Hurtin' A's

Pitching, hitting problems put Oakland postseason at peril

The Oakland A's have this great pitching, see, and they have the league's MVP and its Cy Young Award winner. They have a supposed genius for a general manager, you know, a guy who can plug Joe Journeyman into the lineup and make him an All-Star.

They won 103 games last year, the A's did, and 102 the year before that. And, even if they've struggled a little bit in the last couple of seasons in the postseason -- first-round losses, both years -- we've come to at least count on the A's playing in October.

Well, don't count on it now. Don't even start.

As bad as that pitch was to Barry Bonds on Thursday night -- and it was a horrible mistake -- I can't believe Bobby Cox would have Trey Hodges throw to Bonds at all. IBB, Bobby! Still, this week's E goes to another Bobby, the Phillies' Abreu, who took the bat out of teammate Jim Thome's hands by stealing second in the ninth inning with the Phillies down by two runs on Saturday. That enabled the Cards to walk Thome and pitch to Pat "Pop Up" Burrell. Sure, the Cards were pitching around Thome, anyway. But Hodges was pitching around Bonds, too. If a guy can play, and play well, in Pittsburgh, he deserves a lot of credit. Not you, Giles. You either, Kendall. A tip of the old Pitch cap goes to well-traveled Reggie Sanders, who is hitting .378 this month with eight homers and 21 RBIs. He has a combined on-base and slugging percentage over 1.200. Hey, wonder if that guy will last out the week in the Steel City? "I just picked up my stuff to go home. It's just a different sound than anybody else. He hits the ball harder on a line than anybody I've ever seen." -- Braves manager Bobby Cox on his reaction after another Barry Bonds home run

The A's enter the week tied with the Boston Red Sox for the American League wild card. In fact, thanks to a five-game slide by the Seattle Mariners, Oakland is only a game behind the M's for the AL West lead.

Still, it doesn't take Billy Beane to figure out that the A's are in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. Their ballyhooed pitching staff, suddenly, is beat up. Their offense, despite a recent splurge, is still one of the worst in the American League.

They have what, on the surface, looks like a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way. But half of their 32 remaining games are on the road. And the A's are a sub-.500 team away from Oakland.

Oh, sure, the A's could still make the postseason. In the second half, they're playing better (20-16) than both the Mariners (18-18) and the Red Sox (19-17). The A's can thank their league-leading pitching staff (a 3.59 ERA) for that.

But the staff that carried the A's this far is not the one that will be there for the rest of the season. If the A's are to play this October, they'll have to get there without one of their aces, lefty Mark Mulder, who is 15-9 with a 3.13 ERA. Mulder was diagnosed Thursday with a stress fracture at the top of his right femur. He won't pitch again this season -- though officials are hoping, if the A's make the postseason, he could be available then.

The effect of Mulder's absence over the next few weeks can't be underplayed. He was a Cy Young candidate who had nine complete games, including two since the All-Star break. Whoever replaces him almost certainly will not be nearly as good or work nearly as long. That will tax the bullpen more. And a healthy and rested bullpen is critical for a stretch run.

That's not to mention what his loss could do to the mindset of the team.

"Right now is the stretch run," Oakland's resident genius and general manager, the aforementioned Beane, told the San Francisco Chronicle, "and to me, the biggest concern is that you don't want it to impact you psychologically so it weighs on you and prevents you from playing to your capabilities."

Losing Mulder is bad enough, but the A's pitching problems don't stop there. Rookie sensation Rich Harden started 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA, but he's been anything but sensational since. In his last three starts, he is 0-3 with a 12.30 ERA. Worse, he hasn't gone longer than five innings in any of those. And in his last one, he walked seven hitters in 2 2/3 innings against the Red Sox.

The A's still have Tim Hudson (13-4, 2.40 ERA). But last year's Cy Young winner, Barry Zito, has hardly been a sure thing (10-11, 3.38). After that, it's Ted Lilly (6-9, 4.99 in 24 starts) and, probably, more of John Halama (2-4, 4.05 in 11 starts).

Undoubtedly, Beane already is looking for help. Right-hander Justin Duchscherer, who is pitching for the team's Class AAA Sacramento team, is a possibility, as is righty Mike Wood, now in the A's bullpen. A trade before the end of the month is not out of the question.

The problem is -- meaning, another problem is -- the Oakland offense isn't very reliable, either. Despite a 17-run burst on Sunday in Toronto and 28 runs in its last two games, Oakland is still 12th in the 14-team AL in hitting (.254) and 11th in both on-base percentage (.324) and slugging percentage (.417). Oakland is also 11th in the league in runs scored. The A's average 4.7 runs a game.

No regular on the A's has an average higher than .278, though both shortstop Miguel Tejada, last year's AL MVP, and third baseman Eric Chavez have turned it on in the second half. Tejada is hitting .324, Chavez .326 since the break. Beane's big midseason acquisition, Jose Guillen, is hitting .264 with five homers and 11 RBIs in 22 games since coming over in a trade with Cincinnati.

Then there are the schedules. Oakland's schedule looks, for the most part, like cake from here on out. Of the A's final 32 games, only six are against a team that now has a winning record. Those are all against the Mariners, and they all come in the final nine days of the season. The A's are 6-7 against Seattle this season.

