But I don't WANNA recap this game! The A's got three hits tonight; Weeks had two, Reddick had one. Not surprisingly, they also didn't score a run. Bartolo Colon was the hard-luck loser, despite giving up two runs in seven innings. The A's lost their ninth in a row. I'm growing to hate baseball.

Seriously, I honestly don't even know what to say about the offense. Granted, they faced one of the hottest pitchers in the league tonight, but it's every night! How are we supposed to watch this team? What must it be like to watch a team that can actually score runs? I have no idea.

Cespedes was 0-4 in his return, striking out twice. He'll get better.

So...anyone have any good stories? Preferably non-baseball related? I'm moving tomorrow. SoCal AN day, anyone?

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, nor is tonight's lineup a mirage. There is a REAL hitter in the lineup tonight, who, despite just coming off an injury, is going to lead the A's to victory! How's that for positive thinking?!

Bartolo Colon and Yoenis Cespedes will be taking command of tonight's game in their quest to beat the red-hot Felipe Paulino, who has made five starts, and has shut out opponents three times. If nothing else, it will give the A's offense an excuse this time, right?

I will be in and out of the game thread tonight, due to tiny things like an impending move tomorrow, so send all of your best vibes to the game threads tonight and let's try to break the A's 8-game losing streak.

The A's lineup sure looks more palatable with Cespedes in the 4-spot. I'm curious about what next week will bring, as well. This is probably the last chance for the A's to make a recovery from the last ten games, so let's start with tonight!

Lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

It's a long, long read, but I think it's a profound one. The article (more of a short story, really), centers around Dan Naulty, one of the few major league players to freely talk about his steroid use...and the impact it had on his clean teammates when they found out.

It's a heartbreaking read in some parts, where you understand why players juiced; if your lifelong dream is to become a major league player and you can either stay clean and in Triple-A, or take steroids and make it to the show, it probably wasn't all that hard of a call.

Yet, the undercurrent of the article really made me respect the players who did stay clean, who weren't willing to cheat to achieve their dream, and the absolute devastation and frustration they felt when they found out that other teammates showed no such conviction.

Ninety percent of all drafted players never spend one day in the big leagues. Steroid users made the odds even worse for clean players.

The article takes us through the minor league experience; the elation of the big leagues, and the heartbreak of being released. It also provides an intimate look at the life of Dan Naulty.

I highly recommend the read, and I'd love your thoughts.

So if you are looking for an all-time losing streak, the A's are adding to that total daily! Hey; we're good at losing, yay! Seriously, the A's are terrible at anything offensively. At least they didn't break what is left of our collective hearts today; when you get shutout again, you never have a lead to lose. The A's drop an uninspired game today as the Twins (the TWINS!) complete the sweep with a 4-0 score. This team can't hit. Racking up three hits in nine innings is not so good. Congratulations to Jemile Weeks for his single. Yay! Congratulations to Coco Crisp for his single. Yay! And a huge congratulations to Collin Cowgill for a double! Two whole bases...yay!

If you care (and you probably don't!) Tyson Ross went 5 innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs, while walking three. Yay!

I have nothing more to say. I'll post an awesome article from Sports Illustrated soon, and we can talk about non-A's related baseball. The A's play the Royals starting Friday. Maybe in the meantime, the bats are on their way?

We can only hope.

Oh boy! Morning baseball! If only the A's weren't riding a 7 game slide, facing Francisco Liriano today! It seems that the A's are bound and determined to lose in the most dramatic, painful way possible in the ninth inning of every game, so let's predict today's outcome. What if the A's actually scored like 8 runs, and then gave them all back? Wouldn't that be fun? Baseball is a LOT more fun with zero expectations, so let's just pencil in the A's for their 8th loss in a row and call it a day! Tyson Ross is going to do his part, so here we go!

Lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Ho hum; another game, another loss. Lost in the last week of poor play has been the magic of the first two months of the season, when the A's were consistently over the .500 mark. With tonight's boring loss to the Yankees, the A's slip to two games under .500, with little hope of resurfacing, unless some offensive help comes soon. If you're looking for a silver lining, the A's did score 3 runs tonight, a marked improvement on the last two games, and two of the runs came via the long ball.

Tyson Ross was pedestrian tonight, but was not helped by a huge error by Coco Crisp, opening the door for a two out rally by the Yankees; which would be the difference in the game.

