--OF Travis Buck has appeared in 122 games and never has made an error. The streak is the fourth longest among Oakland outfielders all time. Buck is not playing right field every day; he is in a semi-platoon with OF/DH Jack Cust, who plays in the outfield when Jason Giambi DHs. That tends to be against left-handed starters, because Nomar Garciaparra has started at first several times against lefties.
--OF Matt Holliday has reached base in all eight games he has played this year, recording hits in seven of those games. Holliday, the A's top offseason acquisition, is batting .290, but his career average is .319. He's batting cleanup and leading Oakland with seven RBIs in nine games. --DH Jason Giambi said before Tuesday's game that it would be "a treat" to meet pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III. Sullenbeger, who landed his US Airways jet on New York's Hudson River on Jan. 15, saving 155 lives, threw out the first pitch before Oakland's game with Boston. Sullenberger lives in Danville, Calif., as does Oakland GM Billy Beane, who told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I can't imagine what you could say to someone who a) has done something like that and b) already heard it all, other than to say it's an honor."
Giambi said: "It'll be a treat to meet him. Listening to the tapes, it's amazing how calm he was and how he kept it all together and saved everybody."
BY THE NUMBERS: 1 -- Home run total for Oakland through the first week of the season, the fewest in the majors. The team went homerless in the first three games for the first time since 1966. The A's 125 homers last year were fourth fewest in the league, a major reason the team brought in Matt Holliday and Jason Giambi.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Way too much running for me early in the year. If Jack (Cust) didn't hit that ball out of the ballpark, I would've been like an auto part store out there. My hamstrings would've fallen out. My groins would've fallen out. I would've been done for the year." -- Jason Giambi on beating out an infield single after doing some extensive baserunning the previous night, too. He had to leave the April 11 game with sore legs.
