If you've read my articles so far this season, you many have noticed that I'm a strong believer in the Oakland A's being a good, underestimated team. I'm thinking their good start will continue to go overlooked until they're still playing this well after 30 or 40 games.
A 7-4 start is good, but with such a small sample size, what critic will be deterred by an 11-game record?
The given coming into the season was that the A's had a good-to-formidable pitching staff, and a defense designed to give an extra cushion for the pitching.
The pitching has been phenomenal. In fact, after 11 games the starting pitchers have yet to record a loss, and the team ERA of 2.77 is second in the AL only to the Texas Rangers, who've recorded an ERA of 2.67.
As expected, Brett Anderson is off to a good start—12 innings with zero earned runs while allowing just nine hits, three walks, and a hit batsmen. Dallas Braden, although having given up four runs in one more inning, has allowed fewer baserunners than Anderson. Gio Gonzalez had one impressive start, followed by one good start that got away from him with control issues in the fifth inning.
These pitchers are the future of the pitching staff, so you definitely like to see them performing well.
Then there's Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer.
Both have had average and/or forgettable outings. However, both have also thrown impressive outings in their latest starts.
Still, there is hope emerging from these two veterans. Average seasons from them would boost the pitching staff, and a return to All-Star status to go along with a very good bullpen, will keep the A's in most games.
Then there's the A's defense.
It was projected as a strength going into the season with above-average defenders at every position on the field. For now, the nine errors turned in by the club over 11 games is the most in the AL, topped only by the Los Angeles Dodgers (10) and Florida Marlins (13). Considering the talent on the field, I expect the number or errors to stabilize as the A's continue to turn in highlight-reel plays almost every game.
Then there's the offense.
Heading into the season, the A's offense wasn't expected to scare anyone. Much has been made of the Jack Cust demotion to Triple-A Sacramento because he left a void in the A's power department. Noticeable, yes, especially considering the A's have as many home runs as wins (seven), while the only teams with fewer homers in the AL have played fewer games.
Adding to the lack of fear induced by the A's lineup is that the team is batting a mere .246 on the season, good for ninth in the AL.
Despite this, the A's are second overall in runs scored with 51—just one fewer than the league-leading New York Yankees.
If you've watched any games this year and listened A's broadcasters Ray Fosse or Ken Korach, you can see where the success is coming from: The basepaths.
The A's last season came to terms that the, "take lots of walks and hope someone hits a home run" approach wasn't working.
So what have they been doing since last July? They've been taking the, "take lots of walks, aggressively take extra bases, and wait for the clutch hit" approach.
So far it's working. Nine stolen bases. Stretching singles into doubles. Going from first to third on base hits.
If the approach is working this well for the A's now, I can't wait until their bats wake up as much as their legs have. Because a .246 team batting average is a sign that they're only getting warmed up.
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