Grit Your Teeth and Hold On 

Posted 3:36 PM by Sean
While I'm at it: the A's, currently three games in front of the Angels, have just completed an incredibly successful month. In addition to going 20-8, they scored 150 runs - the most they've scored in any month of 2004 - and allowed just 107 - the fewest they've allowed in any month of 2004.

Oakland has always had pitching. This year, however, they've actually had some pretty solid offensive production. With the exception of Jermaine Dye (and Bobby Crosby, because he's a rookie), every one of the hitters normally in their lineup have been better than their career averages:

Kotsay:
career - .284/.341/.422
2004 - .305/.361/.448

Scutaro:
career - .267/.304/.389
2004 - .281/.305/.399

Chavez:
career - .277/.353/.508
2004 - .282/.402/.551

Hatteberg
career - .272/.362/.418
2004 - .307/.390/.458

Durazo
career - .284/.385/.501
2004 - .325/.392/.543

Byrnes
career - .273/.335/.468
2004 - .289/.347/.486

Miller
career - .266/.333/.424
2004 - .287/.352/.434

Dye
career - .271/.333/.461
2004 - .259/.323/.449

That's simply amazing. Again excepting Dye, every one of these guys is posting better numbers in all three categories. And check THIS out:

Scutaro:
career - .267/.304/.389
2004 - .281/.305/.399
August - .303/.321/.474

Chavez:
career - .277/.353/.508
2004 - .282/.402/.551
August - .308/.402/.635

Hatteberg
career - .272/.362/.418
2004 - .307/.390/.458
August - .352/.444/.486

Durazo
career - .284/.385/.501
2004 - .325/.392/.543
August - .355/.408/.600

Byrnes
career - .273/.335/.468
2004 - .289/.347/.486
August - .311/.344/.437

So where are the sabrmetricians out there? I realize that most of those guys (except Hatteberg and Miller) are in their late 20's, and it's not much of a surprise that any of them, individually, could post numbers like that. But come on - all of them?

It's certainly possible that Oakland's offensive surge will continue unabated through September. Stranger things have happened. But you know, I think I remember reading something about teams like this tending to regre...regriss...ah, yes - regress to the mean. It's just kind of funny that I haven't heard anything about it lately.

This race ain't over by a long shot.