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As the 2008 season draws to a close, weeknight contests at the Coliseum are seemingly less attended than Oakland City Council Meetings. The few fanatics who chose to spend their Thursday evening with the A's, hoping to see the team extend their recent hot streak, instead saw more of the same. So much "more of the same", you'd think they were watching Biden's speech at the DNC. More bad pitching from an A's starting pitcher. More zeroes from the A's hitters, and three more strikeouts by Jack Cust, giving him the most K's of any Oakland A - ever - grabbing the title away from Jose Canseco, who will likely be better known in later decades for his writing prowess than his 40/40 season and MVP trophy.
After a 2007 that was largely forgettable for Dallas Braden, 2008 has actually shown signs of hope. But tonight was not that night. The Rangers racked up hits and run after run that sped Braden to an early exit. Saarloos, Foulke and Jeff Gray (no relation) combined to deliver five shutout innings to end the game, but the damage had already been done.
The A's managed only four hits tonight with two singles and a pair of doubles. In nine innings, that simply couldn't get it done. This was an unfortunate display of the game being over from almost the very beginning, as the Rangers' crooked numbers in innings 2 and 3 were something the A's have shown little capability of doing all year. It shows even the youngest players have been watching the A's closely and learning in their footsteps.
