ANAHEIM – It was only a matter of time before the question came, and A's manager Bob Geren's response was so quick, he had to have known it.
"We'll get it (tonight)," he said before the inquiry could be finished. "We'll do our best."
OK, so it's not Knute Rockne. Then again, what more can Geren really say at this point? The pattern his team has established may not be fossilized in stone, but it's getting close. And the cast that must keep it from that state isn't any different.
On Tuesday night, the A's were dismissed quietly 5-1 by Los Angeles Angels nemesis John Lackey, thus leaving Geren to chew on this head-scratcher: Why has his team become such a master of the opener but such a disaster in the sequels?
The answer in this one was simple. Too much Lackey, as usual.
He surrendered seven hits, and save for Jack Cust's one-out, ninth-inning home run, they were all singles. That would've made it a difficult test had Greg Smith had one of his better nights, but the A's left-hander had one of his poorer ones, so not a whole lot of analysis was needed.
What did provide room for discussion was the strange pattern the A's kept intact. They have won the opening game in the past six series they've played. But they have not won the second game in any of them, and they're now staring a 13th consecutive non-winning series in the face.
That last item is remarkable for many reasons. For one, the seven-week stretch without a series win – a time frame that spans the All-Star break – is the second-longest period without one in Oakland history (only the 1979 A's of 108-loss infamy, with 20 consecutive fruitless series, went longer). For two, well, there's that series-opener thing.
The sheer strangeness of it led Geren to nod his head when it was suggested before the contest that the A's should hold their usual pre-series meetings before each contest.
That said, Lackey presented a problem that a whole month's worth of meetings probably wouldn't solve. He struck out only five and needed only 98 pitches to produce his 13th career complete came and improve to 14-3 with a 2.67 ERA in 25 career starts against the A's.
Only Cust made it past first base against him.
"Actually, he wasn't throwing as hard as he usually does," Geren said. "He just had exceptional command. He was able to flip that curve up there anytime he wanted to. … He pitched like one of the better pitchers in baseball, and he is."
Smith, on the other hand, is far from that. A six-hitter stretch that produced five hits and a sacrifice fly in a four-run fourth was his downfall.
