Jarrod Parker has struggled of late but he will try regain his success against the Royals. Mandatory Credit: Beck Diefenbach-US PRESSWIRE

The Athletics will look to Jarrod Parker to set the tone for the 3-game series against the Royals.  Parker, who had his last start in Chicago skipped despite family and friends coming to see him pitch, will pitch the first game of the series against the Royals instead.  It is fair to say that skipping Parker’s last start was probably a good idea.  In his past three starts he has not been himself.  Jarrod Parker has accumulated an 0-2 record with a 6.62 ERA in his last three starts.  If they A’s are going to stay relevant in their push for a playoff spot (which I think they will) they will need Parker to get back to giving the A’s quality starts.  Jarrod Parker has a 7-6 record with a 3.55 ERA so far this year.

Opposing Jarrod Parker on the mound will be Kansas City Royals’ right-hander Jeremy Guthrie.  Guthrie got off to a shaky start with his new ball club after being traded over from Colorado in a deal that sent Jonathan Sanchez to the Rockies.  His first three starts were not very productive as he recieved a loss in each game and found himself giving up 5 earned runs in his first start, 6 earned runs in his second start, and 3 earned runs in his third start.  In Jeremy Guthrie’s case rather than 3′s a charm it was 4′s a charm.   In his last start—which was his fourth—he found his rhythm as he shutout the Chicago White Sox over eight solid innings.  Jeremy Guthrie will come to the hill with 1-3 record and a 5.18 ERA since being traded to the Royals.

Although the Kansas City Royals (49-65)  have the worst record in the American League they are currently tied for the 4th best record in the A.L. during the month of August (7-5).  They are also filled with a lot of young talented players who are trying to prove themselves and sometimes it is the teams that have nothing to lose that are the hardest to beat.  But the Oakland Athletics, who are also filled with a lot of young talented players, will try and better their own record at the priceless cost of worsening the Royals record.

DownSide: The A’s record is below .500 in August and Jarrod Parker has not been pitching well as of late.  With that being said look for Parker and the Athletics to turn it around against the Royals.

UpSide: The Athletics will be facing the Royals who have the worst record in the AmericanLeague and are facing Jeremy Guthrie in the first game who has only one win in four chances since joing the Royals.  Also, the next two pitchers the Athletics will face both have a record below .500 and an ERA above 5.

Probable Starters

Game 2: August 15th, 5:10 PM

Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 2.68 ERA) vs Will Smith (3-4, 5.48 ERA)

Game 3: August 16th, 5:10 PM

Dan Straily (0-0, 5.06 ERA) vs Luke Hochevar (7-10, 5.32 ERA)

Even if Bartolo Colon was perfect, he still wouldn't have gotten the win tonight. (Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT: This was another unfortunate instance where the game was truly over before it even got going.  As a matter of fact the game was over before Bartolo Colon even recorded an out.  It took 8 pitches to be exact, 5 to walk Alex Gordon, and 3 to allow an RBI double to Yuniesky Betancourt.  Ballgame.  I guess you could say the Royals were running up the score by adding a second run in the 1st.  That’s bush league.

ON THE HILL: Bartolo Colon did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment, aside from the rocky 1st inning, he allowed nothing to the Royals for the duration of his 7 innings aside from 5 of his 8 hits, and 1 more walk.  Andrew Carignan and Jerry Blevins combined to pitch a scoreless 8th inning with only a walk from Carignan.  It’s got to be tough to be an Athletics pitcher right now.

AT THE PLATE: 3 hits, 4 walks, still no runs.  What more can you say?  Yoenis Cespedes’ return to the Athletics failed to ignite the offense, but at this point it’s doubtful anything can do that.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Just when you think the A’s have hit rock bottom, they continue to tumble.  The bright side of things is that the Mariners lost as well, so the A’s are only in last place by percentage points yet again.  One has to wonder how long Billy Beane will sit back and watch his team show complete and utter ineptitude before making some tough decisions and really shaking the roster up.  Manny Ramirez was scratched from the Rivercats lineup again tonight, and has not shown an ability to even hit Triple A pitching, let alone be ready for Major League pitching.  There are beginning to be more and more whispers that Manny may never get that call back to the show that he so desperately wants.  Tomorrow at 11:10 AM PST the A’s will try once again to pull their bats out of the coma they’ve been in for the last 2+ weeks.  Brandon McCarthy returns to the mound after his shoulder has hopefully settled down, he checks in with a 3-3 record and a 2.95 ERA, his opponent will be Luke Hochevar who looks to use the struggling A’s as a confidence booster as he’s been knocked around a bit this season to the tune of a 3-5 record with a 6.19 ERA.  While we here at Swingin’ A’s don’t condone the sacrificing of poultry (unless it’s for a tasty meal), I encourage all A’s fans to appeal to the baseball Gods to help pull our boys out of the doldrums of this losing streak.  They need all the help they can get.

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