A's 4, O's 3

Thanks for the win, A's. Really, it's nice to go to sleep at night knowing that the A's did just enough to actually beat another team.

But really, why was this one so close? If the A's are good at anything, it's grounding into double plays with the bases loaded (witness Eric Chavez in the first inning and helmet slammin' Mark Kotsay in the seventh). But when the goal of baseball is to have more runs that the other team at the end of nine innings, and the A's accomplished that, I should be too hard on them, right? No comment.

I know we've beaten this information to death in the past, but let me state it for you again - as it stands, on July 22, 2007 (happy birthday to my mother-in-law!), this is the state of the A's in the clutch:

With bases loaded: .195 batting average, worst in all of BASEBALL
With RISP: .233 batting average, worst in the American League (only the Diamondbacks are worse)

This is why the A's struggle to win games when they've got their ace on the mound and the other team has a thirty-something journeyman just off the DL.

The A's have a chance to do something they haven't done since before the All Star break - win a series. But don't call me optimistic; I'm far from it.