By Charlie O. Mallonee

Have you ever had a nightmare that will not go away? Every time you close your eyes, it comes back.

That was the kind of nightmare the Oakland A’s experienced in Los Angeles versus the Angels in their critical four-game series to determine the leader in the American League West. Every time the A’s closed their eyes, they saw an Angel pitcher dominating the hitters and keeping the A’s from scoring runs. They saw Angel’s batters having very little difficulty hitting Oakland pitching. Every time the A’s players looked at the scoreboard, they saw themselves as the losers in very critical games.

The A’s went into the game on Sunday hoping salvage one win in the four-game series. It was not to be as Los Angeles pitcher Matt Shoemaker pitched seven scoreless innings while his hitters limited A’s starter Scott Kazmir to just.1.1 innings of work. The Angels beat the A’s 8-1 to sweep the series.

The Angels struck first and struck hard in the bottom of the second inning. Josh Hamilton led off the inning with a single to left field. Howie Kendrick then walked. David Freese flied out to center. Erick Aybar singled to left field and Josh Hamilton scored as Kendrick moved up to second base. Chris Iannetta walked to load the bases for the Angels. After Curt Young made a visit to the mound, Scott Kazmir walked Gordon Beckham forcing in a run from third base. Kole Calhoun then walked forcing in Aybar for the third run of the inning.

Bob Melvin made a trip to the mound to remove Kazmir before the next hitter. As Dan Otero ran in from the bullpen, Melvin started toward home plate umpire Gerry Davis to complain about the strike zone. Davis immediately ejected Melvin.

Mike Trout singled off Otero driving two runs in and putting the Angels up 5-0. Albert Pujols grounded out to third but Kole Calhoun was able to score from third. Josh Hamilton was safe at first on a fielding error but Mike Trout was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second to end the inning. When the dust settled, the A’s starting pitcher was in the clubhouse, Bob Melvin was ejected and Oakland trailed the Angels 6-0.

The Angels added another run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Mike Trout led off the inning with a home run to left center field off Jesse Chavez to make the score 7-0 Los Angeles.

The A’s finally stopped their streak of 29 consecutive scoreless innings in the top of the eighth inning. With one out, Sam Fuld walked. Fuld advanced to second on defensive indifference as Josh Reddick was at the plate. Reddick then hit a single to left and Fuld scampered home to score the A’s one and only run of the game.

The Angels added one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning when Chris Iannetta took an Evan Scribner pitch over the left center field wall for the eighth run of the game.

Shoemaker’s record improved to 14-4 on the season. He worked 7.0 innings giving up no runs on just five hits. Shoemaker walked none and struck out seven Oakland A’s. He threw 103 pitches (70 strikes).

Scott Kazmir’s record fell to 14-7 for the year. He gave up six runs (all earned) in his 1.1 innings on the mound. Kazmir walked six batters and struck out none. Dan Otero, Jesse Chavez and Evan Scribner combined to close out the game for the A’s.

Oakland now trails the Angels by five full games in the American League West. The Angels have Monday off and then begin a series in Houston on Tuesday. The A’s will be back in action on Monday as they open a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners.

The Angels and A’s will face each other again in a three-game series in Oakland September 22-24.