Getting swept, even against a 1st-place team like the New York Mets, hurts. Losing in the way the A's did in this weekend series, with two lopsided scores (Friday and today) and the much closer 1-0 contest yesterday, is extremely painful.
The way the A's lost today's game wasn't something you could find blame for in any one way. There were defensive issues (Crosby or Cust, you pick) in the first inning, there were hitting issues all over the place, there were pitching issues from the starter as Kennedy allowed eight hits in four innings, and there were pitching issues from the bullpen, as Lewis escaped a bases loaded jam one inning, only to see Jay Marshall groove a low pitch for a 3-run bomb that really put the game away, extinguishing hope, in the next frame.
Accumulatively, in the three game series, the A's hitters were a collective 19 for 99, south of the Mendoza line. That's not going to win ballgames.
And while Jack Cust's home run was a lot of fun today, less fun was seeing him strike out after running the count to 3-0 in the fateful top of the 9th, to end the ballgame. It's great to have seen Geren have the faith to put Cust out in the field to get him some at bats, and yes, at times, it seems we need nine Custs out there to put a W on the board, but the truth of the matter is today, we gave up ten runs, and didn't deserve a W. Not with our hitting, not with our fielding, and not with our pitching.
Let's leave this stadium behind and move on. There's not much sense looking back. You won't like what you see.
