Season ends with 7th straight loss

A promising final stretch of the season ended with a thud for the A's. Oakland did little in the way of hitting in the last week of the season and dropped seven games in a row to conclude 2009, including a 5-3 loss to the Angels on Sunday at the Coliseum. That's the second-longest season-ending losing streak in Oakland history after a nine-game skid in 1995. "We didn't swing the bats well and we made some mistakes. That's not the way you want to finish," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "The last six weeks, we played some good Baseball, but this last week was not one of them." It was the first time the Angels had swept the A's in Oakland since 1997, and the A's went 23-34 against the AL West, their third-worst record in division play. The A's finished 75-87, their worst mark since 1998, and the team's winning percentage .463 declined for the third season in a row. "It's tough to be in last place at the end," Oakland second baseman Mark Ellis said. "It was a weird season because we had high hopes coming out of spring training. Obviously, we're looking toward the future." The A's hit .227 over the final week, and their run total Sunday was their highest in the last five games. Their first two runs came in the second inning, as the team loaded the bases with nobody out against left-hander Joe Saunders. Matt Carson hit a sacrifice fly to send in the first run, but Daric Barton was thrown out on the play trying to tag and go to second. Geren said that Barton perhaps was too caught up in reading the throw home. Eric Patterson provided a two-out single to send in Bobby Crosby before Cliff Pennington struck out to end the inning. The rest of the day was a blur of double-play balls and strikeouts. Oakland hit into double plays in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings; and, in and around getting two on in the seventh and one in the eighth, the team recorded five strikeouts. Jack Cust hit into a near double play in the ninth, erasing Barton but reaching second himself on Erick Aybar's throwing error. Cust then scored on a single by Pennington, but Rajai Davis struck out to end the game. Patterson and Davis allowed a flyball by Chone Figgins to drop between them in left-center in the third; Patterson had called off Davis and then lost the ball in the sun. Geren called it an easy play for either to make. An Angels run in the sixth came on a balk by reliever Craig Breslow, but neither Geren not Breslow could figure out where the balk happened. It was the first balk called on the left-hander all year in 77 appearances. "They said he stepped toward home, but I felt it was called before he even stepped," Geren said. "I didn't think I did anything different - probably less," said Breslow, who'd looked at the video after the game. Sunday potentially was the final game in Nomar Garciaparra's major-league career. Garciaparra, 36, went 2-for-3 and finished with a .281 average. He said he didn't even think about the fact that it might be his last game, and he reiterated that he has yet to make a decision about his future. "I really enjoyed playing with these guys," Garciaparra said "It's a good group of guys for sure, a lot of talent." Oakland's strength all year was the bullpen, and it was an all-reliever day from start to finish. Andrew Bailey and Michael Wuertz a scoreless inning each to their super seasons: Bailey, a candidate for Rookie of the Year, finished with a 1.84 ERA and 26 saves and Wuertz finished with a scoreless streak of 131/3 innings and a 2.63 ERA.