The A's are amazing. Every year, right after the All-Star Break, they start playing excellent baseball. Every year, they gain separation from the pack with a red-hot August. Every year, they coast to a playoff berth by showing no mercy to out-of-contention opponents with a strong September. And every year, they confidently march into the playoffs, only to play the Division Series and...um, hey, did I mention that they play great in September?
This week's Scout features a Canadian on a roll, a fading first-year player, a red-hot reliever and some fine play from the infield corners. Plus, check out which A's starter might present the best opportunity for the Jays to steal one this weekend; it may surprise you.
On to the Advance Scout!
* The Elephants' annual second-half stampede is proceeding full steam ahead, as the A's are enjoying another amazing stretch run ... They've won 14 of their last 16 and are firing on all cylinders ... The A's are an incredible 86-28 over their last four Augusts ... Oakland is the only AL club with a team ERA below 4 (3.96), and their staff has allowed the second-fewest hits in the AL ... That said, their offence is considerably improved over last year -- and strangely, the improvement stems largely from hitting more singles and doubles. The team batting average is a surprising .274 ... They still lack speed, to nobody's surprise: The play-it-safe A's are last in the majors in triples (12) and last in the AL in steals (39) ... With the simultaneous hot streaks in Anaheim and Boston, Eric Byrnes noted that mid- to late-August games "felt like September" ...
* Tonight's starter, Tim Hudson, has found his groove after struggling in his first few innings back from the DL with a strained stomach muscle ... His combined line from his last three starts: 3-0, 23 1/3 IP, 17 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 13 K ... Hudson explained that he's unfazed after errors behind him, as reflected in his unearned runs allowed of late: "If anything, it makes me want to attack the strike zone even more and let the guys behind me make another play" ... Righties hit just .231 off the slightly-built ace ... One promising sign: His ERA is more than two runs higher (3.89) away from the spacious Coliseum ... The groundball artist has only surrendered three home runs in his 20 starts, and none in his last 95 1/3 IP ... Hudson: "I think if you make good pitches and pitch your game, then you keep guys in the park" ...
* Eric Chavez is hot lately, having hit in nine of his last ten (.385) while making scores of Gold Glove-worthy plays ... His walk total sits at an impressive 76, despite having missed six weeks of action in June and July ... He's been terrific at the plate since his return from the disabled list, following a .338 July with a .308/.402/.635 August ... Jinx Alert: He's only hit one home run in 75 career SkyDome at-bats ... He had a three-game homer streak last week ...
* The "Holy Grail," Erubiel Durazo, had a tremendous August at .355/.408/.600, with 24 RBI ... He rips righties at a .334/.409/.568 rate. Sixteen of his 21 homers have come off righthanded pitching ...
* The "Pickin' Machine," Scott Hatteberg, displayed his typically excellent approach at the plate in August (.352/.444/.486) ... Even by his standards, the 34-year-old converted catcher has had an incredible BB/K ratio this year (62/37) ... Eleven of his thirteen longballs have come off righties, against whom he hits .311/.403/.482 ...
* Tomorrow's starter will be Mark Mulder, and despite his gaudy 17-4 record, he's actually been rather hittable of late ... In addition to his 5.14 August ERA, Mulder's monthly peripherals were troubling: 23 walks and just 17 strikeouts in 42 August IP ... That said, Octavio Dotel blew the save on Sunday, in what would have been Mulder's league-leading 18th win ... A's coaches have noticed that Mulder's right (non-pitching shoulder) hasn't been square lately. Look for him to make this mechanical adjustment ...
* Mark McLemore remains a pesky out for opposing pitchers ... Bat control or no, he's so weak from the right side this season (.095/.269/.095) that pinch-hitting for him against lefties has become automatic for Ken Macha ... He hits .303, with an impressive .395 on-base percentage, away from Oakland ... He slumped badly in August, hitting .214/.323/.250 on the month ... SkyDome has easily been his favourite place to hit, where he's put up .337/.427/.500 numbers in his career ...
* Potential trouble for the A's: Everyday shortstop Bobby Crosby appears to be hitting something of a rookie wall ... He's just 4 for his last 34 (.118) ... He sputtered through August at a .170/.267/.295 rate ... He continues to show terrific defensive tools, but true to his lack of experience, he remains error-prone ... Is he putting too much pressure on himself? He's 0-for-23 on the season with men on third and less than two out ...
* After two hot months, Mark Kotsay cooled off a bit in August, hitting .264/.299/.445 ... He's been a good catalyst for the A's offence this season, putting up a .319/.379/.484 line with the bases empty ... He sat out Sunday with a sore knee, but played throughout the U.S. Cellular series ... Indeed, he singled, doubled and tripled on Tuesday ...
* After a shaky start to his AL career, closer Octavio Dotel has converted nine of his last ten save opportunities -- and managed to vulture the win after blowing Sunday's save ... He's struck out an outstanding 51 batters in his 37 innings since joining the A's ... Righties hit only .195 off the Dominican flamethrower ... His downfall: The long ball. He's given up 11 homers in just 71 2/3 IP on the year, including seven since his acquisition by Beane ... Watch to see if he throws his slider for strikes. When he doesn't, he struggles ...
