May 19, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52), shortstop Jed Lowrie (8), pitcher Adam Rosales (17) and first base Brandon Moss (37) celebrate after the game against the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum. Oakland won 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Needless to say the returns of both Coco Crisp and Chris Young give an exponential boost of legitimacy to the everyday lineup.  It may be a harsh truth but a lineup featuring Michael Taylor and Luke Montz with any level of frequency above the occasional rest days for the regulars is not indicative of a contending team.  That’s not to say they can’t possibly be useful parts of a contending team, but in complementary roles only.  Having 3/4 of the original starting outfield back has, and will continue to pay dividends for the team.

The starting pitching may finally be coming around as well.  Despite the announcement Friday that Brett Anderson had a stress fracture in his foot and would miss an extended period of time, the starting pitching showed signs of life this weekend.  Jarrod Parker turned in his strongest start of the season Friday night against James Shields, Tommy Milone gutted out 6 effective innings when he clearly was struggling, and despite not being on his best A.J. Griffin kept the A’s in the game so they could come back and complete the sweep of the Royals.  The A’s will need those three to carry the load in Anderson’s absence, and at this point relying on his return and effectiveness upon that return would be foolish.

Josh Donaldson is playing at an All-Star level.  Not a “well the Athletics have to get one representative so it might as well be him” level, but a legitimate All-Star level.  Through Saturday’s game, Donaldson ranked in the top 10 in the AL with a 1.9 WAR, that’s not AL third baseman, that’s AL position players.  He’s in elite company there.  His 152 wRC+ ranks only behind Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria at third base.  His .323/.393/.544 slash line compares favorably with just about anyone in the AL not named Miguel Cabrera.  He may get shunned from the All Star Game due to a lack of name recognition, but at this point he undoubtedly deserves a spot.

Perhaps the biggest reason for short term optimism though is the fact that Yoenis Cespedes may be primed for a breakout.  Watching him in person on Friday night, the ball is jumping off his bat again.  Even when he’s making outs, he’s starting to make hard contact.  His .202 BABIP screams of bad luck.  While he hasn’t been making solid contact this year either, bad fortune hasn’t helped the cause.  If that BABIP starts to climb, he can carry the A’s back to the level where they were.

This upcoming three game set with the Texas Rangers in Arlington will be a big test for the Athletics on their path back into the upper echelon of the American League.  They will have to contend with one of the best pitchers in the AL right now in Yu Darvish on Tuesday night, both Yu and the A’s love strikeouts so making contact will come at a premium that night.  If the A’s can take game 1 of the series against Josh Lindblom, that will do wonders for their chances to take this series.  In case you forgot, the last time we saw Lindblom he was walking off field in Oakland after Yoenis Cespedes sent a rocket down the left field line for a 3-run walk off home run to complete a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, hopefully Yoenis reminds reintroduces himself to Lindblom, if he does then the Athletics may be in business.

It was only a 5 game losing streak, but it felt like a lot more.  But tonight, not Angel Hernandez, not Joe Torre, not Chris Perez, not Kyle Seager, and not the A’s themselves would be able to prevent the A’s from coming away with a victory in Seattle tonight.  Jarrod Parker finally showed some signs of the pitcher we all saw last season, in one of his best performances of 2013 to best the Mariners and Brandon Maurer.

May 11, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher Grant Balfour (50) is greeted by catcher Derek Norris (36) after the final out against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Oakland defeated Seattle, 4-3, as Balfour earned his sixth save. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The game began uneventfully, neither team did anything in the first inning.  Josh Donaldson went deep for his 5th home run of the season in the top of the 2nd inning, the Mariners did nothing when a walk was erased with an inning ending double play in their half.  Yoenis Cespedes returned the favor with his own inning ending double play in the top of the 3rd, and the Mariners once again did nothing with their half (Sensing a theme?).  The A’s got on the board again in the top of the 4th when Daric Barton launched his first home run of the season, the Mariners again did nothing (2 walks, one of which was picked off by a snap throw from Derek Norris).  Jed Lowrie drove in the A’s third run of the game on a long RBI single in the top of the 5th, the Mariners finally did something in the bottom half when Kelly Shoppach went to the opposite field for a 2-run home run following a Justin Smoak walk with pop up and a force out sandwiched in between.  That was the first base hit allowed by Jarrod Parker in the game, it may have only been 4.2 innings of no hit ball, but all things considered it’s extremely impressive for him.  Brandon Moss would respond with his 5th home run of the season in the 6th.

