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The Oakland As have the best record in the American League at 13-5 and are second only to Milwaukee by a half-game for best record in the Majors. This organizations success, at times, defies logic. They play in the most in-need-of-repair stadium in the Majors and traditionally draw in the bottom third, if not worse, in the Majors. Yet, here they are at 13-5 atop the American League West after starting last season at 12-5 en route to a 96-win season. There were a couple of things that caught my attention about the As 4-1 victory over Houston. First, it was the starting pitcher. Jesse Chavez was actually with the Blue Jays back in 2012 as a reliever. He didnt see much action with a team that had three starters - Brandon Morrow, Drew Hutchison and Kyle Drabek - down with injuries. Later that year, the Jays lost the then 28-year-old on a waiver claim by Oakland. Last season, he worked in the As pen as a reliever. Now the As, thanks in part to injuries, have given the 30-year-old right hander the chance to start. So far, it looks as though the As have struck gold. Chavez has made four starts and in doing so, became the first starter in franchise history to go at least six innings in his first four outings and give up one or fewer runs in each. Sunday, he picked up his first Major League victory as a starter and has solidified his spot in the Oakland rotation. The other thing I noticed is the As lineup. Of the 11 players who appeared in that 4-1 victory over Houston, only one was actually signed and developed by Oakland. That was budding Cuban star Yoenis Cespedes, who defected in 2011 and signed a four-year, $36 million contract with the As in February of 2012. All the rest were picked up in trades - many descript or on waiver claims or lower-tier free agents. Take Daric Barton, who came on late in the game to play first, but can also catch. He was picked up in a trade with St. Louis, along with infielder Kiko Calero and right hander Dan Haren, for then ace lefty Mark Mulder, who ultimately blew out his shoulder with the Redbirds, sat out a few years and ultimately had to abandon a comeback this spring. Barton is still contributing to the As and Haren is still going strong elsewhere. Josh Donaldson failed as a catcher in the Cubs organization and with the As. Then they made him into a third baseman and hes turned into a star. The As, with a limited payroll, just keep finding ways. If you roll back the clock to the year 2000 and then go over the As records over the following 14 seasons, theyve had nine winning seasons, four losing seasons and one .500 season. In fact, they had five seasons in a row between 2007 and 2011 where they only reached .500 once. But their successes have been mighty; two seasons with over 100 victories and seven more with at least 91. In 14 years, the As have finished first in the AL West six times. They have made the postseason eight times. Grant you, they have only won one division series and were defeated in the only ALCS they made it to. But I dont think I have to remind you there have been plenty of other teams that havent come close to making the postseason over that 14 year span, teams that have a lot more money to spend and better venues to play in. The other amazing thing about the As is their attendance. If you go back to when they were the Athletics in Philadelphia, where they resided for 54 years, the Athletics never broke one million in attendance once. During their 13 seasons in Kansas City, the As only surpassed one million twice, while in 46 years in Oakland, they have only bettered the two million mark, which is generally conceded to be the break-even point, 11 times. How good have they been over the last 14 years? Well collectively, they have finished 204 games above .500. The only two teams in the American League that have been head and shoulders better than them are the Yankees at 390 games over .500 with two World Series wins and two losses, and Boston at 265 games over .500 with three World Series triumphs. Billy Beane and Moneyball may have been overrated to a degree, but the As have proven to be one of the great franchises in the game against all odds. The Blue Jays have a significant homestand starting up Tuesday night. Baltimore comes to town for three followed by Boston for three. At 10-9, the Jays are one game ahead of the Orioles and Bosox. The Jays starting rotation will have to deliver more innings over these next six games. Last turn through the starting five, lefty Mark Buehrle was the only one able to get through the sixth and then beyond. The Jays have a bit of a psychological edge in both these series. The Orioles will be coming off an emotional Patriots Day game in Boston Monday morning and a draining series against the Bosox. Then Boston goes from that series to a three gamer with the Yankees. Both the Os and the Red Sox could be a little battle worn by the time they hit Toronto. Everybody talks about the Jays someday regretting trading Noah Syndergaard to the Mets. Well Henderson Alvarez is already in the Majors and looking dominant at times with the Miami Marlins. Saturday at home, he hit 