It’s the A’s vs. the World, and the World Wins

There isn’t a lot that can be said about today’s game.  The A’s managed a single base hit from Seth Smith and a couple of walks against the Giants combination of Ryan Vogelsong, Javier Lopez, and Clay Hensley.  Another blown call went against the A’s when Ryan Vogelsong was awarded first base on a HBP that appeared to hit his bat, Bob Melvin argued the call not once but twice with the umpire, ultimately getting the boot for the second time in 3 days.  It’s a string of bad luck that is going against the A’s, and it really does feel like the whole world is an adversary of the green and gold.  This call in particular aided the Giants in putting this game away, but the way the A’s were swinging the bats I highly doubt any offense was coming.

On the bright side of things Tyson Ross managed to keep the Giants off the board while he was physically on the mound.  He exited the game immediately after the “HBP” of Ryan Vogelsong in the 7th inning.  He was ultimately charged with 2 ER on 7 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4.  He struggled with his command at times, but had the double play ball working to help him escape scoring opportunities the Giants had.  This marks 3 starts in a row that Ross has managed to avoid getting shelled, perhaps the slight tweak of his delivery can make the difference in his career at this stage.  Grant Balfour continued to pitch nothing like his 2011 self, his command is all over the place and he’s not missing too many bats when it is in the strike zone, he’ll continue to pitch in middle relief for the foreseeable future.  Travis Blackley did also have a successful outing against his former mates, allowing just 1 hit in 1.1 innings.

For whatever reason the A’s have shrunk on the big stage in numerous cases over the years, and in AT&T Park in particular they have simply been owned by the Giants.  Maybe they need to change their socks, or take up voodoo, or switch up their pre game meals, anything to change their fortunes is acceptable.  Personally I have tried numerous types of hat, shoe, shirt, and sock combinations and none of them seem to work.  The task of avoiding the 4th sweep at AT&T Park in a row, the A’s will have to hope the Tim Lincecum of 2012 makes an appearance, that’s the Lincecum with a 2-3 record and a 5.77 ERA.  Bartolo Colon tries to be the savior for the Athletics after a couple sub par outings recently, his record stands at 3-4, and his ERA at 4.13.  There’s a possibility Coco Crisp could be activated from the DL tomorrow, probably sending either Collin Cowgill or Adam Rosales out of town presumably.  Coco could provide a spark in the lineup that the A’s need to make some noise in the finale of this series.  It’s obvious somebody needs to do it, and give those rowdy A’s fans invading that yard at 3rd and King something to get rowdy about.

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