"LI A's Nation" faces uphill climb to playoffs or "The ball always finds you"

Sisyphus shaped his struggle in philosophical terms but the LI A's struggles come down to hitting, fielding, running and pitching. A 10-5 loss today to the San Diego Cubs drops the A's to 1-1-1 and struggling in a battle for a playoff spot with several contenders. A slow start doomed the A's to their Sisyphean struggle today. Our starter,Jack, walked the leadoff hitter and the baseball gods may have well just said "ok we are make this hurt" and anything less than a Herculean effort would be doomed to failure. The Cubs got 4 runs in the opener which put the A's in a hole that would have the A's rolling rocks uphill all day. The A's chipped away with a run here and there but the Cubs also converted opportunities to add to their lead. The Cubs starter tantalized the A's hitters with slow breaking balls. A's hitters were lunging for balls and flailing away. Despite not having much of a fastball, the Cubs starter struck out 10 A's today ( including your faithful correspondent one time on a called third strike- it seems the ump and I differed on the what was deemed outside the strike zone and what constituted hitting the corner). The Cubs also got a break in the 5th when the A's loaded the bases with no outs -But the Cubs pulled the hidden ball play and took out our runner on third! This strategy was more Laertes than Sisyphus and gave the Cubs a break in subverting the threat. A bright spot today was the work of CT pitcher Steve Parsons who came on in relief and worked 5 solid innings. Steve,also known as "the Doctor" operated with precision in a fine outing keeping the A's in striking distance. In another highlight your correspondent had two doubles today! As many readers are aware foot speed has not been the strongest tool in the skill set so these balls were hit pretty good to have two doubles where I coasted ( which is pretty much the same speed as full out) into second. Neither had much impact on the game as the second one came with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth with two men on but only narrowed score to 10-5--but it was a nice shot to hit and frankly I was delighted to hit them . Batting now stands at 4 for 8 in the tourney with 3 RBI's)

Now the team has decisions in trying to win or play guys who may not be able to contribute much to the win but give them their chance to play. Not easy to balance and requires some clever juggling because in baseball .. the ball always finds you.... The baseball gods are very astute and really relish their entertainment so the ball always seems to be hit to any weakness that may be hiding in a defense..

We have 2 games tomorrow and we hear the second game is against a team that is "loaded" ok ... maybe loaded is a bit ambitious a description but they (the Palladins-- ( Have Bat,Will Travel is their theme- only readers who lived thru 60's TV will understand that reference) have won big in all three games and may prove to be the top seed. So Game # 1 tomorrow is very important to us and we plan to go with the formula we used in the season opener against the Grizzlies. Jerry will start with the expectation of him getting us to a lead mid way through the game. And then the Papelbon of the A's will come in to finish. We shall see if that works out or if agressive action for the Visigoths ( or the Pacific Coast Giants our game 1 opponet) modify those strategies. But we need another win badly and the A's braintrust is hard at work making adjustments. (without the help of George's kids in Tampa-speaking of which don't you think Hank Steinbrenner has a very dark side to him?? just askin')

Meanwhile players are dropping like flies. Our outfielder Steve, the Monterrey guy, has about 5 things hobbling him and sees a trainer between innings for rubdowns and seems to be done for the season ( 2 more days). If he is not done, then only Frankenstein would have had more work done on him than this guy. Another guy, Glenn, who plays first and third has numerous physical issues and ends up with numerous ice packs all over his body after the game. The Titantic navigated through less ice than Glenn "wears" after the game. We will have to check in the morning on Glenn's status and he did have a hit today and we can use all the help on offense we can get.

So we conclude tonight with a look to near future and like Sisyphus look to put forth the effort. Lets hope that effort can give the "LI A's Nation" a reward with a win or two tomorrow!