Oakland A’s a lil’ over halfway report

I was planning on writing this earlier in the week, closer to the actual half-way point of the Oakland A’s season, but losing back-to-back series against the Giants and the Angels left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, with a split with the White Sox, I’m feeling slightly less downbeat, despite their lame showing against the Pale Hose the last two games. As things stand right now, the team is 47-41, six games in back of the Angels for the division, and three and a half games in back of the Red Sox for the Wild Card. And Justin Duchscherer just got named to his second All-Star.

I feel fairly safe in saying I was a complete moron when I stated before the season started that the A’s were a sure bet for last place in the division and if they won 70 games, they should be happy. They aren’t going to lose more than the Mariners, and barring a pretty big meltdown, should not lose 92 games. However, a month or two into the season, I adjusted by predictions that this team could well go .500. And even though the A’s are playing above-0.500 ball, I’m not ready to continue to project upward.

This is still a pretty flawed team, particularly on the offensive side. Jack Cust is still playing everyday, despite going through one of his extended “I’m one of the worst players in the majors” periods during the season. He’s good for at least two of these. The reason he’s still playing everyday despite an extended slump is because our two other DHs, Frank Thomas and Mike Sweeney, are hurt and won’t be back until some indeterminate term after the all-star break, giving a severe lack of right-handed power. Daric Barton, who I hoped would hit at least 15 home runs, has so far hit three, and is hitting .227 to boot. Jack Hannahan still gets regular playing time and even hit lead-of for an extended period this season. There are some bright spots with the young talent in the form of Carlos Gonzalez and Kurt Suzuki. Meanwhile, is showing some decent power Mark Ellis and Bobby Crosby seems fully healthy. But I still wouldn’t put any confidence in the consistency of our offense.

The starting pitching looks more promising, as Duchscherer is having a great year and Harden looks really solid since coming back the DL. But even though Dana Eveland and Greg Smith continue to impress, they’ll likely hit their wall by August. I also have no hope for the A’s giving Blanton any sort of run support. Things continue like this, and I’m giving him a serious shot at hitting 20 losses, and dude really deserves better. The relief pitching is all over the place. I cringe whenever Keith Foulke and Alan Embree enter the game, and wish in vain that Santiago Casilla, Andrew Brown, and Joey Devine could all be healthy at the same time.

This isn’t a play-off team, or at least one that wouldn’t get blown out by any Division Leader in the League. One thing I can take heart in that with the team being competitive, Harden won’t be traded, and Beane might even shoot for a late July trade, just to stay in the mix. At least we won’t finish the season in the cellar.

Le Bien, Le Mal

It’s a bittersweet day for me as a Bay Area sports fan. The bitter is quite bitter, as the Golden State Warriors were officially eliminated from making the play-offs yesterday, despite being on track to win 49 games. We’re going to miss the play-offs despite winning 49 games. I can’t imagine a universe for the NBA where that makes any sense. Add to the facts that this team was better in damn near every way than last year’s team, which made the second round of the play-offs. While we might not have been able to do it again this year, we’d have been a tough play-off challenge for the Lakers or the Hornets or whoever ends up in first place of the conference. Mostly, the whole situation makes me want to say FUCK DAVID STERN for suspending S. Jax for the first six games of the season. I hate playing the “if” game, but if he been playing, I imagine we’d over been able to win three, two, or even one of those games, and we’d have made the play-offs.

As for the sweet, THE A’S HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN THE A.L.!!!! 9-5!!!! FIRST PLACE IN THE DVISION!!! YEAH BITCH!!!!

This is all the more bizarre when you consider the circumstances: Two-thirds of the top- of-the-rotation are on the DL, we're unable to hit a long-ball, our team’s power-hitter isn’t hitting half his weight, and our third-baseman still hasn't played a game. And yet, the Red Sox and Cliff Fucking Lee account for our only losses so far. Go figure.

Sadly, I suspect my happiness will be fleeting. This is nice and surprising team and all, but I’m not going to fool myself into thinking this team is any sort of contender to make the play-offs or seriously make things interesting down the stretch. The young pitching looks pretty damn good right now, but these guys can expect some trouble as the season goes on, the throw more innings than they ever have before, and the hitters start to figure them out. Besides, we aren’t going anywhere if Harden stays injured all year, and yeah, I’ve seen this movie before. The A’s will start to swoon in June and July, and then we’ll get into trade the veterans mode. I’ll adjust my predictions from 72 wins to say we may flirt with a 0.500 record. Beyond that, I expect my fan experience is likely to continue to be fraught with frustration and disappointment.