Justin Verlander owns the A's; so says their Wikipedia page

The Oakland Athletics Wikipedia page had a few modifications Thursday night during Game 5 of the ALDS. And one says the owner is Tigers ace Justin Verlander.

After eight dominant innings in his Game 5 win, Verlander now owns the following line for his career in Oakland, including both regular season and postseason: 0.30 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 37 strikeouts, six walks, 30 innings pitched. So, judging from this pile of stats, it's easy to believe the not-always-so-factual Wikipedia — at least figuratively.

Here's a photo of the page from CBS Sports with the literal proof:

That's 30 innings of domination against the A's in the Coliseum and — even after the error is corrected — you can still call Verlander the A's boss.

Kid doesn't get Yankee home run but gets a signed ball sent up by Jeter instead

An enterprising young man didn't get his targeted wish— a home run ball hit into the stands of the Oakland Coliseum by a New York Yankee— but ended up with something better— a ball signed by Derek Jeter and personally sent over to him.

At last night's Yankees-A's game, the youngster, wearing a Yankees jersey and cap, made a sign for a Yankee to hit the 'X' on his target.  Instead of the usual one name on the poster, this innovative kid used a flip card with every Yankee in the starting lineup on a single page. Simple enough.  Jeter up, just flip to Jeter's name and so on.

Things got a little frantic when Russell martin stepped up to the plate and the kid couldn't find his name.    YES announcers ken Singleton and David Cone had fun at the expense of the panicky boy until he finally found Martins' name and flipped it up.

It was all in vain when Martin popped out.

Despite some spelling errors— Teixeira was missing an ''i or two— the boy's persistence paid off when Jeter had a signed ball brought up to the surprised young fan towards the end of the game.

The boy's sign didn't help the Yankees lack of firepower— they lost 2-1— but it was still a night the kid will always remember. 

A's fan gets second chance at foul ball

A baseball-gloved Oakland A's fan was bummed out when a foul ball landed right next to him and he still missed catching the souvenir because he was too busy yapping on his cell phone. But as luck— and the empty seats at The Coliseum— would have it, the very next pitch went foul in the exact spot and this time he caught it— while still on the phone.

 
Both balls were hit in the same spot as the lone fan stood in the nearly empty left field seats donning his glove and a T-shirt which read "Original Oakland A's Fan."

What are the chances?

The guy was pretty excited about catching the ball and was probably still on his cell phone telling his pals about his near miss and catch all the way home.

Mark Jackson works the phone at Yankees-A's game

Former St. John's and NBA star Mark Jackson was spotted in the stands at Saturday's New York Yankees-Oakland A's matchup at The Coliseum in Oakland.

The Golden State Warriors head coach was working the phone while watching CC Sabathia grind it out against the home team.  The namesake behind "The Mark Jackson Rule" is now a Bay Area resident but the Brooklyn-born Jackson is still a New Yorker at heart and a big Yankees fan.

The former NBA announcer must have liked what he saw with CC going strong with seven strong innings and was probably yelling into the phone, "That's a grown man move right there."

Watching an NBA game just isn't the same without Jackson's catch phrases.

Royals' Jeff Francoeur has pizzas delivered to A's fans during game

Jeff Francoeur had 20 pizzas delivered to a group of Oakland A's fans seated in the right field bleacher section of the Oakland Coliseum the other night— the weird thing is the rightfielder plays for the opposing team.

The Kansas City Royals outfielder had the pies and a signed bat sent to a group of happy A's fans sitting in section 149 above the outfield turf Francoeur patrols.

The gesture came a day after the second annual "Bacon Tuesday," as it has become known.  Last year, Francoeur— who has never even played for the A's— tossed a ball wrapped in a $100 bill into the elevated bleacher seats, instructing the fans to buy bacon or beer.

You can probably guess which they chose.

The fans now adore Francoeur and cheer him like one of their own.  On Tuesday, they wore "Bacon Tuesday" shirts and hung a large piece of bacon from the railing in tribute.

The pizza was brought over to the fans during the first inning of the finale of the three-game series along with the bat and a note: "Right field bleacher crew, keep making bacon."

Francoeur got a standing ovation and cheers from the group when he trotted out to his position at the bottom of the inning.  The player tipped his hat and waved back to chants of "Thank you, Jeff!"

"Baseball is fun.  we can take it too serious sometimes," Francoeur said before the game.  "This is something more than baseball.  That right-field section are here every game, they cheer for every (A's player).  They are diehards.  I just enjoy them out there.  It's a lot of fun.  You don't get to build relationships like that every day."

I don't remember Mets fans being that nice to Francoeur— even when he played for the team.  They probably lost out on a lot of free food.