Last year, the Oakland A's were a plucky bunch of overachievers who surprised the baseball world by winning 87 games and remaining in contention for the AL wild-card spot until the final week.
"I think a lot of our young guys got a feel for what being in a playoff chase is all about," said veteran outfielder Matt Stairs, "and that's good."
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Center Stage
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It hasn't taken long for outfielder Carl Everett to make an impact in Boston -- on Red Sox fans and his teammates.
From the beginning, fans seemed eager to embrace the outfielder. It probably started when Everett made his dislike for the New York Yankees well known; any player who echoes the sentiments of the fan base is going to be embraced.
But Everett's quick acceptance clearly goes beyond the rivalry. Everett's style of play no doubt has made him a quick fan favorite -- he plays with a recklessness that endears him to fans who are naturally wary of athletes who seem emotionally reserved or withdrawn.
Everett gestures to the skies after homers, barrels into middle infielders on the basepaths, dangles a toothpick from his mouth at the plate and inexplicably bats left-handed against some lefty pitchers, even though he's a switch-hitter.
The outfielder said last week that he was unaware of his burgeoning popularity, that he concentrates on the game while on the field, and not the reaction of the crowd.
That's probably only partly true. In Houston, where Everett was overshadowed by high-profile players like Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, he was never given the recognition he deserved, even though several teammates maintained that he was the true MVP of last year's Astros team.
It's unlikely that Everett will eclipse the twin stars of the Red Sox -- Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciaparra. But five-tool players are rarities for the Red Sox and Everett has quickly discovered that his contributions won't go unnoticed with his fifth organization.
In the clubhouse, meanwhile, Everett has brought some brashness and attitude to the otherwise staid club. Except for Martinez -- whose dugout chirping last season resulted in teammates jokingly tying him to a post, his mouth gagged -- the Sox are quietly professional.
But Everett speaks his mind. When he homered Sunday to produce a walk-off win against Oakland, he said he went up with every intention of hitting one out, a rare admission for a player.
"No one can knock my confidence down," Everett said, "no matter how bad I'm going. I'm always going to be confident. A lot of people interpret my confidence as cocky. That's something they have to deal with."
Said Mike Stanley, who might typify the club's more reserved nature: "It's a tolerable confidence. It's not something that rubs you the wrong way, which is fine. You love to see a guy who has confidence in his abilities."
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How about this year? Well, last year doesn't count anymore, which is fine with Stairs.
"When teams faced the A's last year," he said, "they probably expected to win two out of three from us. But this season, people don't take us lightly, the way they used to. We're not going to sneak up on anybody. This year, we've already seen teams re-arranging their rotation to face us."
With the respect comes expectations, and the A's are ready to deliver, according to Stairs. The front office did its part by retaining starter Kevin Appier (by picking up his option), infielder Randy Velarde and starter Omar Olivares and adding lefty reliever Mike Magnante.
The rest is up to the players.
"Our payroll is up $10-11 million from the year before," Stairs said. "Most of the guys are signed for the next two years. We know these guys are going to be around. Now, we have to do our part."
Stairs loves the attitude. Even after losses, the TV is on in the clubhouse and the music is blaring. It's not that defeats are taken lightly; it's just that the season is a long one, and teams can't afford to wallow in disappointment.
"We don't get pissed off -- we get even," Stairs said. "We've got a happy-go-lucky attitude. We don't talk baseball away from the ballpark and I think that's great."
Stairs, a Canadian, jokes: "I'd rather talk about other things, like hockey. Or hockey. Or ... hockey. Seriously, when we go to dinner or a movie, there's seven, eight or nine of us. That's a good sign."
The A's might be tight-knit as a bunch and loose in their approach, but please don't make the comparisons to a softball team, a line the A's have already heard entirely too much.
"That's kind of insulting," said Stairs.
Sure, the A's are a hard-swinging, power-driven lineup with a few beefy bodies, like Stairs and the Giambi Bros. -- Jeremy and Jason. But their approach is more refined than some weekend beer-league team.
