Oakland A's Mid-Season Review 2009

By OaklandsOwn22

If there was one word to describe the A’s first half of the 2009 season, it would be disappointing. With the off season acquisitions of Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, and Nomar Garciaparra, it was assumed the A’s lineup would have enough pop to push the team to a decent first half. As we all saw, this was far from the case. At the All-Star break our record is a lowly 37-49, which leaves us last in the AL West and 12 games out of first place. Not only do we suck in our division, but we have the 3rd worst record in the American League, only better than the Indians and Royals. We've all suffered enough already, but lets delve a bit deeper.

We'll start with Matt Holliday. When we acquired him from the Rockies we thought he would be the needed punch in our lineup to produce some major runs. While some nights he looks like the Holliday that played at Coors Field, other nights he looks completely lost. At the break he is hitting .276 with only 8 home runs, way off his career numbers. We knew going into this season that our pitching staff was young and they would take their bumps and bruises, but that our offense could take some of the pressure off of them. Sadly that rarely happened in the first half. Jason Giambi may be big in Vegas (below), but in Oakland he is hitting a meager .192. Perhaps he's lost a little something more than the color in his beard and should consider taking up the only other job he's admitted he's qualified for–being a bouncer.
Predictably, the A’s have had a number of nagging injuries that have forced the already un-qualified manager Bob Geren to actually try his hand at managing. As you would expect that combination has not worked well. Nomar Garciaparra, also known as the husband to Mia Hamm, has experienced a number of small injuries that have only allowed him to get 79 at bats. Mark Ellis, the everyday second baseman was out for an extended period of time, although it proved to be a blessing in disguise. And of course Mr. Injury did not let us down either this year, Eric Chavez appeared in a whopping 8 games this season.

Although the first half was mostly a downer, we did have a few bright spots. The obvious one was the trade with the Tampa Rays for Adam Kennedy. A’s fans might remember him as the second baseman for the Angels when they won the World Series a number of years ago. Kennedy was rotting away in the Rays minor league system before the A’s swung a deal; in order have a back-up for Mark Ellis. The first month and a half Kennedy hit out of his mind, even flirting with a .400 average for a while. At the break he is hitting a respectable .291 and has become our every day third baseman with Ellis now healthy.
Our pitching staff has pitched above my personal expectations, especially without an older pitcher to guide them. Dallas Braden is 7-7 with a 3.12 ERA, which does not reflect some of the great outings he has put in, while getting no run support. Brett Anderson threw a complete game the other night in Fenway Park, which was a welcome sight for the fans. Besides Sean Gallagher, who was recently traded, none of the young pitchers have been a major failure. They have all had their rough days, but they have all thrown some gems as well.

Lastly, our lone All-Star Andrew Bailey has been very fun to watch. He is the closer and has logged a mere 10 saves this year, but has kept his ERA to 1.92, the same as Giambi’s batting average. He does have 4 blown saves, but has an incredible amount of talent. Kurt Suzuki has also been very important in the growth of all the pitchers and has shown incredible poise for his young age. Not only is he helping the pitchers, but he’s also hitting .293 and leads the team in doubles with 23.
My outlook on the second half is a little brighter, but I’m also a realist. If the team could end up at .500 then I would be a happy fan. It will be interesting to see if their two come-back wins at the end of the first half can give them some momentum. Our young pitchers are not used to throwing so many games and innings and we will see how it takes a toll on them. With the recent acquisition of Scott Hairston, many think this could signal that the A’s are ready to trade Matt Holliday for some future talent, as we’re so good at doing. The second half will also be a true test for Bob Geren, to see if he can pick up some managing techniques on the fly, my hunch is he won’t, but you never know. Either way I will still be attending games and hoping my team pulls out of the cellar. I hope more people turn out for the second half of the season, because lets face it, a baseball game (especially on Wednesdays) is still one of the most affordable places to take a date. Go A’s
Note: On August 1st the A’s will honor our homegrown talent Rickey Henderson by retiring his number 24. Lets come out strong to show the greatest lead off hitter of all time how much we love him. He is a great ambassador not only for the A’s, but also for our beautiful city of Oakland.