ANGELS' BATS STILL COLD WEAVER'S RETURN RUINED BY LACK OF OFFENSE IN DEFEAT.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

OAKLAND -- Not even Jered Weaver's return from injury could nurse this group back to health.

From one coast to another, things haven't changed as the Angels fell to the Oakland Athletics 4-1 on Tuesday, a day after arriving from Boston, where they lost three consecutive.

The Angels have now lost six of seven on their three-city road trip that ends today, and they have lost seven of their last eight overall. They have scored 16 runs since leaving home and just six runs combined in the last five games.

The offensive woes continued, but it should have been expected with Vladimir Guerrero out of the lineup. Guerrero won't return until Friday at the earliest after getting hit by a pitch in the right wrist Monday. An already punchless lineup had Maicer Izturis batting second, Orlando Cabrera hitting third and Reggie Willits in right field.

After the defeat, manager Mike Scioscia had some words with the team.

"Offensively we've got to end these giveaway at-bats," Scioscia said, paraphrasing what he he told the players in a brief closed-door meeting. "I think there were a lot of giveaway at-bats over this last week. We have to get back into counts."

Scioscia is getting anxious watching his team swing at pitchers' pitches, not working counts and expanding the strike zone.

"The solution sometimes is a little more needle-in-the-haystack," Scioscia said. "This last week we have been searching and some guys have been trying too hard gripping the bat. We're seeing the results."

Weaver was supposed to help the Angels return to some semblance of normalcy. His arrival from the disabled list meant that four-fifths of the team's rotation is now intact with only Bartolo Colon's return this weekend remaining. But as Weaver found out against the A's, it only takes one stray pitch to get beaten these days.

That Bobby Crosby was the A's hero only added to the horror.

A 2-1 pitch to Crosby in the fourth inning was hit into the seats in left-center for a three-run home run. Crosby entered batting .167 with no home runs and one RBI. He was hitting .134 against the Angels in his career.

"I wouldn't even call it a bad pitch, I'd call it a stupid pitch," Weaver said of his breaking ball to Crosby. "It's just one of those things where you wish you could take it back. It was just the wrong pitch to throw in that count. I threw that same pitch in that count before, and I shouldn't have thrown it."

Garret Anderson followed the home run by dropping a fly ball from Travis Buck, his first error since July 2005. Jason Kendall then delivered an RBI single.

Weaver looked sharp most of the night. The right-hander didn't pitch in a Cactus League game during spring training because of biceps tendinitis. He pitched in camp games and minor-league games before two impressive outings at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

A's starter Chad Gaudin, who is starting this season only because Esteban Loaiza is on the disabled list, had an easy night. At one point Gaudin retired 13 consecutive hitters. That streak was snapped when he hit Howie Kendrick in the back of the left hand to lead off the seventh.

Kendrick remained in the game but was replaced by pinch-hitter Erick Aybar in the ninth. Afterward, Kendrick said his hand was sore. X-rays will be taken today, but Kendrick seemed optimistic the injury isn't serious.

"It feels good," Kendrick said. "I can move my hand a little bit, so hopefully that's a good sign."

The Angels avoided a shutout in the eighth inning. Willits delivered a one-out single up the middle and Izturis hit a a two-out double to left over the head of A's left fielder Shannon Stewart.

[e-mail]

[phone], Ext. 2731

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

The Angels' Jered Weaver reacts after Oakland's Bobby Crosby hit a three-run homer.

Ben Margot/Associated Press