Red Sox / A's - Game 33

Kevin Millar hits a walk-off HR to win the game 3-2. Bronson Arroyo pitches another gem of a game. Johnny Damon continues his hot hitting by going 3-3. The A's continue their aneamic hitting by going 3-31 as a team. Take your pick as to what the top storyline was last night.

Kevin Millar hit his second HR in as many games after not hitting one in the team's first 31 games. Just to highlight how I feel about Millar's hitting note that on one of my fantasy baseball teams I dropped Kevin Millar about a week and a half ago - sick of waiting for him to finally awake from the duldrums. Yesterday I picked him back up off waivers - hoping to ride the streaky bastard for all he's worth. It should be noted that Millar's slugging percentage (.359) is still lower than his OBP (.367) - that's not a good thing for a player at a power position (1st) and in a power slot in the batting order (5th).

Arroyo went 6 2/3 inning allowing only one earned run while striking out 4. Arroyo said after the game that he was "uncomfortable" on the mound as evidenced by his 3 walks. It was probably lucky that he was "uncomfortable" against the A's who can't hit their way out of a paper bag this season. The argument can be made that since Arroyo hit A-Rod and started that scuffle last season that Arroyo has been the best pitcher in the AL. After last night - Arroyo's ERA is just 2.91 (7th best in the AL).

Damon has been a madman at the plate. He went 3-3 last night with 2 singles and a triple. His line for the season is:

Damon - .387 BA / 25 R / 1 HR / 20 RBI / .422 OBP / .511 SLG

The BA is 2nd, the runs 4th, he's 1st in hits (53), 8th in total bases, 19th in RBI (as a leadoff man!), 16th in slugging %, and 5th in OBP. At this rate the Red Sox may not be able to offer him arbitration at the end of the year because he'd get Carlos Beltran type money. Actually I'm just kidding about that last remark. I fully expect the Red Sox to offer Damon arbitration - it's a multi-year contract that I'm not so sure is in the offering. I hope I'm wrong because Damon has been worth the money these past few years and I'd like to see him stay in Boston.

As I mentioned - the A's were just 3-31 at the plate last night. They have been so bad at the plate this year that they even managed to make Kevin Brown look good.