A's flex their muscles, win series against Red Sox in mashers classic

There is a chance the Oakland Athletics never lose a game again. That's because the A's, miraculously, defeated the Boston Red Sox 6-5 on Wednesday clinching a series for the first time since the start of the month and before more than 15,000 bodies in attandance at the Oakland Coliseum.

All of that (literally, each and every one of those statements) might sound fake, but they are very real. But you know, these are the A's, so that should not really cause too much of a shock in your system.

In much worse news, Oakland traded fan-favorite Shintaro Fujinami away to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for another, less proved, far-from-being-a-major-leaguer pitching prospect right before Wednesday's game. Sheesh.

Anyway, the A's won a game, which is more than a solid reason to celebrate as the team is now last in the MLB but looking good boasting a two-game winning streak and a 27-71 record that kept them on pace to (not) beat the dreadful Mets' 120-loss season from the 60s.

All things considered, this was a mamooth of a victory, and in fact the A's went away with the win just by flexing some muscles and not doing much else.

After entering the bottom of the first already trailing 2-0, the A's would tie the game thanks to JJ Bleday's two-run homer and they will never again see Boston go on top of them in the scoreboard.

The A's scored all of their runs with past-the-fences blasts. Bleday got the party started in the first, Cody Thomas hit his first homer at the MLB level in his second year doing it in the majors by the second inning, and Jace Peterson added two more runs in the fourth frame with a bomb of his own.

As exciting as this type of outing is to watch, it also is a bit concerning. Yes, blasting homers usually tends to win you games because those hits are automatic runs added to the scoreboard. The problem, of course, comes when you know you cannot do that on a daily basis and, too bad for the A's, they surely know.

Oakland ranks 23rd in home runs hit this season. They are one of only eight teams with fewer than 100 HRs through Wednesday's games. Four of the other seven teams boast records approaching .500 or better (>.435). The A's are a ridiculous .276, 44 games below .500.

Looking at it from another angle, the A's rank dead last in total hits with 715, sixth-worst in singles, and third-worst in doubles. Just three members of the Athletics have hit 10+ home runs this season: Shea Langeliers (10), Ryan Noda (11), and Brent Rooker (16). There is a chance at least one of those gets traded before the deadline at the start of August. Go figure.

On the mound, Ken Waldichuk started for the A's and completed a short-and-atrocious 4.1-inning game in which he got hit five times allowing four runs (all earned) while walking three batters and striking out five.

None of Lucas Erceg, Angel Felipe, Sam Long, and Sam May (in relief) pitched for more than an inning-and-change, with Felipe getting the W through 1.2 no-hits innings pitched in which he also stroke out a couple of hitters.

The A's will try to beat Houston once and for all this season starting on Thursday when they will be kicking off a four-game series inside the Coli lasting through next Sunday. Houston is 6-0 against Oakland this season beating them soundly in a couple of series played last May.

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