I'm insanely busy this week. Went to the game Sunday (sat with Philip Michaels), but didn't have time to write anything about it. So while I have a few minutes, here's a few notes from recent days:

• Doesn't it always seem that when a team is coming out of a hitting slump, that first they can't hit at all; then they can hit, but not in the clutch; and then finally the clutch hits finally start falling in.

  In April, the A's weren't hitting at all. This weekend, it seemed like the A's were starting to hit better, but they couldn't get the key hits. Tons of men left on base.

  Last night, a few extra key hits, and all was well.
  

• Most of the guys who were slumping are starting to swing the bats a lot better. I like now what I'm seeing from Mark Ellis, Jay Payton, Dan Johnson, and Bobby Crosby.
   
• On the other hand, Frank Thomas. He just looks all messed up. He doesn't know whether to take or swing. Yeah, he's big and powerful, but Thomas' best asset has always been his eyes. If his eyes aren't working, all you have is Rob Deer.

  So it's a catch-22. Thomas needs more ABs to get his eye back, but those ABs are hurting the A's. It's time to stop putting him in the middle of the order. Bat him at the bottom of the order until he proves he can do it again.
  

• And then there's Jason Kendall. Mike's rant about him hits the nail on the head. Kendall can't hit, and he's a raving lunatic. If you say something he doesn't like, he thinks it's perfectly OK to go beat somebody up for it.

  Adam Melhuse is the interim starting catcher, and it seems like he's already provided more value in his one start than Kendall has in his entire Oakland career. When's the last time Kendall had five total bases in a game?

  Melhuse deserves to be the starting catcher, even when Kendall gets back. Make Kendall get one start every five days, and see if he can earn his job, instead of intimidating everyone around him into giving it to him with his temper.
  

• Which brings me to this: my On Notice and Dead To Me lists. Bob did one, so I thought I'd do my own. Here goes:

On Notice

• Jason Kendall
• The guy who keeps putting Frank Thomas in the middle of the lineup, and keeps putting Jason Kendall in the lineup at all
• Ants
• Poems that are really just a more famous poem with a few words changed here and there
• Vinegar
• The idiots and morons who confuse Sweden with Switzerland
• People who use the words "idiot" and "moron" without a second thought
• Raccoons

Dead To Me

• Spammers
• Trolls
• People who complain I'm not doing enough about spammers and trolls
• A.J. Pierzynski
• Possums
• Victorian novels
• Movies based on Victorian novels
• Onions