After losing two in a row to the Angels, the A's had to be thinking that a three-game road swing through Seattle would cure their clinching blues. After all, they've won fifteen in a row against the M's. But they turned out to be wrong. The A's lost again, 10-9, in extra innings. Even worse, the A's were up by three in the bottom of the ninth only to watch Houston Street blow the save as the Mariner's rallied to send the game to extra innings.
It was pretty ugly. The Mariners rally in the ninth consisted of a double and a whole bunch of singles. The winning run in the tenth consisted of a lead-off single by Ichiro, a throwing error by pitcher Kiko Calero, and then a two run game-winning single by Willie Bloomquist (as in who?). Ouch.
Obviously, what you have here is a team playing tight. Considering the Angels also won making the magic number still two, blowing the pennant would be unprecedented, but after losing the last three games, we're guessing A's fans are feeling a little queasy right now.