Dice-K and other stuff...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Not much buzz here for an opening night. The McAfee Coliseum is sold out, but everything is so subdued.

Lots of Red Sox fans sporting team garb here.

It's 1-0 A's in the second.

A few observations:
*I always give props to Billy Beane and David Forst for the talent they seem to acquire or develop. Jack Hannahan is a perfect example. He was stuck at Detroit's Triple A level, where he had a .422 on base percentage in Toledo in 2007. He was acquired by the A's and has become the starting third baseman with Eric Chavez out with a bad back. In the second inning, Hannahan surely saved a run with a tremendous diving backhand stop of Kevin Youkilis's grounder toward the line with Manny Ramirez on second base. Joe Blanton eventually got out of the jam by inducing a foul pop to third (Jason Varitek) and struck out Coco Crisp. Hannahan also made a nice play on Julio Lugo's liner to left.

*Speaking of crisp, Dice-K looks to be on his game. He's a got a good change-up and he's locating his fastball well. A's are trying to make him pitch deep into counts. He struck out two in the first.

* Jack Cust just took Dice-K deep to start the second, a middle-high 91 m.p.h. fastball that Cust drive to left-center over the 362-foot sign. Another example of a great signing. A career minor league guy who never got a full-time chance to play but put up huge power numbers in the minors.

*By the way, if Youkilis gets by without an error the rest of the way he ties Steve Garvey's major league record for 193 consecutive games without an error at first base.