While editing the A’s Plays of the Year piece that aired on the final episode of A’s Pregame Live, I came to one conclusion: The 2010 Oakland A’s are the greatest team ever assembled. Ok, maybe my sample was slightly skewed. I was only looking at their best moments of the year, but give them some credit. They accomplished a lot without any real star power and without a big bat. They finished at .500, in second place and didn’t let the Rangers off the hook easily at the end of the season. They battled through another season with comical numbers of injuries, using the disabled list 23 times, and emerged from the season with a pitching staff that will make a few ball clubs nervous next year.
No, they’re not gearing up for a postseason-run like the team across the bay, but that doesn’t mean fans shouldn’t look back on 2010 with fond memories.
The brightest spot all year long for the A’s was no doubt the pitching. The staff had easily the best ERA in the American League (3.56 compared to second-place Tampa Bay’s 3.78) and was tied with Atlanta for third-best in all of baseball. They did this with two starters who are barely old enough to drink a beer after a nice outing. Assuming the first four in the rotation next year are Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden and without knowing exactly who will be number 5, the average age of the starting rotation is 24. That’s what you call a bright future.
We got to catch a glimpse of another bright future in Chris Carter this season. Yes, he started his career going 0-33, but with that first base hit against Chicago, a very visible weight was lifted off his shoulders and with a big sigh, we saw him flash a huge smile to hitting coach Jim Skaalen to was a not-so-cryptic “I’m ready.” After that, Carter got at least one hit in 10 of his final 13 games and hit 3 home runs. The swing was there, the confidence was there and hope for the future was there.
Speaking of the future, there’s the double play combo of Mark Ellis and Cliff Pennington. One’s future is slightly uncertain, the other looks to be a mainstay for the next few years. Ellis has a $6 million option for next season, but proved and vocalized his desire to stay in Oakland, especially down the stretch. In the month of September he hit .413 and went 4 for 12 with a homer and 4 RBI in the three October games that the team played. This is a player who has proved his loyalty to the Oakland fans and Beane has the opportunity to keep him around and put a stopper in the revolving door that has become the Oakland A’s roster, proving to the Bay Area that the team will still be recognizable from one year to the next.
Shortstop Cliff Pennington will be around next season, barring an unforeseen trade, which means we’ll have a chance to see what he can do with a little more seasoning. He was unpredictable this year on defense, committing 25 errors, but frequently showed moments of brilliance diving for a ball and flicking it to second baseman Ellis to start a 6-4-3 double play or bare handing a weak grounder and hurling it to the ever-so flexible Daric Barton. If the Ellis-Pennington combination returns for an encore next season, expect even more moments like these and fewer errors.
And of course, finally, Dallas Braden. The man who made Stockton’s 209 area code more recognizable in the Bay Area than 510. The Perfect Game has become an important moment in history for A’s fans; the kind of moment people will ask, “Do you remember where you were when it happened?” Of course a perfect game is a historic event no matter the circumstance, but this one seemed to have a little extra pizzazz. Perhaps it was because just a couple weeks earlier, Alex Rodriguez had waved his hand at Braden and dismissively allowed him his 15-minutes of fame for the feud that began between the two when A-Rod ran over the mound at the Coliseum and we all learned that this is, apparently, not ok. Perhaps it was because this outspoken kid from Stockton who had never had a huge spotlight on him as a member of the A’s rotation and who had lost his mother as a child suddenly had all eyes on him and was tugging on the heartstrings of millions as he sought out his grandmother in the crowd after retiring 27 straight batters on Mother’s Day. Whatever the reason, the 2010 season will be defined as the year a gritty kid from the 209, backed up by 24 more scrappy guys, defied the odds in more ways than one.
While the Giants and their fans are in the midst of an exciting run, A’s fans can’t do much but offer their congratulations and at least be thankful that they won’t lose much sleep over the next few weeks worrying about playoff outcomes (there’s a silver lining in everything, right?). Oakland does, however figure to become much better in the offseason. The team will have money freed up from saying goodbye to Ben Sheets and Eric Chavez and hopefully Beane can convince a big bat that, hey the Coliseum really isn’t such a bad place to play. Just think A’s fans, with the flashes of brilliance shown in the 2010 season combined with some extra power, maybe next year the East Bay boys will be in the midst of all this playoff excitement.
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