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		A’s: Baseball is a hard game to play By Jerry Feitelberg August 20, 2010

	The A's have now played their 121st game of the season. After tonight 41 games remain in the season. They have to keep winning to keep pace with Texas as they are 7 games behind the Rangers beginning play tonight. At this stage of the season players are beginning to get tired but they still have to go out and play every day. The long season does take its toll on players. The travel and the grind of playing every day are tough to deal with. Players have to keep on 'grinding" it out on a daily basis. This is especially tough if you are a player on a team that is out of contention. However, it is incumbent on a player to give his all, nonetheless. Joe DiMaggio was asked why he played so hard every day. His response was that it might be the first time that a fan had seen him play and he did not want to disappoint him. The baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint. It has peaks and valleys. Players get hot then cool off. Some players have great a great first half but tail off after the All-Star break. Other players catch on fire and do well. Is it because the player is tired or is it the pitchers are tired? Who knows? Managers want their players to their best. There are times when some players quit on the team. The player may not have rapport with the manager or coaches. The player may be benched and wants to be traded. The mark of a good manager is getting the most out of his team. The manager has to shuffle the lineup to get guys in that will do the job. The A's have great pitching and a mediocre offense but the players do not quit. They may have slumps but they keep on grinding away. Bob Geren seems to be that type of manager. He gets them to play hard all nine innings and never give up. A's players such as Pennington, Crisp, Ellis are examples of players that do not give in and make pitchers work hard to get them out. The A's may not make the playoffs this year but it was not for lack of effort. The A's got that kind of effort tonight as they came back twice to beat the Rays 5-4. After the Game, Geren was extremely pleased with the play of his team. Cliff Pennington was the star of the game for the 3rd night in a row. His defense was outstanding and was the hero with his bat.. Geren also stated that the A’s are instilled with this work ethic from the time they arrive in Phoenix to start spring training. It was a terrific game tonight and the 13,000 fans in attendance got quite a show.