Thoughts on Tuesday Night's Baseball Action.

Giants fans, get used to this. Matt Cain's line from last night:

5 2/3 IP, 3 hits, 4 BB, 5K's, 0ER.

The bullpen's line from last night:

3 IP, 6 hits, 3ER, 1BB 3 K's, and the loss.

Which apparently went to Keichi Yabu, best remembered for being the A's misguided attempt to tap into the Japanese baseball market by signing an incredibly crappy reliever on the cheap. In other words, he was Oakland's version of Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

Not that East Bay baseball fans can talk much smack, as the A's wasted a typically solid (1 ER, 7H, 1BB, 3 K's, 6IP) Joe Blanton outing in losing to the Red Sox last night. The A's definitely got jobbed when the ump called Youkilis safe in the 5th: Suzuki clearly tagged Youkilis before (if) he touched home, and who knows what would have happened if the inning ended there. Then again, its tough to win games when you only score one run, and Dice-K was NASTY last night, striking out nine, walking none, and only allowing two hits over six and two thirds. Its also to win games when Emil Brown is hitting fifth (or anywhere) in your lineup, but such is the life of an A's fan.

Hopefully the bats will wake up this afternoon. For what its worth the A's are -135 favorites to win this game, as Harden takes on Lester in a match up that gives a clear advantage to the "home" team, despite the presence of 20,000 New England transplants/wannabes sporting Papi jerseys in the stands at the Coliseum.