The A's are at a very good place this year 3 and a half games ahead in first at a time where they were still battling to get to first. A ritual of the A's is for a less then satisfactory first half then to go on a tear for the second half but, this team of journeyman, seasoned veterans, and undervalued rookies and sophomores have changed that ritual in a big way. Under Josh Donaldson's ignored all-star performance and Bartolo Colon finding ways to get better with age they have earned 1st in the tough AL west but will they keep it. The Texas Rangers second in the AL west have been hot as of late and seem ripe to take a bite out of the lead with this series. The A's usually eccentric offense seems sparse if not all gone. Two of last years catalyst for the playoff push Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick are batting .229 and .211 respectively along with Josh Donaldson drop from .320 to .296 have been a cause for concern. The series opener against texas showed the offense was in need of a jolt not finding a way to pounce on a struggling Alex Ogando. Yesterday was aided by small ball laying down 3 bunts to the frustration of Texas starter Matt Garza so much so that he went on a twitter rant after the game against 2nd baseman Eric Sogard who laid down the final bunt and his wife. Nobody from the Athletics organization outright acknowledged but a few had some sublime tweets about the incident maybe less was the tweet by Pat Neshek a reliever for the A's who posted a picture of Garza cross dressing. This small little display of how the team sticks up for each might just be the bunt over that the offense needs to start a spark in the lineup all the way to October.
