In San Francisco, across the greenish-brown and windy bay:

• The A's concluded the hellish portion of their schedule on Wednesday with a 13-6 win over Boston. Of the nine different teams the A's have played so far, only Seattle and Tampa Bay are currently under .500. Their next four series, however, will all be against teams who currently have losing records. Now would be the ideal time to get hot, get healthy, and turn things around.
   
  
• The Giants might actually be a team where the A's "run-up-the-starter's-pitch-count-so-you-can-feast-on-middle-relief" offensive strategy might actually work. I've seen a lot of Giants games this year, and their middle relief sucks. Well, except maybe for Scott Eyre and Jason Christiansen, they're not too bad. Oops, I forgot, the A's lineup consists mostly of left-handed batters, so Eyre and Christensen are probably the only middle relief they'll see. Never mind...
   
  
• In addition, the Giants are starting three left-handed pitchers against the A's this weekend: Rueter, Fassero, and Lowry. Sure hope Bobby Kielty will be ready to play; the A's will need all the right-handed bats they can muster.
   
  
• Speaking of which, when I wrote...

  I've seen enough of Eric Byrnes. His swing is so screwed up now that his biggest strength offensively is the HBP.

  ...back on May 9, Eric Byrnes was batting .208/.282/.351. Since then, he's gone 12-for-27 with five doubles and a homer. He is now second on the team with a .785 OPS. Keep it up, Eric, and maybe someone will give us something in a trade for you after all.
   
  
• Billy Beane was on KNBR radio this afternoon. He's not going to attend the A's-Giants series; instead he'll be at Stanford with Paul DePodesta, scouting the Cardinal as they host Arizona.
   
  
• Beane also said that Octavio Dotel's elbow injury was not one that would require surgery. Worst case scenario: he rests the elbow for 15 days or so on the DL.