009, which they very well could be.  It's just not something to bank on yet.

This organization is looking like it's built for 2010 and beyond.  And the good news is that once this team gets good, it's going to be in for a long period of being a great team, not just a good one.  That being said, the A's front office has to realize that this team needs some offense.  I mean, pretty much every pitcher in baseball knows that the A's offense is a cakewalk right now, including the A's own pitchers who seem to be suffering a bit from "If I let up one run, I'm screwed disease."

So with players like Carter and Cardenas a ways away, I think you're going to see the A's try and plug a couple of holes in the offense by opening up the wallet.  Not enough to make anyone incredibly excited, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the A's sign a couple of players off the aforementioned list.

Names that would fit?  Well, someone like Rafael Furcal would seem to be ideal.  He's injured and he might come cheap because of that injury.  Look at what the A's have done in signing free agents.  It's buying folks who come in the bargain bin but have great upside potential.  Sometimes it has worked well, as in Frank Thomas 2006, sometimes not so well as in Mike Piazza.  Furcal might be willing to come to Oakland, prove his worth again and that he's fine after his surgery and then sign for a relatively large contract elsewhere.

A few others that have been mentioned ad nauseum on AN include Jason Giambi, Hank Blalock and the recently traded Adam Dunn.  I might actually cheer for Jason Giambi if he was to return, time might have healed this wound surprisingly enough.  I don't actually feel like throwing something at my TV when I see him.  Maybe I'm just losing intensity in my older age.  Speaking of older age, perhaps the A's would consider Bonds again this offseason.  You have to think that guy can still hit despite everything.  I'm not advocating for it, mind you, but the improvement in this dreadful lineup could be immense. 

All of those options are left-handed and we know how Beane has craved a right-handed bat for a while now.  There really isn't much out there in terms of a big right-handed bat that doesn't sound like Lanny Con-Beerez.  And we just know that isn't happening.  At the same time, Jay Payton and Milton Bradley are available.  Oh wait.  Seriously though, Pat Burrell is probably the only realistic option and while he would be appealing, I think he'll be looking for more than the A's will be willing to offer.

The only other two options I could see are also left-handed.  Dallas McPherson has also been mentioned a bunch around these parts and he has mashed up on Triple-A pitching this year.  And Billy Beane has always coveted Brian Giles.  Beane does often finally get whatever he covets.  So Giles wouldn't surprise me at all and Giles is a better player than people think, especially having played in Petco for too long.

I know it's early to start talking about our 09 shopping list, but we don't have much else going on these days other than the upcoming September call-ups and seeing how Gio Gonzalez is going to do his next time on the hill.

Is there anyone on that list you find appealing?  Juan Rivera?  Would you bring Frank Thomas back?  Discuss.

I'm sure you've probably seen it by now, but the LA Galaxy has disposed of GM Alexi Lalas and, more surprisingly, coach Ruud Gullit.  Although Gullit supposedly walked away of his own accord. 

Something really had to be done about the lack of quality players on the back end and Lalas was clearly to blame for this.  Gullit never appeared to be all that interested in what he was doing as an MLS coach.  The Galaxy just seems like it's a mess right now.  Watching the team's backline is like watching the Keystone Cops trying to defend the backline.  It's just a joke. 

I'm wondering how much a coach can actually improve the situation on the field or are the players in back inept enough to make it a lost season.  I'm guessing that not much.  But maybe the offense can outscore opponents enough to at least make it into the playoffs.

Should be an interesting first game with Cobi Jones behind the bench.  Glad I have tickets for Thursday night's game.

Here is an excellent column on goal.com about whether or not Major League Soccer is actually progressing in popularity here in the United States, the only country in the world that seems to have resisted accepting soccer in any way, shape or form.

I wanted to open this up for discussion here.  I know for a fact that I'm one of the rare American fans who was drawn in recently to MLS.  I've always watched soccer for a long time, but usually only when the World Cup would come around.  The UEFA Cup really drew me in in a way that I never expected.  From there I've started watching a crapload of soccer and saw a lot of old England games on Fox Soccer Channel.  I loved watching Becks and the magic he works with the free kicks, corners and crosses.  I realized what a remarkable talent he was and he was playing here in my backyard, so I began watching Galaxy games regularly.  The quality of soccer isn't particularly great, especially if you compare it to Premier League or Serie A games. 

But it's done enough that it has encouraged me to attend my first live soccer match ever (outside of the ones I played in as a kid).  I'm extremely excited for it because I'm pretty sure it will be a great sporting experience to see the skill on display close up.  I can tell you from this American fan of someone who hasn't followed soccer on a professional league level that I've been sucked in.  It's pretty funny that at goal.com, a soccer-focused Web site, that a bunch of American folks slam the sport.  My question is, what the hell are you doing there?

What do you guys think of MLS and it's future?  Do you regularly go to games?  Who is your favorite team?  Do you think that the league will attract bigger stars?

I'm not the biggest Olympic fan in the world.  I really only like watching certain team sports like soccer and during the Winter Olympics, hockey.  I'm not really one to get into the badminton, swimming and all the other random sports that the Summer Olympics bring.  But for obvious reasons, I would love to watch U.S. Olympic baseball since two of the A's most prized possesions will be on that stage.  Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill are both participating.

Any way, if you want to keep up with the USA baseball ventures in the Olympics, you can do so here.  Course I'm not really sure how NBC is going to show the games.  They have like 18 networks showing games, so it's going to be up to us to figure out where to see the games.  So while the summer olympics usually bore me to death as I'm not really a basketball fan and most of the best soccer players in the world don't participate as it coincides with the professional leagues' seasons, we're actually going to have something to pay attention to during this deluge of sports.  And quite frankly, Cuba versus the U.S.A. in baseball is about as close as we're going to get to U.S.A. against the Soviet hockey team from 1980.

Maybe I'll get into the Olympics as it goes on, but I doubt it right now.  How excited are you about the Olympics?  I've attached the obligatory poll.