You still the man, Rick . . . You still the man. A bold prediction from A's Brand Baseball: By the time "One Shining Moment" ends on Monday night, Barry Zito will have thrown the first pitch of the Oakland Athletics' 2006 season to Johnny Damon, who will still be an idiot. Unless it's raining--we don't predict that boldly. When we came to you before Opening Day last season, the home nine were in......

We've come to bury Ken Macha, not to praise him . . . 2005 was a down year for the A's, and they won 88 games. That's 3 fewer than they won in 2004--a year when they were expected to contend for the World Series. Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder are starting in the playoffs for the Braves and Cardinals this week, and A's pitchers had the 6th-best staff ERA, and the lowest opponents'......

The A's have lost 8 games in a row, and 11 of their last 12. The A's are 9 games below .500. The A's have been outscored, in 2005, by every team in the American League and by every team in the National League. National League teams only have 8 hitters in their lineups, to American League teams' 9. The A's expected Rich Harden to turn into Tim Hudson this season, but this isn't......

New SFist Jake gets us up to speed on what the A's have in store for us this season....

Nothing like getting fired right before the holidays, huh? Okay, we know The Apprentice was filmed months ago, but a local film programmer and staff weren't so lucky. Neither were Tim Hudson or Mark Mulder. And the Governator is aiming to be the Grinch who stole your lunch break. In other words, business as usual. Gotten any of your Christmas shopping done? We've done our best to single out a few local businesses for you......

In breaking news, Billy Beane has shipped the Oakland A's ace, Tim Hudson, to the Atlanta Braves for three young players who, well, won't cost so much. From Atlanta's point of view, we think this may have something to do with the Mets signing Pedro Martinez. So the "Big Three" is now down to two, and since Mulder seems to have problems with his back and shoulder and Zito with his head, the days of......

Five games left, three back of the Dodgers, tied with the Cubs, a half game up on the Astros, and Milton Bradley losing his mind in LA. Does that say it all? Not if you're an A's fan. Then it's five games left, tied with the Angels, three distant games ahead of the Rangers, and Ichiro getting ready set a major record on the home turf. The Giants edged the Padres 7-5 in a nail......