Oakland Athletics: Week Recap, Rangers and White Sox Series Analysis

The A's just finished off a rain-shortened week with a 2-3 record.

If not for the baseball Gods, the A's likely would have lost four games as Gio Gonzalez had a poor effort washed away on Wednesday.

The A's split what turned out to be a two games series in Arlington by identical scores of 7-2. Trevor Cahill pitched seven strong and allowed only a solo home run in the opener. Josh Willingham had five RBI and a home run to help the A's cause. Brett Anderson wobbled through 4.2 innings on Tuesday as his wildness resulted in four Rangers runs en route to a 7-2 loss.

The A's fared no better in the opener against the White Sox. The Sox scored four in the second off of Brandon McCarthy, who faced the minimum in the remainder of his seven innings. The A's rallied with three runs and had the tying run on third with two outs in the eighth. Coco Crisp endeavored to steal home, but was caught and the A's fell 4-3. They bounced back the following day with a 6-2 win in support of Tyson Ross, who won his second consecutive start. The rubber game went the way of the Pale Hose as Trevor Cahill allowed four runs, two earned, and the A's couldn't muster a comeback, again falling 4-3.

This will probably sound like broken record, but lets break down each aspect of the A's this last week.

Offense

Inconsistent once again. The A's scored seven and six in their two wins and couldn't break three in their three loses. Mark Ellis had a three-hit game Sunday, but his average remains below .200. No A's hitter is hitting particularly well and the team appears to need a spark to get more consistent offense.

Starting Pitching

This was the first week where multiple pitchers struggled. The A's got good starts from Cahill and Ross, but Anderson looked lost against the Rangers—again. Gonzalez was gifted a rainout to avoid adding seven earned runs to his tally. McCarthy had one bad inning that cost him in an otherwise brilliant outing. Finally, Cahill in Sunday's start couldn't keep the ball down and was tattooed for ten hits and four runs.

Relief Pitching

No game went one way or another because of relief. Both wins were sizable enough to avoid any bullpen mishaps. The bullpen kept the A's close in their two losses to the White Sox, but the offense was clearly the culprit in those games. On injury side Andrew Bailey looks to begin a rehab stint this week. Joey Devine has thrown more than 10 scoreless innings and appears ready for the majors.

Defense

This is certainly the highlight of the week as the A's committed four errors—two by pitchers that led to unearned runs. The A's made numerous highlight reel plays Sunday against the White Sox, including throwing Adam Dunn out from the outfield on an overplay by Mark Ellis.

Coaching

Nothing to report especially. Coco Crisp's attempted steal of home was his own decision and not a designed steal by Bob Geren and company. The A's appear to be in need of some offensive firepower, and while it doesn't directly fall into the coaching category, Billy Beane might be in need of doing something to jump start the A's offense.

Seven game week with games against the Angels, Twins and a San Francisco road trip upcoming this weekend.