Yet it doesn't help Oakland's cause that three of the supposedly easier teams left on the schedule -- Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Texas -- all have winning records since the break. And the A's, remember, are 31-34 away from Oakland.

The other teams in the running have fairly easy schedules, too. The Red Sox play 17 of their final 20 games against Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Cleveland. And, other than their games with Oakland, the Mariners -- just like the A's -- won't play a team with a winning record for the rest of the season.

It all equates to a lot of trouble for the small-revenue darlings in Oakland. With their famed pitching trio cut by a third and their once high-octane offense running on fumes, the A's might still go on a September run and make the postseason. Sure. It's possible. Anything's possible.

But count on it? No way.

•  It's been slower than expected during this August trading period, but somebody, somewhere will make a move this week to get some pennant run help. A guess here: Rafael Palmeiro won't be going anywhere.

 •  In its bid to bring a team to Portland, the Oregon senate, one day after rejecting a plan to publicly finance a major league stadium, passed a bill that would use income taxes from players and executives to build a new park. Trust us, Portland. It's not worth the hassles.

 •  Palmeiro is hitting .381 in August, with six homers and 21 RBIs. Oooo, could the Cubs use that guy.

 •  In a move largely missed by the media, the Reds this weekend traded their entire starting lineup (and threw in some cash) to the Little Leaguers from Boynton Beach, Fla., which explains why the Japanese team won the Little League World Series on Sunday.

 •  Roger Clemens wants to pitch for Team USA in the Olympics next year in Athens. Now there's an international incident waiting to happen.

Bad week, E-Baggers. That nasty virus going around, coupled with a slight bug or two in the redesign of your favorite sports Web site, conspired to make a mess of my Inbox this week. I'll be spending the early part of this week with my finger on the delete key doing the duty to 5,000-plus pieces of pure pain in the @$!.

Anyway, I've been at this Q and A thing long enough. I know what you guys are thinking ...

Pete Rose is the best hitter who ever lived. He played hard every day, which is a lot more than you can say for the money-sucking millionaire crybabies today. For baseball to ban him from the Hall of Fame and keep him away from managing a team is a crime. What about all those drug addicts and wife beaters and @$!-----? Pete did his time. Quit picking on the poor guy. -- Joe Hudepohl, Cincinnati

All anyone has to do is mention Pete Rose and people start lining up to take sides. Look at the polls. There are a lot Joes out there. And then there are these ...

MAILBAG MAILBAG Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

I'm tired of all these people whining about poor Pete Rose. The guy bet on baseball! He's guilty. That's why he agreed to the ban in the first place. It doesn't matter how good of a player you are. If you bet on the game, you're breaking the biggest rule you can break. Maybe, if he says he's sorry, I'd let him in the Hall of Fame. But no way does that guy deserve to be on the bench again. No way. -- Bill P., New York

And the debate rages on.

Come on. Barry Bonds the greatest hitter ever? The guy's a jerk. I remember one time when my cousin's sister's brother saw him in a shoe store downtown, and she stopped him on his way into the men's room, and asked him to sign three or four things, and the punk wouldn't even stop. And when he played for the Pirates, he never tried hard. I remember one time we went to Three Rivers and somebody hit a ball into the gap, and he didn't even run hard after it. How can Barry be better than Andy Van Slyke? -- Harry C., Pittsburgh, Pa.

Man, do I get a bunch of "I saw this guy one time" e-mails. And a lot of anti-Bonds stuff. My point: Not a great human being. But the greatest hitter around.

Hey, Yankee hater. Your just jealous because your team sucks! You're a loser. You loser. Must be a Orioles fan. -- Nick Braschetio, Bronx, N.Y.

Reality check: Though many in my so-called profession grew up following one team or another, rooting for a team now only earns ridicule from colleagues and scorn from readers. So, the fact is, the vast majority of us have no rooting interest whatsoever in who wins or loses, other than what might make a more interesting story. Besides, Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair and Boog Powell are long since retired, and Memorial Stadium is no more.

Hey, Donovan, they have Major League Baseball up in the Pacific Northwest, too, you know. You're missing out on the best team in the majors. The Mariners are fun to watch, they play hard, they're all good guys  (not like Griffey and Pay-Rod) and, you watch, they'll be bringing the World Series trophy to Seattle in October. GO M's! -- Marian, Redmond, Wash.

Oh, do I get the "We get no respect" e-mails, too.

Hey, wondering if you can help me with a little research project I'm doing for history class on baseball's place in pre-World War II America? It needs to be 10 pages, single-spaced ... -- Billy J., Dallas

Sorry. No.

Who was the MVP in the 1964 World Series? And who do you think will be in the Series this year? -- Randy, Minneapolis

Look it up, and why do you care?

John, I laughed, I cried. I was intrigued, informed and fulfilled after reading your latest Web posting. Keep up the good work. -- D. Donovan, Honolulu

Yeah. Thanks, Ma.

Anyway ... for the real readers out there, use the new handy-dandy form above to get to me from now on. I welcome thoughtful takes, honest criticism, decent questions and, as always, I give preference to good gags.

We'll get back to the real e-mails in next week's Payoff Pitch.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.