Felix Scuttles A's Offensive Attack, Mariners Beat A's 4-2

I'm just going to get to the play this game will be remembered for, since the rest of this was dull, lifeless, and not worth writing much about.

In the first inning, Brendan Ryan hit a slow grounder to the left. SS Eric Sogard had to range far to his left, and while he was able to get to the ball, he had to make a high arcing jump throw that was a bit off-line. Ryan beat out the throw, and 1B Conor Jackson had to move a little off the bag to catch Sogard's throw. But just in case Jackson wasn't able to catch it, 2B Jemile Weeks ran behind Jackson into shallow RF to back him up. Just in case. And then, crazy happened.

Jackson held the ball in his hand and he started to walk toward the mound, when Brendan Ryan realized that not only was SS Sogard out of position after making the throw, 2B Weeks was out of position after backing it up. So he scampered for the uncovered 2B. 3B Scott Sizemore had to run to 2B to cover the bag (too late), and then...would you look at that, no one was covering 3B. Somehow, the closest man to 3B was CF Coco Crisp, and Ryan made it to third with ease. Officially? An infield single and a two base fielder's choice. Two runs ended up scoring in the inning.

Susan Slusser said it best, after she tweeted, "I'm going to call that the worst play by the #Athletics in the 13 years I've covered them full-time. And maybe beyond."

As for the rest of the game, Rich Harden was quite good, matching Felix zero for zero (aside from the first inning debacle) until Casper Wells hit a two-run home run in the 7th. Scott Sizemore followed Casper up in the bottom of that inning with another two-run home run to ruin Felix's shutout, and the A's teased once more in the bottom of the 8th by loading the bases with one out. And then...Kurt Suzuki struck out on a HBP. Don't ask.

The A's look to avoid the sweep tomorrow at 12:40 PM.