The Yankees took advantage of the error by Coco in the fourth inning, after Ross wobbled, but put up three innings of zeros. After a strikeout, a single, and a strikeout in the fourth, the error allowed the run to score, but also let Teixeira hit in the inning, resulting in a homerun. Granted, those runs weren't earned, but Tyson Ross still gave up the homerun. Down 3-0, the A's would fight back with a solo homerun by Reddick in the fourth (his 12th), but Ross would give it right back up to the Yankees in the fifth. A solo homerun by Cano extended the lead to 4-1, and a two-run Swisher homerun (boy do I miss him) gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead.

The A's real chance was in the fifth inning, as a Donaldson single and a Barton double put runners on second and third with no outs, but an incredulous Kurt Suzuki watched as his sure base hit was caught for only a sac fly. The A's would tack one more on as Ka'aihue homered, but they would lose 6-3. Blevins and Miller mopped up nicely, but Tyson Ross' 4.1 inning, 6 run (3 ER) start buried the A's early.

We do it again tomorrow in the battle of the heavyweights; Colon vs. Sabathia. We'll see you here at 1PM.

To no one's surprise, the A's have one hit. To no one's surprise, Tyson Ross has given up 3 runs. To everyone's surprise, the A's stopped more runners scoring in the fourth, by turning a really convenient double-play to get out of the inning. We head to the bottom of the fourth, 3-0 Yankees.

Greetings from the gorgeous beach in Central California! I will be your game thread host for this amazing long vacation weekend, as we open the Friday Night (Drinking) Game Thread! The A's will be taking on the Yankees; this should be really fun with the A's current lineup and Tyson Ross pitching. Okay, okay, that's not entirely fair. The Yankees record is not much better than the A's right now, so here's to hoping we catch them at a down time.

The A's will be throwing out this lineup against Ivan Nova:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Well, that was disappointing. The A's fall under .500 tonight and lose the series to the Angels because their offense basically....sucks. After getting 1-hit last night, the A's are three-hit tonight, and it's only because one of those hits was a homerun (Seth Smith) did the game even continue past nine innings. Well, that and Jarrod Parker's seven awesome innings, in which he struck out 8 batters. Cook, Fuentes, and Balfour followed with scoreless innings, and Norberto took the loss, as he gave up two in the eleventh.

You aren't going to win a lot of games with an offensive performance like this:

Strikeout, groundout, walk, flyout.
Single, strikeout, groundout, flyout.
Strikeout, single, groundout, pop-up.
Strikeout, walk, flyout, flyout.
Flyout, pop-up, pop-up.
Groundout, homerun, flyout, flyout.
Flyout, groundout, flyout.
Groundout, flyout, groundout.
Groundout, groundout, walk, groundout.
Flyout, groundout, groundout.
Strikeout, strikeout, walk, strikeout.

That's basically the summation. An incredible pitching performance wasted, and another game in the loss column. The A's badly need some bats in their lineup. Until then, we can hope for better things this weekend against the Yankees.

BONUS BASEBALL! A's and Angels are tied after nine innings, 1-1, in what is the deciding game of the series. The A's will try to win in extra innings!

This morning finds the A's back at the .500 mark, having absolutely thrown the game last night, not that I'm complaining. When you are throwing out a placeholder as a pitcher in a game against C.J. Wilson, who is notoriously tough on your lineup, why not rest the entire lineup and take the loss? The A's already have the series split, and they go for the series win this afternoon.

In a battle of the creatively spelled first names, Jarrod Parker will take the mound for the A's against Jered Weaver of the Angels as the A's try to take the series. Yoenis Cespedes has not yet returned, and Manny is on the horizon, so the A's have to make do with the following lineup:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

Well, you can't say that the A's rolled over. Down by as many as 7 runs at one point, the A's ended the game with the winning run at the plate, and the tying run at first. It's games like these that I probably would rather see the A's lose 8-1 than 8-6; it requires a lot less of the "what-ifs". What if Parker had been just a little better? What if Blevins hadn't pitched? What if Kila hadn't swung at the first pitch? And on and on.

But at the end of the day, the A's couldn't recover from Jarrod Parker's two-plus inning, four hit, four walk, six earned run outing. You're going to lose most of the games when your starting pitcher can't get out of the third inning. His replacement, Jerry Blevins, would give up two of Parker's runs, one by walking Barry Zito with the bases loaded. The two runs he would give up himself were ultimately the difference in the game. Figueroa, Norberto and Blackley put forth a valiant effort, holding the Giants scoreless, but the damage had already been done.

