MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Byrnes

Let us take a second to recognize where the A’s are today. Enjoy the view for a second, shall we?

The A’s just won their second series in a week versus the division-leading Texas Rangers and three series in a row, including four of the last five, starting with a sweep of the Chicago White Sox.

Standing with a 17-15 record and considering their schedule, this is a great start to the season.

Seven of the ten series the A’s have had so far have been against division leaders and teams over .500.

The A’s have played more ‘away’ games than games in West Sacramento and sport the best road record in MLB at 11-6.

For the Athletics, known for slow starts and good second-halves, two games over .500 on May 2 should be celebrated.

One issue I see the A’s continuing to experience is that they seem to have a blowout loss in nearly every series. Losses of 18-3, 10-2, 12-5, 14-1, 10-3, and 15-2 have overshadowed the positive strides of this pitching staff.

The team is developing a pattern of winning series finales after losing the first five rubber matches of the year.

Since then, the Athletics have won four of the last five series finales.

Athletics Batting:
As a team, the A’s continue to be among American League leaders in many offensive categories, including second in batting average and third in home runs.

Jacob Wilson has hits in 25 of 29 games this season, going 5-for-13 in Texas, and at .331 maintains a top batting average in the AL.

Shea Langeliers broke out of his slump by hitting 5-for-11 with a home run in the series. At the same time, rookie Nick Kurtz has hit safely in six of his seven games since being called up.

A good problem is “What do we do with Miguel Andujar?” His bat in Spring Training cost Seth Brown his job, and he is currently hitting a robust .325. Kurtz’s call-up resulted in the juggling of players, and Andujar has seen a drop in usage. However, he keeps having multi-hit games, and manager Mark Kotsay has to find ways to keep his bat in the lineup.

Lawrence Butler is in a funk! Despite his ninth-inning grand slam Wednesday, he’s having difficulty finding the ball. In the last two series, he has struck out 15 times in 27 at-bats.

Athletics Pitching:
Starting pitchers continue to pitch well of late, allowing only five runs in the four-game series.

Jeffrey Springs needed only 68 pitches in the finale in Texas to go a full six innings of two-hit, scoreless ball and hand the Rangers their fourth shutout of the year.

Middle relievers starting to stick out include Tyler Ferguson’s minuscule .061 era and Justin Sterner’s workhorse 15.2 innings of scoreless ball.

Grant Holman has won three of the four games he has pitched in and has yet to allow a run, while closer Mason Miller notched his 10th save of the year.

Miller has upped his velocity considerably by hitting between 100-103mph on his 4-seam fastball 11 times in his two innings of work in Texas.

Upcoming Series:
The Athletics travel to Miami for a three-game series against the struggling Marlins.

Both teams post similar hitting statistics, with the A’s hitting .254 to the Marlins .255. The Athletics have shown more power ball by having a 41 to 27 edge in home runs.

In a rare occurrence, Miami(12-18) comes in with a worse Team ERA than the A’s, with an obscene 5.89 to 4.60 ratio.

The Marlins have lost five in a row and have given up a whopping 55 runs in those five games.

Gametime:
Friday: May 2, 4:10pm
LoanDepot Park
Athletics RHP Osvaldo Bido(2-2, 4.31) versus Marlins RHP Max Meyer(2-3, 3.18)