With five of the six months completed for the 1989 campaign, the A’s have come a long way since they were seven games under .500 early in May. At the end of August, they’re now a season-high 22 games over .500 with a 78-56 record.
But, they’re still three victories behind their 99-win pace. The A’s went 17-12 in August during the replay, not quite good enough as the real-life Oakland squad went 18-11.
The A’s went 18-10 in September and October back in 1989. Can these replay Athletics go 21-7 to get to 99 wins? Certainly not the way they’re hitting.
Inexplicably, the A’s have basically stopped winning when A-rated Mike Moore has taken the mound. Oakland went 1-5 in his six August starts, all of which came against lesser opposing pitchers. The A’s have won just two of his last 10 starts. It’s not Moore’s fault, as he posted a 1.29 ERA in his six August starts and didn’t give up more than two runs in any of them. But in his five losses, the A’s were shut out four times and only scored one run in the other game!
Oakland was shut out six times in August and saw its team batting average drop a couple more points to .255. They’re still averaging 3.9 runs per game. But, at this point in reality, those numbers were .262 and 4.3. Carney Lansford, with his .367 average, is still really the only one surpassing expectations.
Moore’s not the only one pitching impressively, as all of the A-rated pitchers have an ERA under two except for Dennis Eckersley. But after his terrible start, he’s rounded into form and has got his ERA down to 2.52 and he’s saved 23 games. After all the non-support, Moore is 14-10 with his 1.42 ERA. One statistical oddity is that the three B-rated starters all currently have a 2.67 ERA: Dave Stewart (16-7), Storm Davis (13-5) and Bob Welch (13-11).
The team ERA is 2.57, up a tick from last month, but far better than the actual mark of 3.17.
| Batting | G | AVG | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sim | 134 | .255 | 524 | 173 | 16 | 88 | 512 | 106 | 362 | 746 |
| Actual | 134 | .262 | 572 | 187 | 21 | 98 | 530 | 121 | 455 | 678 |
| Pitching | G | W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sim | 134 | 78-56 | 2.57 | 15 | 22 | 34 | 1221.0 | 847 | 410 | 349 | 348 | 794 |
| Actual | 134 | 81-53 | 3.17 | 15 | 17 | 50 | 1197.0 | 1076 | 474 | 422 | 423 | 787 |
| Batters | Sim Through August | Actual Through August |
|---|---|---|
| Carney Lansford | .367, 49 R, 0 HR, 48 RBI, 33 SB | .336, 62 R, 2 HR, 38 RBI, 27 SB |
| Rickey Henderson | .274, 25 R, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 26 SB | .330, 57 R, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 38 SB |
| Dave Parker | .271, 50 R, 19 HR, 64 RBI | .266, 44 R, 18 HR, 76 RBI |
| Terry Steinbach | .256, 28 R, 4 HR, 35 RBI | .289, 27 R, 5 HR, 38 RBI |
| Jose Canseco | .254, 18 R, 7 HR, 28 RBI | .275, 20 R, 10 HR, 34 RBI |
| Tony Phillips | .252, 42 R, 4 HR, 24 RBI | .243, 43 R, 4 HR, 36 RBI |
| Dave Henderson | .250, 54 R, 15 HR, 70 RBI | .244, 62 R, 10 HR, 62 RBI |
| Mike Gallego | .244, 39 R, 3 HR, 42 RBI | .260, 42 R, 3 HR, 29 RBI |
| Stan Javier | .244, 23 R, 1 HR, 38 RBI, 10 SB | .248, 39 R, 1 HR, 26 RBI, 11 SB |
| Ron Hassey | .229, 31 R, 4 HR, 22 RBI | .233, 26 R, 5 HR, 22 RBI |
| Walt Weiss | .219, 22 R, 2 HR, 17 RBI | .231, 20 R, 3 HR, 16 RBI |
| Lance Blankenship | .212, 8 R, 0 HR, 10 RBI | .220, 16 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI |
| Billy Beane | .198, 11 R, 0 HR, 4 RBI | .250, 8 R, 0 HR, 11 RBI |
| Mark McGwire | .194, 68 R, 19 HR, 55 RBI | .229, 57 R, 24 HR, 76 RBI |
| Glenn Hubbard | .136, 13 R, 5 HR, 20 RBI | .199, 12 R, 3 HR, 12 RBI |
| Pitchers | Sim Through August | Actual Through August |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Corsi | 0-0, 0.28 ERA, 32.3 IP, 19 K | 0-2, 2.27 ERA, 31.7 IP, 14 K |
| Rick Honeycutt | 8-1, 1.06 ERA, 59.3 IP, 27 K | 2-2, 2.50 ERA, 64.7 IP, 49 K |
| Mike Moore | 14-10, 1.42 ERA, 221.7 IP, 126 K | 16-8, 2.51 ERA, 201.0 IP, 149 K |
| Todd Burns | 4-2, 1.75 ERA, 77.0 IP, 36 K | 6-2, 2.30 ERA, 82.0 IP, 44 K |
| Gene Nelson | 4-3, 2.38 ERA, 56.7 IP, 38 K | 2-5, 3.92 ERA, 64.3 IP, 55 K |
| Dennis Eckersley | 0-1, 2.52 ERA, 39.3 IP, 25 K, 23 SV | 1-0, 0.88 ERA, 41.0 IP, 44 K |
| Dave Stewart | 16-7, 2.67 ERA, 209.3 IP, 136 K | 18-8, 3.47 ERA, 212.7 IP, 131 K |
| Storm Davis | 13-5, 2.67 ERA, 162.0 IP, 128 K | 15-6, 4.71 ERA, 133.7 IP, 72 K |
| Bob Welch | 13-11, 2.67 ERA, 178.7 IP, 136 K | 15-7, 2.78 ERA, 171.3 IP, 117 K |
| Curt Young | 3-10, 5.95 ERA, 92.3 IP, 50 K | 4-9, 4.25 ERA, 95.3 IP, 49 K |
| Matt Young | 0-4, 6.26 ERA, 27.3 IP, 25 K | 1-3, 4.59 ERA, 33.3 IP, 21 K |
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 