Parker would work into the 7th inning, going 6.1 innings while allowing 3 hits, 3 ER, 4 walks, and 8 strikeouts in getting his second win of the season.  Sean Doolittle allowed his first inherited runner to score in taking over for Parker, accounting for the 3rd ER charged to him.  Doolittle would escape the inning with any further damage done.  Ryan Cook would bring us a cardiac inning in the 8th, loading up the bases on two singles and a walk, but he would strike out the side in the process to walk across the tight rope and escape disaster.  Grant Balfour would convert the save in the 9th, his 24th straight, but it wouldn’t come easy as the M’s would get the tying and potential winning runs aboard.  The A’s bullpen managed to hold the Mariners down, but they sure didn’t act like they wanted to.

On the offensive side, Jed Lowrie would shine brightest with a 3 for 4 night and an RBI single.  Josh Donaldson (2-4), Daric Barton (1-4), and Brandon Moss (1-4) accounted for each of the other three single runs that gave the A’s just barely enough to pull out this win.

May 11, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Oakland Athletics center fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) hits the wall after robbing a home run against the Seattle Mariners during the sixth inning at Safeco Field. Oakland defeated Seattle, 4-3. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The highlight of the night had to be the sensational play by Yoenis Cespedes in center field to rob Kyle Seager of at least extra bases and perhaps more.  Yoenis caught the ball with a leap and a crash into the wall after a dead run just to the left of straight away center field.  He appeared to maybe have gotten his bell run a little bit, but apparently no harm was done.

With the win the A’s are back at .500 at 19-19.

It seems hard to believe, but the A’s will have a chance to win the series tomorrow afternoon as Tommy Milone (3-4, 3.14 ERA) takes on old friend Joe Saunders (2-4, 6.15 ERA).  Saunders at times has been able to shut down the Athletics, but that was primarily during his days with the Los Angeles Angels.  The A’s roughed him up a little, scoring 4 runs in 4 innings against Saunders for the team’s first win of 2013 back on April 3rd.

Apr 20, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Jarrod Parker (11) reacts as he talks with pitching coach Curt Young (41) and catcher Derek Norris (36) on the mound during the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Tribe stormed out of the gates with two solo home runs in the bottom of the 1st inning by Jason Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera.  Parker would get a little wild, hitting Mark Reynolds with a pitch before retiring the side.  Reynolds would be heard from again in the bottom of the 5th when he followed Asdrubal Cabrera’s second homer of the game with a tape measure shot estimated around 460 feet.  Reynolds admired his shot a la Yoenis Cespedes, but when you hit a shot like that I think you’ve earned the right to survey your work.

The 4 home runs Parker allowed matched his season total for 2013.  Parker lasted 5 innings, allowing the 4 ER off the solo homers, he gave up 7 hits altogether,  he walked 2, and struck out 7 in taking the loss.

The A’s were never able to take advantage of a predictably wild Ubaldo Jimenez either, definitely taking part of the blame for this loss.  Ubaldo allowed 4 hits and 3 walks in his 5.2 innings of work, and was on the ropes as he exited the game.  The bases had been loaded after the A’s scored their second run on a sacrifice fly by Yoenis Cespedes, but the struggling Josh Reddick came to bat with a chance to break through his funk.  He was dispatched by the lefty Nick Hagadone on 3 pitches, and a possibly questionable called strike 3 that Reddick didn’t agree with and made his feelings known.

Home plate umpire Angel Hernandez had a questionable strike zone all evening, but his calls worked to the benefit and detriment of both teams, so no one can cry foul.  Bottom line, the team has to make plays and have quality at bats in order for good things to happen, and they didn’t.

The offense was primarily on the shoulders of Yoenis Cespedes, who hit his 6th home run of the season, to make it a 2-1 game at the time.  His sac fly in the 6th made it a 4-2 game.  Josh Donaldson would give the A’s their 3rd run of the game on an RBI single in what would amount to garbage time, to make it a 7-3 game, which would be tonight’s final score.

Cespedes with his 2 RBI, and Brandon Moss with his 2 for 4 night would highlight the offense for the Athletics tonight.  Donaldson’s RBI single was his lone hit tonight.  Reddick, Seth Smith, Adam Rosales and Derek Norris would each add a hit to the A’s total for the night.

Chris Resop relieved Jarrod Parker, and didn’t fare too well, allowing 3 ER in 1.2 innings of work on 1 hit and 3 walks.  Evan Scribner worked 1.1 scoreless innings.

The A’s look to rebound tomorrow night as Tommy Milone (3-3, 3.69 ERA) looks to beat his road demons against Zach McAllister (2-3, 3.30).  The A’s will have to put together at bats of a much higher quality if they want to get this series evened up.