A’s Rise Above .500; Can They Stay There?
By Joseph Lopez
The A’s have done it. At 11-10, they’re over the .500 mark for the first time since May of 2011. The team displayed a little bit of power in their 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday and helped Brandon McCarthy win his first game of the season.
The A’s haven’t been the most consistent team in baseball, with the team often struggling to strike a balance between strong pitching and timely hitting. On Friday, though, the team got strong pitching from not only McCarthy, but from Ryan Cook and closer Grant Balfour.
Oakland has had a few timely hits as well in the win over Baltimore. OF Josh Reddick and 3B Eric Sogard helped push four of the team’s five runs across the board in the win. It’s a bit refreshing to see the A’s provide a little more power at the plate, since last year’s team struggled all year with the long-ball.
This year’s squad, if the pitching continues to excel, has a chance of becoming the first A’s team with a winning record since the 2006 Athletics. They won’t win 93 games like the ’06 A’s, but they do have a shot, if everything pans out that is, to surprise a few people with an 82 win season.
No one expects the team to go anywhere this year, but wouldn’t it be nice if the green-and-gold surpasses our expectations for once? It has been a long time since the A’s surpassed my expectations, but it would be nice to see this year’s team not only reach .500 but surpass it as well.
It’s definitely a long shot for the A’s to maintain a record north of the .500 mark, but they do possess some talented young players this year. Guys like Tommy Milone and Yoenis Cespedes are standouts this year, in what looks to be yet another season dedicated to Billy Beane’s ever-lasting “youth movement.” Reaching and surpassing the .500 mark this year would be a huge step in the right direction for Beane and his “youth-movement” group in Oakland.
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