Meanwhile, the much-maligned Josh Donaldson would have a night, going 3 for 5 with 5 RBI. He homered in the third, doubled in the fifth, had a key bases-clearing double in the sixth that would get the A's back in the game, and reached on an error in the ninth.

The A's would put up a teAse in the ninth inning, as Donaldson reached on an error, and after Kila swung at the first pitch and popped it up, Seth Smith singled to put runners on the corners. Jemile Weeks came up as the go-ahead run, but he grounded out.

Disappointing to be sure, and not the way you want to start off the Bay Bridge Series. The A's will try to bounce back tomorrow as Tyson Ross takes the mound.

A LOT has happened in the game, and things haven't quite turned to the A's favor, although they are closer than they were. The A's trail 8-6, going to the eighth inning. Here's to completing the rally!

It's time for the annual Battle of the Bay as the A's face off against the Giants, and most of the resident A's fans not only root for the A's just because, but also to shut up their coworkers. The Giants have had the best of this decade so far, so it's time for our surprising 2012 A's (20-19 this year to the Giants' 19-19) to show the Bay Area that it's still a two-team race.

Unfortunately, the A's are still playing their B team tonight (and Donaldson is still at third base), but perhaps they will fare as well against Barry Zito as previous A's teams. Jarrod Parker will be facing the Giants tonight, and batting! From what I hear, he is more likely to be able to hit than Colon.

Let's get this show on the road!

Here are your lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

When you run a comparison between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics on paper, the A's entire first string roster loses to their Texas counterparts in every single position, including pitching. The A's aren't even playing their second string these days, as half of their starting lineup is missing. Call it what you want; 'that's why we play the games', 'clutching up', 'righteous indignation' , 'the magic of the 2012 Oakland Athletics', or 'Brandon McCarthy is just that good', but the A's matched the Rangers play-for-play today. They took the Rangers all the way into extra innings to earn a win and a split in the series, despite a horrific umpiring call that could have handed the A's a loss.

If this week of baseball is any indication, there appears to be a coordinated effort in place for all live umpires to replace themselves with replay technology. In what was one of the more egregious blown calls I've ever seen, the homeplate umpire, Laz Diaz, absolutely butchered a game-changing call that took place right in front of him, which would lead to Bob Melvin (and 9/10th's of AN) to get kicked out of the game in protest. But unlike last year's A's, who would have collapsed under the unfairness of it all, the 2012 A's, led by Josh Reddick and his 10th homerun, stormed back to steal the game from Texas and get back to a game above .500.

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

The A's lineup proved us all wrong early, as the first five hitters of the game would reach base against Matt Harrison. Unfortunately, after a lead-off walk, Jemile Weeks tried to steal against the impossible-to-steal-against Harrison, and was thrown out. This would be important later, as Pennington singled, Reddick singled, Gomes doubled and Suzuki doubled. I was looking at the lineup too, Jemile; I don't blame you one bit for trying to get into scoring position. So the A's scored three runs in the first, instead of four, and gave McCarthy an early lead.

McCarthy walked two to open the first inning, but didn't allow a run until the fourth (against Texas, not too shabby). A quick Napoli single and a Mitch Moreland homerun brought Texas within a run, evaporating the early 3-0 lead. The A's couldn't get back on the board against Harrison, but Brandon McCarthy kept the lead until the sixth inning, when all hell broke loose.

It started with a one-out Moreland homerun (his second on the day) to tie the game, a double to put the go-ahead run at second base, and a single to put runners on first and third with one out. The Rangers--with their offensive firepower, mind you--chose to squeeze bunt for the run, but Elvis Andrus popped it up. Brandon McCarthy caught it. YES, caught it; see the video all over the internet for ironclad proof. And no one had a better view than Laz Diaz, who was right there. McCarthy not only caught the ball, but doubled the runner up, so the A's were out of the inning, right? Wrong. Diaz claimed that McCarthy trapped the ball, the run scored, and the other runners were safe. Bob Melvin wasted no time in getting ejected arguing the call, but manged to not throw a batting helmet.

Grant Balfour replaced McCarthy after the fiasco, and got out of the one-out, two-on jam without allowing a further run. Down 4-3 in the seventh, Josh Reddick hit his biggest homerun of the season for the A's, to tie the game. Balfour would start the eighth inning with a lead-off single and a stolen base, but Josh Donaldson saved a run with a diving stop to get an out, and prevent the run from scoring. (Don't worry, you would forget this play by his ninth inning actions.)

