News out of Oakland...

The M's are back to their losing ways, after having taken three consecutive series. Okay, so that's really not "news" per se. Didn't surprise me. Did it surprise you? Doubt it. I'm pretty sure all of us, whether optimistic or pessimisic (or, like me, realistic) believed that the M's had very little chance of actually leaving Oakland with another series victory in their back pockets.

We can hope that our $9 million pitcher will salvage at least ONE game -- especially since our offense very possibly could get back on track against a pitcher who hasn't fared exactly how saber-dweebs and other GM-wanna-bes thought he would. Sure, I was one of the disappointed that the M's didn't give Loaiza the contract that the A's did. I didn't really care a whole ton about what pitchers the M's brought in as long as a) cRyan Franklin wasn't one of them and b) they went out and plucked two free agent starters off the vine. They got halfway there, and while I would've also liked Weaver a ton, that signing hasn't exactly panned out either.

But, then again, the problem so far has been the bats. Once again, the M's hitters made Joe Blanton look like a Cy Young candidate, and they've managed to score only two runs in the two games.

Here's some good news, though:

• With two hits today, Ichiro is officially still on fire!
• Adrian Beltre had another base hit, extending his streak to 8 games. He's boosted his OPS 15 points in the last week. That's progress!
• Jose Lopez has a 5-game hitting streak of his own. Startin' to heat up again himself.

Sexson's starting to really, really worry me. I came across this old LeoneForThird thread, reminding me of how I was going to sit down and type up why I felt Sexson was a better signing than Delgado. The gist of it was going to discuss their BB-Ref comps, and a little analysis I tried to do that showed how Sexson was the lesser risk of the two (based on those comps). It's interesting to look at Richie's comps from age 30 on, in light of Carlos Delgado's from 33 on. Given a choice of Richie for 4-5 years or Delgado for 4-5 years, I would've probably taken Richie after looking at that info. Hopefully Richie starts proving me correct. Man, it's painful watching him whiff. Almost even worse than watching Cammy do it. At least Cammy was a joy to watch defensively, and seemed to be a bit more fan-friendly.

Let's go M's!