May 23, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver (36) pitches the ball against the Oakland Athletics during the third inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

TURNING POINT:  Jarrod Parker wasn’t at his sharpest by any stretch of the imagination, but he at least limited the damage to two innings tonight.  For most of the game the A’s trailed by a 2-0 deficit established in the 2nd inning, and as Parker tried to battle through the 7th inning he faced adversity once again.  After inducing a groundout from Howard “Don’t Call Me Howie” Kendrick, Parker surrendered the 3rd base hit from fresh off the DL Erick Aybar and the 2nd single from Chris Iannetta to put 2 on with 1 out.  The two runners were moved to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs on a Mike Trout ground ball to the right side that he nearly beat out.  Then grizzled veteran Torii Hunter came up in a clutch 2 out situation and delivered what many deemed to be the knockout blow with a solid single up the middle to drive in Aybar and Iannetta.  The Angels led 4-0 and with Weaver cruising this game was all but done.]

ON THE HILL:  Jarrod Parker had major trouble finding the strike zone tonight, and for the most part the Angels had trouble making him pay for it.  His line of 6.2 innings, 9 hits and 4 ER, with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts certainly could have been even uglier if the Angels had capitalized on his wildness.  He did throw 58 of his 98 pitches for strikes, but earlier in the game he was right around 50% on balls versus strikes percentage until he got in a mini groove in the middle innings.  Pat Neshek took over in the 7th inning and retired the side on a strikeout after hitting Albert Pujols with a pitch..  Pedro Figueroa handled the final 2 innings on just 1 hit and 2 walks with 2 strikeouts.  The bullpen as a whole should be fairly well rested now that they’ve had 2 full days off with the exception of the 2 batters faced by Neshek.

AT THE PLATE:  There certainly isn’t much to talk about regarding the A’s with the lumber tonight, they got owned by one of baseball’s best.  Only Derek Norris, Brandon Moss, and Brandon Inge reached base tonight with base hits.  Inge did have 2 hits including a double and the first hit of the night for the A’s.  Everyone else in the A’s lineup put up nothing but zeroes tonight.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The A’s are out of a playoff spot for the first time in some time having fallen behind the Angels in the AL West and wild card standings.  It’s not time to panic just yet because there is still a lot of baseball to be played, but it seems abundantly clear that it is time to recognize that the tidal wave of momentum that fueled the best July the Athletics franchise has ever seen is gone.  I’ve written over the last couple days about the fact that the bullpen and the shortstop position need upgrades and soon.  Eric Sogard simply is not a Major League shortstop, he seems like a good guy but character isn’t going to win games.  Adam Rosales has more business being in Oakland than Sogard, but he’s a bench player.  I believe Billy Beane will not sit by and watch this go on, hopefully I’m right.  Tomorrow night the A’s will try to stop this streak and even up this series against the Angels starter everyone in the 510 loves to hate CJ Wilson (9-7, 3.27 ERA), the veteran Bartolo Colon takes the hill for the A’s with a 8-8 record and an ERA of 3.55.  Nothing would take the sting out of a complete game shutout like knocking around the straight edge lefty Wilson.

Ofcourse Albert Pujols went deep in Oakland... (Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)

The A’s certainly showed Angels how it’s done tonight.  What exactly they showed them probably isn’t what most fans would have liked.  Tonight simply wasn’t the A’s night, in any facet of the game.  CJ Wilson dominated the A’s for 8 scoreless innings only allowing a single hit and a couple of instances of “lawyerball” (walks).  Graham Godfrey pitched a rather uninspiring 3 innings, giving up 4 of the Angels 5 runs including a rare 2012 home run to Albert Pujols.  Cliff Pennington made a throwing error not long after Ken Korach did his best Glen Kuiper impersonation by praising Pennington’s “Gold Glove caliber” play at shortstop so far this year, and Josh Donaldson defied the advice from Little League coaches across the world and let the ball play him instead of playing the ball.

