Angels Continue Angry Email Campaign; A's Don't Get A Runner In Scoring Position

I mean, really. For your convenience, I have created a formula out of tonight's lineup which might help to explain tonight's game.

Ian Kinsler > Jemile Weeks
Elvis Andrus > Coco Crisp
Josh Hamilton > Hideki Matsui
Michael Young > Josh Willingham
Adrian Beltre > Scott Sizemore
Mike Napoli > Chris Carter
David Murphy > Kurt Suzuki
Nelson Cruz > Cliff Pennington
Endy Chavez > Michael Taylor

Any questions? (And yes, I'm tongue-in-cheek; the Rangers are an established, playoff-bound team and the A's are just rebuilding. I honestly think they can and will be much better.)

Seriously, the A's can't compete with the Rangers. It's probably amazing that Rich Harden only gave up 6 runs to that lineup. Just kidding; that part of the game was awful too. Harden continued his struggles against Texas, lasting only three innings. He gave up seven hits, six runs (5 unearned), one walk, and struck out three. Graham Godfrey (Gryffindor!) pitched four scoreless innings to follow Harden, but it was too late. The A's offense and its three hits were really, really terrible. Highlights include a monster homerun by Michael Taylor (his first!) and a homerun by Coco (his eighth!), but those two hits and a single by Matsui rounded out the entire offense. Wuertz came in to give up another run (season ERA watch 6.68) and Blevins and Wagner finished the game. Texas reduces its magic number to 4, and if the A's aren't careful, there will be another team celebrating on the field this week.

We play again tomorrow. I'll be back for all of the action (or lack thereof).