Yawn.

I know I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but there are days when it really rings true: I would rather lose a game 9-8 than to lose 1 or 2 to 0. Not scoring runs is frustrating; the game really does lose a lot of its fun when you watch the A’s get mowed down for the second straight night.

It’s hard to separate the horrible offense from the quite stellar pitching by C.C. Sabathia (who recorded 11 K’s on the night), but when Suzuki is running up a 0-22 streak, and the rest of the A’s hitters don’t look much better, it’s probably really easy to pitch to them. All it takes is throwing strikes, and only walking players (ahem, Frank Thomas) who will be promptly doubled off. In nine innings today, I never got the feeling that the A’s were close to scoring. Not once.

Despite a couple of rocky moments, Joe Blanton pitched a gem of a game; two solo homeruns the only blemishes in his seven innings. He was helped by a come-backer double-play right back to him with the bases loaded, but it was all for naught; he picked up yet another undeserved loss.
 
It took him until two outs in the eighth inning, but Rajai Davis finally became the leadoff hitter that I was looking for (I loved him in the first slot when lineups were announced), as he dropped a bunt down the third base line for a hit, something that he probably should have tried in every single of his previous at-bats.

Mike Sweeney put another couple of hits on the board, and Crosby and Murphy added their solo hits to Davis’ single, but that was the entirety of the A’s offense tonight. C.C. went the distance without breaking a sweat.

Incidentally, the three innings that I had to listen to the Cleveland announcers was quite enough, thank you. Yes, I recognize that the last two games have been downright embarrassing for the A’s offense, and how we look like anything but a contending team, but before you make us out to be the Royals, try remembering two early-season series wins against your team, both of which you barely escaped a sweep. I’m just sayin’.

The A’s look to stave off a sweep of their own early tomorrow morning (9AM Pacific time). Smith against Laffey.