The A's won a road series. I know, the punch line wasn't so good, and I didn't leave you wondering for long, but that's really the case. It's just a funny thing. The A's took until August 7th to get their 20th road win. They hadn't won a road series since May 6-8 against the Royals. With three games to go on this particular road trip, they find themselves at 20-39 on the road. A mark only better than the Royals and the Orioles in the American League. By the math, this season isn't quite over yet. But, in reality... well, it is.
What I hope we get to see over the next month and a half is the resurgence of a competitive team. The team is now 24-27 under Bob Melvin. Yeah, it's not a great mark, but it's respectable. The team is still hitting the cover off the ball. Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham have finally showed the power stroke we hoped they would show all year. Weeks still looks like the top of the lineup spark plug that every single team loves to have in their lineup.
Unfortunately, they still are 12 games under .500. I would like to say that their goal should be to return to .500 by the end of the season, but there's a part of me that finds that unrealistic as well. I can say that Godzilla has an OPS of 1.214 since the All-Star break. I can tell you that before the break, he was hitting .209. Now? .267. Behind bats like this, how could they lose?
Well, pretty simply. Cahill and Gonzalez have not been sharp. The bullpen is falling apart. The A's sport a WHIP of 1.57 since the break. This is most not good. With all the injuries suffered by the pitching staff this year, it's no surprise to me that the pitching numbers have come up a little bit. But, if these numbers fall to reasonable levels, then the A's could maybe kind of sort of reach that .500 plateau. But to do it, they're going to have to figure out how to beat the Seattle Mariners.
Every other team in the majors knows how to do it. The A's, however, prefer to get swept what seems like every time they go to Seattle. I hope that this trend is bucked soon. Like, perhaps, the next time they go there.
Anyway, the A's have three more on the road up in Toronto before returning to the O.co for their 10 game homestand. Their only homestand of the month. I think these three in Toronto could be very winnable games. They miss Ricky Romero and instead get Cecil, Mills, and Morrow. They aren't bad either, but they definitely aren't the ace. The Jays have also had something of a hot offense since the break, but home run masher Bautista hasn't been too hot, only hitting .222 and hitting two bombs since the break. If the A's pitching can keep him down, they might be on track to return home with a respectable road trip under their belts.
So, without much more ado, GO A'S!
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