Athletics-Yankees: What Was Ryan Sweeney Thinking?

In a key moment in tonight's game against the Yankees, Ryan Sweeney came to the plate with runners on first and second and only one out.

The two runners on base were Kurt Suzuki, who hit an infield single, and Rajai Davis, who hit a solid single just under the glove of Cody Ransom.

There was a meeting at the mound for the Yankees with Andy Pettite on the mound, and up to the plate is Sweeney. The very first pitch is nowhere near the strike zone, but Sweeney swings at it for strike one.

The second pitch, again, nowhere close, and Sweeney was down to the second strike. The very next pitch Sweeney swings at a pitch nowhere near the strike zone but at least made contact and got both runners moved to second and third base.

In a key situation like that, Sweeney needed to be a lot more patient at the plate. That was a turning point in the game and of course, the A's still weren't able to manage any runs with runners on with less than two outs.

It's beyond embarrassing watching the A's continue to struggle so much, especially since this team was supposed to have a much improved lineup with several key additions.

The question in the at-bat that Sweeney had is, what was he thinking? At that moment, he was more than likely thinking it's time to tie the game up since the A's offense is so anemic, and it ended up costing A's at least one run.

On a side note, let's take a look at the A's lineup, though seven of the nine batters have no homeruns.

Even more sickening, though, is the batting average for the team is at .230 with three homers and 45 runs driven in. There are two teams with less: Houston with 39 and San Francisco with 31.

It's a joke!

It's sickening!

Changes need to be made to the lineup!

Changes need to be made at the managerial levels, whether it's the hitting coach or someone higher up, as in Bob Geren himself.

Even worse, though, is when the A's do manage to get a lot of hits in the game, they aren't able to do anything with them. The A's with runners in scoring position have an average of just .219, good for third worst in baseball.

Runners in scoring position with two outs the A's are at .246, so they hit better with runners in scoring position with two outs rather than when they have one or no outs.

The A's with the bases loaded are at a .200 average.

These are three key categories that the A's need to come through in, and yet they fail miserably. It's time for the A's approach to be more aggressive at the plate. Otherwise, the A's are going to have the same problem as last year: scoring runs. So far, the A's have been struggling with scoring those runs they need.