Had to figure the A’s were overdue for a losing streak. The A’s aren’t an .800 team. They lost tonight to Baltimore with one of those everything-goes-wrong innings: hit batsmen, 15-foot singles, blown double-play grounders.

Oh, well. That’s baseball.

One thing to note is that the A’s hot streak coincided with the entire roster being healthy. But recently, they’ve started to look a little banged up. Mark Kotsay and Bobby Kielty have been battling bad backs. Scott Hatteberg has had a rib cage problem. Nick Swisher is on leave to attend his grandmother’s funeral. And Eric Chavez made an extremely weak throw from deep behind third today, which made me think that his shoulder is really bothering him.

As a result, the team hasn’t looked very sharp in recent days. The Jay Payton acquisition has helped to cover that problem, but it’s still a problem. When fully healthy, the A’s are one of the best teams in the league. But that’s not the case at the moment, so they may just have to grind their way through this period.

Just hang close to the Angels until it’s time to play them again. Those seven remaining games between the two teams will decide the AL West. The A’s just have to hope that the other teams in the league don’t get the same scouting reports that the Mariners had on Vlad Guerrero this weekend. Seriously, just walk the dude.