Perhaps this is what happens when a team performs below expectations, but all is not sweetness and light around the A's these days. For several weeks, there has been a lot of grumbling in the clubhouse, some directed toward manager Bob Geren, as the A's place in the standings has plummeted. Then, former Oakland outfielder Milton Bradley delivered a blistering assessment of A's general manager Billy Beane in the Oakland Tribune on Saturday and he expounded on the topic in an extensive conversation with The Chronicle. "Billy just has a way of thinking he's smarter and better than everyone else, and I don't take kindly to the better-than-you attitude," Bradley said at Petco Park before the Giants played the Padres on Saturday. "I don't think Billy cared about how I was. He knew he could use me for cheap and get a lot out of me. ... So he used me up last year and couldn't use me up any more. He always told me, when you're out on the field, you make me look good. I guess I wasn't out there to make him look good enough. "I don't like to be lied to. Tell me the truth. You tell me I'm not an everyday player, and I just have to laugh at you because there's not a player they've got over there that's better than me. It's just a joke."