The A’s lost to the Red Sox Thursday dropping one game behind the Sox with 41 games to go in the 2003 season.

The Red Sox simply have more weapons than the A’s do in the bullpen and on the bench. When Tim Wakefield left after six innings, the Sox paraded three relievers out to finish the game and still had four that they could go to with confidence, remaining in the pen.

The A’s went to the well and found the usual suspects available to finish the game after Ted Lilly’s excellent start. Chad Bradford, Ricardo Rincon, Keith Foulke, and Jim Mecir got the prime time assignments (they threw 87 pitches in 3 2/3 innings, it was ugly out there).

The A’s pen looked tired and had to dodge bullets once again just to get the chance to close the game in the ninth.

It was clear Bradford and Rincon were not sharp, Foulke was asked to go two innings once again, and Mecir pitched for the first time in two weeks.

Manny Ramirez took care of things with a game tying homer off Foulke in the ninth (Foulke should look to bounce a couple his way next time), and Mecir struggled with his 78 MPH change up which has been his out pitch this season.

Even with all of that if Ken Macha had some power on his bench he could have gotten an insurance run in the eighth which would have made the Ramirez homer meaningless.

In that inning, Frankie Menechino, Eric Byrnes, and Billy McMillon were no match for Alan Embree’s 93 MPH gas, so the boys left two in scoring position with none out, thus wasting a golden opportunity to ice the game.

Where is Olmedo Saenz when you need him?

Byrnes was terrific in May and June, right now he is barely a AAA player. The A’s need some righthanded punch off the bench to counter the lefty relievers that they will definitely see down the stretch.

Adam Piatt couldn’t pinch hit, so find someone that can for the next six weeks.

The Red Sox play big market baseball, the A’s don’t, but when you get this close to the finish line it is time to open the wallet because you can make the dough back in the postseason if you get there.

Click Below for more!The Mariners weren’t happy last night. Not only did they lose the game to Toronto, but Edgar Martinez left the game with “cramps” in his legs in the middle of the game. Rafael Soriano got smacked on the shin by a line drive but he stayed in the game.

Gil Meche threw 90 plus pitches in four innings and Kaz Sasaki looked very rusty in his one inning of work to finish the night.

Not a good night for Seattle who also had Mike Cameron on the bench with a groin strain.

Tonight the A’s get a shot at soft tossing Josh Towers who actually gave them trouble when he was with Baltimore during one start in Oakland.

The Mariners face Jeff Suppan and throw Jamie Moyer at the Red Sox who come in with some momentum after yesterday’s win.

With Pedro on the hill tomorrow, Seattle needs this one today or the weekend could get very ugly. This sequence in the schedule is a good time for Oakland to pick up some ground on somebody if they take care of Toronto at home.

The Cubs look to Mark Prior against the Dodgers. Prior whupped em last Sunday and is the top dog on this Cubs team no matter what you think.

Russ Ortiz is getting closer to the Cy Young award as he pitched another strong game Thursday.

Albert Pujols at 28 straight and climbing. Funny the two Cardianls ahead of him for the longest batting streak in St. Louis history are Ken Boyer and Roger Hornsby, two icons of St. Louis baseball, this guy will wipe them out next week.

Minnesota comes into KC for a weekend showdown. Jimmy Gobble versus Kenny Rogers. I like Gobble who hasn’t done anything wrong in his first two starts in the majors.

Can Esteban Loiaza step up and stop the ChiSox skid in Texas tonight? If he does I view him like Ortiz, the front runner for the top pitcher prize in his league.

Rich Harden needs to find a way to get the ball to the pen in the eighth inning if possible. This is a challenge because the Blue jays like to hit and will drive his pitch count up if he isn’t careful. He shouldn’t worry about strike outs, but just let them hit the ball because his stuff is that good.

Let’s see what Atlanta’s big righthanded bats can do against the “new” Randy Johnson tonight. The Unit is not throwing the heater with any regularity so he will be challenging the Braves with sliders and splitters.

Oliver Perez strikes out ten per game and will face Brad Penny in Miami. The Marlins are in the race and just finished a tense series with the Dodgers.

How about Kevin Brown going on three days rest and getting away with it. That is big league pitching.

When Eric Byrnes cut in front of Terrence Long attempting to catch a short fly ball in the tenth,with the go ahead run on third for Boston, I said to myself where is Byrnes going. Even though no one has commented on it, I think Byrnes was out of control and cost the A’s the game with that play ( he couldn’t throw the runner out after colliding with Long) and not with his weak hack in the eighth which blew the rally.

What else can go wrong with the Giants this month? They were the only team stranded during the blackout yesterday.

You see something different at the park every day.

I saw a lot yesterday watching Red Sox and A’s play baseball.

These two teams are well matched. The A’s better hope for better things from Mark Mulder on Tuesday in Boston when they start their next road trip.

Winning the series from Toronto now becomes a priority.