Last night's game notwithstanding, the A's have had an unbelievable month of July. And no matter what happens here on out--and it's a long season still to go--their month deserves to be highlighted. So before the A's are introduced to the month of August with today's rubber game, I thought we could take a look at some numbers from July 1st to July 31st.
The A's went 19-5 in the month, a winning percentage of .792; 11-3 at home, 8-2 on the road. They scored 117 runs, while only giving up 83. The A's offense collected 36 homeruns in the month, and the starting pitching ERA was 3.14.
But I think the real story lies in the standings. If a picture can tell a thousand words, these should be worth quite a bit.
From MLB.com on June 30th:
And from today:
The month of July included winning streaks of 5 games, 4 games, 7 games, 2 games, and one more win. The month saw nine one-run games (the A's won them all), four extra inning games (the A's won them all), and six walk-off hits; Crisp on July 3rd, Reddick on July 8th, Hicks on July 18th, Moss on July 20th, Crisp on July 22th, and Weeks on July 30th.
The month also included the highlight of a 4-game sweep of the New York Yankees, all by a one run margin. But again, most importantly, the A's gained 9.5 games on the first-place Texas Rangers in a single month, and are very much in both Wild Card hunts. To everyone's surprise, they are also still in the mix for the division lead. The next month will obviously help decide the A's playoff fate, but for now, let's remember July.
What was your favorite moment of the month?
The A's finish the series with the Rays today at 12:30PM.
