Oakland A's play to winning potential, but the fans aren't filling the seats

The Oakland A's have been a huge surprise this season, playing .600 ball after getting rid of their best pitcher (Dan Haren) and one of their best hitters (Nick Swisher).

But don't count Oakland owner Lou Wolff among those who can't believe what the A's are doing. Wolff said before the season he felt his team would finish over .500, and was greeted with considerable skepticism. He was a believer as soon as he saw general manager Billy Beane's list of players they sought in offseason deals.

"When Billy and his guys put together their list of 11 people, it was so clear and amazing to me that if even half these guys were OK, we'd do well," Wolff told the San Francisco Chronicle.

But even as the A's are battling the Angels for the top spot in the American League West, it hasn't translated to box-office success. They are drawing fewer than 20,000 per game, which ranks 26th out of 30 teams. And that's even factoring in two crowds of more than 40,000 at the Tokyo Dome, technically "home" games for the A's.

"It's very rough," Wolff told the Chronicle. "We never filled up for the playoff games two years ago, and we didn't pick up any season tickets the next year.

"People wonder why we can't keep our free agents, but where were they when we were that close to the World Series? We have a ballpark issue, and we're the second team in a two-team market.

"It drives me crazy, but I don't know what to do besides working on getting a new, modern ballpark. Billy and the guys on the team deserve better attendance for the product they put on the field."

Around the horn

• So much for the Yankees' grand plan of building their rotation around the young arms of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

Hughes is out until at least July with a fractured rib after going 0-4 with a 9.00 earned-run average in six starts. Kennedy pitched his way back to the minors with an 0-2 record and 8.37 ERA in six games.

• Troy Percival obviously made a wise decision to come out of retirement last summer. The Tampa Bay closer, in 45 games for the Rays and Cardinals since he returned last June, had a 1.41 ERA before allowing three runs Thursday.

Before Thursday, he was third-best in that span among all relievers with 50 or more innings, behind only J.C. Romero (1.08) and Joe Nathan (1.18). Opponents were hitting .149 off him, lowest of any reliever.

• There is growing speculation in the Bay Area that Peter Magowan, the Giants' managing general partner since 1993, is ready to retire. Magowan is 66.

• You want proof Cleveland's Cliff Lee is doing well? He went into his sixth start of the season with a 0.96 ERA, and it went down. That's because Lee hurled seven shutout innings in a 3-0 win over the Yankees on Wednesday.

The performance made Lee 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA. After the Yankees game, Lee had pitched 44-2/3 innings with 39 strikeouts and two walks. Yes, two walks.

He has had streaks of 28 consecutive innings without a walk and 27 consecutive scoreless innings.

• When Minnesota's Joe Mauer won the batting title two years ago, he was the first AL catcher to ever do so. This past week, catchers were one-two in the AL in batting: Victor Martinez and Mauer.

• Detroit rookie pitcher Freddy Dolsi allowed a homer to the first batter he faced. According to home-run historian David Vincent, he's the 92nd pitcher in history to do so. It doesn't necessarily doom his career. Others to do so include Hall of Famer Bob Gibson (251 wins), plus Ken Holtzman (174 wins) and Bert Blyleven (287 wins).

Manny Ramirez's homer off Dolsi on Tuesday happened to come on his first big-league pitch. He's the ninth pitcher in the last 16 years to do that.

• The Braves are very happy with Mariners castoff Greg Norton, who had huge pinch-hits in consecutive games. In each case, Norton drove in two runs that proved decisive in Braves victories.

"I wouldn't say I play any [position] well," he said. "I'm in the big leagues because I can hit, and because I can go a few days without hitting and still have a quality at-bat."

• Dmitri Young of the Nationals credits the team's masseuse, Tatiana Tchamouroff, for a breakthrough in back pain. After she worked on his hip flexor, he said he had immediate relief, and he followed the massage by hitting the ball with authority in the batting cage for the first time in weeks, according to the Washington Times.