A number of clubs have taken an interest in Texas Rangers Joey Gallo, the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Oakland A’s so far have all stepped up to the plate in the Gallo Sweepstakes (file photo USA Today)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s continued to flounder as they lost three of the four games played against the Settle Mariners this past weekend. The A’ continued to fail to get clutch hits with runners in scoring position. Since June 18th, the A’s are 13-18. Yes, they are playing a lot of one-run games.

Yes, they have had chances to win. Yet, they fail to come through. On June 18th, the A’s were in first place in the AL West. They are now 5 and 1/2 games behind the Houston Astros. They led the Seattle Mariners by 3 and 1/2 games in the second AL Wild Card race.

That was before the weekend series. They now lead the Mariners by 1 and 1/2 games. They have lost seven of the last ten series played. They won two and split one with the Texas Rangers. The only team in the AL West that they can beat has been the LA Angels. The Astros, Rangers, and Mariners all have a winning record against Oakland.

The A’s missed the boat by not trading for Nelson Cruz. Tampa Bay sent two prospects to Minnesota for the slugger. Oakland could have worked out a deal. The A’s have not gotten the production they hoped for from the two guys in right field.

Mitch Moreland has been on the 10-day IL twice. Moreland has hit seven dingers and driven in 24. The A’s are rumored to be interested in acquiring Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers. The New York Yankees are also interested in trading for Gallo. Maybe Billy Beane and David Forst probably would go after Khris Davis. He is available.

The A’s are on their way to San Diego to play two against the San Diego Padres. The Padres are in third place in the NL West. They trail the San Francisco Giants by 5 and 1/2 games and are 3 and 1/2 games behind the LA Dodgers in the Wild Card Chase.

The Padres made several moves over the off-season to bolster their starting pitching. They acquired Yu Darvish from the Chicago Cubs and Blake Snell, a former Cy Young Award winner, from the Tampa Bay Rays. Their general manager, A.J. Preller, engineered a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates to acquire second baseman/ outfielder Adam Frazier for three prospects. The deal hasn’t been finalized but is expected to be announced soon. Preller is working on a deal to get pitcher Jose Berrios from the Minnesota Twins.

The Padres have not announced their starters for the series with the A’s. Chris Paddack (6-6, ERA 5.17) last pitched on July 21st, and his next turn would appear to be against the A’s. Lefty Blake Snell (4-3, ERA 4.93) would go on Wednesday. Oakland will send James Kaprielian to the mound Tuesday night. Kaprielian is 5-3, and his ERA is 2.53. Lefty Sean Manaea (7-6, ERA 3.16) will pitch for the A’s Wednesday afternoon.

The A’s pitchers will have their work cut out for them against a very potent San Diego offense. They have two guys on the left side of the infield that can hammer the baseball. Third baseman Manny Machado, in his tenth season, is hitting .275 with 17 homers and 68 RBIs.

Machado has hit 240 homers so far in his career. At shortstop, the Padres have the 2-year-old phenom, Fernando Tatis, Jr. The young man from the Dominican Republic is hitting .289 with 30 home runs and has 67 RBIs.

Eric Hosmer will be at first base for the Pads. Hosmer owns a .266 batting average, and he has hit eight dingers in driven in 48. Second baseman Jake Cronenworth is hitting a solid .275. Jake has hit 13 big flies out of the park and knocked in 24 mates.

The Padres have four players they use quite a bit in the outfield. Tommy Phan will probably start in leftfield. Pham is batting .260 and has hit 13 dingers. Trent Grisham will patrol centerfield. Grisham is at .262, 11 homers, and 39 RBIs. Will Myers (.254, 12 homers, 45 RBIs) will be in right. Jurickson Profar, who was an Oakland Athletic in 2019, will be the backup outfielder.

The Padre bullpen is solid. Their closer, the veteran Mark Melancon has been solid all year. Melancon has recorded 30 saves so far this year. Two former A’s are in the Padre pen. Emilio Pagan, who was with Oakland in2018, and Drew Pomerantz, a starter for Oakland in 2014 and 2025, have done well for the Padres. Other relievers that will see action include left Tim Hill, righties Craig Stammen, Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, and Nabil Crismatt.

Since the game is being played in a National League Park, the A’s will be without the designated hitter. The A’s will have to figure out a way to put runs on the board. Since resuming play after the All-Star break, Oakland has put slightly more than three runs per game on the board.

After the two-game set with the Padres, the A’s play four against the Angels. The A’s have had their way against LA so far. However, the Angels would love to turn the tables on their foes from the Bay area. After the Angel series, the A’s return home to play two more against the Padres.

The Texas Rangers, in last place in the AL West, will play three more in Oakland. They have not been kind to the A’s this year. The A’s then go on the road to play three in Cleveland, three more with Texas, and four against the Central Division leaders, the Chicago White Sox. After that trip, the A’s host the San Francisco Giants for three, the Mariners for two, and the Yankees for four more games.

The A’s do not have an easy road to the playoffs. They need help to strengthen the offense. Lou Trivino has done a reasonably good job as the closer. Lefty Jake Diekman has had some control issues. Diekman has not been as effective as he was last year. Sergio Romo has regained his form and has been quite a surprise. Yusmeiro Petit has also done a good job.

It will be interesting to see if the A’s get active before the July 30th trade deadline. They need to upgrade the offense. First baseman Matt Olson is the A’s most valuable player. The big guy is hitting .287 to go along with 27 home runs and 66 RBIs. Mark Canha, Jed Lowrie, and Tony Kemp are the only other hitters above the .250 mark. Seth Brown is at .201, Stephen Piscotty at .205, Sean Murphy .212, Matt Chapman .218.

Hopefully, the A’s can get the offense going. If they don’t, they may not make the playoffs. Let’s hope they can make a couple of deals and they get back on the winning track.