After finally snapping an 11-game losing streak on Sunday, the A’s had a chance to build something—anything—against the Astros on Tuesday. Instead, they got bulldozed 11-1 in a game that looked like a carbon copy of the previous two weeks. So the question has to be asked: has anything actually changed? Or did Sunday’s win just give this team—and maybe even us—a false sense of hope? Because from the looks of it, the losing streak may be over, but the losing mentality is still alive and well. 

And then there’s Mark Kotsay. His postgame comments after Sunday’s win were meant to sound confident, but they raised more red flags than reassurance. Is he the right guy to lead this clubhouse? Is there too much acceptance of mediocrity within the organization? Maybe it’s time to stop pretending this is a sleeping giant and start considering the possibility that the A’s just aren’t that good. Are the expectations wrong? Or are we just refusing to accept the reality staring us in the face? Let’s dig into all of that today on Locked on A’s.