Oakland Athletics

The All-Star break is still three weeks away, yet it’s already been a long season in Oakland. Home games have been remarkably lifeless, and the team can’t even sell out their annual home series with the Giants.

Sony Studios has decided to shelve the production of a movie by Steven Soderbergh, starring Brad Pitt and about the baseball book Moneyball only days before the production was set to begin.  Sony has given Soderbergh permission to find another studio.

Let the speculation ensue.

Soderbergh, who directed Traffic and Che, had reportedly turned in a script that was substantially different from the one written by Steven Zaillian. 

I am a die-hard A's fan.

I also think like a general manager.

Balancing the two can be awfully difficult. As much as I don't want to fold at this point, the chances of the A's rallying against all odds and winning their division this year are  as likely as me becoming the next baseball commisioner. Yes, I know the A's have a history over having great second-half seasons, but this I just don't see that happening this year.

The Wall Street Journal published a story recently about the amount of college education, or lack thereof, in Major League Baseball. 

Remember when Billy Beane traded for Matt Holliday? Or when he signed Jason Giambi, Nomar Garciaparra and Orlando Cabrera in an attempt to boost an anemic offense?

Remember when the A's were said to be the darkhorse team in the American League?

With the month of June half over, the A's trail the first place Rangers by nine games. How can a team with Matt Holliday, Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Giambi be nine games out of first?

Let's call a spade a spade. It isn't ineptitude that A's manager Bob Geren displays—it is a total lack of competence. Geren should have been fired long ago, and general manager Billy Beane is allowing the most incompetent manager in baseball to still have a job.

If Geren was a rookie manager then maybe some of the mistakes being made could be considered as a rookie mistake and in time he'd learn from them. Yet, not only has Geren made mistakes, he keeps making the same mistake.

There's a saying that goes, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

When I first saw that I could be able to watch my favorite team on my computer while on the Internet, I jumped at the opportunity too be able to see my favorite team the Oakland A's play.

At this moment in time I'm wishing that I hadn't bought into the service because for $19.99 it isn't worth it. The premise was great the idea of being able too watch your favorite team if you weren't in their viewing location for TV, you could watch online by signing up for the service.

With the Oakland A's mired in last place in the AL West, I've begun to wonder: Is manager Bob Geren on the hot seat or not?

Only general manager Billy Beane knows for sure, but if Geren is not close to being replaced, he should be.

Here are five pieces of irrefutable evidence I'll offer in support of this conclusion:

1. Geren Has Ruined the Team's Greatest Strength: Its Bullpen

Ruined might be a bit severe, but blatant overuse from the first week of the season has made a mess of the bullpen.

Carlos Zambrano has always been known as a player who wears his emotion on his sleeve, and today it cost him.

He was called on an extremely close play at the plate, where Nyjer Morgan slid in just before Zambrano was able to get the tag down, but Morgan barely got his hand in before Zambrano could tag him out.

Mark Carlson, the umpire on the call, actually made a tremendous call, because from first angle it looked like Morgan was blocked by Zambrano and he was out. But upon further review of the play, it shows that he slid his hand in before the tag could be made.

The Oakland A's are coming off a game which should have gave them some momentum to at least get the A's in a tie for third place with the Seattle Mariners, but again their effort was again not where it should be especially for a professional baseball team.

The only offense the A's could muster against Erik Bedard was a solo homerun by Bobby Crosby.