Even the Orioles were no match for the A's road futility. Dallas Braden pitched 4 good innings, but had his 1-0 lead thrown away -- quite literally -- on an ill-advised DP turn by Cliff Pennington. Stranger than the A's ability to get runners on base, lots of them, against Jeremy Guthrie, but not home? Stranger than Pennington throwing to 1B when he had no chance at the runner, and firing it closer to Ryan Sweeney than to Daric Barton? That would be Bob Geren lifting Braden after 4 innings and 62 pitches due to "manager's decision." I think we're all waiting, on pins and needles, to learn more about what that means.
Tyson Ross continued the monstrosity that is the A's away from the Coliseum when he began the 6th without his trusty compass, and fired 9 balls in a row to start the inning. And those weren't his worst pitches. That would be the subsequent wild pitch that advanced runners to 2B and 3B, whence they scored on consecutive sacrifice flies.
Of the 10 batters who reached in Guthrie's 6 innings, one scored. Errors, 4-pitch walks, and wild pitches helped the Orioles score their first 3 runs without the benefit of a hit. The A's played a team that is 18 games out of 1st place and managed to look like the far inferior team, as they dropped to a rather grim 5-14 on the road.
All eyes are on Braden after his start -- but in contrast to 16 days ago, it's not for happy reasons. What the heck causes the A's to go mum on a pitcher being pulled and to say "manager's decision"? What aren't they saying? Apparently, more will be revealed soon, so stay tuned...
UPDATE, 7:15pm: "It was due to an existing ankle sprain; he should be for his fine next start." You couldn't have just said that a couple hours ago?
