"It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times"?! you stupid monkey!

-- Montgomery Burns, Last Exit to SpringField

Two batters into this contest, the A's had a 2-0 lead, courtesy of a Mark Ellis triple and Carlos Gonzalez home run. And the next inning, they piled on, adding two more, after the Rays had answered to tie it up. That's right! 4 whole runs in 2 innings!

But the game went on, and the A's pitching got worse. Gallagher walked four and threw more than 90 pitches in 4 innings of work, and Dan Meyer, who followed, walked three in less than an inning, letting the Rays tie it up at 4-4.

Meanwhile, at bat, the A's love leaving the bases  loaded. Today's goat? Emil Brown. And Alan Embree is pulling a "mini-Ziggy", going 1 1/3 scoreless innings. On to the bottom of the sixth! Go A's!