It was the equation that JP Ricciardi dreamed up this past offseason when he went out and signed Burnett and Ryan. He expected Burnett to be a stud number two starter behind Halladay and expected Ryan to save a ton of games. For one night that equation worked. Course, the game basically turned on two very key plays.
I can't remember the last time I watched a baseball game where essentially two plays at home plate were the difference in the game. Yeah, you can point to the A's failure to execute with runners in scoring position tonight, but to me, the bounce off the artificial turf on the throw home from Milton Bradley to Jason Kendall was the difference. Because Wells then followed with a bomb after that play.
The inning earlier Nick Swisher got nailed at home by Reed Johnson. In truth, it was probably a bad call to send Swisher home on that play in the first place, but Johnson executed on the play and Zaun blocked Swisher off.
Believe it or not, I actually got excited when BJ Guardado, I mean Ryan, came out of the pen because the A's have hit him well both recently and in the past with a couple of blown saves on his resume. He always seems to make it interesting for the A's. Funny thing is his stats are excellent. He's just one of those guys I don't fear at all against my team.
So now we sit and hope that the Red Sox can wake up from their Yankee whipping against the Angels. The Rangers are currently losing to the Devil Rays 5-3. Hopefully that equation adds up to the A's retaining their current lead.
