Ervin Santana carved up the A's like a Thanksgiving Turkey (Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  The only serious trouble Santana got in was brought upon himself by losing his command in the top of the 6th inning.  With two outs Jemile Weeks singled and stole 2nd while Cliff Pennington ultimately worked a walk, then Josh Reddick walked to load the bases for Seth Smith, who chased a slider in the dirt to end the threat.  Cashing in on even 1 or 2 of those runners on would’ve put a lot of momentum in the A’s dugout and given them a fighting chance.  But the A’s left a goose egg in the run column, and Mike Trout‘s 7th inning homer pretty much sealed it for the Halos.

ON THE HILL:  Bartolo Colon‘s start could go in a baseball glossary for the term scattered hits, he gave up 12 tonight in 6.2 innings, with the Angels only cashing in 4 runs with all those base runners.  They were making contact pretty much the whole game, only striking out 3 times and not a single walk was issued by Colon.  He only threw 89 pitches, so it seems the Angels were swinging aggressively at Colon’s strikes.  Jerry Blevins finished off the 7th inning for Bartolo, retiring the only batter he faced.  Andrew Carignan had a solid rebound after his ugly first outing back in Oakland, issuing a walk but retiring the side in the 8th without much incident.

Bartolo Colon got knocked around a bit by his former squad. (Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE)

AT THE PLATE:  The A’s only mustered 5 hits against Ervin Santana and 2 relievers, so there wasn’t much to report from the green and gold with the sticks tonight.  Josh Reddick with 2 walks, and Cliff Pennington with a walk and a hit were the only A’s to reach base multiple times tonight, not exactly a recipe for success.  Jemile Weeks’ eternal 2012 battle with the Mendoza line continued as he managed 1 hit in his 4 at bats putting his AVG right at .200.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  For the 3rd straight series the A’s managed a split, it’s certainly better than losing the series, but the A’s would like to be able to shut down some of these opponents when they have the opportunity.  That’s something this team will have to develop as they continue this iteration of the rebuild.  The A’s move on during this whirlwind week and head to Arlington for 2 against the AL West juggernaut Texas Rangers.  They’ll be greeted by the Japanese phenomenon Yu Darvish (5-1, 2.84 ERA) tomorrow night, the A’s will counter with the soft tossing “cool as a cucumber” Tommy Milone (5-2, 3.92 ERA).  Darvish has something like 25 different pitches he can use, and you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be painting the corners with his various colors.  The A’s will have to be aggressive and swing hard at the very few pitches he will give them to hit, try to fight off the nasty ones, and hope to get Darvish out of the game as soon as possible if they have any hope of taking him down.  On the other hand Tommy Milone will have to have laser precision or else the Rangers’ modern day “murderers row” will pound him into oblivion.  I always feel like bad things always happen when the A’s visit the Rangers, but then again sometimes masterful performances a la Dallas Braden or Trevor Cahill in recent years take place, either way it’ll be fascinating to watch.

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

Justin Verlander was on his game Sunday. (Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  Perhaps it was the moment Justin Verlander walked from the Tigers’ dugout and picked up the baseball.  The A’s simply didn’t have a chance, mustering just the Reddick single, and the Smith homer (he also walked).  When the starter’s second to last pitch (number 103) is a 99 MPH fastball, you really have no chance. that’s what happened today.

ON THE HILL:  Jarrod Parker was certainly fighting an uphill battle today, against the ace of the other team, and against the strike zone.  Parker’s control problems continued, leading to 4 walks and a strike percentage in the 50′s.  But Parker managed to last 5.2 innings, and surrendered only 2 runs while striking out 6.  If he can simply gain some command of the strike zone, he’s shown he has ace potential.  Grant Balfour worked 0.2 innings, and walked in the 2nd ER charged to Parker in his new role, which according to Susan Slusser he was none too happy about.  Jordan Norberto continued his recent success with 1.2 clean innings, his ERA is now at 3.63 for the season.  Pedro Figueroa gave up a run for the second straight appearance in the 9th.

AT THE PLATE:  Not to beat a dead horse, but a lineup missing Kurt Suzuki, Jemile Weeks, Brandon Inge, and Kila Ka’aihue not to mention Yoenis Cespedes and Coco Crisp on the DL was not going to win.  They didn’t manage a hit against Joaquin Benoit or Jose Valverde either, it simply wasn’t their day.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The A’s split both series on this homestand, and are still a game above the .500 mark as they head down to Los Angeles of Anaheim to face the Angels.  Tyson Ross (1-3, 7.71 ERA) squares off against old friend Danny Haren (1-3, 4.19 ERA) tomorrow night from Disneyland.  Obviously all A’s fans will look extra fondly on Mother’s Day after what happened in 2010 with Dallas Braden’s extraordinary day in Oakland, I was visiting my mom when I heard he was working on a perfect game, we put the game on and witnessed history.  I still get chills every time I watch the game highlights.  I hope all the mothers out there have had a wonderful Mother’s Day, and send best wishes to all of them (specifically to mine ofcourse, who’s been a big supporter of my writing), thanks for putting up with our baseball obsessions, and even sharing in them when history presents itself.

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

Simply put, Brandon McCarthy was dealing Saturday. (Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  Today’s game didn’t feature the clear turning point that the games of the past week did.  Brandon McCarthy was so good he was never really threatened by the Tigers.  But the biggest moment of the game had to be the RBI triple by Cliff Pennington in the 7th inning, that gave the A’s a 2-0 lead, and a little breathing room.  Daric Barton followed up with an RBI single of his own to make it 3-0, more than the A’s would ultimately need.

ON THE HILL:  The story no doubt was Brandon McCarthy’s gem, a line of 7 innings, 4 hits, no walks, and 10 K’s will do just fine.  Ryan Cook had another relatively uneventful 8th inning (shocking), surrendering only a walk to Andy Dirks.  Brian Fuentes came on for the save, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride.  Before being announced after the game as the team’s new closer, Fuentes gave up a double, wild pitched him to 3rd and allowed a run ultimately on a sacrifice fly before closing out the game.

AT THE PLATE:  There were no remarkable hitting performances tonight, Jemile Weeks was the only player to have multiple hits before exiting the game due to injury.  The good news is that those two hits managed to push his AVG over the dreaded Mendoza line, now sitting at .205.  The 3 RBI of the game came off the bats of Jonny Gomes in the 1st, and the aforementioned RBI hits from Pennington and Barton in the 7th.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  This team is a little banged up at the moment, nothing A’s fans aren’t used to.  Jemile Weeks apparently rolled his ankle, but despite the doubts, he expects to play tomorrow.  Yoenis Cespedes hoped to play today as well, but felt pain during batting practice and was promptly placed on the 15 day DL, Josh Donaldson is being recalled from Sacramento.  Kila Ka’aihue also sat out today’s contest with hamstring soreness, he’s a day to day situation right now.  Kurt Suzuki has been banged up over the last couple weeks, seems like common bumps and bruises of donning the “tools of ignorance,” time will tell if those injuries finally catch up with him.  Health wise the A’s may be hurting, but they now have a chance to take 3 out of 4 from the Detroit Tigers tomorrow.  All they have to do is beat reigning Cy Young/MVP Award winner Justin Verlander (3-1, 2.63 ERA), no big deal.  The A’s will send the young righty Jarrod Parker (1-0, 1.80 ERA) to the mound.  The A’s need to go for the jugular right here, the Tigers have been scuffling all season amidst high expectations and the A’s can really put a bit of doubt in their minds.

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