Hey Billy Beane, Where's the Offense?

Hey Billy Beane, where's the offense that was supposed to be so dramatically improved?

The additions of Jason Giambi, Nomar Garciaparra, Matt Holliday, and Orlando Cabrera, and the return of Eric Chavez, haven't helped one bit.

Chavez, of course, jammed his shoulder last week and hasn't played until today. Giambi hasn't hit a home run but has driven in five runs. Holliday hasn't homered and has driven in nine runs. Garciaparra has hit a home run and driven in four runs. Cabrera has no homers and has driven in three, and Chavez has no homers and one RBI.

The A's have hit a total of just three home runs, and besides Garciaparra, Jack Cust is the only other A with a home run. He has two of them, while Cust has driven in six runs.

In the offseason, Beane made the big splash by acquiring Holliday and Giambi, who combined for 57 homers and 194 runs batted in last year.

So Beane, where's the dramatic improvement from last year?

There hasn't been any, and it's a sign of Beane's ignorance, since he kept the manager and brought in a hitting coach who has no clue about what they are doing in the big leagues.

In today's game against the Toronto Blue Jays, the A's had the ability to tie the score at 1-1, but Mike Gallego, who wasn't paying attention to the play, blindly sent Mark Ellis, who was trying to score from first base.

If Gallego had actually been paying attention to the play he would have realized that Ellis for some reason wanted to make sure the ball was not caught in the outfield.

Therefore, it would have been a better idea to hold Ellis at third. So, the situation for the A's would have been second and third with one out. Instead it was Ryan Sweeney on second with a double and the A's still trailing 1-0.

In the seventh inning, Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero got Eric Chavez to easily ground out to second. The next batter was Kurt Suzuki, who took three pitches that were nowhere near the strike zone. Romero threw one fast ball for a strike and the next pitch was nowhere close either, which put Suzuki on first base with one out.

So, what does Mark Ellis do on the first pitch he sees from Romero? He swings and hits a ground ball to second for an easy double play.

The question is, where was Ellis' head on that?

He just watched Romero struggle with his command.

Maybe if he took a few pitches he would either get one he likes, or take a walk. He needed to, at least, get Suzuki to second in scoring position.

Yet, Ellis didn't do any of that and bounced into a double play.

The A's pitching, on the other hand, has been great. The starters and relievers have kept the A's in ball games, and unfortunately it's still the same old excuse for the A's: The offense is not clicking.

For A's fans the offense hasn't been clicking for a long time, even since before the hiring of the worst hitting coach in major league history, Ty Van Burkleo.

Beane has been so enamored with getting solid starters in the draft that he has forgotten about what gets the starters wins, and that is hitters.

It seems no matter how well an A's starter throws, the A's offense rarely shows up. It's like the A's hitters are going through the motions and not giving any kind of effort.

It's getting frustrating watching the team continue to struggle offensively even after moves were made trying to fix the terrible offense from last year.

The A's players should be embarrassed they are professional hitters looking like minor leaguers who don't belong in the major leagues.

The A's are now 5-7 on the season with another wasted performance by a starting pitcher.

The question is, when is this going to end?

The answer is: not for a very long time, unless the A's hitters suddenly emerge. Sadly, it doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon.

This also shows why the A's will not make the playoffs.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have injury issues, which could spell problems for them, and the A's need to take advantage of that. Yet, they continue to lose because of poor hitting and, again, poor decision making by their managers and coaches.

As mentioned, there was the Gallego incident in the game today, but yesterday's loss goes squarely on Bob Geren. Go figure, a majority of Geren's decisions do not go well.

Dan Giese should have never been in the game to start the 12th inning. He had been struggling for the two innings.

Giese let a runner get on and gave up the game-winning home run to Lyle Overbay for the Blue Jays walk off victory over the A's.

The good news is that it's been only 12 games for the A's, so they could change things around. But if they continue to play like they are now, it's going to be a long season for A's fans.