One door closes, another one opens

Mychael Urban had a major scoop from last night as he was the only one to accurately describe the closed-door meeting as one between Macha and Beane.

Macha would not provide any details on what was discussed. "That's an
internal matter," he said."

This could have been about a numerous amount of issues that surround the A's on and off the field, but if one was to read into the current articles about the buzz surrounding hitting coach Dave Hudgins, Macha may have been saving the bad news for a face-to-face with Dave instead of him reading it in the paper that his job security is on very shaky ground. Of course, Macha has been known to rip a player in the papers, Piatt and Byrnes for instance, but on the other hand, he may feel that keeping respect amongst his peers is important if he is to stick around in baseball.

Today, Urban was able to talk to Beane about the current situation with the club and while he did not bring up the meeting, he did get this nugget:

"We really need the middle of the lineup to produce," Beane said.

Beane has always been known to have quippy remarks so the bluntness of his remark is due to the sorry state of the A's hitting may lead some to speculate that if the heart of the lineup does not produce, some action will take place in order for them to produce, such as firing a hitting coach.

Last year, the A's were 10-9 and went into Yankee Stadium therby waking the slumping Yankees and were swept in three games. This time, the A's are 13-15 and will see them return to another slumping Yankee team...