The A’s Roll Into the All-Star Break

by Trevor Freeman

I read the e-mails at the beginning of the year.  

I listened as the talking heads disparaged them.  

I shook my head when they stood at 17-32, because I knew this was a playoff caliber ballclub.  

I stood up for them and kept reminding people that this team has a history of slow starts.  And then it happened.  Danny Haren won six straight starts and once again made Billy Beane look like a genius.  Eric Chavez started playing like the superstar that he is.  Rich Harden and Bobby Crosby returned from injury.  Dan Johnson came up from the minors and solidified the middle of the lineup.  Nick Swisher showed why Billy Beane said he would have taken him with the first pick in the entire MLB Draft three years ago.  The bullpen led by All-Star Justin Duchsherer and the fresh-faced Huston Street started to resemble the Honeycutt-Eckersley tandem of years past.  The Oakland Athletics finally began to click.  

However what truly has me on the edge of my seat once again is the rebirth of the most vital cog in the engine.  With his “getting right”, the Athletics become one of the most dangerous teams in baseball.  Barry Zito became Barry Zito again in June.  Zito has taken loads of criticism over the past two years.  Heck, I was arguing that he was the guy who needed to be traded at the end of last season.  I could not have been more wrong.  You see, I forgot about how great Barry Zito is when he is “right”.  There is no pitcher in baseball that is more devastating when he gets ahead in the count than Barry Zito.    

So here the A’s are.  44-43.  4 ½ games out of the wild card.  7 ½ games out of first place in the AL West.  

Is there anybody who doesn’t think the A’s have the best shot on paper to get that Wild Card?  Outside of the New York Yankees, the Oakland A’s probably have the most imposing roster of the Wild Card contenders.  And unlike the Yankees, the A’s are young.  The dog days of summer will not be as devastating on this group of fresh legs.  Between the Yankees, A’s, Rangers, Twins, Orioles, and Indians the A’s easily have the best pitching staff.  You are smoking crack if you don’t think that those team’s pitching deficiencies won’t rear its ugly head in August.

Here’s the other thing.  The A’s are going to be getting more help.  Erubiel Durazo and Chad Bradford (although Bradford may be getting traded for Jay Payton) are going to be back for the second half.  Plus, if the A’s need some help they have the minor league assets to go get it.  By most accounts, the Oakland Athletics have the deepest minor league system in all of baseball.  Billy Beane is the craftiest GM in the game and don’t think he won’t go get some help if this team is still close on July 31st.  I guarantee there is a part of Billy Beane that especially wants this team to get into the playoffs.  If that were to happen, he could give the “finger” to just about every baseball analyst that said the A’s weren’t a Billy Beane creation, but the byproduct of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito.

It took a couple months to figure it out, but the A’s have joined the playoff battle.  If I were a betting man, I would say that come October a familiar face with a brand new set of weapons is ready to storm the Fall Stage.  

If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].