Just how stupid are the A's and their fans?

The following is an exchange with an Athletics supporter from Matt's site, following the A's thrashing of the 87 year old Al Leiter:

Dick Bennet: This was the earliest Leiter have been knocked out in his whole career - 2/3 of an inning - and it took a great team to do it.

Me: A team so great that it managed one whole run against the Angels starters in over 24 innings.

Dickie: Indeed, Mr. Seitz, even the Mariners can shellac the Angels' pitching, but the A's seem to hold something back against them.

It goes without saying that the Angels bullpen truly sucks. I've been saying it for weeks. So has Rob. But until today, I was not aware that A's fans couldn't tell the difference between starters (who are good), and relievers (who suck). A little tip for Dickie: the starters, to whom I was referring, are the guys who are on the mound when the game begins. File that for future reference.

Then again, perhaps they get it from their genius players, like Eric Chavez, who had this to say about the Magic Man:

"Tonight we should have scored runs off that guy," Chavez told Oakland reporters after the game. "The rest of the league is doing it. We're the only team he's shut down. We need to beat a guy like that."

Eric is too stupid to realize that Santana has had 6 quality starts in his last 7 games. Too stupid to realized that he's allowed 2 or fewer runs in 10 of his 17 starts, and three or fewer in 12. Too stupid to realize that he's got an ERA of 3.32 since the all-star break, which is only that high because it includes a 4.2 inning, 7 run start at Tampa Bay.

So to answer the question in the title of this post, I'd have to say "Pretty damn stupid".