The A's have lost 8 games in a row, and 11 of their last 12.

The A's are 9 games below .500.

The A's have been outscored, in 2005, by every team in the American League and by every team in the National League. National League teams only have 8 hitters in their lineups, to American League teams' 9.

The A's expected Rich Harden to turn into Tim Hudson this season, but this isn't what they meant.

The A's expected Eric Chavez to turn into Jason Giambi, but this isn't what they meant.

The Red Sox, who make up 3/8 of the A's slump, are back in town Monday night. Every spring, like swallows to Capistrano, the Red Sox ride into town, and every year Red Sox fans crawl out of the woodwork (into which, for some reason or another, they didn't retreat quite as far in the last offseason) and descend, blue-capped and loud-mouthed, upon the Oakland Coliseum. The sheer number of Boston fans, and the degree of their Boston pride, is enough to make an SFist wonder [Note: it does not, however, "beg the question"]: why don't these people live in Boston?

Boston? Must suck.