Well, Tuesday morning and afternoon, I had to stay off Facebook and Twitter for more than just a few hours. I turned on the game at 7:30 a.m. and it was after 2:00 p.m. when it was finally over.

I was  little spoiled though, despite  having “hide scores” set on my MLB.tv app. The app still told me that the game was “Final/19.” So I knew it was 19 innings. So that means that I wasn’t worried when the Angels were up 7-2 going into the bottom of the 8th. I knew the comeback was coming; I just didn’t know how. I called a couple of grand slams – one by Brandon Moss and one by Josh Donaldson – but that didn’t happen. Instead the A’s chipped away that five-run lead on a Jed Lowrie RBI single, a Donaldson 2-RBI single, and a Chris Young pinch hit RBI single.

And then it was Yoenis Cespedes – the man the A’s missed so badly for the two weeks he was on the disabled list – who came up with the game tying RBI in the bottom of the 9th to send this game into the history-making marathon that nobody in O.co knew they were getting into.

Now one thing I wondered when I saw that it was such a long game was, who the heck was going to pitch all those innings? The game was started by Dan Straily, who had been called up from Sacramento to make a spot start for Brett Anderson, who was nursing an ankle injury. Anderson wasn’t on the D.L. though, and the A’s were going with a six-man bullpen instead of seven. I fully expected a position player to come in and pitch at some point.

But then Anderson himself came into the game in the 13th inning. Well, he was on normal rest and the ankle injury wasn’t enough to D.L. him, so I guess why not? He went 5 1/3 innings and ended up leaving the game after aggravating his injury, so it’s hard to say it was a great idea to put him in there, but it was kind of a great idea to put him in there. Hindsight and all, I know, but the A’s don’t win the game without him. And he might’ve ended up on the D.L. anyway.

He did give up a run on a questionable bases loaded walk in the 15th inning, but the A’s tied it up again in the bottom of the 15ht, an an Adam Rosales RBI single. Then, the game dragged to the 19th inning, Jerry Blevins pitched an inning and 2/3 of scoreless ball, and Brandon Moss mercifully ended the late night contest on a two-run homer to right field. I was most excited though when the A’s got the final out in the top of the 19th though, because that’s when I knew it’d go down as a win for the green and gold.

What a game – the longest in Oakland A’s history. And it’s not one I’ll soon forget. Go A’s!!

The A’s just finished their second sweep of the season against the Houston Astros on Wednesday to put their record at 6-0 against their new division mates. Unfortunately we won’t see these guys again until May 24, but fortunately, we still have 13 more games against them.

It’s not like the Astros are solely responsible for the A’s flashy record, as the A’s are 6-4 against teams that are not the Astros. They have split a four-game series against the Mariners, swept the Angels in three games, and dropped two out of three to the Tigers.

Break it down even more and you see that the A’s are 1-2 against over .500 teams (Detroit) and 11-2 against under .500 teams. All those under .500 teams are also in their division. Hey, you’ve got to beat the teams you’re supposed to beat, so I don’t see much wrong with that statistic. Also, those two losses against Detroit included pitching performances from two guys (Brett Anderson and Jarrod Parker) who won’t pitch that poorly very often. I think you can expect them to improve on .333 against over .500 teams. But they’ll also likely regress from .846 against under .500 teams.

Conclusion? It’s early. Really early.

The A’s get another struggling team this weekend in Tampa Bay. Let’s hope they keep it going. Not only are they 11-2 against under. 500 teams, but they are 6-0 on the road. Go A’s!

It was really nice to get a weekend sweep, but just how bad is Houston? They are 1-6 on the season, are hitting an A.L.-worst .201 as a team, and are tied for the most in runs allowed in the A.L. That won’t result in winning many games, and the A’s took advantage.

So far the new guys for the A’s have been a revelation, most notably Jed Lowrie. The guy who got reactions of “why?” when he was acquired is showing us why as the team’s everyday shortstop and leading the team in average, OPS, and RBI. I think Hiroyuki Nakajima is going to have a hard time getting his job back, and his rehab stint will turn into a more permanent job as the Rivercats’ shortstop – at least until Lowrie – who hasn’t played 100 games in a big-league season ever – gets injured.

Speaking of injuries, Josh Reddick’s slide into the wall in Sunday’s game looked bad when he came up holding his wrist, but it’s apparently just sprained. I’m sure he’ll miss at least a game or two in L.A. though, which should give an opportunity to another hot new guy, Chris Young, who is second in the team in OPS behind Lowrie. Yes, depth is very good.

