MLB Summer Baseball

by Mark Ortega

                The Bay Area baseball scene has been a huge success in the summer, as both the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants are in the running for a playoff spot as we begin September play.

                The A’s currently are ahead in the American League West, with the Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels not far behind. The Giants are currently in the running for the National League Wild Card, fighting off the division rival San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs. For both Bay Area teams, it has been an exciting summer. Each team has had their ups and downs, but going into the stretch run they are both in a good position to make it to the postseason.

                For the A’s, it would be their fifth straight trip to October. As expected, their pitching has been superb, but what has been surprising was the rise in play of their offense.

                Going into the season, the A’s were supposed to have one of the weaker offenses in the American League. But that hasn’t been the case. As of August 23^rd, they are sixth in the league in hitting (.273) and are fifth in the league in home runs (153). They have three guys hitting above the .300 mark and average just over 5 runs per game.

                Their pitching has been amazing as usual. Although not as good as in season’s past, they still are in the top 5 in every major pitching category. Although Tim Hudson missed part of the season due to injury, he has been able to comprise an 8-4 record with a 2.96 ERA. Mark Mulder, who is currently one of the front runners in the AL Cy Young Award, is 16-4 with a 3.72 ERA and has thrown five complete games. Rich Harden, the young fireballer from Canada , is 8-5 with a 4.01 ERA, and leads the A’s in strikeouts with 129.

                Surprisingly, the disappointment has been Barry Zito. Zito, who less than two years ago was the AL Cy Young Award winner, sits at 9-9 with a dismal 4.47 ERA. Due to the decreased velocity on his fastball and his inability to put it inside has resulted in his shabby numbers. Mark Redman, who rounds out the rotation is 9-10, but with a 4.30 ERA. Due to lack of run support his record is worse than he has pitched.

                One of the question marks was their bullpen. After acquiring Octavio Dotel from the Astros, their bullpen has been quite good. Dotel started off rocky, but is 13-16 in save chances. Justin Duchscherer has been the biggest surprise, being able to pitch at any point in the game. Key contributions from Chris Hammond, Jim Mecir, and Ricardo Rincon have helped the A’s keep their leads late in games.

                The San Francisco Giants have been performing above where most people (including me) figured they would. Currently the front runner in the wild card race, the Giants have been able to cash in on hot streaks from their least well-known players. First baseman J.T. Snow has been amazing since returning from injury, and has helped the offense put runners on for Barry. Bonds will have amazing numbers at season’s end as usual.

                Jason Schmidt anchors a rotation that has few above average players. Schmidt is 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA and is looking to win his first NL Cy Young Award. But the rest of the rotation after that is below par. Jerome Williams (9-7, 4.41), Kirk Rueter (7-9, 5.01), Brett Tomko (6-6, 5.11), and Noah Lowry (3-0, 3.54) round out the rotation. Lowry has been the most impressive, but has little experience and has only appeared in 9 games. This could hurt the Giants down the stretch when they get into important games with the Dodgers.

                The bullpen has been below average. Matt Herges started the season off as the closer (due to Robb Nen’s injury), and converted 23 saves. Unfortunately, along with those 23 saves comes a 5.49 ERA, 4-5 record, and seven blown saves. The Giants finally decided to pull the plug and give the job to Dustin Hermanson, who started off the year as part of the rotation. Since becoming the closer he is 5-6 in save opportunities. Jim Brower has been the best pitcher out of the pen for the Giants, and like Duchscherer, can pitch anywhere in a game.

                Now the question is: Can both Bay Area teams make it to October? I think the A’s will win the division by a few games over Anaheim, and San Francisco will lose some key games to Los Angeles and fall out of the wild card race. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how things go for both Bay Area teams, and it looks to be an exciting final month of the season for fans of both teams.