Roy Oswalt and More American League Players Who Need to Have a Big Week

Exactly one week ago, Major League Baseball was taking a break. It was time to get away from the grind for a few days, with some players and coaches heading to Kansas City for the All-Star festivities and the rest heading to undisclosed locations for some much-needed R&R.

The grind picked up again on Friday, and teams will officially settle back into it this week. From here, it's basically a straight shot all the way to October.

In the American League, there are only three teams that aren't over .500. Only the New York Yankees have a comfortable division lead. Given the circumstances, nobody is going to be relaxing at any point in the next couple of months. The pressure is on.

A handful of players around the league will be feeling added pressure this week. Stars such as Roy Oswalt and Paul Konerko haven't been performing up to their capabilities lately, and their clubs need that to change.

Here's a look at a few American Leaguers who need to come alive over the next seven days.

Note: All stats come from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Asdrubal Cabrera, SS, Cleveland Indians

Asdrubal Cabrera was tremendous in the month of June, hitting .297/.358/.514 with six home runs and 20 RBI. He rode this hot stretch to a second straight All-Star appearance.

The month of July hasn't been nearly as kind to Cabrera. In 11 games, he's hit .159/.213/.205 with no home runs and just two RBI. Both of those came in the same game.

Cabrera's struggles haven't quite killed the Indians, as they're 6-5 this month and are still very much within shouting distance of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Cleveland did, however, lose two of three against the Blue Jays up in Toronto to open the second half. Cabrera contributed just one hit in the three games.

The Indians will continue their tour of the AL East this week with a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays and a four-game wraparound series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Rays and Orioles are both struggling at the moment, so this is a chance for the Indians to get a couple easy wins to help keep pace with the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers.

It's going to be a lot harder for the Indians to collect these wins if Cabrera continues to struggle at the plate. Cleveland is not an explosive offensive team with a deep lineup. It needs its big boppers to keep the production coming.

Cabrera hasn't been holding up his end of the bargain lately, and that needs to change.

Carl Crawford, LF, Boston Red Sox

It's not quite official yet, but the word from The Boston Globe and numerous other sources is that the Red Sox are going to activate Carl Crawford off the DL on Monday. He should be in left field when the Red Sox take on the White Sox at Fenway Park.

Red Sox Nation has mixed feelings about this. Crawford was awful in his first year with the Red Sox in 2011, and he's made it clear in recent weeks that he's not going to be 100-percent healthy at any point this season.

The only way Red Sox fans are going to relax is if Crawford starts his belated 2012 campaign with a bang. 

Ideally, Crawford's return will go as well as Jacoby Ellsbury's return this past weekend in Tampa Bay. Playing for the first time since early April, Ellsbury collected six hits and helped the Red Sox take two of three from the Rays.

The good news for Crawford is that he doesn't have to face tough pitching right out of the gate. The Red Sox will see a spot starter in Dylan Axelrod on Monday night and will then face struggling starter Philip Humber on Tuesday. They will see Jake Peavy later this week, but they'll miss Chris Sale.

And then the Red Sox will face the Blue Jays, who are dealing with all sorts of pitching problems at the moment.

So the stars are aligned for Crawford to enjoy a strong return. But considering his health and what happened last year, all bets are off.

If he struggles right out of the gate, the locals will be restless.

Paul Konerko, 1B, Chicago White Sox

The focus as it pertains to the White Sox is all on Kevin Youkilis at the moment, as he will be making a dramatic return to Fenway Park for the first time as a member of the White Sox on Monday night.

Meanwhile, in the background, veteran first baseman Paul Konerko is in a deep slump, and has been for some time.

Konerko looked like the best hitter in the world at the end of May, but it's been a struggle for him ever since. He hit just .241 with three home runs and seven RBI in June and is hitting just .225/.295/.225 with no home runs and two RBI thus far in 10 July games. 

Just as Cabrera's recent struggles haven't killed the Indians, Konerko's struggles haven't killed the White Sox. They're 7-3 in the month of July, a record that has allowed them to maintain a comfortable lead over the hard-charging Tigers in the AL Central.

This week, however, promises to be a rough one for the White Sox. They'll play four games at Boston against a tough Red Sox team and will then travel to Detroit for a showdown against the Tigers. 

