In the 3rd inning, it was "four score," and in the 8th inning again it was "four score." How fitting, since seven years ago the A's were riding a historic 20-game winning streak.
Brett Anderson wobbled early -- and I mean it quite literally, as no sooner had the game begun and Anderson was limping off the mound having turned his ankle following through on the pitch. He convinced Geren and the training crew that he was physically fine, cleverly not mentioning that he wouldn't actually pitch well. Anderson gave up 3 runs in the 2nd and the A's trailed early for the 3rd consecutive game.
Fortunately, Luke French really sucks. He served up a two-run HR to Cliff Pennington in the 3rd to make it 3-2 Mariners, and by the time the inning was over Oakland led 4-3. One of those runs was a "Rajai Run," in which Davis tagged up from 1B on a medium fly ball to CF, then stole 3B, and scored on a grounder with the infield in.
The A's would break it open with four more in the 8th, highlighted by matching two-run doubles off the bats of Mark Ellis and Daric Barton. Pennington wound up only a triple short of the cycle and the A's turned in a 13-hit night, helping to make less relevant the fact that Jack Cust does not even catch the fly balls he gets to.
Other notables: Mike Sweeney went 4 for 5 with a HR, while Bill Hall went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts. Oops. And despite giving up a 2-run HR to Jose Lopez in the 9th, Andrew Bailey recorded his 22nd save, one shy of the A's rookie record held by Huston Street -- when he won Rookie of the Year in 2005.