* Sunday's starter, Victoria's own Rich Harden, has put together back-to-back dominant starts ... His combined line: 15 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 10 K ... He's benefited from his home park, though; away from home, his ERA swells to 4.66 ... Nine of his 14 homers allowed have come on the road ... He's been an excellent 6-0, 2.55 since the All-Star Break, with opponents hitting just .208 off him since then ... This season, the Jays are hitting a measly .118 off him in two starts. He's given up just one run in 15 2/3 IP against the Jays this year -- but he only has two hard-luck no-decisions to show for it, thanks to the efforts of Josh Towers and David Bush ... Harden's recent strategy is to challenge hitters in the early innings, keeping his early pitch count down ... One more win for Harden and the A's will have their first quintet of 10-game-winning starters since the franchise moved west ... Harden has credited pitching coach Curt Young for his recent success. Young's refusal to panic during Barry Zito's poor stretch earned the respect and affection of the entire staff ... Adam Melhuse on Harden: "When he gets a little better command of his breaking ball, it's going to be scary" ...
* Jermaine Dye is slumping, having gone just 1 for his last 15 (.067) ... Strangely, he struggles away from his club's pitcher-friendly stadium, as he hits just .233/.284/.412 on the road ... His production has fallen off a cliff since the All-Star Game. He's hit just .199/.276/.319 since the break, and has added just 17 of his 71 RBI since then ... Jinx Alert II: He's only hit one home run in 91 career SkyDome at-bats ... He was removed form Sunday's game with an avulsion fracture (essentially a sprain) in his left thumb. He missed the entire Chicago series with the injury ... Dye wants to play this weekend, though, even if it's painful. He doesn't want to lose his batting stroke altogether ...
* The eighth-round selection in the inaugural Florida Marlins draft class, Billy "Secret Weapon" McMillon has gotten a chance to play with Dye's injury ... In his four games playing in Jermaine's absence, McMillon has gone deep twice, including a walk-off three-run bomb on Sunday after Chavez was walked intentionally ... He's been dreadful away from home in limited action this year, hitting just .138/.242/.379 ... McMillon takes his spot-duty role in stride: "We all want to play every day, but we're not going to. It's important for everybody to know their roles" ... Hatteberg assigned the nickname to McMillon after his homer and great catch in yesterday's game ...
* Part-time catcher Adam Melhuse is red-hot, having hit in six of his last seven (.423), including three home runs ... Although he's nominally a switch-hitter, like McLemore he really only hits from the left side of the plate. He's 3-for-20 (.150) from the right side ... Seven of his nine homers have come on the road ...
* His platoon partner, Damian Miller, has cooled off since the All-Star Break ... Seven of his nine homers came before the break ... Miller, on sitting out Tuesday with the flu as Melhuse went 3-for-4: "Maybe Wally Pipp will feel better tomorrow" ...
* Although reliever Justin Duchscherer (pronounced DUCK-sher) took the loss on Wednesday, he's been lights-out in three appearances against the Jays this year, allowing just two hits in 7 1/3 scoreless innings ...
* Veteran reliever Jim Mecir has gone an incredible 26 straight scoreless outings after a poor start to the seson ... That said, he did allow an inherited runner to score as he blew a save on Wednesday night ... The 34-year-old screwballer has been rewarded with higher-leverage outings of late ...
* Marco Scutaro, evidently not at peace with the "be selective" team philosophy, has but one walk over his last 23 games ... That said, he did hit .303 in August ... Five of his six homers have come off lefthanding pitching, against which he slugs .513 ... Scutaro made a really heady hustle play on the bases in yesterday's matinee, scoring all the way from second on a wild pitch after Ben Davis had difficulty locating the ball behind him ...
* Eric Byrnes had a tough series at U.S. Cellular Field, going 1-for-8 in the three-game set ... Notwithstanding club philosophy, he's stolen three bases over his last eleven games. His 13-for-14 success rate is beyond reproach ... Although he demolishes lefties at a .357/.417/.612 rate, righties limit him to a more modest .261/.325/.432 ... He's just 2 for 13 (.154) all-time at SkyDome ...
* Old friend Bobby Kielty has struggled badly in Oakland, making the Ted Lilly deal look like a ridiculous steal for J.P. Ricciardi -- and, for that matter, the Shannon Stewart deal look like a ridiculous steal for Terry Ryan ... He's 2 for his last 18 (.111), and he hasn't gone deep since Canada Day ... He hasn't been mashing lefties like he can, and he's virtually unusable from the left side (.162/.293/.231 in 117 at-bats) ... All of his six homers have come at home. He's hitting just .173/.308/.245 away from home, with just 19 hits in 110 at-bats ...
* Esteban German has been the A's' only September callup thus far. More will join the club when they return home ...
* LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Nick Swisher will be called up and will make his major league debut tonight in Jermaine Dye's place.
* Rumours continue to swirl around Barry Zito. The Mets, with former pitching coach Rick Peterson, and the Padres, with former catcher Ramon Hernandez, are among the most commonly-mentioned potential offseason trading partners ...
Probable Batting Orders
vs. LH
8 Byrnes
7 Kielty
5 Chavez
9 Dye
3 Hatteberg
DH Durazo
2 D Miller
6 Crosby
4 Scutaro
vs. RH
8 Kotsay
4 McLemore/Scutaro
5 Chavez
3 Hatteberg
DH Durazo
9/7 Byrnes
7 McMillon/9 Dye
2 Melhuse/D Miller
6 Crosby
Pitching Probables
Friday: RH Hudson vs. Lilly
Saturday: LH Mulder vs. Batista
Sunday: RH Harden vs. Glynn
Bullpen Usage
Long: Duchscherer R
Short: Hammond L, Mecir R, Rhodes L
Setup: Rincon L, Bradford R
Closer: Dotel R
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