Athletics Offensive Flops Undermines Pitching Precociousness

Sure, sometimes statistics can fail to tell the entire story, but the numbers don’t lie when it comes to the surprisingly ineptitude of the Oakland Athletics as we approach the mid-point on the 2009 season. With remarkable consistency, the A’s have suffered through an abysmal offensive season that has begun to take its toll on the team’s surprising strong pitching staff. With April's Opening Day, baseball analysts expected the exact opposite from the revamped A’s. Hitting, bolstered by veterans Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, and perhaps the return of injured starters Eric Chavez and Mark Ellis, was supposed to the team’s strong-suit. The pitching, stocked with rookie starters and a mish-mashed bullpen, was suspect. As the cliché goes, that’s why they play games, even if Oakland might have wished they wouldn’t have. A quick pass through the numbers shows little to be enthused about. Terrible batting average: The A’s are dead ... (link)