Good side not showing

Fortunately for them, the right team arrives today.

Welcome, Royals.

And, with that, goodbye A's.

With Joe Blanton -- and a couple of defensive gems -- shutting down the Red Sox in a 8-1 game that contained no fireworks, either of the ball variety or the brawl variety, the team that seemed to be on the verge of asserting itself in the AL East race is now down to a half-game lead over the Yankees, a 3 1/2-game lead over the Blue Jays, and a hope that it all will balance out.

``It's an average," Mike Lowell said. ``Am I a .600 hitter when I go 3 for 5? Today I went 0 for 4 -- am I a .000 hitter? I don't think you can let your emotions go on such a roller coaster. I think you'd go nuts.

``I think you feel like things are going good when you're winning 12 in a row. The formula's pretty simple. We're doing a lot of good things when we're winning, and there's usually things that we're not executing when we're not, whether it's pitching, defense, hitting, whatever the case may be. Few times do you really win and play poorly."

So, as the Red Sox' bats have fallen into a slumber and their fifth-starter auditions continue, Oakland leaves town with a few more defensive gems -- including two by old friend Jay Payton, who stole hits in the fourth inning from David Ortiz on a slide toward the Pesky Pole and in the fifth inning from Coco Crisp with a running, jumping grab -- and a few more wins. Three of four, to be exact.

``Today it seemed that we were out on the field more than in the dugout, so the heat doesn't help," manager Terry Francona said of Boston's sluggish offense. ``I thought Blanton, he had some run on his fastball, he threw some good changeups, he threw some breaking balls. He was up, down, in, out, changing speeds. He really kept us offbalance and we didn't have very many opportunities. And, when we tried to, their defense today was spectacular at times and didn't allow us to get something going."