Let
me start this out by saying that I have been a fan of the Oakland Athletics for
a very long time. I watch the 89’ team led by the likes of Dave Stewart, Jose
Canseco, Mark McGwire and Dennis Eckersley face off against a monster Giants
team that had memorable names on it like Will Clark and Dave Reghetti. But I have
to say that even those team didn’t have the look and feel of this year’s
Athletics team. They are currently on another 6 game winning streak and have
won 9 of their past 10 games (the only loss being a 4-2 loss to the White Sox
in which Gregorson gave up a 8th inning 3 R-HR to the MLB Home Run
leader Jose Abreu). The Athletics are hot right now they sit at 28-16 and have
the best record in baseball (Leading the Giants 28-17 by 0.5 games). The
Athletics also have the largest run differential at a +95 this is only through
44 games. This is just plain impressive I believe the next closest team is the
Rockies at +58! That is a 37 run difference. There are two parts to this
success and I’m going to go into both….
First
up is the hitting, the team is led in average by catcher Derrick Norris who is
hitting .354 there should be all star 3rd baseman Josh Donaldson in
homerun’s with 10 and are being led in RBI’s by Brandon Moss with 39. Now you
look at just those three stats and you see three different names. That to me is
important because it shows that any hitter on this team from catcher John Jaso
to outfielder Yoenis Cespedes they are all dangerous. They have been patient at
the plate and have managed to frustrate some of the top pitchers in baseball.
My favorite example of that is of Felix Hernandez he has a tendency to dominate
the Athletics. His most recent start he was shelled by the Athletics hot bats. This
lineup learns if you have good stuff as a pitcher you may dominate this bunch
the first time around but definitely not twice in the same season. They are
just a team to be reckoned with; in the last game they played they clobbered
the Indians for 13 runs to close out a sweep of that series. And that was the
third time in the last 5 games that this lineup hit for double digits in s
single 9 innings. If they keep up at this pace they will be heading for a third
straight year ending the season as division champs. The next part to this
equation is the pitching and that’s what I’m looking at next…
The
Athletics pitching has been dare is say some of the best in all of baseball.
With a 2.92 ERA second only to the Atlanta Braves (2.82). This Is surprising
because the bullpen has not exactly lived up to the hype of the beginning of
the season. But in recent weeks yes they have turned it around but still sit
toward the bottom of the league in saves with only 7 on the season in 15 save opportunities.
But at 28 wins they are only matched by their cross town rivals the Giants. This
team is well balanced and it shows on a game to game basis. The Starting
Rotation was thought to be one that was going to struggle with the loss of both
Jerrod Parker and AJ Griffin to surgery. The spectacular part is that Scott
Kazmir a free agent that the Athletics picked up this offseason after he chose
to leave the Indians. HE has started this season hot by winning 5 of his first
9 starts and posting a sub 2.50 ERA. His 9 starts are tied for the team lead
with Sonny Gray and just like his 5 wins. Both pitchers have been amazing but
the one guy that surprised us all was new Athletic Drew Pomeranz who has
pitched 2 amazing starts in replacing optioned pitcher Dan Straily. Drew also
has a 1.14 ERA in his 11 appearances this season. The bullpen is getting better
as the season goes on, they had a rough run of it early blowing like 5 of the 1st
6 opportunities and have blown 8 overall for the season. But recently they have
turned it around completing 6 of their last 9 save opportunities. So once they
get it all complete this is going to be a dangerous team to face. They have it
on both sides of the ball and look to be able to sustain this success
throughout the season they are a very deep club with a lot of youth even at the
AAA level and they seem to be able to plug it in at will. Will this result in
the World Series title… I don’t happen to think that it will, but as the season
progresses the team seems to come together more and more. As a fan all I can
say is that it is good to be a fan of Bay Area baseball right now…
If you want to listen
to the Double K’s Classrrom show on the 4ACES network…
Thursday nights at
8pm PST/ 11pm EST
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