July 17, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Roy Oswalt (44) pitches the ball against the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

TURNING POINT:  After the missed chance in the 7th inning, Josh Hamilton promptly and definitively put the momentum back in the Rangers possession with a leadoff home run.  But the A’s showed they still had some fight left.  Cliff Pennington struck out to lead off the bottom of the 8th (See: Kurt Suzuki, Brandon Inge), Jemile Weeks was hit by a pitch,  Seth Smith singled, and Josh Reddick drew a walk to load the bases with Yoenis Cespedes coming to the plate with a chance to tie the game on one swing of the bat.  Cespedes was ultimately rung up on a called 3rd strike fastball after 3 sliders from Adams.  It was up to Brandon Moss to put a dent in the deficit, but he popped up harmlessly to Adrian Beltre to pretty much seal this game for Texas.

ON THE HILL:  Bartolo Colon wasn’t spectacular, but he did keep the Rangers bats fairly quiet for the most part.  He was charged with 4 ER, but I imagine that will change because Brandon Moss dropped the fly ball from Nelson Cruz in the 4th inning but was somehow not charged with an error.  Colon gave up 8 hits and walked 1 in his 7 innings, striking out 5 in the process.  Jordan Norberto gave up the 1 ER on Josh Hamilton’s 28th home run of the season in his 1 inning.  Jim Miller came in on mop up duty after the A’s had their last gasp in the bottom of the 8th, he struggled to find the strike zone, walking 2 and hitting a batter before giving up a run on a Hamilton sac fly.

AT THE PLATE:  If you were slotted in the 7, 8, 9, or 1 spots in today’s Athletics lineup that means you didn’t reach base.  Yoenis Cespedes had 2 hits, a single and a double to account for 2 of the A’s 5 hits.  Josh Reddick, Seth Smith, and Brandon Moss accounted for the other 3.  Chris Carter was the only other player to reach base with his 7th inning walk.  Kurt Suzuki, Brandon Inge, and Cliff Pennington are all proving to be as punchless as can be in the A’s lineup.  With their lack of production it’s not hard to imagine why the A’s would be looking at upgrades as they push for the playoffs (I can’t believe I’m even typing this).

FINAL THOUGHTS:  With all the anticipation leading up to this game for the A’s coming off the sweep of the Twins it was a bit of a downer to see them come up so small tonight.  The A’s found ways to shoot themselves in the foot tonight, and the Rangers are a good enough team to take advantage of those miscues.  Nevertheless, the A’s haven’t really done any harm to themselves as the Tigers, Orioles, and Indians all lost tonight.  With their win the Rays pull even with the Tigers to tie for the 2nd wild card spot.  So while it wasn’t a pretty game, no true harm was done.  The A’s remain just a 1/2 game out of a playoff spot, with a chance to take a share of the lead with a win.  Travis Blackley makes his first start since July 1st after being held back due to back pain, he comes in with a 2-2 record and a 2.63 ERA.  Opposing him will be once upon a time Athletic Colby Lewis who will be returning from the DL with a 6-6 record and a 3.51 ERA on the season.  If the A’s miss chances like they did tonight, it could make for a long and trying week for the green and gold as they try to find momentum with the Yankees coming to town.  The A’s showed this past weekend that “the Bash is Back”, let’s show the Rangers a little taste of what the bash is really all about.

Carter and the A's have a lot to smile about lately. (Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE)

TURNING POINT:  After the A’s let Brian Duensing off the hook somewhat in the 1st inning, the Twins got one of those runs back as Parker failed to convert the shutdown inning.  As the A’s took to the plate again in the 2nd they hoped to get that run back.  After a 1 out Jemile Weeks single Jonny Gomes came to the plate looking to swing for the fences.  Jonny connected on a 0-1 pitch from Duensing and knew he’d taken him deep.  Josh Reddick grounded out, but Yoenis Cespedes showed how unimpressed he was with Duensing’s stuff by punishing a breaking ball over the center field wall.  Then Chris Carter decided he was not to be outdone, he obliterated a ball to right center field off the “Jack Link’s Beef Jerky” sign on the facade of the second deck as Ray Fosse repeated throughout the broadcast (Perhaps Jack Link’s will be a new companion to Dreyer’s Dibs?).  It was 6-1, Duensing would be out of the game, the A’s put him on the hook for good.

ON THE HILL:  Jarrod Parker has been a little off kilter over his last couple starts now, he pitched 6 innings and allowed 4 ER on 9 hits with 4 strikeouts, the silver lining of the day though is that he didn’t walk a single batter (No A’s pitcher surrendered a walk today).  Jerry Blevins continued to pitch effectively this season with 1.2 innings of complete domination with 2 K’s.  Evan Scribner, mop up extraordinaire finished the last 1.1 innings of the game, allowing just a single hit to seal the sweep for the Athletics.

