Ever get the feeling someone is just yanking your chain for no good reason?

The state of the Oakland Athletics is unerving. It really has become an issue of Ken Macha's tenure as Oakland's skipper. The breadth of the communication gap between the manager and his players is so vast - you can fit Reggie Jackson's ego betwixt and still have room for Barry Bond's collective disdain for all things not Barry related.

"You get into a Catch-22. You don't want them trying too hard, which, for the most part, has been what's happening. You want them to focus on finding a good pitch and putting a good swing on it. You'll usually find, at the end of the year, that batting average with runners in scoring position is usually a little higher than team batting average. It's a little too early to panic. I just want the guys to focus, regardless of who's on base and who isn't."

- Ken Macha, current A's Manager

Has it looked like the A's are trying TOO hard lately?

Jermaine Dye needs a day off and the batting order needs to be tweaked. With Mark McLemore about to head to the DL (he had yellow fluid drained from his knee on Friday - the A's lead the AL in knee fluid drained this season) the A's have a chance to call up a player that might be able to light a fire under their collective arse.

15 Day DL Whom should the A's call up to replace Mark McLemore on the 25 man roster? Adam Morrissey Graham Koonce Dan Johnson Mark Teahen Esteban German Justin Lehr Chris Mabeus Joe Blanton Mike Edwards Mike Rouse Current Results