96 MPH on the radar gun and pitched a complete game two-hitter, as the Marlins shut out Seattle 7-0. He faced just 28 batters, one over the minimum. It was Alvarezs first victory since he no-hit the Tigers on the final day of last season. He is 1-2 this season with a 2.66 ERA. Giants righty Tim Hudson is joining some exclusive company. He set a Giants record over the weekend by throwing 30 innings without issuing a single walk. He has also come close to a Major League mark by starting a season with four games of at least seven innings without walking a single batter. A gentleman by the name of "Tiny" Bonham also did that in 1944, according to ESPN, and Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander had a six game run in 1923. We mentioned right hander Dan Haren a little earlier in connection with the As. Well, hes trying to reboot his career with the Dodgers. His control has been impeccable in the early going. He has 20 strikeouts and just two walks. Of all active pitchers, Dan Haren has the top strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.09 to one. Boomer Esiason Jersey . A little more than one year after missing a last-second tip-in that would have given the Wolverines a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, the 6-foot-8 forward scored on a layup with 7. A.J. Green Jersey . -- Down to 10 men and behind on the scoreboard, Toronto FC displayed its perseverance. http://www.officialcincinnatibengalsfootball.com/authentic-sam-hubbard-jersey-womens . First, Ivan Nova decided to have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. Then Michael Pineda was suspended for 10 games for using pine tar. Billy Price Jersey . -- The Oakland Raiders added a veteran presence to their young receiving group by signing free agent James Jones to a three-year contract Monday. Nick Vigil Jersey . The Brad Jacobs team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., advanced to Fridays championship game with a 10-6 win over Chinas Rui Liu in the semifinal. INDIANAPOLIS -- Dallas Clark never took his eyes off the screen as a video tribute played highlights from his time in Indianapolis. The standout tight end retired from the NFL after 11 seasons Wednesday and when he stepped to the podium at the teams practice facility, he could hardly keep his composure. "Obviously you should have showed the video afterward," Clark said after taking a long pause to gather himself. "My wife told me to keep it lighthearted. I just dont know how to do that because this place and these fans and everyone here mean so much to me." He retired as a member of the Colts, the team that drafted him in the first round in 2003. Its the place where he won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning in 2006 and spent the first nine years of his career. Clark played for Baltimore last season and for Tampa Bay in 2012. He was released by the Colts in 2011 after the team finished 2-14 and missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Clark signed with Indy just long enough to announce his retirement, though Colts owner Jim Irsay wisecracked that there was no signing bonus this time. "Theres a lot more meaning behind it than numbers," he said. "Its really a great moment when you have a chance to have somebody come back to town." Clark is Indys all-time leader in tight end touchdown catches (46) and receptions (427). He finished second in yards receiving (4,887) and 100-yard games (seven). Clark set single season records with the Colts with 100 receptions and 1,106 yards in the 2009 season. In 2007, he had 11 TD catches. The Colts won at leeast 12 games for seven consecutive seasons and made eight straight playoff appearances leading up to Clarks final season in Indy, before his release and the release of other veterans, including Manning.dddddddddddd "You cant write this, you cant make this up," Clark said as he thanked everyone from team doctors and equipment staff, to former Colts coach Tony Dungy and former team President Bill Polian, who drafted him with Indys first-round pick in 2003. "Nothing but love," he said to a crowd that included Reggie Wayne, Robert Mathis and Adam Vinatieri. "For us to go do what we do, theres so many people. Im not going to stand here and think I did it myself because that would be a boldface lie." Wayne was drafted by Indy in 2001 and played alongside Clark each year he was with the Colts. "From day one, he came in with a mission and focused in on it and he locked in on it and within that first year, he came in and made some plays and I knew he was going to be major, major contributor to this offence," Wayne said. "He was that last piece of the puzzle and without Dallas, I dont think we win as many games as we did." Clark got emotional when thanking the teammates hes had throughout his career. "When you have 52 men in the locker room giving everything that they have for one goal, special things happen," he said. "For us, we won like it was like, thats what you do. Until I went to other places, it was like, not everyone gets it. Not everyone can do what we did. Thats the reason why it was so special." 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