MGR.: ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND

Manager Maty McNeil held a closed-door meeting after yesterday's 5-4 loss to the Red Sox, delivering a stern lecture condemning clubhouse hijinks and silly pranks.  McNeil lambasted his squad for lack of focus and work ethic and promised changes would be made if clubhouse chemistry didn't improve.

"There is nothing worse than mediocrity.  If you're a bad ballclub, you're bad and no one expects much from you.  If you're a good ballclub and you're succeeding, the sky is the limit and confidence snowballs.  But when you play mediocre ball, when you can't count on a win on any given night, when every game is a coin toss, your season grows stale and players lose focus," said McNeil.  "I refuse to lose focus.  We have given away so many games that we had previously led.  Bear down, dig deep, and scratch out wins.  If baseball means nothing more to you than cashing checks, I don't want you on my team.  Baseball isn't a means-to-an-end.  You don't perform on the basis of padding your bank account.  You compete like a warrior, you scrape your knuckles bare, you forget about everything else.  I never want to question the integrity of my players.  Having fun is okay, it is healthy and I encourage it.  But let's not lose sight of the objective: winning. If you're still having fun when you're losing, something's wrong.  You must HATE losing.  If you don't hate to lose, you're not a competitor.  Hate, hate, hate.  Like George Steinbrenner once said, 'Show me a gracious loser and I'll show you a loser.'  Get HUNGRY."

The A's had won 5 straight to start the month but have gone 3-4 since.  It was McNeil's stated goal to have a strong month of May. 

Of particular concern is the weak play of Miguel Tejada.  The MVP shortstop has created only 14.2 runs this season.  That's a mere 8% of Oakland's offense.  Tejada's OPS stands at a paltry .656.  Tejada has been working extensively with A's hitting coach Thad Bosley but continues to roll the right wrist over on contact, resulting in weak groundouts.  Tejada is 1-for-his-last-19 and has hit just one home run over his past 22 games.

"We kind of live and die with this guy.  So many times he's left big ducks on the pond in big moments.  He's tied for 4th in the AL in GIDP and that's just killer," said Thad Bosley.

Here's how Tejada ranks against other shortstops in the league. He ranks 12th of 14 in OPS.

Shortstop Batting Register Name            GS Tm   G  AB  R  H   Avg 2B 3B HR RBI BB  K SB   OB% Slug%  E --------------- -- --- -- --- -- -- ----- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- ----- ----- -- C.Guzman        40 MNA 40 175 24 51  .291 12  3  2  19  5 24  6  .309  .429  6 R.Clayton       39 CHA 39 143 20 32  .224  4  1  3  12  7 25  2  .266  .329  1 D.Jeter         39 NYA 39 160 26 48  .300  6  0  3  18 19 28 11  .370  .394  4 M.Bordick       38 BAA 38 118  8 21  .178  9  0  2  12 16 21  1  .277  .305  0 M.Tejada        38 OAA 38 151 20 35  .232  3  0  5  16 12 25  1  .305  .351  3 C.Guillen       38 SEA 38 128 17 33  .258  9  1  5  24 18 37  0  .347  .461  6 O.Vizquel       38 CLA 38 157 32 48  .306 12  2  5  17 14 12  3  .368  .503  1 A.Rodriguez     38 TEA 38 142 39 47  .331  4  0 15  34 25 21  3  .436  .676  5 C.Gomez         37 TBA 37 143 17 37  .259  7  1  6  26  6 23  1  .288  .448  3 D.Eckstein      37 ANA 37 161 25 44  .273  5  1  2   9 10 21  6  .322  .354  2 N.Perez         36 KCA 36 143 15 32  .224 10  0  0  11  7 13  6  .257  .294  3 N.Garciaparra   35 BOA 35 154 28 54  .351  9  2  8  35  9  9  1  .382  .591  8 S.Halter        35 DEA 37 132 20 30  .227  4  0  4  13 14 24  0  .311  .348  5 F.Lopez         19 TOA 23  79 11 16  .203  3  0  4  12  3 27  1  .229  .392  3 C.Woodward      17 TOA 30  99 11 26  .263  5  2  2  13  6 22  0  .318  .414  4