Thoughts on last nights 5-1 loss to Minnesota

A couple of quick thoughts from yesterday-

• A team that can't hit and doesn't have great pitching is BORING to watch
  
• Joel has the highest batting average against (.370) in the AL
  
• The problem seems less related to poor defense, as much as leaving balls up in the strike zone.
  
• The pitches that were hit hard last night were belt-high, right in the middle of the plate, and deserved to be hit long and far
  
• Regardless, Joel would have had to have thrown a shutout to have gotten the win
  
• The biggest problem is still lack of scoring- 4 runs or less is the norm for this team

Also, I don't mean to gloat, but is anyone even remotely surprised Rhodes cost the A's the win last night against the Yanks? I mean c'mon Billy, we all know Rhodes wilts in the heat. David Justice vs. Arthur Rhodes- do you need to borrow the tapes?

I take no pleasure in rooting against Arthur- he seems like a nice guy, and I would have loved for him to have continued pitching well and stayed with the M's. The problem is simple- the guy comes unglued when the pressure is on. He's the Greg Norman of baseball.

So anyway, back to our M's. Their hitting stinks, pure and simple. But I'll be watching every pitch when the Yankees come to town.