Not Ratto, this time, but Monty Poole of the Oakland Tribune/ANG Newspapers:

"Drive to 75 rages in Bay ball" -Monty Poole 6/13/05

ON THE LEFT SIDE of the Bay, the Giants are swept at home over the weekend and slink out of town with their bats between their legs, losers of 14 of their last 16 games.

On the right side of the Bay, the A's, winners of one in a row, return home from a 2-4 road trip, maintaining their 21-day grip on last place in the AL West.

If you thought Slusser was negative, then what about the above snippet?  

So Poole goes on about how both the Bay Area teams suck, which is true but towards the end he makes a astute observation:

Furthermore, the Giants' situation is more urgent. It's a team built for now, which is bound to tear at general manager Brian Sabean's patience. Because his pitching can't be expected to improve with experience, we can't assume Sabean won't trade for a quality veteran arm, even if it means sacrificing a valuable prospect.

The A's? Well, they're built for some other year, some other time and maybe some other place. General manager Billy Beane is smart enough to know it would require a roster overhaul to contend and he's too patient and poor to generate that.

What gives?  This is Oakland's paper?  Can't they at least say, "both teams suck, but you know A's are built for the future," without slamming your own hometown team.  The franchise that has won more championships than the other Oakland franchises?

I hate this shallow analysis.  Earlier the article Poole compares win-loss records of Bay Area starters:

Dan Haren leads the A's with four wins, which puts him on a pace for 11. With about 20 losses.

Brett Tomko leads the Giants with five, which puts him on a pace for 14. With about 23 losses.

The nominal aces? Well, A's left-hander Barry Zito's nabbed his third win on Sunday, one day after San Francisco's Jason Schmidt failed to get his fourth. Both are mired in mind-numbing, arm-torching seasons and seem to be averaging about 40 pitches per batter.

You are an idiot, Poole!  Win-Loss is an overrated stat and does not accurately measue a pitcher's performance.  Even without going into fancy sabermatric stats, one can easily look up ERA and that would be a better indicator of a pitcher's performance.

I have a funny feeling that I know more about baseball than Monty Poole.

I should have majored in journalism so I could take over that guy's job.