The Athletics have started off their second half of the season with two more losses and that brings their losing streak to five games. They’re now eleven back of the Angels in the loss column and nine back of the Mariners in the loss column and if the Athletics don’t start winning soon, even one of their historically impressive second halves won’t be able to bring them back.
What’s been rough is how their offense has abandoned them. Three runs once in a while might win you a game, but if that’s all you can put on the board (and three is the most in this five game losing streak), you’re going to lose more then you win even with a Cy Young contender like Dan Haren.
One of their problems has been Jack Cust has fallen off of a cliff. In the five game losing streak, he has just one single with nine strikeouts. He’s still stuck on fifteen, which is good for the team lead, but he has just two so far this month and in his last ten games, he’s seen his OPS go down by almost 100 points. And where has Nick Swisher gone. It looks like a lot of those homers he hit last year have been doubles but his batting average has definitely come back down to earth.
Joe Blanton gets the start tonight and I think this is the game where the A’s end their losing streak. Dan Haren throws tomorrow so with the A’s big one-two pitching punch, they can still salvage a split in this series.
