OAKLAND -- The A's have been none too impressive in front of their home fans in the early going of the season, much to the dismay of their manager, who takes immeasurable pride in putting on a good show at the Oakland Coliseum.
Following his club's third straight loss to the Angels on Wednesday afternoon, a 5-1 defeat, Bob Melvin unsurprisingly pointed to the offense as the culprit to these uninspiring beginnings that have resulted in a 1-6 record at home, sandwiching a three-game series sweep in Seattle over the weekend.
It's the A's worst home start since the 2001 postseason squad began the year 1-9.
"It's mostly got to do with us swinging the bats right now, and yeah, it's disappointing," Melvin said, "especially after playing as well as we did in Seattle, winning three games and coming back with some momentum. And to get swept in this series like this against a team that was really struggling with the bat coming into this series is disappointing."
The A's were outhit by the Angels, 11-3, in Wednesday's finale, and they were outscored, 14-6, in the series. Five times in 10 tries this season, they've managed only two runs or fewer. They're averaging 2.7 in all.
"There's no ifs, ands or buts, we're struggling offensively," Chris Coghlan said. "It's tough when you see the lineup we have and the potential we have, to struggle up and down.
"It's such a long year, and as long as we stay positive and believe in ourselves and our ability, we'll be on the right side. The only time things get ugly is when you start to lose confidence, so we just can't do that as a group. Hopefully since most of us are cold, most of us will get hot at the same time, too."

Shortstop Marcus Semien is seemingly the lone outlier, having launched his team-leading fourth home run in as many days Wednesday, three of them hit in this series.
Semien, the only A's player to start each of the club's first 10 games, is 7-for-19 (.389) within the confines of the Coliseum.
Elsewhere, the A's have flopped, on Wednesday putting just seven runners on base -- one by error.
"It's contagious both ways at times, and right now, they're working, trying, just not getting hard contact right now, let alone some hits other than Marcus, who has had a good couple of days," Melvin said.
"It's tough," Coghlan said. "It's frustrating to go [to Seattle], sweep a good team in the division and come here and not play the way we're capable of, and to lose three in the division is tough. That's where you lose a lot of ground. The good thing is, what are we eight, 10 games in? There's no need to panic, we got 150-plus more."