After that Houston distraction, it’s back to playing against real teams as the A’s start a three-game series with the Angels tonight. Go A’s!!

It’s been nearly six months since we saw meaningful baseball being played by the green and gold. (I don’t count spring training. It’s not meaningful to me to watch guys like Andy Parrino and Brian Gordon in games where the outcome doesn’t mean a thing.) That was a quite an emotional roller coaster the last time we saw them. It’ll be good to recapture at least a little bit of that emotion again in tonight’s game.

There wasn’t a ton of stuff going on for the A’s during spring training, though the most surprising roster moves as they cut the roster down to 25 for the regular season was the inclusion of Nate Freiman. Of course, Adam Rosales and Hiro Nakajima opening the season on the DL helped make this happen, but it’s still a surprise to see a guy who hasn’t played above Double-A make the team. He was a Rule 5 pick of the Astros and then the A’s claimed him off waivers a week ago (you can waive Rule 5 guys?) so they’d have to keep him on the big league roster all season to hang onto him. It sounds like he’ll get a little time against lefty pitchers until the inevitable roster crunch provides problematic for his roster spot.

The other interesting thing in recent days are the guys who the A’s cut ties with. Both Daric Barton and Travis Blackley were designated for assignment, so they’ll both either be traded or waived, and I doubt either one of them clears waivers. Barton’s 2010 seems like so long ago, but it’s time to move on. And I’ll always remember Blackley for his tough as nails performance in the final Texas series last October, and of course for his Twitter hashtags (my favorite is #ourbad).

Well tonight we get back to it! It’s the Mariners (again?) and King Felix (again?), and the A’s are 0-8 in their last eight Opening Days. For the first time this season, Go A’s!

It’s not that I haven’t been paying attention to the moves that have been made, but… I just don’t know what to make of them. The A’s have made a few intersting trades this offseason, the most recent of which was yesterday, when they picked up Jed Lowrie and a reliever from the Astros, and sent Chris Carter, Brad Peacock, and Max Stassi to Houston.

Chris Carter? Chris Carter. I thought he really came into his own last season and, for the first time, really looked like a major leaguer. His at-bats were patient, he was swinging at the right pitches and hitting homers and doubles. But, that was until he got benched for pretty much the last month of the season and the playoffs. So maybe there’s more to it we know. But can you just imagine him launching bombs into the left field bleachers in that bandbox in Houston? He’s going to – a lot.

And then there’s Peacock – still a guy with potential #3 starter upside, despite a poor showing in AAA last season. Stassi was a highly-touted prospect out of the draft.

A’s fans have learned over the years to trust Billy Beane for the most part. Sure, he has his clunkers (Matt Holiday, Tim Hudson), but for the most part, his moves work out. And the ones that don’t are usually not moves that come back to bite the A’s.

So which one will the Lowrie trade be? Well it’ll depend on a number of things, one of which is if the oft-injured Lowrie can stay on the field for a full season. He does have some pop in his bat (though not as much as Carter), and he also brings some versatility in that he can play all over the infield. That may actually may be the reason the A’s made a trade like this, as Jeff Sullivan from Fangraphs suggests.

If you look at the 2013 infield, nothing is a sure thing. At first base you have Brandon Moss, journeyman turned slugger. What if he reverts back to journeyman again? At second base, you have Jemile Weeks and Scott Sizemore. What if Jemile still can’t hit his way out of a paper bag, and Sizemore shows rust from not having played in a big league game since the fall of 2011? At shortstop, you have Japanese free agent Hiroyuki Nakajima. What if he has a hard time adjusting? And then at third, there’s Josh Donaldson, converted catcher. What if he has a sophomore slump?

Now if all these ifs end up affecting the A’s in 2013, they don’t have four Jed Lowries. But the one they have can be used to plug any one of these holes if needed. As much as I love Chris Carter’s bat, he wasn’t going to provide insurance at shorstop, that’s for sure.

The A’s have addressed depth in the outfield and at catcher this offseason as well. Chris Young replaces Jonny Gomes, and as much as Gomes was a fan favorite, he wasn’t ever going to be spelling Coco Crisp in center field, whereas Young can. And the A’s picked up more of an everyday catcher in John Jaso, replacing George Kottaras and relegating Derek Norris to work against lefty pitchers only. Considering Jaso has a career .789 OPS against righty pitching in his career, he and Norris as a platoon should be able to give the A’s more offense at catcher than they’ve had in quite some time.

So I think depth looks good on paper, but what will really become of it once they start the 162-game grind? We shall wait and see, and hopefully not notice too much going on from a former Oakland A down in Houston.