I got my first glimpse of Bobby Cramer in this game. He's 30, so he has no real future, but you could do worse than him as an eighth starter / emergency bullpen long man, I suppose. His curve looks loopy on TV, but it seemed effective in this game, getting multiple swing-and-misses from various Angels, and while his fastball topped out at 89, he got it on the inner half to righties pretty effectively, resulting in some jams and fisted balls here and there.

Cramer benefited from his defense like any A's pitcher does, but he had Angels hitters out in front, lining foul balls down into the left field stands and topping grounders to Kevin Kouzmanoff all afternoon.

We can't make too much of this, of course, since it's September and the fight with the Angels is over second place, not anything that matters. Plus it was a day game after a night game, so with four contests left in the season, we might have seen the Angel hitters a little more anxious to just hack and sit down than in other situations. (Then again, hack hack hack is their strategy in the best of times.)

There weren't really any other highlights, as you might expect from a game the A's lost 2-1 in eleven innings. Chris Carter hustled a single into a single+error on a ball that Mark Trumbo bobbled in right field, which hopefully will help dispel the perception of him as a sluggy slugger -- sure, he's no Coco Crisp, but this isn't Jack Cust Jr. we're talking about, either.