Oct 03 2013 09:50 AM
Have you ever heard of Dan Straily? I haven't either, but he's set to pitch Game 4 (if necessary) of the Oakland-Detroit ALDS series.
So turns out this Straily is the A's 4th or 5th starter. Not bad either, a 10-8 record, 3.96 ERA, 24 years old, righty in his 2nd season. Normally he might be the guy left out of a short-series rotation but A.J. Griffin (who the fuck? Also a second-year player, 14-10, 3.83, 25 years old) will miss this series with a sore elbow so it's Straily.
Sonny Gray (23 years old, 5-3, 2.67) will oppose Justin Verlander in Game 2 of this series. I have heard of him, because he was a first-round draftee a few years back. He's a rookie with just 10 starts in his career. Jarrod Parker (24 years old, 12-8, 3.97) pitches Game 3 at Detroit vs. Anibal Sanchez. I have heard of Parker, he came up as a Dbagg and was involved in one of those trades. He's also a 2nd year guy.
You have heard of Bartolo Colon. He's gonna start Game 1 (and if necessary, Game 5) vs. Scherzer.
But how about that? The A's are Colon and a bunch a 24 year old 1st, 2nd and 3rd year guys who won 96 games this year. Their bullpen is slightly older, anchored by closer Grant Balfour and a buncha semi-anonymous guys (lefties Sean Doolittle and Jerry Blevins; righties Ryan Cook, Pet Neshek, Dan Otero) and they're pretty friggin good too. The staff as a whole led the AL in WHiP and was 3rd in runs allowed.
It's tantalizing to think the Mets are trying to assemble a similar batch of young starters.
Oh, the A's also have an offense. More on that after this commercial break.
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Chip Hale! Miss ya buddy.
Yes, so the offense is pretty good too, as I was saying. 3rd in the AL in runs scored, home runs and OPS.
You've heard of LF Yoenis Cespedes (26-80), CF Coco Crisp (22-66) and you're probably familiar by now with budding superstar third baseman Josh Donaldson (24-93 301/384/499//833) but did you know the A's leading home-run hitter was forgotten prospect Brandon Moss, who's also now become a first baseman? I didn't. Thirty dingers for this guy, who a long time ago was the prize in the Jason-Bay-to-the-Red-Sox deal. Having his best year at age 29.
Elsewhere Oakland is getting pretty good years out of SS Jed Lowrie and C Derek Norris. Second baseman Eric Sogard gets a lot of "underrated player" credit for having made only 1 error all year and wearing glasses. He reminds me in several ways of Eric Soderholm, also a glases-wearing AL infielder of my youth.
Know your Erics:
RF Josh Reddick has struggled some with injuries but is back and bearded up big-time. The beard and Oakland's famous rep for statistical analysis under Billy Beane is a key to their success.
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This series btw is a matchup of last year's 5-gamer in which the Tigers took the first 2 and Oakland the next 2 in close games; followed by a 6-zip Verlander closeout in Game 5. Go A's!!!