A's dodge sweep in LA

Tuesday: A’s 4-5 Dodgers

Wednesday: A’s 5-4 Dodgers

Thursday: A’s 2-3 Dodgers.

Before we get into this a bit more, I just want to say thanks, San Francisco Giants. Thanks for playing really well and sweeping the A’s, and then forgetting all about that and losing against the Angels. Great stuff, yeah? Way to help a struggling team out. Still, Holliday is available. Say, that Cain guy is pretty decent, I hear?

So, the A’s lose the second part of their interleague play. I’m not a big fan of the non-rivalry interleague games; games like Cubs – White Sox, Dodgers – Angels, A’s – Giants, yeah, I’m always interested to see them, but I must admit to caring a little less about watching the Dodgers or  the Padres, and so forth. And I’m even less of a fan when they go and find a way to lose two out of three, despite having late opportunities to win all three. Weirdly enough, the one that they did win, behind another impressive start from Trevor Cahill (including his first major league hit!) was the one that they probably deserved to lose, as they committed three errors, and had another couple of botched plays that easily could have been called the same way. With two more errors in the first game, it wasn’t a great series with the gloves. I’m pretty sure the young pitchers will be delighted to get back to their own park, when they can have Jack Cust at DH and not spreading nerves around the field. Hey, I love Jack Cust as much as the next Jack Cust loving blogger, but I’d rather see him in the on deck circle than chasing down long fly balls in the field. The good news is, there’s this guy called Mark Ellis waiting to come off the DL soon.

Other highlights of the three game set include a rare home run from Bobby Crosby, and on the other side of the ledger, Vin Mazzaro gave up his first long ball. Clearly, that’s not a good thing, as such, but he’s going to give up many more throughout his career (just as any pitcher does), and it was good to see him bounce back from it and continue to pitch without seeming overly concerned.

Today, they’re down in San Diego for a three game series against one of the teams with a record nearly as poor as the A’s. The good news is, for Oakland, at any rate, that Jake Peavy is going to miss his start, so the A’s won’t definitely lose that one. In fact, there are two new starters going for the Padres, so the A’s have a real opportunity to come out strong and pick up some much needed wins. My big worry is that the A’s less than stellar outfield will struggle in the wide open spaces of PETCO Park; if the last couple of series have been brutal, this could be even worse. Still, hopefully the A’s will be able to bring some momentum back home for the series against the Giants on Monday.

Go A’s!