Green and Gold and Gone

Yesterday in Texas, you've got 5 -- five! -- steals, including two double steals, from your Oakland A's, including a steal of home by Bobby Crosby to give the A's the go-ahead run. (The latter was one of those rundown plays which is more about the defense failing, but hey, when you've got an offense that has been as punch-free as the A's have been, you'll take it.)

To give you an idea of the blueness of the snow, the A's now have 19 steals for the year, with your team leader being Mark Ellis with 5. That's right on pace with 2007's 52, or Less Than Several Individual Players.

Why doesn't the franchise of Rickey Henderson, Billy North and Herb Washington steal bases? Because it's the kind of thing that the market has historically overvalued, thereby making those kinds of players not particularly targeted by the "Moneyball" ethos. Also, all of the guys I just named played for the A's 15 to 40 years ago. Age sucks.

So if you're a fantasy dog playing a daily league that's looking for steals... Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia just may be the new Mike Piazza, if you catch my drift. When even the A's first base coaches are handing out relay batons, that is officially a weakness.