A split would be nice

Playing in Oakland, the team would like to feel good about themselves during the break, and losing 3 or 4 to the A's wouldn't be so great. I'll tell you right now, I would take a split in a heartbeat. Historically we don't do well in Oakland, we just lost 2 of 3 to arguably the worst team in the AL, and of course we have a new manager.

Speaking of which, I have a feeling McLaren is going to be a bloggers best friend. He's going to do some crazy stuff, and likely cause a firestorm fairly regularly based on his first half-week. For those hoping Ichiro gets a chance to pitch, this manager might be the closest guy on the planet to actually making it happen (not that it will ever, but I bet he thinks about it from time to time).

It will be interesting to see what McLaren thinks of Jones, and basically rookies in general. Hargrove was so hell-bent on veterans we've all forgotten what it's like to have a manager actually make sound personnel decisions.

Let's hope Baker and the rest of the beat writers start figuring this guy out, because I have a feeling I might really like him.