Following a good night's sleep (engineered by two whiskeys, a pint of vodka, and a Valium chaser), I awoke realizing that part of my reactional summary of last night's game was irrational. Yes, the A's lost on the kind of play they don't use--the surprise bunt. That's not a legitimate reason to be upset. I'm sure many teams, in 2001-2003, were frustrated when our #3 starter beat their #3 starter because ours was an ace. That's how our team was built, not theirs. Some teams are built to steal a run, others to get to the opposing bullpen in the 6th. Getting beat by a style that doesn't happen to be yours isn't good reason for ranting. Mea culpa on that one.
Let me clarify what irked me about the bottom of the 8th, though. If Street can get the final out, let him do with a great matchup (Uribe) and some margin for error. Once he wasn't brought in--and I didn't mention this yesterday--let Kiesler stay in. Street-Uribe is an awesome matchup for the A's. Kiesler-Anderson has limited potential for damage. Kiesler-Mackowiak is bad enough for the White Sox that I doubt he would have been the batter of choice. But Macha walked into the worst matchup possible (Street-Mackowiak), in a situation with less margin for error--when he didn't have to.
That being said, the A's have done a terrific job the last 3 days, despite going 0-3. They won Saturday, save for truly bad luck--Kendall's liner being right at someone. They probably would have won last night had Duke, Kennedy, and Ellis not all been injured. They are hanging in there, winning half their games and competing damn well in the others. And in the morning sun I'm inclined to praise them heartily for that.
Go A's.
