That's right, I couldn't believe it either.  But he hypes the A's as possibly the best team in baseball now that St. Louis has been beset by injury.  Granted he still gives no credit to our boy Billy, but hey, it's a start.

Here's the relevant portion of the article that deals with his analysis on the A's:

In case you hadn't noticed, the Oakland Athletics have the best record in baseball since the All-Star break (11-3).

Going further back, the A's are 38-14 (a winning percentage of .731) since they lost eight straight toward the end of May. Earlier in May, the team had suffered another eight-game losing streak. Oakland went 7-20 in May, including a 4-20 stretch lodged between a May 1 victory and wins on May 30 and 31.

At that time, everyone was saying the A's were done -- except one guy who e-mailed during my weekly ESPN.com chat. He said the A's were still a good team and would recover when they got healthy. That's the only guy I know of who still believed in the A's in May.

  At the moment, the A's appear to be the best team in the baseball.  
I don't know, maybe that was actually GM Billy Beane who e-mailed -- but whoever it was, give him credit, because now everyone is on the A's bandwagon ... including me!

The St. Louis Cardinals are the most complete team in baseball, but they've been hit by some injuries lately. So, at the moment, the A's appear to be the best team in the game. They've gone from the struggling A's to the amazing A's in two months. Clearly, they're playing better than any other team.

Two months ago, it looked as though Oakland had no chance to catch the first-place Angels. But the A's are proving that their 7-20 May was an aberration. Now they are in second place, only four games behind the Angels, and they lead the wild-card race.

How have the A's bounced back?

It has been a team effort, and let's start with the pitching staff. Rich Harden will be a superstar as long as he stays healthy. He's the anchor of the staff, even with Barry Zito still in the rotation as the last remaining member of Oakland's old Big Three.

After Harden and Zito, the rest of the rotation features Danny Haren, Joe Blanton and Kirk Saarloos. Zito, 27, is the oldest of the group.

This is a good nucleus, though the last three aren't better than Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson (the departed members of the Big Three). The jury is still out on those three young pitchers, but they're pitching well this season.

But the jury isn't out on Harden. He's the same caliber pitcher as the Big Three, and he'll be an ace.

Meanwhile, I've been surprised at how productive the offense has been. Since the All-Star break, the A's have scored more runs than any other team. Offense has been a weakness for Oakland since Miguel Tejada became a free agent and signed with the Baltimore Orioles before last season.

When I look at the A's offense, I don't understand how it's generating all those numbers with the personnel available. The only proven RBI guy is Eric Chavez (17 HRs, 60 RBI), but the A's are scoring runs. It's a perfect example of the whole being better than the parts.

Between the surprising offense and the solid pitching, Oakland has been winning in different ways. The A's can beat you 2-1 or 12-11. They took seven of eight recently from the Texas Rangers by outscoring them, and they took two of three from the Angels by shutting them down (because the Angels' pitchers threw well). The A's are getting good pitching when they need it, and they're scoring runs when they have to.

As Sunday's trade deadline approaches, I don't see the A's making any big deals. But the big-market teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who might end up battling Oakland for the wild card, could make some big deals that would shift the balance of power in the AL.