Was Robertson even warming up in the bullpen? We desperately needed a closer, and we pulled up Connor. Use him, Geren! He's got to be better than the options we have right now.

if we continue to get lights-out pitching from the starters, I say let them finish the damn game. I have no confidence in Calero right now. He needs to be thrown out with the medical waste.

it's just so very clear that none of the other guys in the pen are solid closers.  Especially if Duke isn't healthy.

Calero hasn't really been remarkable this year either.  It's frustrating to let a game like this slip through our fingers.

They should try Robertson.

the problem is that when they get ahead or to a 2 strike count, they can't finish of the hitter.  per blez's point, our relievers are struggling with their best pitches.

therefore, they start to pick at the edges and put themselves in hitters' counts.  

either way, the results are disastrous.

I hope someone in the bullpen figures out how to pitch soon. And I agree we should give Robertson (not to mention DiNardo) a chance... what do we have to lose?!? The guys we have now are sucking already!

If we lose games like this to the Royals, I don't want to see what happens when we face teams known for good hitting. :(

Hopefully something will click soon, either hitting or the bullpen. Thank GOD our starters are still so amazing. {knock on wood}

As for Robertson, come on folks. A guy making his major league debut is a better bet to close out a one-run game in the 9th than Calero? That's just deifying a guy because he's never actually had the chance to pitch badly in front of you. Yet.

Geren is making perfectly good decisions and it doesn't matter because there are no good decisions to be made. None of these guys has any business pitching in the 9th inning of a save situation.

Either Beane needs to go find a serviceable closer, or Duke needs to get well in a hurry, or we need to budget, emotionally, for a bunch of these outcomes in the coming weeks.

"Oh, we should have left Calero in to close the game instead of letting Embree and Witasick pitch the 9th."

Tonight, those people got their wish and now they're saying Geren should have gone to a rookie who's never thrown a big league pitch.

So if Robertson gets a shot at closing tomorrow night and blows it, who are we going to call for next?

Going to Calero was the right call. Calero didn't get it done.

A's lost. Try again tomorrow.

Every year for the past 3 years the amount of injuries has skyrocket.  It can no longer be blamed on bad luck.  If you eliminate  the imposable, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.  It's time for the trainer to go.

I can't stay to sour nor can I look for blame.

We have one of the best rotations in the MLB, we're finally getting some hitting and our GM knows how to address problems.

We've been in tougher places, but I count my lucky stars that I'm n Oakland A's fan and not a long sufferer of any other team.

Tomorrows another day. Maybe we'll see Connor out there.

... with Marco Scutaro starting at 2B, RF, and 3B, I think you consider yourself lucky to have won one and to have been close in all three.

And this is also to directly contradict Cotroneo tonight: good teams are not distinguished by their winning records in 1- and 2-run games, but by the small number of such games they play. Good teams regularly win games by comfortable margins, especially against inferior teams such as the Royals.

Given the A's health status, it's really amazing (and a sign that the rotation is pitching somewhat above its talent level) that the team is winning as many games as it is, period.

Oh, and ... I AM SPARTA-CUST!

Brad Halsey wearing green and gold again.

needs to find a Jack Cust for the bullpen.

Can someone tell me why Brad Halsey is still in AAA? I was going to go to the game tomorrow, but since Braden's pitching, I'll listen to the loss on the radio..

It's gonna be tough staying above .500 now that our bp can't pitch their way out of a paper bag.

The loss sucked and our bullpen looks like crap, but congrats to Kendall on his second XB hit of the year and 2 RBI's.  He even got to a 3-ball count once.  Now if only he could close.

Going into this year, everyone knew our offense would suck (even with them healthy), but who thought our bullpen would suck?  Just don't go all Wayne Krisky and trade young position players (do we have those?) for a couple bullpen arms.

Throw Kennedy or Go Dan as the closer

Or...bring in our Ziggy Man

Or...wait for one of the starters to get healthy, any of them, and throw Go Dan into the pen

Trade for Chan Ho.  Let him close.  

Folks, its May, and the A's are still above 500.  Can't complain too much

I forgot that I'm not supposed to join a game thread once the game is in progress.  I'm sorry...

that depict the final years of Rome....with the senate in chaos, and debating left and right while the barbarians continue to march onward.

A's fan be mad at Geren if Robertson were brought in last night and he had lost??!!  This whole thing about "non-pressure" situations, and crap like that is ridiculous.
He was pitching lights out in Sacramento ... put him in the game and see what happens. Every inning in every big league game is a "pressure situation." Bringing guys up just to watch them sit is stupid. Robertson was our best option in the ninth, and we didn't use him.  We got beat.  

The A's have the worst save percentage in the American League.  

Maybe the A's should give Troy Percival a shot?!?  

According to reports, he's been clocked at 97MPH recently, and a comeback is likely.  Why not?  Plus, it would piss "Angel-Blow-Hard" off to no end.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6...

Most statheads don't say that closers are interchangeable.   What they do say is that some points in the game are more crucial than other times ("high leverage"), and these may happen earlier than the 9th inning.  You should have your best available pitcher pitching then, and not necessarily during Save opportunities.  

In contrast, closers are measured by Saves and related stats. This means good pitchers like Billy Koch can get highly overrated, and can get flipped for better pitchers with worse Save stats.

As for the painful game: it's a long season. May is usually a lot more painful than this one, so count our blessings.