It seems like two teams wanted the A's to win today. From the 8th through the 10th, I was hoping that we could win this game so that I could forget about what I saw in the 7th, a free out given to the other team while knowing we'd get nothing in return with the go-ahead run on third. But incredibly, inCREDibly, another crazy thing involving the same player bunting happened in the 10th, and again, everything gets fucked up and we lose. We should be credited with two losses.

Here's how it all went down in case you missed it: Bottom 7, AJ ties it at 2 on a homer. X walks, and Gomes flies one to right, and Reddick, who'd been having trouble with the wind out there, doesn't catch it. Second and third, nobody out. So we knock these guys in, and cruise to a sweep, right? Incorrect. Middlebrooks watches strike three, and then Bradley tries to surprise 'em with a bunt. Safety squeeze. He misses the ball. Okay, fine. Call that play off and let's get a fly ball and take the lead. Nope, they have him try to bunt again as the pitcher throws ball one. What? The A's have the first baseman charging, the third baseman halfway in, they've seen us try to bunt already...and...we're trying it some more. In other words, THERE'S NO BUNT YOU CAN LAY DOWN WHERE THE RUNNER ON THIRD WILL EVEN TRY TO SCORE. Bunting in that case is saying, "we'd prefer to just move on to the next batter, so we'll purposely have this one hit a tapper that you can field and throw him out on, at no cost to you." I'm goin', Where does he think he's gonna bunt this ball?? So he squares again, gets another ball. Then he squares AGAIN, and this time does exactly what you'd think, bunts it, pitcher fields, throws him out. FREE OUT! And I know people refer to sacrifice bunts as giving away an out, but at least with those, you're getting something in return!!!!!! Steve Zissou said it best: "You never say, 'I'm gonna fight you, Steve.' You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch." As soon as he squared the second time, I thought, Maybe he's injured. Maybe he can't swing. But no, because surely they'd pinch hit if that were the case. Then I thought, Hmmm, maybe Farrell saw Bradley's two double plays earlier and didn't want him swinging....AND FORGOT THAT THERE WAS NO ONE ON FIRST. It's like Rusty said in Vacation after Aunt Edna was dead, "she's not gonna catch a cold now, mom."

So Pedroia follows with an inning-ending groundout. Second and third, no outs, tied, and we can't take the lead.

After having runners on base in the 8th and 9th and not scoring, we go to the 10th, where the A's get a two-out rally and score on a dribbler to third that Will makes a nice play on but just barely misses getting the guy at first.

Bottom 10, Will leads off with a single that Coco flubs in center, and he goes to second. And guess who's up? Jackie Bradley. Now there's no surprise, he's gonna bunt. But does he square around early and make sure he gets it down? No, for some reason, now he thinks it's time to surprise these guys! He doesn't get the bat around in time and fouls the bunt off. Square, Jackie, square! But no, he waits till the pitch is on its way, and this time, takes a ball way off the plate. But the ump calls it a strike, meaning it's two strikes, and we've blown the sac bunt chance! But hey, it's okay because Jackie does his job and grounds to the right side....except they pull a mind-scramble on us and throw to third! Where Middlebrooks is out! And much like the original run of the Sex Pistols, the inning, and the game, is over before you know it as Pedroia grounds into a 6-4-goddamn-motherfucking-3 double play. We deserved to lose and we did. Eff us.

Other bullshit: Remember I said Bradley had two GIDPs earlier? One was with the bases loaded to end an inning. Interestingly, Remy had said, "ya just need some contact here with the bases loaded." Right away he got contact, and the inning ended. That's not a "just make contact" situation, it's a "get some lift" situation, or fucking strike out but do anything in the world but hit a routine ground ball.

In the 6th, NESN's score box started the inning with 1 out. Where it stayed for a long time, until the first out. At which point it went to 2 outs. Before finally correcting back to 1. Needless to say, we the audience were really fucked up that inning.

Yanks were listless against the Rays at home today, with Aceves mopping up for CC. So yeah, we missed a chance to gain on them. But again, this division is so weird, we really should be able to start being normal and get a lead and go from there. Does Jeter have the same walk-up music as Papi this year? Can somebody confirm?