Which play-off exit was most painful and why?

I seem to remember some questionable managing decisions by Howe (Hudson starting game 3), bringing in Lilly (i think) in game 1, etc...

2001 is awful, because it was the best A's team during the four year playoff run.  And there's the whole 2-0 lead, Jeter, et cetera.  I was there for Game 4, and that was brutal.  The only point I would make about Game 3 is that Jeremy Giambi's run, if it had scored, would not have put the A's in front.  The game would have been tied.  Mussina was dealing, with a deep bullpen and Rivera on call.  That would have been a difficult game to win anyway, in what would turn out to be that Yankee team's last hurrah.

2002 was depressing for different reasons.  First, it's only the only series of the four in which the A's were clearly the better team, so that makes it painful.  Tim Hudson couldn't pitch, but started twice.  Zito won the Cy Young that year, and started once.  I was there for Game Five, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, in a half-empty third deck (the best argument in history for the stupid tarp).  And I never had a good feeling about that game.  Everything about it felt wrong, off.  My first reaction, watching Mark Ellis' home run soar into the bleachers, was bitter:  "Great, now we're going to lose by one run."

You can argue that 2003 wasn't as bad as 2002, because Boston had more talent on a team that won the World Series the next year.  The A's were on the down escalator.  But 2003 was the worst, in part because of what came before, and in part because the series was given away after another 2-0 lead.  A great Yankee team came back and took the 2001 series.  The A's gave away the 2003 series, with bonehead move after bonehead move.  Byrnes, Tejada, Macha pinch-hitting for Dye, Hudson's brawl and subsequent inability to pitch into the second inning, Foulke blowing the save, Terrence Long ending the game as we all knew he would.

It's all subjective, but 2003 was the worst for me.

reliving past pain
ripping a bandage off a deep wound
being given a glimmer or more of hope (2-0 playoff leads, ellis homer), and having it snatched away

We had a chance to win everyone one of the last 3 games and we blew it especially in games 3 & 4.
Game 4 hurt because JD hit that 2 run jack over the green monster that gave us a 2 run lead.

Damn you Foulke for not being able to freakin close a game for us but he could do it just fine the next year for the Sox.

Hopefully 2006 will provide the closure we all need. If we get a ring this year i will all but forget all those horrible playoff loses and the last 2 seasons that have ended at the hands of the Angels.

However, after watching Hudson blow them away in the first inning of Game 4 I got my hopes up again. All we needed to do was score a couple of runs and Huddy would shut them down. I remember the family room and especially the remote took quite a beating when they came back from the commercial break.

So I was again sure we were going to lose the series and felt that way until that 9th inning of Game 5. Runners on 2nd and 3rd and only one out. A simple single and we win the series. Ugh!!!

 we were going to win the series after