A's Strand Twelve Runners, Hit Into Four Double Plays, and Lose, Also, Duh

1. Ryan Sweeney, bases loaded, -.185 WPA
2. Jemile Weeks, 1B and 3B, -.160 WPA
3. Josh Willingham, 1B, -.158 WPA
4. Kurt Suzuki, 1B, -.201 WPA

Man, if this game came in the middle of a pennant race, I'd be pissed. Good thing the A's have already sapped pretty much all of my motivation. There's rotten luck in the clutch, and then there's this. Those four double plays added up to -.704 WPA, where the losing team adds up to -.500 total.

The rest of the game wasn't exactly easy watching either. In the 3rd inning, Peter Bourjos popped out at the furthest piece of 1B-side foul territory in the park. Erick Aybar, who was on 2B, tried to tag up to 3B. Brandon Allen caught the popup and fired a throw to 3B that would have caught Aybar by a mile, except that it was completely off line. The ball rattled around the 3B-side foul territory, and Aybar scored with ease.

And yet, in spite of their woes in the clutch, the game was actually very close until the 9th inning, which mostly a testament to the sheer number of baserunners the A's were able to get. Angels starter Jerome Williams walked 5 batters in 4.1 innings, and the A's tallied 8 hits on the night. On any other day, this would have been a blowout, but that's how baseball works.

One of the few bright spots came in the 5th inning. With men on 1B and 2B, Josh Willingham hit a line drive to RF. In a moment that brought back happy memories of Mark Kotsay in the 2006 ALDS, Torii Hunter dove for the ball and completely missed it. Willingham ended up at 2B, and the tying run came into score.

The game was 4-3 until the top of the 9th, when Michael Wuertz and Neil Wagner combined to allow two more runs, giving Angels closer Jordan Walden quite a bit of cushion to work with. He didn't end up needing any of it, as he pitched a solid 1-2-3 inning to clinch the victory for the Angels. The Rangers beat the Indians tonight, so the Angels remain 3 games behind in their chase for the AL West pennant.