The Feesh won back to back games for the first time in nearly a month (June 2-3 was the last time, when they were still the flying Feesh and just before the gremlin knocked out their altimeter). Cliff Lee was throwing right to their bats, as if the Feesh heeters had stood there, pointed to a spot in the middle of the plate, and Lee had ignored his catcher and put the ball right where they wanted it. Treated so generously, even the ignis fatuui at the bottom of the order were drilling line drives all over the place. And of course Josh Johnson was more and more the Josh Johnson of old.

There’s still the Strange Attractor to reckon with so It’s too early to say that a pair of wins separated by a day off represents “momentum,” for we must always remember Stengel’s Corollary to the Second Law of Thermodynamics: there’s momentum sometimes, but there’s always inertia.

Ugly, as predicted. Cespedes has been unable to get back on line drives since he’s been with the A’s, and it hurt this time, costing Griffin the game.

Griffin looked extremely good in his second start. I’m toying with unoriginal nicknames for him, either Capt. Hook or Sir Mix-A-Lot. Capt Hook because he threw 5 curve balls that had Texas hitters frozen like statues, all for strikes, almost Zito-esque. Sir-Mix-A-Lot because he mixed both speeds and his pitch assortment beautifully all night, keeping the Texas hitters off balance and inducing awkward swings from such accomplished hitters as Kinsler, Hamilton, and Cruz. He could be a real find for the A’s if he can do something rare for a young A’s pitcher: stay consistent. We’ll see. But as fans, he’s been a very pleasant surprise having started the year at AA.

And what pitcher did it in 2008?

Aaron Cook.

There have only been 7 games in the 25 years we have complete pitch count data for in which a guy pitched a shutout on 81 or fewer pitches, and Cook now has 2 of them (Rich Harden, Jon Lieber, Doug Drabek, Bob Tewksbury, and Kevin Brown have the others).

It is also the 6th Maddux of 2012 (Cook, Kendrick, J.Santana, Alvarez, Blanton, Humber).

Ross Detwiler cruised into the 7th but did not survive the inning. allowing the Braves to tie the game. Meanwhile, the Braves’ bullpen gave up only one run in 5 innings — Michael Morse’s game-winning homer in the 8th. Seems Beast Mode is back.

Another day, another 3.5-game Nats lead, though it’s the Mets in second today. Stephen Strasburg vs. Mike Minor this afternoon. They met at Turner Field on May 26. Each gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, with Strasburg and the Nats winning, 8-4.