Mike Blowers homered yesterday to snap
his 0-for-27 slump, about the only
development of interest on a dreary day
when the A's pushed their losing streak to
six games with a 3-1 defeat.
Blowers' opposite-field drive in the second
was about all the A's could muster in the
offensive department on another sad day
for the club. Former Giant Wilson Alvarez
(5-8) held them to three hits in seven
innings, and the A's (46-57) lost their
eighth of the past nine games to fall to a
season-worst 11 games under .500.
``Baseball is a funny game,'' said manager
Art Howe, who held a brief postgame
meeting to tell the players to keep their
heads up. ``Sometimes you feel inept.
Sometimes you feel like the '27 Yankees.
You can't pick and choose. You have to
take it as it comes. . . . We've got to
regroup.''
The A's have lost all six games on this
road trip, which wraps up this evening
with one more game at ghastly Tropicana
Field, and nothing explains the poor
showing more than the sputtering offense.
During those six games, the A's have been
outscored 37-18 and are hitting .209
(40-for-191).
``Right now we're in a little rut,'' Rickey
Henderson said. ``When you get to putting
pressure on yourself, you can get tired.
We're a little tired now. We have to forget
the anger. You have to be more angry
against the other team.''
Blowers' struggles have been more than
just a symptom of the team-wide
downturn. He was a foundation of the
offense when it was going well before the
All-Star break and is one of only four A's
with more than 50 RBIs. But he had 48
going into the All-Star break, and just three
since then.
``I felt really good going into the break,''
he said. ``I don't know what happened.
Everything went south on me. It's been the
most confusing part of my career. The
whole thing has taken me by surprise. I've
never struggled like this in the second
half.''
If the A's are going to rebound from their
miserable hitting, Blowers will have to get
it going. Once Scott Spiezio comes back
from his rehab stint (knee) in a couple
weeks, Bip Roberts could move to third if
Blowers is still struggling. Dave Magadan
(sore wrist) ``isn't even on the horizon,''
manager Art Howe said yesterday, so
Blowers will be a key for at least the next
two weeks.
``It's a start,'' Blowers said after the game.
Besides Rickey Henderson, Blowers is the
only veteran right- handed hitter that is
regularly in the lineup. He knows his
presence is pivotal for the A's, and he has
felt the pressure. The past several nights
before yesterday, Blowers said he would
wake up in the night and not be able to go
back to sleep.
``You start to get the feeling like you're
letting everybody down,'' he said. ``I have
no problems going to sleep, but it's almost
like I'm napping, because I wake back up
and can't sleep again. Everything goes
through your mind. I've been watching a
lot of videotape of myself hitting and all
that runs through your mind. You think
about pitchers. You think about at-bats.
You can't stop yourself from thinking.''
That was before the game. Asked
afterward if maybe he would sleep better
for a change, thinking about that home
run, Blowers just shook his head and
stared off into the distance.
``No,'' he said, ``I'll probably be thinking
about that double play I hit into in the
sixth. When the team is scuffling like it is
now, it makes every mistake tougher to
take.''
Kettman, Steve. "Blowers' Blast Can't Stop A's
Losing Streak ". San Francisco Chronicle. 27 July, 1998. Page C1.
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