The A's 2-0 lead held up through the full nine innings this evening, despite a bases loaded situation in the sixth that threatened to turn the game over to Boston in a big way. A's starter Lenny DiNardo, who was initially relegated to a minor role in the team's bullpen after surprisingly making the team in Spring Training, continued his strong run of starts with six shutout innings, picking up the win, making the very best of the little offense the A's made available against Japanese import sensation Daisake Matsazuka. (Recaps: Athletics Nation, Associated Press)

Unlike previous Boston games at Oakland, we were not overwhelmed by the partisan Red Sox favoring crowd. Though many were there to support their team, the "Let's Go, Oakland!" cheers drowned out the attempts to start a "Let's Go, Red Sox!" push. And we Oakland fans tried to be good hosts, not overwhelmingly booing their stars and instead, supporting our own.

While Monday's game had gone to more than 4 hours and extra innings, today's game really wasn't much in doubt after the bases loaded situations for the Sox couldn't result in runs scored. In fact, as the Sox batted in the top of the 9th, and the strains of "Celebration!" started to play in the Coliseum, we were making our way out the stadium and getting ahead to beat the traffic home.

While the A's haven't exactly rolled over the competition this year, it's good to see they've won four straight, some of their regulars are coming back from injury, and in all games, they've managed to compete. 2 down, and 2 to go.

More than halfway through tonight's game, the A's have held the dangerous Red Sox scoreless, and added a pair of runs, one on a home run by Eric Chavez, and a second on a double by Nick Swisher that scored Jason Kendall, who ran faster than I think I have ever seen him go.

Of course, every time he comes to bat, I am yelling for the A's to put in Melhuse. That gets me all sorts of curious looks from my fellow fans.

Red Sox are threatening, but the A's pitcher, Lenny DiNardo, has been wiggling out of jams all evening. We'll see if he can do it again.

With our season package to the A's, we see a lot of weekend games, with half our Fridays and Saturdays all summer being absorbed at the Coliseum cheering on the green and gold. But getting out to the ballpark on a weekday is a rare treat. Tonight, with three friends from the office, we're here in Oakland to see if the A's can win their fourth in a row, and the first two games against a very good Boston ballclub. In fact, using my BlackBerry and Blogger, I can blog directly from my seat, a long as I ignore my seatmates.

The A's, despite losing an early lead in yesterday's ballgame, won out in dramatic fashion with a walkoff home run from Eric Chavez, well known for his struggles in the clutch. And as a sidenote, Mark Ellis managed a rare feat in hitting de the cycle.

The two teams are getting in their last stretches, the stadium is filling up, and we are ten minutes away from first pitch. With any luck, tonight's game will be just as enjoyable, and just maybe I'll put the BlackBerry away and try to catch a foul ball. Go A's!

It's happened again. Blog search engine and tagging leader Technorati's site has gone completely unresponsive. See here, here and here. It's not exactly the first time Technorati has fallen off the radar, as the site has shown an unacceptable level of instability for the last twelve to eighteen months.

For a cog so crucial to the blogosphere as Technorati not to have a robust, redundant infrastructure is something of a surprise, and the company's struggles here have been well documented to the point it's likely driving more users to Google's Blog Search and other alternatives.

Dave Sifry, the company's CEO, has been an incredibly open friend to the blogosphere, and has visited this site on more than one occasion. We'd love for him and Technorati to pull through, but at what point should we recognize we're being abused, and should just simply turn away?