by Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s have a day off on Monday as they will try to regroup and, hopefully, get their act together as they face the Los Angeles Angels for a three-game series starting Tuesday night at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland. The A’s split a four-game series with the Angels last week in Anaheim. The A’s lost the last game to the Angels and then returned home to face the Houston Astros for three and the A’s lost all three and are now mired in a four-game loosing-streak.

The Angels, in the meantime, have played better ball and are just one game under the .550 mark with a record of 9-10. The Angels have also removed the drama surrounding the saga of Josh Hamilton by trading him to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Hamilton, signed as a free agent by the Angels before the start of the 2013 season, did not play well in Anaheim. The former AL MVP signed a huge contract with the Angels but performed as if he were a utility player rather than a superstar. Hamilton admitted earlier this year that he had relapsed and was using drugs and alcohol again. The league did not suspend him but Angel owner, Arte Moreno, was so fed up with Hamilton that he attempted to negate his contract. It became apparent to all that Hamilton would never play for the Angels again. The situation was remedied earlier on Monday when the announcement came that Hamilton was heading back to the Texas Rangers where he had great success earlier in his career.

The A’s in the meantime, have been struggling. A’s starters, Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have performed well, but Kendall Graveman did not do well and has been sent down to Nashville. Jesse Hahn had one good game and one not so good game and he injured his finger in his third start and will return to the rotation either on Wednesday or Friday. Jesse Chavez, who pitched well as a starter last year, did well in his start against the Angels last week. He lost the game but gave up just one hit, but that hit was a two-run homer that gave LA the win. The A’s fifth starter, Drew Pomeranz is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA and, hopefully, he will do better as the season progresses. The A’s bullpen has not performed up to snuff yet this year.  The bullpen has been tagged for six losses this year and has only one victory so far this year. Eric O’Flaherty is 0-2 with an 11.37 ERA. Dan Otero and Fernando Abad both have lost games for the A’s and Tyler Clippard, who is the closer until Sean Doolittle returns, is 0-2. Ryan Cook was called up from Nashville and pitched well in the game against Houston on Sunday. Doolittle should be back soon, but no date has been set for his return. The A’s have four hitters over the .300 mark at the moment. Josh Reddick, Ike Davis, Stephen Vogt and Billy Butler are all hitting over .325. The A’s have scored runs, but they have not been able to win games that are close. Their record is 8-12 so far. While it is still early in the season, the A’s have to be careful of not falling too far behind. After the three-game set with LA, they head out to Texas, Minnesota and Seattle playing their second 10-game road trip of the year before returning home to face Boston and the Chicago White Sox. The A’s, also, are not fielding well. They have committed 20 errors, the most in the American League. In order to win, teams, these days, must have good starting pitching, a good bullpen, timely hitting and a strong defense. These ingredients improve the A’s chances of winning as they prevent other teams from scoring. Teams cannot win when they give opponents an extra out in an inning.

Tuesday’s game against the Angels will feature a rematch between the A’s Sonny Gray and the Angels’ Jered Weaver. Gray had a terrific outing against the Angels as he went seven innings and allowed 2 hits while picking up the victory. Gray is 2-0 this year with an ERA of 1.91. Weaver, an 18-game winner last  year is 0-2 with an ERA of 5.24. Weaver is 13-9 against the A’s in 31 starts lifetime and has won 4 of his last 6 starts at Oakland. Should be an interesting game as each team is trying to find an identity. The Angels, pre-season picks to win the AL West, want to right the ship and start surging. They have good starting pitching, but the bullpen is so-so. The A’s are trying to find consistency. Some days they have too many hits, some days they can’t buy a hit. Same thing for the pitching and the fielding. The only consistent thing about the A’s this year is their inconsistency. These are the things that drive a manager to lose his cool (see picture).

Game time is at 7:05pm.