Oakland skidding, drop six in a row

The Oakland A's dropped their sixth game in a row on Monday night, losing to the Tampa Bay Rays 4 to 0. The A's frustration is evident in comments by second baseman Mark Ellis, "You just can't think about any of that stuff; how many games you're back, trade rumors, whatever. I know it's a stupid cliche, but you really do have to take it one game at a time. And for us, the way we're going, we have to take it one pitch at a time." Ellis went on to talk about the A's not hitting like they should be in the last few games, "They're not invincible. They're all good pitchers, but we should still be able to score some runs off them. It's not like we're facing [Toronto ace] Roy Halladay every day, or [Mariners ace] Felix Hernandez at his best. I think more than anything, it's just a team-wide funk." Mark Ellis was 0 for 2 with 2 walks in the game. He was picked off second by Rays pitcher Scott Kazmir, in what appeared to be a great play by Kazmir and lapse of concentration by Ellis. Manager Bob Geren on his team, "Guys are getting a little bit down, struggling.”