By Morris Phillips

Just for the record, Yoenis Cespedes went 1 for 7 with a pair of runs scored in first two games as a Boston Red Sox.

While the A’s and their concerned fans are wondering where the offense went, it’s clear that it didn’t fly to Boston with the home run champ. In fact, Cespedes hit just three home runs in his final 30 games as an Athletic.

With or without Cespedes, the A’s are struggling offensively, and that continued Sunday in a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals. The AL West leaders were shut down by Royals’ staff leader James Shields, who allowed four hits and two runs in eight innings of work. If not for Josh Reddick, who smashed a pair of solo homers, the A’s could have been shutout, and as a result, had even more questions to answer.

“We know we’re going to come out of it, we’re just all tired of waiting,” Reddick said. “We’re a better lineup than what we’ve shown in the last week, and we all know that.”

With 52 regular season games remaining, the A’s are still the team with the major league’s best record, but the Angels—by virtue of surviving a grueling 3-3 road trip back east—have cut the gap within the division to one game. The A’s remain a virtual lock for a post-season berth, but without any security that they can avoid a second place finish in their division, and the one-game playoff crap shoot that comes with such a finish, they need to pick it up fast with the Tampa Rays and Minnesota Twins—a pair of sub-.500 teams—coming to the O.co Coliseum this week.

“We just haven’t been at our best offensively here, and now we come up against some good starting pitchers who are on their game early,” manager Bob Melvin said.

If the trend of the A’s having to worry about opponents’ starters more than opponents have to worry about the A’s newly configured super rotation, then it will be quite a surprise. If so, then Tampa Bay’s Alex Cobb (7-6) who starts against Oakland Monday and Minnesota’s John Gibson (10-8) who gets the ball Friday at the Coliseum will have to be a lot more formidable than Jeff Samardzjia and 12-game winner Scott Kazmir who they are matched up with.

Possible, but not likely. But again, the A’s have to pick it up. Defensively, the A’s seem just fine. On Sunday, the A’s turned four double plays including Reddick’s leaping catch at the right field wall and throw back to double off Alex Escobar in the seventh. Defense like that–chock full of spectacular outfield play courtesy of Reddick, Sam Fuld and Craig Gentry, once he regains his health—plays a perfect complement to the A’s pitching.

And even with the A’s recent slump, they remain number one among all 30 teams with 545 runs scored on the season. So while an offensive hiccup over the last week is of concern, it probably doesn’t mean the A’s won’t continue to be outstanding with the bats.

If anything bears watching, it’s the performance of All-Stars Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss in the middle of the A’s lineup. The pair went a combined 0 for 7 on Sunday with three strikeouts. If a tense, playoff race along with all the expectations brought about by the acquisitions of Jon Lester and Samardzjia causes any of the A’s to tighten up, these two heavy lifters could be the first to experience it.

On Monday, Cobb faces Samardzjia in the opener of a three-game set at 7:05pm.