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The best thing about the A's three-city, 10-game trip was that there wasn't any best thing.
They didn't overwhelm opponents with offense or rely on a succession of last
at-bat heroics. As usual, the A's pitched well, but not spectacularly. They
recorded one shutout at Anaheim, though that occurred after they allowed 20
runs and 44 hits in three games at Texas.
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Handling the necessities du jour enables the A's to excel, which was the case Thursday as they concluded their journey with an 8-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Oakland (10-6) split the four-game series to finish 6-4 on the trip and remain in first place, two games ahead of Texas and Anaheim in the American League West.
Oakland cruised after Eric Chavez delivered a three-run, first-inning homer
off Jamie Moyer, who has fed six career home runs to the A's third baseman.
Ticketmaster. Mark Mulder (2-1) failed to last seven innings for the first time
this season but limited Seattle to two runs and five hits in six innings.
"I had a couple of innings out there, a couple of batters where I kind
of lost it," Mulder said. "It drained me mentally, trying to grind
through every pitch."
Mulder persevered, as did his teammates. If anything distinguished the A's on
this swing through the A.L. West, it was their resilience. They lost consecutive
2-1 games in Seattle's final at-bat during this series' first two games but
recovered to win the next pair.
"To me, it shows you a lot about the guys out there," A's Manager
Ken Macha said.
Chavez said the losses to the Mariners "really kind of hurt. When you get
good pitching performances, you like to take advantage of them, especially with
our No. 4 and 5 guys throwing. But we can't look back. You salvage the next
two games and move on."
Although it's too early to suggest that the A's have improved upon last season's
96-66, division-winning group, this trip provided a source of optimism. At the
same juncture a year ago, Oakland posted a 3-7 mark while visiting the same
three A.L. West cities after a 5-1 homestand.
Macha recalled that a struggling bullpen helped spoil last year's corresponding
trip. By contrast, this year's A's received efforts such as Chris Hammond's
three-inning save Sunday in Anaheim and three saves from Arthur Rhodes in three
opportunities. And Monday in a 14-inning loss to the Mariners, a game that might
tax many bullpens, Macha didn't have to tax any of his key setup relievers by
using them for more than one inning.
The A's offense, which prompted doubt as the season began, remained adequate.
Oakland hit .267 and averaged 5.1 runs per game on the trip. Chavez, who homered
for the second game in a row, began to look lively at the plate. So did designated
hitter Erubiel Durazo, who drove in a run for the second consecutive game after
going the first 15 games without an RBI.
"We're never going to be a high-scoring team," Chavez said. "But
we're going to put enough runs on the board for our pitchers."
The A's continued to play enough defense, too. They helped Mulder by recording
a pair of line-drive double plays. Chavez recorded two glittering stops worthy
of his three-time Gold Glove status, including an improbable pickup of Randy
Winn's one-hop bullet in the fifth inning.
"You have to come to play defense every day," Chavez said. "Hitting
comes and goes."