Game #92: Grand Slam Ruins 1-0 Loss

It's not just that the 2015 A's are bad, although they are; maybe just on my nights or maybe just most of the time. It's that they are really incredibly boring as well, as in, I can't believe I wasted three hours of my life on this drivel. You know what the highlight of the game was for the A's? A stolen base by Billy Burns. In the eighth inning. With two outs. Down five runs. This dubious great play came after Burns slid into first base in a previous at-bat instead of running through the base as if it hasn't been proven over and over again that running through the base is not only faster, but it prevents the runner from having his hands stepped on. Oh and also, if Burns can steal a base when a) everyone knows he's going to run b) he didn't get a great jump and c) he even looked back and can still be safe by a mile, it begs the question, why, why, why doesn't he steal every single time he reaches first? Maddening.

The tent on the circus came late in the game from Lawrie's two-errors-on-the-same-play, as he bobbled the ball once, then twice, then threw it away, recording the 83rd and 84th errors in 92 games for the A's. Gold star, defense.

The second half to the season started with a lead-off home run off Sonny Gray. Gray was otherwise great for five innings, then a walk, single, and walk set the table for the grand slam in the sixth. Granted, the A's would have lost 1-0 if not 5-0, but c'mon Sonny! Think of your ERA!

The A's loaded the bases once with two outs, but failed to score, and their five singles and one walk, scattered about nine innings were unsurprisingly ineffective at scoring a single run. Josh Reddick was pulled from the game in the eighth with a man on in favor of one Jake Smolinski, so I'm sure he'll be super happy on the bench about that, and Mark Canha earned the worst swing of the year award in the ninth on his strikeout.

Did I miss anything? All this fun can by yours for the low low price of three hours of your life starting tomorrow at 6:05PM.