Oakland Athletics

Don't ever let anyone tell you that the Baseball Gods lack a sense of humor; it's simply not true. The collective funny bone is intact—the problem is that comedy doesn't tickle it.

Instead, it's cruelty that gives the diamond deities a case of the giggles.

Over the course of any team's 162-game season, a fan will see ample proof of this perversity. At the moment, aficionados of the Oakland Athletics are getting their eyeful.

Coming into Friday night's games, it appears that the Oakland A's may have come out of the starting gate with a small, although not decisive, lead in the division race.

That's in spite of the fact that the four teams of the American League West have very similar records. And the first month of the season is just closing.

There are two considerations that put Oakland a little ahead. One is how well they've done in the division itself. The other is how many tough games outside the division they've played.

If you were to ask me in mid-March who I thought would be the A's leader in RBIs through the first month of the season, I probably wouldn't have said Cliff Pennington. 

Well, Pennington, a former first-round pick, is off to a strong start for the A's this season. Through 24 games, Pennington has managed to hit .250/.337/.461 and has collected a team-leading 15 RBIs. 

While his batting average is nothing to excited about, his unexpected display of power, however, should make even the most pessimistic A's fan feel all giddy inside. 

The A's have had a promising start to the 2010 campaign. Some have left A's fans weeping saying "this looks all too familiar!" But there is room for optimism, and since I'm the optimism king of my Oakland A's, I feel it's my duty to keep fans uplifted.
At the beginning of the season I predicted a season winning percentage of no worse than .500 in 2010. I stand by that. The A's have the talent that goes far overlooked by the rest of the league. In fact, the A's could surprise everyone.

In "Moneyball," Michael Lewis reported that former Oakland Athletics' assistant general manager Paul dePodesta believed that extra on base percentage (generated via walks) was worth three times as much as a similar amount of extra slugging percentage (a function of extra bases). The old wisdom was that the ratio was more like 1.50:1 or 3:2.

We’re putting our 162-game journey on hold Tuesday night, and instead Fantasy Baseball Insiders Tonight  is covering parts of several games. Here’s everything you need to know from last night’s action around the league:

Northern California, like her sunnier Southern counterpart, is prone to drought.

Despite the Hollywood imagery, the Golden State is not a naturally lush paradise with green hills rolling down to meet blue ocean. In reality, most of the State was a desert and eventually will be once again.

Our very nasty, not-so-secret secret is that Cali simply does not get enough water to sustain our current rate of growth.

The Oakland Athletics were gracious enough to hook Bleacher Report up with a press pass and a closer look at their collection of young talent.

At the end of Spring Training, The A's surprised everyone by designating Cust for assignment, ultimately sending him down to Triple-A Sacramento. The A's had a healthy Eric Chavez and decided it was best to have him as the DH.

Dear Mr. Braden,

Congratulations on beating the Yankees Thursday afternoon and ending their winning streak at six games.

Now shut up.

You sound like a fool.