Predictably, Dice-K is struggling in the first.
Playing in front of the home crowd, Matzusaka's nerves seem to be getting the best of him.
After inducing Travis Buck to a groundout on the first pitch of the game, Mark Ellis takes Matzusaka out of the park with a HR to make it 1-0.
This is particularly painful. Not because I have Dice-K on my AL-only team, but because I begged my co-owner to draft him several times, only to let him slip through our fingers. OK, I didn't exactly beg, but I definitely wanted Ellis. What's not to like?
Ellis belted 19 HR in his first season with 150 at-bats and added 9 steals. Nineteen HR from a guy who's drafted on average as the 21st second baseman out there is hard to believe. Guess most folks think it was a fluke but I think you can pencil in another 20 HR, 10 bags and you just might get a .285 average.
Back to the game, where Dice-K is painfully losing control. A walk to hyped rookie Daric Barton (we'll talk more about him later), a Jack Cust hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch and the A's are in business.
But Bobby Crosby, who I think we can finally cross off our sleeper list - the guy just can't stay healthy and sports a nifty .240 career batting average - grounds out to Dice-K, who makes a Maddux-like play to first. Jack Hannahan strikes out swinging to snuff the rally.
Jack Hannahan? Isn't that the animal guy that's always on Letterman?
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