by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s continue to flounder. They lost to the New York Mets on wednesday and have now lost eight of the last 10 game played to fall 1 ½ games behind the Los Angeles Angeles in the AL West. The road doesn’t get any easier for the A’s as they meet the Angels for three this weekend in Oakland then go to Houston for three and then four more with the Angels. The A’s must take five out of seven from the Angels in order to gain ground. If they go 3-4 or 4-3 they will still be in second place in the division.

The other factor will be the rapidly improving Houston Astros. Last time the A’s went to Houston they lost the series 2 games to one . The Astros as mentioned are improving and will not be a pushover for the A’s.

In the meantime, the Angels were dealt a blow when pitcher Garrett Richards went down with a knee injury and may be out for the season. The Angels have the edge over the A’s when it comes to hitting. Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick, David Freese , Kohl Calhoun and even the slumping Josh Hamilton present a formidable lineup. The Angels’ starting pitching took a blow with the loss of Richards but Jered Weaver, C.J.Wilson, Matt Shoemaker, Hector Santiago and Michael Roth may not look as strong as the A’s rotation but they are getting the job done. The Angels’ bullpen was bolstered by the arrival of Jason Grilli from Pittsburgh and Huston Street from San Diego.

The A’s pitching has to right the ship. Sonny Gray is in a slump right now. Jon Lester won his first three starts for the A’s but lost his time out. Jeff Samardzija was bombed by the Mets Wednesday. Scott Kazmir won his last outing and Jason Hammel has not pitched well at all. The A’s were able to bump Hammel out of a start due to two off days this week. It will be up to Gray, Lester and Kazmir to stop the Angels this weekend and will have to do it again next week in Anaheim.

Lastley, the A’s have a five game lead as the first wild card team but guess who would be the second wild card if the season ended today? That’s right-the Detroit Tigers and the A’s woul