Things change over the course of a baseball season. Players come and go, batting orders are tweaked, and pitcher’s turns are skipped when they struggle.

A’s righthander Cory Lidle falls into the latter class.

Now what do the A’s do with their number four starter after another inexplicable meltdown Monday night against the Brewers?

Click “read more” and see.The numbers tell the story about Cory Lidle’s woes on the mound this season.

One win, ERA 6.20, and it’s already June 11th.

The only thing the A’s can count on when Lidle pitches is the sun will rise the next morning.

Lidle’s next outing could be scheduled for this Saturday against the Giants.

The A’s big three Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder have settled into a nice five day pitching rotation.

This means Hudson is on turn for a Friday night start against the hated Giants and possibly Jason Schmidt.

Barry Zito pitching tonight is up on Sunday, probably against tough lefty Kirk Reuter.

Fifth starter Aaron Harang should get Lidle’s Saturday start against Russ Ortiz.

Mark Mulder then comes back and opens the Pirate series on Tuesday night.

Cory Lidle shouldn’t start again for the A’s until next Wednesday night, nine days after his debacle Monday night.

Say hello to the A’s new fifth starter, Cory Lidle.

Lidle further complicated his position in the rotation by throwing a hissy fit when manager Art Howe came to the mound to remove the righty after the Brewers had closed to within one run in the fifth inning.

You see, Lidle wanted to stay in the game even though he had been smoked, letting a 5-0 lead disappear during his time on the hill.

Even the outs were crushed.

He threw his head back, mouthed some expletives, and then stalked off the mound when realizing he was gone from the game.

His actions reminded me of something he said last year when he gave up three monster home runs down in Texas to the Rangers, while losing a mid season game.

“I didn’t think I pitched that badly”, Lidle opined.

I remember asking myself, was Lidle kidding?

Are we talking about the same game?

Last night, his antics on the mound when the manager came to get him were inexcusable.

To Lidle’s credit, he aplogized for his unprofessional behavior towards the manager, at his post game press conference.

Now, the bright side of the Lidle mystery.

Lidle is a firece competitor. Sometimes the pitcher is too head strong. This trait gets in the way of following the game plan meticulously laid out by pitching coach Rick Peterson.

It leads to trouble. It did last year until Lidle played ball with the pitching coach’s plan.

Lidle is a very capable pitcher. His second half surge in 2001 was a major part of the A’s 102 win season.

Lidle is fully capable of turning this miserable start around.

The A’s need him to return to form.

His arm strength seems inconsistent, he quickly hits a wall during the game, usually in the fifth inning.

Harang should take Lidle’s spot in the rotation.

Lidle is in danger of being traded if you believe the rumors or worse being sent to AAA to work out his problems.

Trouble with either move is the A’s have no replacements on the horizon.

Just slip Lidle into the fifth spot in the rotation, work him out of the bull pen if it looks like he won’t start for eight days, pitch him in non pressure situatiuons until he can find the combination that convinced the GM to give him a multi million dollar contract over the winter.

Either way, the A’s need Lidle, but they don’t need the trouble he causes in the bull pen when he is knocked out in the fifth inning.

They also don’t need him acting out on the mound when the manager justifiably removes him from the game.