O a M G - Oakland Athletics

season in review
2010 RECAP: The A’s finished the 2010 season with an 81-81 record, snapping a streak of three consecutive
seasons with a losing record…it was the A’s best mark since winning the American League West
with a mark of 93-69 in 2006…were exactly .500 a total of 22 times after the All-Star Break and 33 times
for the season, which is an Athletics record…the previous high was 23 in 1947…also played .500 ball
over the final 88 games of the 2009 season, giving the A’s a 125-125 record since June 29, 2009…2010
marked the second time in Oakland history the A’s ended the season exactly .500 (also 1987)…finished
in second place in the AL West, nine games behind Texas…that is the A’s best finish over the last four
years as they finished fourth in 2009 and third in 2007 and 2008…have now finished second or better
in the West in nine of the last 12 seasons…the only major league teams with more first or second place
finishes over that span are the Yankees (11) and Red Sox (10)…spent 25 days alone in first in 2010, eight
days tied for first, 74 days in second, 12 days tied for second, 59 days in third and one day in fourth…tied
for fifth in the AL Wild Card, 14 games behind New York…spent 33 of the first 60 days of the season
with at least a share of first place in the AL West…moved into first after the third game of the season
and remained there every day through May 1, despite posting a 13-12 record…peaked at 9-4 on April
17 and had a season best 2½ game lead…spent most of May in second place, falling as far back as four
games on May 21, before a four-game winning streak from May 26 to 29 moved the A’s back into first
with a 27-23 record…were 29-26 following the conclusion of play June 3 and were tied for first with
Texas…that would be the A’s last day in first place in 2010 as they went 5-14 over a 19-game stretch
from June 4 to 24 while Texas went 16-3…that put the A’s a season high 11 games out of first entering
play June 25…Oakland then went 43-35 from June 25-Sept. 23 while the Rangers went 40-40…were
never closer than seven games nor farther back than 10 games over that stretch…a win in the first game
of a four-game series with Texas Sept. 23 gave the A’s a 77-75 record and put them seven games behind
the Rangers with 10 games remaining…then lost a season-high six consecutive games before finishing
the season with a four-game winning streak…were officially eliminated from the West in game 154 after
being eliminated from the Wild Card in game 147.
PiTCHinG: The A’s compiled a 3.56 ERA, which was the lowest mark in the American League and
fourth lowest in the majors…it was also the lowest ERA by an A’s team since 1990 (3.18) and it was
third best by an AL team over the last 18 years (Toronto, 3.49 in 2008 and Seattle, 3.54 in 2001)…also
led the AL in shutouts (17) and opponents slugging percentage (.379) and ranked second in opponents
batting average (.245) and opponents on-base percentage (.313)…the 17 shutouts were third best by an
A’s team in the designated hitter era and were the most since the 2002 club had 19…topped the majors
with 27 pickoffs…allowed the fewest doubles (232) and extra base hits (402) in the AL and the second
fewest triples (17)…the triples were the fewest in Oakland history…had the second fewest wild pitches
(42) and hit batters (38) in the AL…had 1431.2 innings pitched, which were third fewest in Oakland
history in a non-strike season and the fewest since 1984 (1430.0)…the A’s now have a 3.97 ERA since
2000, which is the best mark by an AL team over that span and third lowest in the majors behind the
Braves (3.90) and Dodgers (3.92).
STARTinG PiTCHinG: A’s starting pitchers were 64-58 with a Major League-leading 3.47 ERA…
that was the lowest ERA by an American League team since Boston had a 3.32 ERA in 1990 and the
lowest by an A’s team since 1989 (3.34)…it was more than a run lower than 2009’s mark of 4.76 and it
marked the first time the A’s led the majors in ERA since 1974 (2.98)…also had the lowest opponents
slugging percentage in the majors in 2010 (.373)…led the AL in opponents batting average (.243),
ranked second in opponents on-base percentage (.307) and issued the fourth fewest walks (327)…Trevor
Cahill led the A’s with 18 wins and Gio Gonzalez had 15, marking just the third time in Oakland history
the A’s had two players under the age of 25 win at least 15 games (Mark Mulder and Barry Zito did it in
2001 and 2002)…it is just the 17 th time in the post-World War II ERA a Major League team has done it…
Gonzalez (33), Cahill (30), Anderson (19) and Mazzaro (18) combined to start 100 of the A’s 162 games,
making the A’s the first AL team since the 1977 Milwaukee Brewers to have four starting pitchers under
the age of 25 make at least 18 starts each…A’s starters also led the AL in fewest extra base hits (270),
doubles (158) and wild pitches (20) and tied for the lead with three complete game shutouts.
292 > 2011 Oakland athletics Media Guide