For the first half of the season, the A's neither hit nor gave up many homeruns. In the second half, sans Eric Chavez and Frank Thomas the A's continue to find HRs hard to come by, but they are more oft reminded of the "power" homeruns can have on a game.
Mike Aviles' HR broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th off Greg Smith, who had been very sharp up to that point. The crushing blow was John Buck's 3-run bomb in the 7th. Two instant rallies, one crooked, plenty of ammo against an A's offense that would score 2 runs or fewer for the 37th time this week month season. Smith has now allowed four HRs in his last two starts, and A's pitchers have surrendered four HRs in the series, accounting for eight of the Royals' nine runs.
Positives? Mark Ellis hit the ball hard all evening. Eric Patterson's batting average didn't go down. (OK that's not so much a positive as it is a wistful snark.) He has looked good in LF, though. Sadly, Ellis really was the only highlight today, as around him was the occasional hit but at the end of the day no other A's player could say he was thrilled was his performance.
Here's a refrain we've heard all too often lately: The A's will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow. Enjoy your root beer float - right now, the ice cream is the only thing not sinking at the ol' ballyard.
