Update from baseballgirl: Baseballgirl thinks Nico's recap is just perfect. It was a hard game to watch at a sports bar, let me tell you; darn Boston fans. Also, my hotel's NetNanny blocks AN for use of "alcohol/tobacco". Good job, all. I'd like a win tomorrow, if that's at all possible. Do you think the A's can arrange that for me?
Baseballgirl might have a more in-depth recap later, but just to give you the "quickie particulars," the A's gave Ben Sheets a 3-0 lead before he took the mound, highlighted by Kurt Suzuki's 2-run HR. Sheets promptly gave back 2 in the bottom half, then decided he was the Ben Sheets who could challenge David Ortiz with a fastball down the middle on a fastball count (3-2), even though Ortiz had sat fastball all night and waved at each changeup. He was wrong.
Ortiz parked said fastball deep into the night, a two-run shot that gave Boston a 4-3 lead, and for the second night in a row the A's proved that scoring early isn't the same as scoring enough.
Certainly not when your "ace" can execute neither a shutdown inning nor a smart pitching sequence, and certainly not when your bullpen unites around their common commitment to giving up runs. Tonight it was Ziegler and Breslow who couldn't keep the game closer, each charged with a run.
Brett Anderson's job? Bring the A's home with a good (6-4) road trip instead of an ok one (5-5) that ends by being swept. The first two games in Boston have not inspired.
