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		A's: Mired in mediocrity By Jerry Feitelberg June 1, 2011

	The Oakland Athletics' record for the season fell to 27-30 after losing three straight games t the New York Yankees. There is no question that the Yankees are one of the elite teams in baseball. They have at least two, possibly three, Hall of Fame players on their roster. The A's , in contrast, are a team constructed of journeymen. The strength of the A's is their pitching but the Yankees had no trouble beating the A's three top pitchers. Cahill,Anderson and Gonzalez all took their lumps at the hand of the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees outscored the A's 19-5 in the three game series. For this observer, it seems that the A's will scuffle along and,hopefully, will finish the season at .500. They just do not have an offense. For example,the A's , as a team, have hit 32 home runs so far this season. The season is now a third over and if you were to extrapolate the numbers, the A's will finish the year with 96 home runs. In contrast, the Yankees have hit 83 home runs so far this season. They have two players, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira, that have have more home runs than the entire A's team. Josh Willingham leads the A's with ten and that would be fine if others were doing the job. The corner infielders,first and third, have 4 home runs total. The third baseman is hitting .220 and the first baseman a woeful .206. The team has collective .240 batting average. Shades of the “ hit less wonders” of the early 20th century, the Chicago White Sox. No matter how you slice it, a team needs runs. Management brought in three players to help out an offense that was puny last year but the A's have not been able to get it going. It has been very difficult to watch this team play. Will they get it going? Nobody knows. Will they fire the manager? Probably not. Will they make a trade? Don't know. There is not a single player in the current lineup that strikes fear into an opposing pitcher. The A's are going on a ten game road trip to Boston,Chicago and Baltimore. If they flounder on the road, they could be several games under .500 when they return home. Billy Beane will have to take a hard look at this team. Will they be sellers at trade deadline? Will they trade pitching for hitters? Given the track record in the last few years, it's not going to happen. The A's look for people that they feel are undervalued as a player and those that are not too expensive. It is no wonder that the A's will continue to be a mediocre team. What is needed is a change of ownership and management. This club needs a clean sweep and new people who will make this club great again.