Oakland A's 7/10/02

LATEST TEAM INFO:
Oakland continues to play outstanding baseball; the A’s went 20-3 before dropping the last three games of a four game series to the Seattle Mariners. Oakland put up an impressive 16-2 mark in interleague play, handing it to all National League foes with the exception of San Francisco, while sweeping Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. The secret to their success has obviously been pitching, and National League teams were able to score more than three runs in three of the eighteen interleague games. This fantastic run that Oakland has been amidst is drawing comparisons, and is reminiscent of last years incredible run that propelled them to the playoffs. During the second half of the season look for Oakland to continue to win games by their trademark pitching, and the long ball. (They currently rank second in HR’s to the Yankees). A’s fans should eagerly anticipate the second half of the season which brought them so much success last year and should hold good things for second half phenom Tim Hudson and stars Barry Zito and Mark Mulder.

WHO’S HOT:
Mark Mulder: 7 straight wins with a 2.39 ERA
John Mabry: making A fans forget about Jason Giambi

Whos Not
Jermaine Dye: Only 7 for his last 48 including an 0-4 with 4 strikeouts in his final game prior the the break
Adam Piatt: 4 homer in his first 8 games and none in his next 34.
Aaron Harang: Reportedly headed to the bullpen.

LOCAL PERSPECTIVE:
Oakland fans continued to lobby for Eric Chavez as the 30th man for the all star team and I sympathize with him and the other deserving players that will not be there. Chavez has managed to pound 20 homers and to drive in 58 runs, and we all know how good defensively he is. The biggest disappointment was the selection of Robin Ventura ahead of him, not Johnny Damon. Unfortunately, we did not get to see him in the home run derby either, but at least we can look forward to another second half like last season.

Rumor Mill:
Rumore had it that Eric Chavez would turn down an invitation to the all star game if elected as the 30th man and use the time to rest up. I guess this can be viewed one of two ways: (1) Chavez is a little salty about not being selected over Ventura and is trying to make a statement. (2) Or Chavez is taking care of his body and concentrating on preparing for the second half; lets hope for the latter of the two.

INJURIES:
Mark Mulder has looked like his old self in his last five starts (7 straight wins in which Mulder allowed only 15 ER’s in 57 innings pitched); he is showing no signs of injury and all speculation about his health should be put to rest. Now is a fabulous time to try and acquire Mulder, who currently barely ranks in the top 150 players by Yahoos system. His season statistics are not an accurate assessment of how well he has played, and it might have gone unnoticed to some. There are currently no major injuries to report as Oakland can certainly be considered one of the healthier teams in the past few seasons. Randy Velarde has acknowledged that he cannot play every day and would serve better as a part time player. This has left the door open for young Eric Byrnes to showcase his talent.

ON THE FARM:
A’s fans eagerly anticipate the unveiling of Rich Harden one day. With the loss of Franklyn German, Harden will now assume the role as one of the brightest pitching prospects in the organization. Harden struck out 85 batters while allowing a mere 24 walks and 49 hits in 68 innings at A ball and since being promoted to AA he has K’d 39 batters in 33 innings and sports a mere 1.91 ERA. He is a little time away, but still someone to keep an eye on.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: In this day and age of baseball it is obviously become a pitching dominated sport. A look at the playoff teams from the last few seasons will show a large majority of teams that pitch well. Teams like Texas, Colorado, and Cleveland sometimes find themselves on the outside looking in. Imagine how good Oakland could be with a nice balance of both. Fans are begging Billy Bean to go after someone like Brian Giles, and I cant help but think just how good they could be with Giles replacing Terrence Long in the outfield. Last year Oakland made a nice trade deadline move in acquiring Jermaine Dye so do not be too surprised to see if they can do something similar this year.

QUICK VIEW : Add/Acquire
Ted Lily: back to another shot as a starter
Corey Bradford: In leagues that holds, K’s/BB ratio, and K’s are counted.
Jermaine Dye: Dye should bust out during the second half of the season. He is a very dangerous hitter.
Scott Hatteburg: In leagues where Hatteburg can catch he provides an option of an every day player, who is somewhat productive, and is in a good line up.

DROP:
Randy Velarde: He doesnt play every day.
Jim Mecir: Not as effective as last year.
Ramon Hernandez: Will probably never hit.
David Justice: Not productive enough to be a starting fantasy player.
Aaron Harang: reportedly headed to the pen

THE ALL STAR GAME: Why is everyone unable to understand that it is an exhibition game? True, there are no ties in baseball, but there are in games that dont matter. There was a fantastic catch by Hunter, a homer from Bonds, lights out pitching from Schilling, good baserunning, and we got to see all the players play (for 11 innings too). Granted, there should have been more players, the Ted Williams award should have been given to somebody, and the ball was definitely dropped on the roster size for more reason than one. However I dont feel sorry for ticket holders because they still got to see 11 good innings. I enjoyed watching the game, and as a baseball fan am able to understand why Garcia and Padilla could not continue to pitch into the night. It was an Exhibition game.