Wins, that is. Actual wins! From the Oakland A’s!

Of course, these four wins came from three with the Pirates and one with the Orioles. And the A’s had no business winning Sunday’s game versus Pittsburgh, with the three unearned runs and all. But we’ll take it any way we can get it.

I’m not sure if this winning streak really counts, but there is still something to be said for beating the teams you should beat. If the A’s were struggling through this stretch, there would be cause for worry. But with the A’s beating these crappy teams we can be assured of one thing – the A’s don’t suck as bad as the Pirates and the Orioles.

The little victories are still victories. Let’s take a few more, please.

Go A’s!

The A’s keep losing, and what can I say about it? They keep struggling to score runs. Their bullpen – besides Andrew Bailey and Craig Breslow – is awful. Their starting pitching has been only OK of late, and they need to be great for this putrid offense to squeak across a run or two to win. None of this is new. It’s been going on for weeks now.

And you have to know that Bob Geren is feeling the heat. The Marlins fired manager Freddi Gonzalez this week, and they aren’t as bad as the A’s are. And even if Geren’s job is safe – and Billy Beane says it is – he is certainly not a popular guy right now from the fans’ and media’s perspective.

I think he wanted to get thrown out of yesterday’s game on that non-infield fly rule call. He wanted his players and everyone else to see him fighting for the team, and get out the frustration of constantly losing. A bases loaded, nobody out situation in which you hit into a double play because a guy intentionally let a ball drop and the umps didn’t call infield fly? That is the height of frustration and Bob let it all out.

So where do we go from here? We’ve got the Pirates and the Orioles next – do we get swept by them too? It’s a long season, and sometime, somehow, the losing has to stop. Let’s just hope it starts Friday, because I don’t know if I can deal with losing to Bobby Crosby and the Pirates.

Go A’s…

Thank goodness. It’s time to go back to Oakland and, more importantly, go back to playing by American League rules.

A few thoughts from the weekend series with St. Louis:

1. What does Matt Holliday have against Oakland? First he played like crap when he was with the A’s. And then he kicks our asses to the tune of 8-for-12 with four home runs over three games. What the heck, dude? You hate us. You really, really hate us.

2. Trevor Cahill is the best starting pitcher on this team. I mean, the guy owned Albert Pujols today. Albert Freaking Pujols! He struck him out twice. I’m not sure who else on this team could do that.

3. Bob Geren finally figured out how to do a double switch today, when he called on Andrew Bailey with a runner on and two outs in the 8th inning. He brought in Jack Cust to take over right field and flopped the RF and P spots in the batting order so that Cust would be coming up third in the next inning, and he wouldn’t have to bat Bailey or pinch hit for him.

However, he made this move at the wrong time. Mark Ellis had pinch hit for Ryan Sweeney in the top of the 8th and Adam Rosales, who had started the game at second base, made the final out of the inning. It would have been a better move to leave Mark Ellis in the game at second base, put the pitcher in Rosales’s batting order spot, and bring in Gabe Gross to play right field and bat in the pitcher’s spot. That way, you’d have your best defensive second baseman in to help protect a one-run lead and you would have been able to keep Cust out of right field.

4. Speaking of Bob Geren sucking at managing, what in the world was up with him pulling Craig Breslow, who had just easily retired five batters in a row, to bring in Michael Weurtz with two outs in the 8th? I totally get that Breslow is lefty and Tony LaRussa called on right-handed pinch hitter David Freese, and Weurtz is a righty.

But you know those five batters Breslow retired? The last three of them were right-handed. Righties hit .207 off Breslow this year, while they hit .250 off Weurtz. Weurtz has also been especially bad this road trip, allowing four hits and a run over 1 1/3 innings pitched.

So what did Weurtz do? He walked Freese, and Geren had to bring in Bailey with Holliday and Pujols coming up and do the double switch with Cust going to right field. I wonder what would have happened if he had just let Breslow keep doing what he was doing.

And the sad thing is, that move had nothing to do with being in a National League park.

It’ll be nice to get back to using the DH. No more adventures with double switching and Jack Cust in the field.

Go A’s!

Bob, your starting pitcher was dealing today and had only thrown 83 pitches through 6 innings. He had retired the last seven batters he faced. But you pulled him.

Oh, I know, his spot was due up in the top of the 7th inning. Mark Ellis led off that inning with a home run to break the tie and give the A’s a 2-1 lead. Then Cliff Pennington flew out. Your chances of scoring again in that inning were pretty slim at that point. Yet you pinch-hit for Braden with Gabe Gross, who promptly struck out.

Brad Ziegler and Craig Breslow got the job done in the bottom of the 7th and the A’s still  had a one-run leading going into the 8th. A 1-2-3 top of the inning led to Michael Weurtz coming in to try and hold the Cubs and get the lead to the closer.

But unfortunately, Weurtz was shaky. So, Bob, you brought in Andrew Bailey with one out and the bases loaded. I have absolutely no problem with that call. It was the right call.

But, Bob, did you see that ivy out there on the outfield wall? This was in Wrigley Field. A National League park! Oh crap, Bailey now occupies a spot in the batting order! But that’s OK, because you can do neat things, like double switch.

Only you forgot to double switch him into the game, BOB! Damn it, Bob! The pitcher’s spot was leading off the next inning! You were supposed to double switch by bringing Ryan Sweeney in to play right field and replacing Gross with Bailey!

So Bailey gave up a run on a sac fly and then struck out Alfonso Soriano. He threw ten pitches. He could have easily thrown more, but unfortunately you had to pinch hit for him with Ryan Sweeney to lead off the top of the 9th.

As expected, the A’s did not score in the top of the 9th. So the A’s hopes of getting to extra innings rested in the unreliable hands of Jerry Blevins. Oh, I’m not saying that was the wrong guy given the circumstances. I would have picked him over Cedric Bowers or Tyson Ross.

But Bob. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ANDREW BAILEY IF YOU MADE THE FREAKING DOUBLE SWITCH.

Damn it, Bob. You suck.

That’s the A’s current record with Conor Jackson on the team. Of course they are 0-1 in games he has started, but that’s not his fault.

From the leadoff spot (!) last night, Jackson was 2-for-3 with two singles and a walk, and was on the front end of a perfectly executed hit-and-run with Daric Barton. That’s good.

The rest of the order wasn’t so good though, as Kevin Kouzmanoff saw his 15-game hitting streak come to an end and the A’s only mustered two runs in the 6-2 loss to Chicago.

And Gio Gonzalez was Bad Gio; he just didn’t have it.

Today is the rubber game of the series. Dallas Braden still hasn’t won since the perfecto. I say he’s due.

Go A’s!!