AT THE PLATE:  Lots to talk about for the A’s at the dish again today, another 4 home runs for the first back to back 4 homer games since 2001.  Yoenis Cespedes and Jonny Gomes led the charge though with a 4-5 day with 3 RBI and the HR for Cespedes, and 3-4 with a 2 run dinger and 3 runs scored for Jonny.  Chris Carter showed impressive plate discipline drawing 3 walks today, he waited for his pitch and took it deep.  Carter is showing incredible patience that was nonexistent in his previous stints with the A’s, I for one am very excited to see what he can do as the season rolls on.  Seth Smith accounted for the 4th homer of the day for the A’s, his 10th of the year (A ball that travelled far, but looked like a pop up off the bat to me).  The A’s now have 5 players who have hit double digits in the HR column and have hit 92 homers this year in 89 games, again they had 114 all of last year.  As RF will display on Tuesday, “the Bash is Back” indeed.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  The A’s couldn’t possibly be in any better position entering their biggest test of the season this week.  With their win and losses by basically every other team aside from the Tigers in the wildcard race, they are now just 1/2 game behind the Orioles for the 2nd wildcard spot.  It’s conceivable that by game time on Tuesday the A’s could be tied for that spot if the Twins can beat the Orioles tomorrow night in Minneapolis.  The A’s are playing with a ton of confidence, and they did win 3 of 4 from the Texas Rangers last time they came to Oakland so they know they can beat them.  Two cagey veterans will face off Tuesday night as Bartolo Colon (6-7, 3.80 ERA) takes the mound against Roy Oswalt (2-1, 6.26 ERA).  Oswalt has not been his dominant self of the past, perhaps age and the fact that he didn’t sign until midseason are playing a role.  I have to say I like the lineup a lot more with Smith playing the field, and right now Coco Crisp‘s injured shoulder is helping that situation.  Here’s to the A’s bringing the longball back to the O.co, Oakland chicks dig the longball you know.

"One more! C'mon, I just want one more chance!" Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

News came out today that Roy Oswalt would listen to any and all offers thrown his way. Originally sticking to his desire to stay close to home, Mississippi, Oswalt said that he would only consider offers that would keep him close. Now with two weeks of Spring Training already gone and games already started, Oswalt is seeing the window close.  Some of the larger market teams have already been linked to him for a while (read: Red Sox), but I think the Athletics can be that “mystery team” and grab Oswalt. Below are the reasons why I think the Athletics can, and should, kick the tires on Roy Oswalt.

Price

At 34 and a road map of injuries (his back being the most recent) Oswalt could probably be had for cheap on a 1-/2-year deal. As a pitcher that is trying to stay in the league and looking to show that he can either 1) stay healthy and/or 2) still be an effective pitcher, he might be willing to take a discount. 1-year at $3 to $4 million I would think is reasonable to offer to Oswalt. Going by $/WAR you are asking him to be a league average pitcher, which is still very possible for him.

Set-up Future Rotation

One of the trepidations that my Tarp Talk co-host David Wishinksy had about this seasons rotation is that it could force some of the younger, not quite ready, arms to start their arbitration clocks, and I lean toward this line of thinking as well. If the A’s are really aiming to make a run in the 2014-2015 seasons and banking on the young guns to anchor that run, it would not be fiscally prudent to get them to arbitration earlier than need be. Think about it. If Parker, Peacock, Milone, etc., are as good as advertised, heck even slightly above average, they could cost the A’s a fair amount of money to keep around. The nice thing about having Oswalt this season is that he can block, in a good way, the younger arms and allow them to fully develop in the minors.

This is what I mean. Depending on what projections you look at, Oswalt will make anywhere between 22-25 starts this year. Having Oswalt in the mix you can use him to bridge the gap to Brett Anderson, who is looking at an August return. And if he is still healthy, he can then make spots starts down the line. Assuming this, your rotation now looks like:
McCarthy
Colon
Braden
Oswalt/Anderson
Godfrey/Ross/Option C

For a team that is not going to contend this year, that is a pretty decent rotation.

The Stats

Going by the numbers, Oswalt is still a viable option. With a GB% of 45.1 last year, he could get away with pitching in most parks but could really thrive in Oakland. Having pitched in a band box for the last couple of seasons, going to the AL West could only make him better. His GB/FB ratio is on the right side of 1.o, although steadily decreasing the last three years. He has never been a heavy flyball pitchers (a career FB% of 32.4) and he is around league average for his career HR/FB% at 8.8. But all of that changes with his injury history and age. Your fastball loses zip. Your slider is not as tight. Your curveball is not as sharp. All of this makes Oakland even more intriguing.

Much like the Manny Ramirez singing, Oswalt is a low-risk signing. If you prescribe to the “clubhouse leader” or “mentor” idea, he could a huge value to the younger pitchers. The more I look at it though, it just looks like a very logical signing for the A’s that I would like to see them make.

David can be found on Twitter opining on the Athletics and baseball in general at @oakfaninva. Follow @FS_SwinginAs for more updates. Like podcasts? Consider checking out the show David hosts called Tarp Talk.