The Rays were the team to beat -- and not just for the A's who split the series against the team in Oakland after an 8-2 loss on Sunday.
Brett Anderson received starting honors, but his stuff wasn't what it has been recently and skipper Bob Melvin even said during his postgame press conference that it was the first time all season he believed Anderson didn't have his best showing.
"It's frustrating from my end we could've taken a series from a team ahead of us, but I don't really dwell on it too much," Anderson told the media scrum following his outing.
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The A's put up a heck of a fight, earning the split against a Tampa team that is off to a hot start, but they're eager to get back out on the road and create better numbers away from the Coliseum.
"You always want to play above .500 at home -- we did that and you know, it could have been a lot better," Melvin told the media. "You go out on the road -- couple tough games in St. Louis and then we got four more in our division so the guys are looking forward to getting out and trying to climb up on .500 more so than we are right now."
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Following the Cardinals' series, the team has a four-game stint against the Angels in Anaheim.