Ah, I've never been so happy to hear the oh-so-80s sounds of Kool & the Gang's, "Celebration". For those of you who have never been to an A's game at the Coliseum, or haven't been since before Celebration was released in 1980, the song is played at the end of any game where the A's come out as the victors, and this day was no different.

Not only did the A's beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-4 last night in extra innings, they won again tonight 10-1. Though tonight was a good sign that the A's appear to be making progress towards crawling out of their hitting slump, I actually believe that the extra inning win was the more impressive of the two.

Monday night, the A's didn't exactly do EVERYTHING right, but they definitely showed that just because they're down by a run in the bottom of the ninth, against a team that never should've been given a lead in the first place, is no reason they can't grind out a hard-fought win.

The A's won by doing precisely the things that have not come easily for them the entire season -- getting timely hits and getting hits with runners in scoring position. What was even better was that they did this in not just one, but two separate innings! It first occurred when, in the bottom of the 9th and only one strike left to work with, Nick Swisher singled. Charles Thomas was brought in to run for Swisher, then Adam Melhuse was subbed in and also singled, moving Thomas to 3rd. It was then that the A's best hitter with runners in scoring position, Jason Kendall stepped to plate and did exactly what he does best -- singling in the tying run. So good substitutions, good baserunning and 3 straight hits knotted the game at 4 runs apiece giving the A's a new lease on life.

The second time was what finally gave the A's their much-needed win, when Mark Kotsay drove in Marco Scutaro in the bottom of the 11th, also with two outs, ending their 8 game slide.

So, regardless of what happens in tomorrow's series/season finale against the Devil Rays, it sure looks like the A's are starting to wake up and are beginning to believe that they can win... and yes, I know that it was "only" the Devil Rays, but those same Devil Rays have taken series from the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox. The D-Rays may still end up losing a tons of games this year, but they are definitely a force to be reckoned with and shouldn't be underestimated. Either way, the past two nights have been very encouraging.