Oakland A's Doomed by Questionable Call in 4-0 Loss to Giants

Either Ryan Vogelsong is secretly a comic book superhero, or he just may be the beneficiary of one of the more favorable calls of the 2012 MLB season. An apparent foul off of Vogelsong's bat was ruled a hit by pitch and it triggered a four-run seventh inning as the Giants beat the A's 4-0 to take the first two games of the Bay Bridge series in San Francisco.

Tyson Ross wriggled out of jams in the first six innings but took the loss after being charged with two earned runs in 6+ innings.

Ryan Vogelsong's pitching was definitely legitimate as he stymied the A's allowing only a walk and a single to Seth Smith over seven innings. The key at-bats for the Giants were a go-ahead sacrifice fly by Melky Cabrera and a ground rule double by Buster Posey, both off of Grant Balfour.

After a single by Angel Pagan scored the final two runs, Balfour was lifted and manager Bob Melvin ejected for the second time in three games. Balfour again struggled, walking his first batter on four pitches and being charged with two runs in 2/3 innings. 

Good: Tyson Ross. He may not have been lights out, but he deserved better than his fate. Vogelsong's bat clearly hit the ball in the seventh inning and instead of potentially striking him out, there were runners on 1st and 2nd with none out and Ross was pulled. His 10 ground-ball outs were a positive sign as he was keeping the ball down.

Bad: Grant Balfour. I wanted to blame the umps here, but it would be redundant by now. Balfour still had a chance to minimize the damage and instead, helped burst the dam open. Just a terrible performance in a big spot for someone who has been complaining about how he has been used.

Ugly: A's hitting. From top to bottom, this was the worst effort of the year. Just one measly hit. Only one walk, seven strikeouts. The best example was Kurt Suzuki's at-bat in the sixth. After Daric Barton walked, Suzuki ran the count to 3-1. He then swung at balls on 3-1 and 3-2 before popping up on another 3-2 pitch. Truly, a pathetic showing.

Back under .500 at 20-21, the A's will try to salvage last game of the series Sunday as Bartolo Colon faces Tim Lincecum at 1:05 p.m. The A's have lost 11 straight games at AT&T Park.