April 25, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Ryan Cook (48) pitches the ball against the Chicago White Sox during the seventh inning at O.co Coliseum. The Oakland Athletics defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-4 in 14 innings. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE
- When the Athletics defeated the Orioles last night, they went over .500 for the first time since May 18, 2011.
- May 17, 2011 was a very good day.
- The A's have had two of the 20 best pitching performances of the year, according to ESPN. Tom Milone on 4/24 vs. the White Sox and Bartolo Colon on 4/18 vs. the Angels.
- In that gem by Colon over Anaheim, he threw 38 consecutive strikes. According to A's human encyclopedia David Feldman, the longest streak before that was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield's 30 consecutive strikes in 1998. I'll have more on Colon next week, I just haven't had time to write much.
- Sad but true: Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco have drawn more attendance in 7 home games than the A's have in 13.
- When Ryan Cook fanned four Orioles in one inning yesterday, he became the third Oakland A since Blake Stein and Erik Hiljus to accomplish the feat.
- Ryan Cook has given up one hit this season: April 19 against Anaheim.
- Yoenis Cespedes is tied for seventh in the AL in home runs, tied for third in RBIs, eighth in strikeouts, second in stolen bases, and second in baseball-reference's WPA.
- Cespedes has also accrued 0.8 fWAR this season, a team high. According to Fangraphs, Cespedes has been more valuable in one month than the following Athletics were in all of 2011 combined: Hideki Matsui (0.3 fWAR), Conor Jackson (0.2) and Ryan Sweeney (0.1).
- Also via Fangraphs: Stephen Strasburg's changeup (avg. 88.3 mph this season) is faster than Tom Milone's fastball (avg. 86.9).
Poll
Most surprising thing about this season?
Yoenis Cespedes (38 votes)
Tom Milone (42 votes)
Josh Reddick (6 votes)
Ryan Cook (27 votes)
Bartolo Colon (44 votes)
A winning record (barely, but still...) (76 votes)
Other (share below) (3 votes)
236 total votes
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