TURNING POINT: The first pitch of the game from Graham Godfrey was an 87 MPH fastball for a called strike to Mike Trout.  The turning point came with the second pitch, an 89 MPH fastball for a ball, followed by 3 more out of the strike zone.  Maicer Izturis singled to right to move Trout to 3rd, and Albert Pujols drove him in with a sacrifice fly.  Three batters into the game the Angels would have all they needed to win this game.  Godfrey would ultimately escape the 1st with 3 runs scored, the final 2 outs of the inning being recorded when Mark Trumbo was tagged out by Anthony Recker after perhaps being too aggressive off 3rd, and when Collin Cowgill threw Howard “Don’t You Dare Call Me Howie” Kendrick out at home on Erick Aybar‘s single.  Not exactly how you want to impress the suits in your return to the show Graham.  Perhaps this will be a short stint in Oakland.

ON THE HILL: It’s hard to imagine this is the same Graham Godfrey that out dueled Tim Lincecum last year.  It’s not like we expected him to be anything more than a back of the rotation starter, but this season so far every time he’s taken the mound the expectation seems to be that he’ll struggle, and struggle he has.  He posted a line of 3 innings, 6 hits, 4 ER, with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts, his ERA now sits at a “Lincecum-esque” (zing) 6.16.  Travis Blackley continued to impress in outlasting today’s starter Godfrey by going 3.2 innings and giving up an unearned run on 3 hits with no walks and 3 strikeouts.  Blackley’s strong pitching kept the game within striking distance until the late innings when Josh Donaldson’s error opened the door for the 5th run to score when Erick Aybar was hit by a Jim Miller curveball with the bases loaded.  Miller would finish that inning and go one more without allowing a run of his own.  Jerry Blevins pitched the 9th without incident, his ERA now sits at 2.33.

Look at the misery on CJ Wilson's face pitching from that terrible mound. (Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)

AT THE PLATE: So we could probably just skip this section altogether tonight.  CJ Wilson took a no hitter into the 5th inning when Cliff Pennington laced a single with 1 out, he was promptly erased by an Adam Rosales double play ball.  Walks to Daric Barton and Rosales surely infuriated Wilson, but that was all the resistance they could manage.  It may have been a lineup missing Josh Reddick, Jemile Weeks, and Kurt Suzuki, but when you get owned, you get owned.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  It’s still personal for many A’s fans against CJ Wilson, so seeing him dominate the A’s like this just leaves a sick feeling in everyone’s stomach.  The Athletics do not have an easy task in attempting to rebound tomorrow in the battle of the Jareds (Jarrod or Jered).  The A’s will send out rookie Jarrod Parker who had an extremely rough outing against the Giants last Friday night in San Francisco, hopefully he can gain some command tomorrow.  He carries a 1-2 record with a 3.90 ERA against Jered Weaver who is 6-1 with a 2.80 ERA and a no hitter against the Twins to his credit.  Runs will be hard to come by for the A’s, so Parker has to be on his game.

Check me out on Twitter @SeanD25, see my take on everything else baseball at Baseball Obsessed, and follow everything Swingin’ A’s @FS_SwinginAs.

For the cash-strapped Athletics, the news of Pujols coming to their division is not something that warrants any type of celebration. If you’re an A’s fan, this Pujols deal most likely makes you cringe. If you’re an Angels fan, though, you’re probably jumping up and down with joy.

The signings of Pujols and Wilson catapult the Angels, in my mind, to the top of the AL West. The whole structure of the division is set to undergo a massive change, with the Rangers, A’s, and Mariners now having to prepare to face baseball’s best player in Pujols throughout the season.

For Oakland, things couldn’t get much worse. Well, I guess it could. MLB and Bud Selig could deny the team’s bid for a new stadium in San Jose, but at least that hasn’t happened, yet. For the AL West, things could become very interesting in the next few years. (more…)