Yuck, all I can say is yuck. (Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT: The obvious choice would be the bottom of the 9th inning when Josh Willingham sent the Twins fans home happy, but there were so many chances the A’s had to put this game away, or at least give themselves some breathing room.  They failed miserably in those situations.  The top of the 9th turned out to be the most crucial of those situations.  Three walks should have gotten the A’s a bases loaded situation with Brandon Inge at the plate with 1 out, instead Collin Cowgill was thrown out at 3rd stealing for out number 2.  Brandon Inge was subsequently owned by Glen Perkins on 3 nasty sliders and the A’s were tasked with trying to make a 2 run lead stick in the bottom of the inning.  It didn’t, and the back breaking loss was dealt.

ON THE HILL: Lost in the mass hysteria of this loss was the fact that Jarrod Parker had another fairly solid outing.  His control is still not anywhere near where it needs to be, but he managed to shut out the Twins for 6 strong innings while giving up 4 hits, walking 4, and striking out 4.  We would have been in line for the win had the 9th inning been cancelled or something.  Jerry Blevins continued to throw the ball well in a clean 7th inning, just allowing a single hit and striking out 2 in impressive fashion, his ERA for the season is now 1.96.  Grant Balfour found a little bit of his ability to walk hitters, but managed to side step the damage for a scoreless 8th.  The man of the hour though is Brian Fuentes who put the first two batters on with a hit and a walk, but then seemed to catch a lucky break as Ben Revere popped up a bunt back to Fuentes for the 1st out (more like blocked the ball from hitting him in the face with his bat), and drew within an out of sealing the victory when Joe Mauer grounded into a fielder’s choice.  A badly missed sinker to Josh Willingham was the fateful pitch that caused tonight’s misery.

AT THE PLATE: There was no hit parade to speak of tonight.  The Twins pitchers were so busy walking batters it seemed like the A’s only swung the bats when they were failing to drive in runs in scoring situations.  The highlight of the night with the sticks had to be the 2-2 showing from Coco Crisp who was dropped to 8th in the lineup tonight.  Maybe taking some pressure off of him helped.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The dramatic nature of tonights loss was matched by the dramatic nature A’s fans reacted to that loss.  It’s easy to overreact and call for everyone’s heads, but we have to be honest with ourselves, this is the team most people expected to see.  They overachieved through the first 6 weeks of the season, and now the perennial injury issues, and the blatant lack of offensive talent on this team is catching up with them.  I do think they can right the ship to some degree when Yoenis Cespedes returns (who looks absolutely locked in right now in Sacramento), and when Manny Ramirez makes his debut.  It may seem impossible right now, but I think a .500 season is still within the realm of possibility.  This is a long season of peaks and valleys, and the A’s are just crusing along the boring flatland right now.  The A’s will hope not to serve as the medicine for another ailing ballplayer as Tyson Ross (2-5, 5.79 ERA) takes on Francisco Liriano (0-5, 8.47 ERA) who is making his first start back in the rotation after being banished to the bullpen.  The A’s are a team ripe to be taken advantage of by a talented pitcher who needs a break, it’s time to conjure up some of that grittiness that had them playing .500 ball for most of the season so far.

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

This will be a line drive in the box score. (Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  Ryan Cook came into today’s game riding a historic streak of his own, having thrown 23 scoreless innings to start the season, and perhaps the pressure of that streak finally had gotten to the big right hander.  He extended the streak to 23.1 innings before the game began to unravel.  A Joe Mauer single, and an unlikely stolen base started the rally off.  Then after a very questionable strike zone reared its ugly head Josh Willingham walked.  This was the point where I think most fans knew the streak was about to end, Cook obviously didn’t have it, and the baseball Gods weren’t there to back him up.  Justin Morneau gets credit for snapping the scoreless streak with a “double” down the left field line that was really an ultimate jam shot that fell just a couple feet within the foul line and Collin Cowgill had to run for months to reach the ball as it sat in the grass.  Ryan Doumit managed to drive in Willingham with a sacrifice fly to put the Twins up for good.

