Oh well. Tampa better than Oakland. News at 11.

Tonight's headline has been brought to you by walk off bunt. I thought it summed up the game perfectly; how mad can you really be when your team loses 10-3?

If you missed tonight's game, you are faring better than the game thread folks. The pride of the 209, Dallas Braden, took the mound in the first inning, after Daric "Nine Finger" Barton hit a homerun to give the A's a short-lived lead.

Braden got into a jam right off the bat after an infield hit and a single, but he induced two ground balls to get out of it. He would get lucky on a couple of other-hard hit balls by the Rays early in the game, but against a team that is arguably as good as any in the league, luck isn't even close to enough. The A's needed great pitching to shut down the Rays monster offensive lineup, and they didn't get it last night, nor did they tonight.

After a leadoff double in the second inning, the Rays made the interesting decision not to test Patterson's arm on a one-out single. Barton had a chance for the second out at home, but threw wildly to Fox. A bloop double landed between Sweeney and Rosales; the ball should have been caught, and just like that, the A's were down 2-1. It was a sloppy game over all, the A's were charged with two errors, the Rays with three.

Despite a leadoff double by Sweeney (flashing some power), it took an error to score him as Chavez, Fox, and Gross all struck out. They were in good company; Shields would strike out 12 A's in his 7 innings of work.

That is not to say that the A's didn't have scoring opportunities. Patterson (who was 2 for 4) opened the fifth with a single and Rosales (also 2 for 4) doubled, but Patterson was thrown out at the plate on a pretty good throw. I'm usually not one to defend getting thrown out at the plate with zero outs, but I understand why he was sent; it's not like the A's were making much contact, evidenced by the fact that Rosales himself was left on third. Playing the Rays is like a slugfest the A's were destined to lose; I think you had to take the reasonable chance there and hope the throw was just a bit offline; Patterson is your fastest runner out there. All in all though, it's hard to record a single, a double and a walk and not score a single run. The A's should be proud.

Barton fell apart in the fifth, probably as disgusted with the A's offense as we were. And when I say "fell apart", consider his 4+ IP, 8 H, 6 ER and 3 BB. He didn't get a lot of defensive help, but it wouldn't have mattered. Tyson Ross gave up two runs of his own, and so did Brad Kilby. Gaudin managed to pitch a scoreless inning, but it wasn't exactly a high-leverage situation.

Rosales thrilled the A's fans still watching the game with a token homerun in the ninth inning and his patented sprint around the bases.

In injury news, you don't even wanna know. Suzuki will be the latest victim. Color me surprised if he isn't DL'd.

So put a forgettable series in the books, and look north to Canada; as the A's/Jays will start tomorrow night. Apparently it's rhyming week.