Bad times never seemed so good

Rich Harden is a world-beatern the MLB baseball video game for my Sony PSP. He throws 100mph fastballs with pinpoint control, so he can strike out anyone without having to resort to off-speed pitches as long as you keep it from the middle of the plate. High fastball, outside fastball, fastball in the hands.. one strike, two strikes, three strikes yer out! The average performance for video Rich Harden is a complete game two-hit shutout with 21 strikeouts.

Unfortunately the real Rich Harden usually makes four starts each year, goes on the 15 Day DL with a "strained shoulder" in mid-May, and is never seen again until the following year. But yesterday at the Tokyo Dome he looked like the Harden I know and love from the video game world, dominating the Red Sox for six innings and salvaging a split in the two game Japan Series.

It's foolish to base an entire year on two games, but if Rich Harden can stay healthy and the A's play as well for the rest of 2008 as they did for these two games, they might not be as bad as everyone fears. They may even contend. Hope springs eternal at the start of the baseball season.

The A's were the "home-team" for the games in Tokyo, but the Sox got the home locker room, most of the crowd was pro-Boston, and they even played "Sweet Caroline" during the 7th inning stretch, just like in Fenway Pahk. And even though it was an A's home game, they played neither Kool nor The Gang after yesterday's win, like they would have at McAfee Coliseum. This apparently made the A's feel like second class citizens, but in major league baseball, it's fairly obvious the Yankees and the Red Sox are up here, and the other 28 teams are down here.