ON THE HILL: Travis Blackley played the role of spot starter quite admirably today, although he likely won’t get another assuming Brandon McCarthy returns when eligible on June 2.  He’s done more than enough to justify staying on the roster though when McCarthy does come back.  His 5 innings, allowing just 1 ER on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 3 probably could have been extended another inning, but the A’s chose to play it safe and pull him for Jordan Norberto in the 6th.  That turned out to be a bad idea, Norberto eagerly coughed up the first lead the A’s had built, 3-1 at the time, and cost Blackley the chance for a win.  After Norberto exited with 0.2 innings on his record, Grant Balfour came in to clean up the mess he had made, Balfour added another clean inning of his own in the 7th.  Then came the fateful outing by Ryan Cook, his first bad line of the season was all 2′s, 2 ER on 2 hits and 2 walks, now that he has an ERA it sits at 0.75.

14 and counting for the People's Right Fielder. (Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE)

AT THE PLATE:  Everyone in the starting lineup reached base one way or another via walk or hit, except for Coco Crisp.  It’s hard to say what the problem is with him right now, but it’s safe to say it’s serious.  Aside from the ball he hit right back at Matt Capps in the 9th inning, he’s not making solid contact.  A day off or two may be what Coco needs to get his mind and his bat right.  But on the bright side, the bats did wake up from their week long slumber a little.  Notably Collin Cowgill had his second 3 hit game in a row, first time he’s ever done that, his AVG has skyrocketed to .234 and his hustle on the field has not gone unnoticed.  The big story has to be the continued power stroke of Josh Reddick, he came just a few feet away from his second multi HR game of 2012, but had to settle for a HR and a triple.  Whatever it is he has found in his swing, he needs to keep it locked in because once the cavalry arrives he’ll be in the middle of an order with some guys who may actually be able to hit.

FINAL THOUGHTS: They say bad teams find ways to lose games, and right now the Athletics are doing exactly that.  It’s hard to pinpoint a single reason for this swoon, it certainly doesn’t help though that the team fails miserably in RISP situations, or only succeeds in NOOB situations (No One On Base, hence the solo home runs).  The battle against the Twins and themselves continues tomorrow evening at Target Field (as noted a few times on Twitter by A’s fans, best TV camera angle for pitching in the league).  We’ll get a nice view of Jarrod Parker coming off a strong start agains the Bronx Bombers, he comes in with a 1-2 record and a 3.38 ERA.  He’ll take on Eric Sogard (don’t know where to send credit for that joke, but I know I saw it somewhere)… I mean Minnesota native Cole De Vries who will make his first start at Target Field after allowing 3ER on 5 innings in his MLB debut.  This is a perfect opportunity for the A’s to take out some frustration against a very inexperienced pitcher who will most definitely be feeling some butterflies in front of his hometown crowd, and I assume a contingent of friends and family, lets hope they can give him nightmares as he realizes his dream.

If you feel like checking out something perhaps a little less depressing, bounce on over to the great Fansided site “Seedlings to Stars” where Wally Fish takes a peek at how some AL West prospects are faring in 2012 in the 2012 Fish Watch: AL West – May Edition.

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

The A’s catcher has not received much love this season, as he’s not even in the top five in voting for catchers in the AL. Joe Mauer, of course, receives much of the attention. And while Mauer is a freak-of-nature, Suzuki deserves some attention from voters. The All-Star voting process is like a popularity contest, and rather than choosing the best players, voters often choose their favorite players (despite their stats). This season, Suzuki is hitting .274/.329/.478 with a team leading 8 home runs. He’s also driven in 29 runs for Oakland. In comparison, Mauer is hitting .319/.397/.451 with 2 home runs and 28 RBIs.

While Suzuki’s numbers aren’t exactly Mauer-like, he’s still deserving of an All-Star nod. If Joe Mauer were in the National League, I’d bet that Suzuki would garner a little more attention in the American League. Suzuki has been the A’s best offensive presence in their lineup, and his value to the team is exceedingly high.

Suzuki has the potential to hit 15-20 home runs a season, and will have an average in the .270′s-.280′s. Last season, the A’s backstop hit 15 homers and drove in a team-leading 88 RBIs. This season, the A’s are seeing Suzuki emerge as a top three catcher in the American League. Suzuki, a Cal-State Fullerton native, is deserving of an All-Star nod and is deserving of more national attention. So A’s fans, go out an vote and support Suzuki!