Matt Holliday deserves a warm pat on the back for smashing his first home run of the season. A's fans had a long wait to watch their newly acquired star hit one long. It only took him 18 games to get it done, but hey, better late than never. The home run, hit to deep right center, gave the A's the extra run they needed to top the Texas Rangers. Holliday's bat was one of the treats A's fans had been looking forward to the entire off-season since they picked him up off the Colorado Rockies. In Colorado Holliday was a valued hitter, having smashed 25 homers last year and 70 in the two years before that. His trip to Oakland has been plagued by speculation about the friendliness of Coors Field toward power hitters and the fear on behalf of A's fans that he was picked up only to be dealt away again as part of Billy Beane's carousel of players coming and going and Beane's fear of big names and big salaries. So, to Matt Holliday: Congratulations on hitting your first home run in the old Green & Gold, it came too late to make you a great pickup, and it suggests that the Coors Field rumors might be true, but hey, at least the A’s have a name on their roster for once.