Bob Geren the Oakland A's Leader?

I was watching the game last night, a 5-4 Oakland victory over the Dodgers, and as I was watching something occurred to me: Bob Geren has lost control of this ballclub. It may sound funny to you, but to me, it's as visible as the confused look Geren has in the dugout.

The one knock that I have had on Geren his whole time in Oakland is that he does not know how to use his bullpen. He has yet to establish who his setup man and closer are.

Now, more recently he has decided that Bailey is the closer. I love me a tall glass of Andrew Bailey, but he is most dominant when he comes in to a brand new inning. If he comes in the ninth, then it's game over. But, if you keep bringing him in the eighth with two runners on, he's going to get knocked around.

I noticed last night that Geren brought in Brad Ziegler for the seventh and eighth. He got in a little jam in the seventh, giving up the two-run single to Ethier, but he was able to get a double play and get out of it. Same in the eighth, getting a double play to end that inning as well. Maybe this is a sign of the future.

I know we have some older players on our roster (Giambi, Cabrera, etc.), but we can not come back late in games if we take our best hitters out in the seventh inning for defensive replacements. When the heart of your lineup going into the ninth inning is Matt Holliday, Bobby Crosby, and Rajai Davis, you're not going to win to many games. If Geren were to leave the starters in, it would be Holliday, Giambi, and Cust.

I also believe that Rajai Davis has earned his way into the everyday starting center-field spot. When Ryan Sweeney comes back they can move him to right where I think he would be better suited. You could have Cust as your everyday DH, seeing as how he can't catch a fly ball apparently as proven by last night's disasterpiece.

The defense is what is really grinding my gears. I saw the A's make errors on two straight fly balls last night. Cust drops a fly ball to right that allowed runners to be on first and second. The next batter hit a pop-up to Cabrera, and luckily the infield fly rule was called, because he takes his eye off it and drops the ball at short (That would of worked if no infield fly rule was called. He could have turned two, maybe three with it).

The defense and pitching were the keys to the A's success in the past. This team doesn't seem to have it this year. I hope the All-Star Break brings success as the teams of the past have had. I don't think the A's make the playoffs until they fire Bob Geren.