It had to happen sooner or later. The A's hadn't lost a series in Oakland since May 13-15 against New York. The A's had won nine consecutive series overall.
But in watching this series coming in, you might think that the Twins could be the team to break the A's series win streak. The Twins starting staff hardly walks anyone. The A's live off starting pitchers who give up walks.
Granted, the A's had seven hits today and couldn't get that key hit to help Rich Harden to a victory. This after Harden pitches eight one-hit innings.
The offense is beginning to concern me. Here are some players batting stats since the All-Star break:
Kendall: .234 BA/.563 OPS (incl. .283 OBP)
Kotsay: .231 BA/.635 OPS (incl. .250 OBP)
Crosby: .241 BA/.663 OPS (incl. .333 OBP)
Chavez: .283 BA/.874 OPS (incl. .325 OBP)
Johnson: .360 BA/1.055 OPS (incl. .435 OBP)
Kielty: .224 BA/.596 OPS (incl. .290 OBP)
Hatteberg: .276 BA/.693 OPS (incl. .325 OBP)
Ellis: .376 BA/.977 OPS (incl. .424 OBP)
Payton: .273 BA/.857 OPS (incl. .291 OBP)
Swisher: .279 BA/.883 OPS (incl. .364 OBP)
The first thing that jumps out at me is that outside of Ellis and Dan Johnson, this team doesn't have anyone who is exceptionally hot. It's amazing this team has been able to win as many games as it has. Fortunately, the pitching has been absolutely stellar.
Chavez, Hatteberg and Payton are hitting reasonably well, but those are mostly dreadful numbers. Payton only has a .291 OBP? Luckily he's been able to compensate by hitting for a lot of power since the A's acquiring him. Swisher is also hitting very well, but because Swish has lost his grandmother, the A's are losing his bat for a few games.
And we're talking about basically a month, but still, the A's have won a lot of games recently late in games. They aren't hitting very well. Baltimore is coming in and hopefully the A's offense will wake up because you know that the Orioles can hit.