The Oakland Athletics season has taken a wrong turn down a dark alley as they are now sitting seven games back of first in the American League West. The A's have lost six straight games while the first place Texas Rangers have won five straight. While it may only be June and seven games is a manageable deficit, the A's are not playing event remotely well.
They've played fairly against bad teams (Baltimore Orioles), but over the long haul they'll need to figure out ways to beat the good teams. When you've got a multi-year losing streak against a team like the Yankees, you're not going to get over the hump, or even really approach the hump, without figuring out ways to beat them. Playoff teams find ways to beat good teams and the A's are more frequently finding ways to lose to good teams. Part of it is a lack of a serious hitting threat, and part of it is what seems to be a general malaise at times. Of course, more quality offensive talent might be what is needed to actually overcome that malaise.