Yet again the Oakland A's season has been diminished by injuries. These injuries always seem to happen in the first half of the season. That might be why the A's always play better after the All-Star break.
Did you know: "since 2007, The Oakland Athletics have used the disabled list 87 times??"-Bleacherreport.com
The A's Pitchers who are currently or have been on the disabled list include:
SP: Brett Anderson (currently on 60 Day DL)
SP: Dallas Braden (currently on 60 Day DL)
SP: Tyson Ross (recently activated and sent to AAA)
SP: Josh Outman (recently activated and sent to AAA)
RP: Grant Balfour (recently activated from 15 Day DL)
SP: Brandon McCarthy (activated from DL 2 weeks ago)
SP: Rich Harden (He is ALWAYS injured!!!)
Closer: Andrew Bailey (Is now finally healthy after missing first half of season)
So yea.... you get the point.
It's extremely difficult to win consistently when half of the pitchers on the team are constantly getting injured. Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, and Josh Outman all had to undergo "Tommy John Surgery" which might have a negative impact on their respective futures. Anderson and Braden are not expected to return this season.
If the A's are to experience another playoff run soon, they need ALL of their star pitchers to be healthy, because they don't have the consistent run support needed to compete with other teams.
Along with the injured pitching staff, many of the A's position players were placed on the disabled list at one point or more this year, including: OF Coco Crispo, OF Josh Willingham, OF Ryan Sweeney, OF Conor Jackson, 1B Daric Barton, and OF David Dejesus.... the list goes on. You can clearly see that the A's are using the disabled list way too often.
Combine all of these injuries with poor performance from infielders (3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, 2B Mark Ellis, and 1B Daric Barton) in the first half of the season, and you get an A's team that struggled to score runs. SS Cliff Pennington is the only opening day infielder that performed well enough to still remain with the team.
SECOND HALF SUCCESS (POST- ALL STAR BREAK)
The replacements at 1B, 2B, and 3B are the reason the A's are scoring more runs recently and winning games. Conor Jackson has taken over at 1B, Rookie phenom Jamile Weeks is now at 2B, and surprise Scott Seizemore has been hitting very well at 3B. However, the biggest impact recently has come from the A's designated hitter (DH).
After the All Star Break, DH Hideki Matsui is one the hottest hitting players in the MLB. Since the All-Star Break, he has a batting average of .466!! Is this real life??? By far it is the highest average in baseball since the break. He also leads the AL in RBI's post all star break with 18.
Matsui is not the only player to prove his worth after the All Star Break though, because 5 other players on the A's are hitting over .300 (who also have over 50 At Bats) in the same time frame as Matsui. Hmmm so that explains all the runs scored recently.....
Today the Oakland A's set a franchise record of 8+ hits in 16 straight games. I was lucky enough to witness one of these games in person!
The first half of the season, it was rare to see the A's score more than 3 runs. Now, it has become a enjoyable frequent occurrence!
Anyways, the point of this article is to show that if the A's had the lineup they have now, in the beginning of the season, and a healthy starting rotation, they would be challenging for the AL West title... not sitting at the bottom of the standings with the 8th worst record in baseball.
****Any statistics stated were found through MLB.com
yeeeee!!!
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