Ryan Cook nearly gave all of us a heart attack in the eighth inning, as he was clearly in pain after throwing a pitch (possible cause: blister on finger), but he stayed in the game and pitched a perfect eighth (retiring pinch-hitter Josh Hamilton, to boot). After the A's failed to break the tie in the ninth, Cook was greeted by a two base Donaldson error to open the bottom of the ninth. A groundout would move the winning run to third with one out, but after an intentional walk, Cook would strike out Nelson Cruz, Suzuki would make a game-saving block, and a final groundout would send the game to extra innings.

Jonny Gomes started the 10th with a single and in what was a classic example of why the sacrifice bunt is such a bad idea, Kurt Suzuki (who had been smoking the ball all over the park all day) popped up the sacrifice bunt, looking wildly uncomfortable with his role as bunter. Jemile Weeks? Fine. Kurt Suzuki? Let him hit! The A's cost themselves an out, and possibly an insurance run. On the road. Against the best hitting team in the league. When one run might not be enough. Luckily for the A's, Daric Barton came up with a HUGE pinch-hit single, and Kila Ka'aihue followed with an even bigger one, driving in the go-ahead run to put the A's up 5-4. Brian Fuentes, closer extraordinaire, threw a shockingly uneventful bottom of the tenth for the save, allowing just a single.

This was a gigantic win for the A's today, and a real game. The A's are still over the .500 mark and haven't lost a series all month. They leave Texas and head to San Francisco for a little Bay Area rival action, starting tomorrow night. It's time for a sweep! We'll see you right here, and I'll leave you with this:

No, that was not a good call. Yes, that was a great win. We don't win games like that last year.

— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) May 17, 2012

After jumping out to an early lead, the A's couldn't hold off the Rangers, who were helped immensely by another egregious umpire mistake, and went down 4-3. But Reddick has tied the game, and we're going to the eighth in a 4-4 tie.

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

In what is a blow to the A's already-meager offensive choices, Brandon Inge just went on the DL, leaving exactly nobody in the lineup today. Normally, I don't advocate putting pressure on the starting pitcher by letting him know that he'd better be perfect against the formidable Texas lineup. In Texas. However, Brandon McCarthy had better be perfect against his old team with this crew starting behind him:

Yes, Rosales is starting at first base. Yes, Suzuki and Donaldson are batting fifth and sixth. The A's will be facing Matt Harrison, who I'm sure will look like Cy Young.

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

The A's have dug themselves a 4-0 hole, one that probably could have been avoided with sharper play. They also can't quite yet the big hit from their offense, and when the other team has 12 hits and you have 3, you're going to be losing every time. The A's look to RALLY as we go to the eighth inning.

More baseball! Don't check your calendar; it's not a typo. The A's and Angels play at 7PM Eastern Time, which is 4PM our time. The A's try to sweep the Torii Hunter-less Angels (in what is an incredibly sad story, without knowing many of the details).

The Angels will be starting Ervin Santana, while Bartolo Colon will face off against his old team, now obviously representing Oakland. He is coming off a really terrible start, so I hope he rebounds. The A's will have Kila and Jemile back today, all good things.

I'll be your host for the game, and Nico will be coming in to close.

Your lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

The Tigers may have collected their blowout last night, but the A's returned the favor in spades tonight. Backed by Brandon Inge and his 4 RBI night (three of them coming off a homerun), and Josh Reddick and his first-career two homerun, 5 RBI game, the A's pounded the Tigers by the final score of 11-4 to even the series.

The A's offense was great tonight; banging out 13 hits to make a winner out of Tommy Milone, who earned his fifth win of the season. He pitched seven strong innings, allowing just one earned run; striking out six while walking just one.

He started out in trouble in the first inning; shades of his last start (and of last night's second inning), as he allowed a leadoff double and a single (that may or may not have been slightly misplayed by Cowgill) to put runners at the corners with no one out. I was anticipating a big inning, but before I could even worry, Milone got a double-play and a strikeout to end the inning with minimal damage--one run scored. The A's wouldn't be behind for long. With two outs in the first, Reddick singled (he would also go 4-4 on the day), Kila Ka'aihue doubled him in for the A's first run, Seth Smith walked, and Inge singled Ka'aihue in to give the A's the 2-1 lead.

