The A's are tied for first place! That makes me feel good. Inside.

Meanwhile in Phoenix the Diamondbacks spent two miserably played games piling up the evidence that they have no business in a pennant race. The infield defense was bad, the middle relief pitching was terrible, and the spray-hitting ilk of Dustan Mohr and Danny Ardoin was suddenly sending balls out of the park. The Rockies looked all set to concede Friday's game after striking out ten times against starter Brandon Webb, mostly swinging at balls that bounced before they reached the plate. A Matt Holliday road homer (seriously) and a boneheaded throwing error by reliever Lance Cormier gifted Colorado with the game. I should also mention that the A's are tied for first place.

Today the Diamondbacks threw away another big lead almost immediately as Mike Gosling got lit up and committed, you guessed it, a boneheaded throwing error. Throughout the game even usually dependable gloves like Troy Glaus and Alex Cintron seemed unsure how to field their positions, letting nubbed ground balls stay fair for infield singles and looking for plays at the wrong bases. Colorado's budget offense made Arizona's pricey one look inept as the Rockies smoked seven extra-base hits. The guy who did hit for the D-Backs was rookie Conor Jackson, who hit his first and second major league home runs. Jeff Francis was shaky but the offense (and Gosling) picked him up for the win. Scott Dohmann made his best appearance as a big leaguer, striking out the side in the sixth. Randy Williams looked sort of good, even! And the A's are tied for first place.

The Rockies picked up six walks in today's game to the D-Backs two. That's really encouraging. Granted, Arizona seemed to be losing to themselves more so than Colorado, but the best road trip all season is nothing to scoff at. Tomorrow Jamey Wright pitches us to a sweep! Or not. Also, the A's will still be tied for first place (until they and the Angels play, after which they could conceivably be alone in first place).

For fans of this sort of thing: Tomorrow Victor Zambrano (of the Mets) will pitch against Carlos Zambrano (of the Cubs). Then on Monday, the Rockies will accomplish the assuredly unique feat of starting both games of a doubleheader with someone named Kim (Sunny and Byung-Hyun). And the A's are tied for first place!