Adam Dunn snapped out of his recent slump by clubbing three home runs in three games against the Kansas City Royals this past weekend. If Konerko snaps out of his slump with some big games against the Red Sox and Tigers, the White Sox will be able to make a huge statement.

Roy Oswalt, SP, Texas Rangers

Roy Oswalt's midseason return to baseball with the Texas Rangers has yielded mixed results.

Oswalt has made four starts with the Rangers. Two of them have been good, and two of them have been very bad. Even the good starts left a lot to be desired.

The one thing that all four of his starts have in common is that they all saw Oswalt give up more than his fair share of hits. Oswalt has allowed a grand total of 40 hits in his four starts over just 23 innings. Hitters are hitting him at a .385 clip, and many of the hits he's given up have gone for extra bases.

The Rangers have no choice but to hope that rust is to blame for Oswalt's struggles, but that's an excuse that comes with a shelf life. At some point, you have to stop rationalizing things by saying a pitcher is rusty and admit that he's just not getting it done. Oswalt isn't far from this point.

Oswalt is only scheduled to make one start this week, and the good news for him is that it's against the Oakland A's. Though they've been hot recently, the A's still boast the lowest batting average of any team in the majors. They're a team that Oswalt should be able to handle.

If he gets lit up again, the Rangers are going to have to start considering whether or not having Oswalt in their rotation is a good idea. If they're going to hold off the Los Angeles Angels, they can't have any weak links in their rotation.

Oswalt deserves to start for them based on his experience, but that's about the only thing he has going for him right now.

Ervin Santana, SP, Los Angeles Angels

No pitcher in baseball has been more frustrating to watch this season than Ervin Santana. There have been times when he's appeared to be on the verge of turning some kind of corner, but he has been utterly incapable of establishing any momentum.

Santana's last two starts before the break didn't go so well. He allowed five earned runs in five innings against the Blue Jays on June 29 and then got lit up for eight earned runs in an inning and a third on the Fourth of July against the Cleveland Indians. Both of those starts came on the road.

Santana will make the first of his two scheduled starts this week in Detroit against the Tigers on Monday night. The Tigers are a hot team, and that doesn't bode well for Santana. Given his struggles, the last thing he wants to see at this point is a team that's swinging the bats well and winning ballgames.

Things won't get any easier for Santana in his second start of the week, which will come on Saturday against the Texas Rangers. He hasn't faced the Rangers yet this year, and no doubt the Angels would prefer to keep it that way if they had a choice in the matter.

If Santana struggles once again this week, it may not be long before the Angels remove him from their rotation entirely. At some point, enough is going to be enough.

Goodness knows Santana has had enough time already to figure things out.

A Few More

Bartolo Colon, SP, Oakland A's

Colon has pitched well in his last two starts, and the A's are suddenly one of the hottest teams in baseball. Colon will make two starts this week, one against the Texas Rangers and another against the New York Yankees. If he guides the A's to a couple of wins, the race in the AL West is going to get pretty interesting.

Kevin Jepsen, RP, Los Angeles Angels

Jepsen has looked sharp since returning from the minors in early July, and it was he who got the final out in the Angels' battle with the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. With Jordan Walden on the DL with a biceps issue, Jepsen is probably going to see an increased workload this week and beyond. The Angels need him to keep up the good work.

Mike Napoli, C, Texas Rangers

Napoli hasn't homered or collected an RBI in his last 14 games. To be fair, the word from Terry Blount of ESPNDallas.com is that Napoli is dealing with a knee problem right now, but the Rangers sorely need him to get his bat going again. The rest of their July schedule is pretty rough, so they need as much production as they can get out of all their regulars. 

CC Sabathia, SP, New York Yankees

The word from the New York Daily News is that Sabathia is going to come off the DL to start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. That would put him in line to start on Sunday in Oakland as well. If he goes back to pitching like he usually does, this should be a good week for the Yankees.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C, Boston Red Sox

The hits have been hard to come by for Saltalamacchia this month. He's hitting just .121 in July with 17 strikeouts in 33 at-bats. Some are beginning to wonder if he's breaking down after enjoying a very strong first half.

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