A's receive little help from Stairs, Olivares.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla._Perhaps for one night, if Matt Stairs and Omar Olivares could have recaptured their 1999 form, the A's might have began their nine-game road trip with a victory.

Stairs and Olivares are finding it difficult to repeat career seasons, and neither is close to putting up the numbers that helped them gain respect throughout the American League last year.

The 1999 Stairs probably would not have popped up three times and left five men on base Tuesday. The Olivares the A's acquired from Anaheim last July probably would not have labored as he did Tuesday.

The A's lost 6-4 to Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field because two crucial players from …