An error by Inge to open the third put Milone in another jam, as he would allow two singles and an unearned run in the inning, but he kept the Tigers off the board for the rest of his start. Meanwhile, the A's offense broke the 2-2 tie with a Reddick homer, another Ka'aihue double, and a Smith double (who was 3-4 on the night). Leading 4-2, the A's padded the lead in the sixth as a single and stolen base by Jemile Weeks, an RBI single by Reddick, and a Smith single all set the table for Brandon Inge's three run BOMB, easily well into the crowd on a May night at the Coliseum.

Take note:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Inge is the 1st player with four 4+ RBI games in a 5-game stretch since Lou Gehrig in 1931. #Athletics

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 12, 2012

I will bet you 1 million dollars that Brandon Inge never thought he would ever be in the same tweet as Lou Gehrig.

The A's would tack on three more runs (double-digits, WOO!) in the seventh, after back-to-back walks set the table for Reddick's second homerun. Everyone in the lineup would get into the action, with the notable exception of Daric Barton, who went 0-5 with two K's looking.

The Tigers would score two garbage runs off Andrew Carignan in his return, but no one cared. Celebration! We're over .500!

See you tomorrow at 5:15 (A's movie night after the game).

A's are leading (yes, LEADING) 4-2, as we go to the bottom of the fifth. Methinks we need more runs.

After a truly horrific game last night, which saw the A's score 6 runs (including a grand slam) and easily lose, the A's look to right the ship tonight against Rick Porcello and the Tigers. The A's are back at .500, and don't really need a long losing streak, having dropped their last two games. Tommy Milone will get the call for the A's. He struggled badly in the first inning in his last start, allowing four runs, but the A's got him a win. Bartolo Colon wasn't so lucky last night; he was pulled early. The A's got an infusion of a fresh arm in the person of Andrew Carignan, and life in the outfield with Colin "They're not 'boo-ing, they're 'moo-ing'" Cowgill.

Obviously we are still concerned with the heath of Yoenis Cespedes; he is not in the lineup tonight, and I hope he's not rushed back. But I also want him to play. Dilemmas.

Tonight's lineups will look something like this:

Tigers:

Your 2012 Oakland Athletics:

Weeks (2B)
Pennington (SS)
Reddick (RF)
Ka'aihue (DH)
Smith (LF)
Inge (3B)
Barton (1B)
Suzuki (C)
Cowgill (CF)

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

In true A's fashion:

#Athletics recall Andrew Carignan and Collin Cowgill from Sacramento; option Jim Miller and Michael Taylor to Sacramento.

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) May 11, 2012

Thoughts?

Update:

Taylor's demotion not a reflection of performance, Melvin says. He wanted a CF, with Cespedes still out and Reddick more comfortable in RF.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) May 11, 2012

First the great news:

Yoenis Cespedes has a strained muscle in back of hand. Day to day. Great news for #Athletics

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) May 9, 2012

And more good news:

Brandon McCarthy says he played catch today, it went well. #Athletics

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) May 9, 2012

We can all take a tentative sigh of relief as it looks like minor setbacks for both Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon McCarthy. Because we sure could have used Cespedes' bat in today's game.

Basically, the tone of the game was set from the first inning; Tyson Ross threw 26 pitches in what would be a labor-intensive start for him; albeit, not as terrible as usual. The A's would put runners all over the place against Brandon Morrow in the first inning, but would fail to plate any of them, letting Morrow off the hook and sending him on his way to pitch a gem.

Ross likely benefited from the extra-wide strike zone today; he only manged to walk three in his 5 and 2/3rds innings. Granted the first two walks were issued in the first inning, so that was an improvement. Brandon Morrow would actually walk three in the first; in fact, Weeks and Pennington walked back-to-back to open the game. The A's--offensive struggles and all--have to score those runs. Instead, Reddick struck out for the first out, and after a successful double-steal of second and third, Gomes popped up, and after Smith walked to load the bases, Kila flew out.

The A's would put up a lot of zeros after that, and they would also strike out a lot. Every single A's hitter struck out at least once today; Recker, Inge, Pennington twice, and Daric Barton owned the hat trick.

The A's would go down 2-0 on an Adam Lind homerun in the fourth. They would cut the score in half in the fifth, as Pennington and Reddick drew back to back walks, and Gomes singled one in. Ross gave the run right back in the sixth, and Pedro Figueroa gave up his first run in the seventh. The A's also had a promising seventh inning, as Recker walked, and with one out, Pennington singled, but after Reddick singled the second run in for the A's, Gomes struck out and Smith flew out to end the threat.

