Tonight the A's weren't really either one. Early on, Oakland suffered from some important bad luck, watching the Yankees score twice in the 1st inning on two spinning grounders and a bloop, then failing in the bottom half when Hannahan was hit by a pitch and then Crosby smoked the ball to left field - probably the single hardest hit ball of the night, including Melky Cabrera's homerun - right at Johnny Damon. Later, with the Yankees leading just 2-1 and Mark Ellis at second base, Carlos Gonzalez lined a base hit right over Jeter's head. How often do you see a line drive directly over the SS's head that doesn't score a runner from second? Not often, but Gonzalez smoked it too hard for his own good, Ellis had to hold at third and the A's loaded the bases for Kurt Suzuki...
...He bounced into one of four DPs that went with six Dana Eveland's walks. And that's where the luck part ends. The A's stranded a lead-off double, a key bases-loaded opportunity, and overall six of the seven consecutive leadoff men who reached base the first seven innings. Some of that was Wang, and some of it was the young, light-hitting, heart-of-the-order-on-the-DL A's.
My final comment on tonight's game: Yes, some of the failures were all too predictable but that doesn't mean anyone made a mistake. It's hard not to hit a sinker on the ground, and as a manager there are times you have to let guys hit even if you're worried that they will strike out or hit into a DP, because the situation calls for that guy to hit away. The A's are young and these are the kinds of aggravating failures we simply need to endure sometimes. And with the current roster, there aren't a lot of alternatives anyway. Get back soon, Ryan Sweeney and Frank Thomas.