"We've got six guys with legitimate 20-home run power and four guys who could hit 30," Stairs said. "But we're more than that. We'll take our walks, too, and do some other things."
That offensive style is a reflection of GM Billy Beane, who in assembling the roster, has placed great emphasis on slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Get on base and get extra-base hits, and you'll seldom have difficulty scoring runs is Beane's philosphy.
The A's have some question marks defensively. They finished 10th in fielding percentage last season and return the same lineup. Shortstop Miguel Tejada, while improving at the plate, can still be erratic in the field. So, too, can second-year third baseman Eric Chavez. The team made four errors in one game over the weekend in Boston, including two in the same inning.
Jason Isringhausen must prove that he's a dependable closer, and the veteran starters (Appier, Olivares, and Gil Heredia) must remain healthy. But the A's have some terrific young pitchers waiting at Triple-A (lefties Barry Zito and Mark Mulder, who makes his major-league debut Tuesday in Cleveland) and Tim Hudson, despite a recent shelling, has the stuff and makeup to be a young staff ace.
The A's have question marks, true. But as Stairs points out, the AL West is a division in transition, with the Rangers and Mariners churning their rosters over the winter to emphasize pitching over slugging, and the Angels still trying to climb out of the muck from last season.
The West is there to be won.
"A lot of us had career years last year," said Stairs. "We know we're not good enough to make mistakes and win. We can't give extra outs away."
But if the A's mash like they can, stay healthy on the mound and make the routine plays, last year may have only been the beginning.
Expectations? The A's welcome them.
Now they have to deliver.
Around the Junior Circuit
They didn't wait long to push the panic button in Tampa Bay, where pitching coach Rick Williams was gone before the second week of the season. Just over one time through the rotation, and Williams became the scapegoat, with Bill Fischer -- whom Roger Clemens credits a great deal for his development in Boston -- hired from Atlanta's Triple-A affiliate to take his place.
Are the Rays' pitching problems really that much of a surprise? They dealt off their best starter -- Rolando Arrojo -- in order to land Vinny Castilla, had Wilson Alvarez, purportedly the team's ace, on the disabled list to start the season, and soon lost Juan Guzman to the DL, too.
All of this after a winter-long obsession with offense, in which the Rays seemed to forget that, after you're finshed hitting all your tape measure shots, the other team gets to hit, too.
Texas will miss Rusty Greer (out four-to-six weeks after undergoing ankle surgery) in more ways than one. Greer is a super defender, perhaps the league's premier left fielder. In an outfield in which the Rangers are starting a rookie (Ruben Mateo) and a second-year player (Gabe Kapler), his stabilizing influence won't be easy to replace. Then there's his on-base ability (.405 last year, .393 for his career), which helped set up run producers Rafael Palmeiro and Pudge Rodriguez.
The Red Sox, who play the Yankees 10 times in the span of 26 days in May and June, will not visit New York to play the Yankees after June 14. That unbalanced schedule, with teams playing division opponents 18 times per season, can't happen fast enough.
On the rise: The Mariners' offense
Who needs Junior? The Mariners certainly didn't when they rolled up 47 runs in a three-game weekend series in Toronto. The M's are hitting .293 as a team and are averaging 6½ runs per game. Those numbers are all the more impressive when you consider they're playing in a pitcher's park and are without Ken Griffey Jr. Shortstop Alex Rodriguez is on a tear, helped in part by the presence of John Olerud behind him in the order, ensuring that A-Rod sees plenty of pitches to hit.
On the fall: Chris Carpenter
This was supposed to be the season in which Carpenter really blossomed and emerged as one of the pitching bright lights in the American League. Instead, he's 0-3 to start the year and been cuffed around on a couple of occasions. Is Carpenter's elbow a concern? He missed some time in the spring with a flareup. If the Jays are to be real contenders in the AL East, they need Carpenter to be a strong No. 2 behind David Wells.
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal-Bulletin covers the American League for ESPN.com. | |
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