"Ben Sheets said he's healthy. He said that even though he's in a new league, he should be able to beat teams. And still, Sheets is struggling mightily after getting a one-year, $10 million deal from Oakland during the winter.

On Sunday, the Blue Jays pounded Sheets in a 9-3 victory over the A's at Rogers Centre. Sheets allowed nine runs in 31/3 innings, and even many of the outs were rockets. Eight of Toronto's 10 extra-base hits were off him, including three homers.

"I wouldn't say my location has been this bad since my rookie year," Sheets said. "My location is so terrible, it makes it tough on the team and on myself."

In his previous start, at Tampa Bay, Sheets gave up eight runs in four innings. He's the first starter in Oakland history to allow eight earned runs or more in back-to-back starts; Mark Mulder allowed eight runs in consecutive starts in September 2004, but in the second game, at Texas, four of the Rangers' nine runs were unearned.

Sheets missed last season after surgery to repair his right flexor tendon, but he said Sunday that he feels fine. "I felt great, I felt healthy," he said. "I keep leaning on that crutch."

Are Sheets' mechanics off after missing so much time? A's manager Bob Geren said that's possible, and that pitching coach Curt Young will work with Sheets between starts. Sheets believes it's simply a matter of where he's putting pitches. Plus his curveball, usually one of the better breaking pitches in the game, "is getting walloped," he said. "I've got to keep working on that."

Sheets' fastball is in the high 80s to low 90s and fairly straight, but he's never really relied much on fastball movement, according to Geren.

Going from the National League to the American League is often a difficult transition for pitchers - there are a lot of good-hitting teams, and, of course, there is no pitcher hitting.

"There's definitely not a comfort level of facing a guy and every time he steps in, you've seen him before," Sheets said. "When you come to a new league, you're like a rookie all over again. ... But there are pitchers who can shut these teams down, and I believe that's what (the A's) expect me to do.""