A's can't get it done.. Again

The Oakland A's weren't exactly lovable losers after The Boston Red Sox put an end to their 2003 season on Monday night.

From Scott Hatteberg to Miguel Tejada to General Manager Billy Beane, the A's sounded more like sore losers, giving very little credit to the winning Red Sox instead choosing to whine about Derrick Lowe's actions after striking out Terrance Long to end the game, Manny Ramirez watching his game changing home run, and the fact that the A's payroll is not quite near that of their most recent competition.

The A's were a frustrated bunch. The game was the ninth consecutive in which they had a chance to clinch a series and couldn't get it done. Four years in a row they have lost in the first round of the playoffs.

Hatteberg, who hit a whopping .173 in the series, spent seven major league seasons with the Red Sox, mostly in a backup role. He had made some comments about the difference in the organizations earlier in he season inferring the Oakland situation was a much better one. Well for him it certainly is, after all, where can a .267 lifetime hitter with not much power keep a job as a starting first baseman in the major leagues? Hatteberg hit only .253 this season with 12 home runs and 61 RBI's in 541 at bats. He has 61 lifetime home runs in nine seasons. Not exactly the kind of power numbers you look for out of a corner infielder. He is known for his patience at the plate, but even there, his on base percentage this year was a respectable but hardly impressive .342.

It seems the A's thought Derrick Lowe simulated a sexual act with his hands and grabbed his crotch as the game ended. After looking at the replays, it looks to me as they were seeing things. Frustration over losing is one thing, but this is absolutely preposterous.

"Derrick Lowe is going to be paid back for that sign," said Tejada. Tejada went off in the locker room, and had to be restrained then led off to cool down by Beane.

"To have done that is absolutely classless and unprofessional," said Hatteberg, "I'm disappointed having known him. I don't think it was aimed at (Tejada), it was aimed at us. I know we show emotion, but I can't think of anything we've done to show them up."

Lowe was surprised to hear what the A's were saying; "It's a situation where if you offended anyone, I'm sorry. I was swinging my arms around. I don't know what I did. I did the same crazy thing I do every game."

It seems the A's should be a little more worried about their own actions, both on and off the field. Base running blunders by Eric Byrnes, Jermaine Dye, and Jose Guillen (no surprise here, Guillen has always been one with all the tools but very little smarts) cost the A's opportunities to win.

Tim Hudson who had to come out of game four with a strained oblique muscle admitted getting into "a small verbal confrontation" in a bar the night before game three to the San Francisco Chronicle. Manager Ken Macha said Hudson and fellow starter Barry Zito were in the bar signing autographs.

Right.

Let me get this straight, the night before a playoff game, on the road, his players are out in a bar signing autographs? Is that an invitation for trouble or what? Other reports told of a shouting and finger pointing confrontation with a few punches thrown. Hudson by the way weighs 164 pounds.

The reality is this is the fourth year in a row the A's have charged into the playoffs and failed to come out of the opening round. Again, they now have lost nine consecutive games in which they had a chance to clinch.

The frustration even got to Billy Beane who quipped to reporters, "You give me another $50 million and we'll finish off that 2-0 lead." Beane obviously forgets that he accepted the Red Sox General Manager position last winter, and would have had that extra $50 million to spend, had he not reneged 12 hours later. Beane, a self proclaimed genius, wants to pat himself on the back all year long for putting together a winning team with a small payroll, then complain about it when he gets beat in the first round? Ya' can't have it both ways Billy.

Beane upset a lot of baseball people in the book "Moneyball," in which he basically said that he was better, and he had a better way to build a ball club than those who continue to use traditional methods. He is big on on-base percentage. Hatteberg is a good example, but you have to swing the bats too. His two big sticks, Tejada and third baseman Eric Chavez, hit a combined .067 with a mere two RBI's in the series. "Cowboy up" they did not.

Beane must now go back to the drawing board, facing losing Tejada, closer Keith Foulke, relievers Jim Mecir, Ricardo Rincon, and Guillen to free agency. He'll probably do a good job of it, but it won't matter unless he can have some success in October.

In the mean time, Derrick Lowe and the Red Sox move on to face the Yankee's, with a chance to put and end to years of misery for the franchise.

Comments? Ed Duffy can be reached at eduff56@yahoo.com .