Afternoon Baseball

ESPN.com box score
As I write this, it is in the top of the 4th inning, with Mussina cruising so far and the Yanks up 4-0 on a Tino HR and RBI doubles from Sheff and A-Rod.
The Yanks may be bad, but so are the A's, a sentiment noted by Bronx Rant.

Update: Mussina throws a shutout. Couldn't have been at a better time.

Read more on the punchless A's...

The A's best four hitters are arguably Jason Kendall, Mark Kotsay, Erubiel Durazo and Eric Chavez (signed over Tejada, a decision once applauded by Gammons, unfortunately).
Well, Kotsay has never hit more than 17 HR and has one .300 season. Kendall has never been the same since destroying his ankle in 1999 (.304 career BA but .415 slugging.) Durazo was great last year but still is shy of 2000 AB at age 30. And Chavez, well, far from the 40-130 guy Gammons predicted, has been very good but not great (58 HR, 178 RBI in the last two years), and is hitting around .200 so far this year.

But hey, at least the A's can console themselves in spending far less than half than the Yanks for an equally mediocre team.