First in ERA, Second in Runs, and Not To Be Believed

I've spent the first 30 games of the 2008 MLB season waiting for the other shoe to drop on the A's, who started the year with a split in Japan, and have quietly showed that they plan on playing meaningful games all year long.

Remarkably, they've done it without power (26th in MLB in homers and slugging, 20th in OPS... but 4th in runs scored), or experienced pitching (40 innings of sub 1 ERA from relievers Santiago Casila, Joey Devine and Andrew Brown). Offensively, they've just been getting on base (7th in MLB at .343, and more importantly, a whopping .42 edge on their opponents). It's all added up to an 18-12 start, and if the season ended today, a wild-card berth.

Can they keep it up? Well, it would have been better to ask this before they spit the bit for two straight home losses to the Rangers, and there is no way that the relievers will continue to be this good. They are also getting good innings out of a lot of young starters (Smith and Eveland most predominantly). They are due to get another 20 to 30 innings out of Rich Harden before he gets hurt again, and they're getting good offense despite no real power.

Pleasant surprises include the world's only leadoff hitting catcher (Kurt Suzuki, who seems to have aced the Jason Kendall lesson), a resurgent Mike Sweeney (his .832 OPS is his best in years, especially with the switch in home fields), and 26 well-timed RBIs from Emil Brown. They've also defended relatively well, which is to be expected in this era of A's baseball.

I still don't think they are any real threat to win the division; they need these unknown pitchers to hold up under the workload, and/or Harden and Justin Duchscherer to return, pitch well, and stay healthy. The odds are still a lot better that they will be dealing away bullpen depth at the trading deadline for future years. Billy Beane has always enjoyed playing Closer Roulette. Once the AL East shakes down to what it always is, and the Tigers fully erase their bad start, they'll be back to the Division Champion or Nothing mode, and they're not better than the Angels.

But I've already had a month more of meaningful baseball than I expected this year from my team. We're well into the House Money stage with this team.