Jerry Blevins gave another run up to Toronto in the eighth, and the A's offense mounted no other comeback. A disappointment after last night's high, to be sure, but I hope day-to-day on Cespedes means "tomorrow". We'll see you back here as the A's open the series against the Tigers.

A's down 5-2 as we go to the bottom of the 8th inning. Rally time!

Well, in the grand scheme of things starting with "Ross", I guess being down 2-0 isn't bad. I'll try to ignore the bases-loaded failure by the A's in the first inning, and just say, "LET'S GO OAK-LAND!"

We go to the bottom of the fifth, A's trailing by two.

Good morning, and welcome to an exciting day game of A's baseball! The A's are riding high after last night's dramatic win, in which Brandon Inge's walk-off grand slam was played on an endless loop in many an A's household, and the adorable ensuing dog pile brought smiles to our faces for the first time since...oh...about 2006. The A's will try for the 2-game series sweep with a win today, which would also bring their modest winning streak to four, but their offense better come ready with Tyson Ross on the mound. Apparently, I drew the short straw as the recapper; my last game was also a Ross start.

The good news is the Ross only allowed 7 runs during his last start, a slight improvement from the 9 in his previous one. The better news is that the A's are dancing with Miss .533, so even if they lose the game today, they are still over the .500 mark. But how about a win for the green and gold?

Obviously Cespedes is out again (this is killing me); he is scheduled for an MRI on his hand today. Think good thoughts and/or send prayers for health, because this season might continue to be interesting with him and Manny in the center of the lineup. And, hey! We lead the league in stolen bases...go us!

The A's offense will be facing Brandon Morrow, and they will lineup like this:

Kurt Suzuki, after being battered a lot lately, will have the day off after the night game,both Kila and Barton will be in the game, as will both Smith and Gomes. Taylor looks to be seated today.

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!

So...how's Brad Peacock coming along? And by that, I mean I'd like him to start in five days, because as you can tell from the score, Tyson Ross picked right up where he left off in Baltimore. He only gave up 7 runs today, but that's only because he wasn't allowed to give up any more.

There weren't a lot of "bright sides" to this game, as the A's dip a game under .500, but the bullpen was one. Pedro Figueroa replaced Ross in the fourth, and got a double-play to prevent the Rays from hanging a 9-spot on Ross. Jerry Blevins had a great outing, striking out three in his nearly-two innings, and Jim Miller finished the game unscored upon.

To be extremely fair to the A's offense, David Price was filthy tonight; striking out 12 in his eight innings. They managed to coax a run across the plate in the second inning on back-to-back doubles by Gomes and Suzuki, but of course, Ross gave up seven in response, so that wasn't really enough. Cliff Pennington hit a meaningless homerun in the ninth to put the second run on the board, but aside from a Cespedes hit and another Gomes hit, that was all the offense the A's could muster. It is highly likely the A's would have fallen to Price no matter who they threw out there, but Ross sucked.

It's one of those games that you just have to forget, and hope that Bartolo Colon can hold the red-hot Rays to fewer runs than the A's score tomorrow. Michael Taylor watch: 0-3 with a K. Don't judge him by this game; at one point, Price threw a 97 mph fastball, followed by an 81 mph change. Welcome to the bigs, kid. We'll see you in the lineup tomorrow.

"It's just not Tyson Ross' night" should be the winning slogan for the biggest understatement of the year. The A's managed to get a 1-0 lead off a nasty David Price and Tyson Ross responded by giving up seven runs. Yes, seven, and it still can be more. Love the A's and all, but scoring 6 runs off David Price to tie the game seems a bit...daunting. The Rays lead the game 7-1 as mercifully, Ross is out of the game. Pedro Figueroa takes over with two runners on and one out.

Somewhat improbably, the A's are still slow-dancing with Miss .500, looking to go up and over that winning percentage if they can take the opener tonight. It will not be an easy task, as the A's are facing David Price and the red-hot Rays club. On paper, David Price vs. Tyson Ross looks very much a mismatch in the Rays' favor, but we've seen stranger things happen; after all, the A's are coming off a series win in Fenway Park.

The good news for the A's is that Jemile Weeks is back in the lineup, and the exciting news is that so is Michael Taylor, who is replacing Coco Crisp.

Assuming Taylor can continue his Triple-A success in the big leagues, this lineup almost seems...respectable. Unfortunately, they will have to overcome not only David Price, but Tyson Ross, as well, who gave up nine runs his last time out. But again, that's why they play the games.

Happy Friday to all!

Lineups:

LET'S GO OAK-LAND!