Tuesday: Oakland A’s 4 – 5 Texas Rangers

Wednesday: Rain!

Thursday: A’s  4 – 2 Rangers

The A’s had an attack of injury-itis as five – five! Players went down in one game on Tuesday. Nomar Garciaparra and  Mark Ellis are now on the DL, both with thigh strains, Eric Chavez is now day to day with an unidentified arm injury (though, when is he not?), Brett Anderson has a blister, Santiago Casilla has… gawd, it’s too painful to write. In fact, just typing this has given me ankle-knack.

As for the actual baseball, the A’s lost a close one on Tuesday after a decent start from Anderson, who went five before having to leave, taking his lead with him. The bullpen gave it up, but, as they’ve been so nails this season, I guess they have to have a bad one now and then.

Wednesday, it rained, meaning the A’s could skip a Josh Outman loss; there’ll be a double header in Arlington at the end of May. I don’t think anyone is sad about this.

Thursday’s was a fun game. Dallas Braden worked his way out of a number of close situations, Ryan Sweeney robbed Ian Kinsler of a three run homer that would have put the Rangers ahead, and FINALLY Matt Holliday hit a home run. The A’s are now 8-11, still bottom of their division, but only a half game behind the Angels, which, let’s be fair, is the important thing.

The Good.
Ryan Sweeney will look forward to coming back to play the Rangers...

I know I’m getting repetitive, but Kurt Sweeney is hitting .343. I have a bit of a man crush on him, I’m not ashamed to admit.

Good to see Eric Patterson getting another chance in the big leagues as he stands in for Mark Ellis, mind.

The Bad

Bobby Crosby, still a defensive liability at third.

And WHY isn’t Eric Chavez on the DL, already? He’s clearly not able to stay fit at the moment, and even when he’s getting on the field, he has no sort of rhythm, and just isn’t producing. The A’s don’t have a great deal of depth at third base, but Chavez, beloved as he is, is just taking up space at the moment.

The Ugly

As well as the FIVE injuries, Ziegler is sick, and Giambi is feeling his age a little. It’s hard to say how long they’re going to be able to keep going like this, especially as they now have three games already this season that they’ve had to reschedule for later in the year.

So next up is a series against the Mariners, in Seattle. It’ll be another interesting barometer for the A’s, as they try to build some sort of momentum. The Mariners don’t take a lot of walks, so hopefully, that’ll work in the favor of Trevor Cahill, if he can get his off-speed pitches working, and get some groundballs. Plus, the series will be in PST, so we'll actually be able to see some of the games!