dead men tell no tales...

The A's just beat the Whittier Angels of San Bernardino County, and with that victory, take 1st place in the American League West. Let that sink in. Now get this... On May 29th of this year... just 75 days ago, the A's were 17-32. That mark put them 12 and a half games behind the Angels in the AL West, and was better than only two teams in all of baseball... the hapless Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies. In the last 75 days, the A's have posted a ridiculous 49-16 record, and now sit at 66-48, good for first place in the AL West, and worse than only 3 teams in all of baseball: the division-leading Boston Red Sox (by a half-game), St. Louis Cardinals, and ludicrously-on-fire Chicago White Sox. This is a remarkable turnaround. In addition to leading their division, the A's are 4 games better than the Indians and 5 games better than the Yankees... so a Wild Card run would be in the cards if the Angels were to heat up again (or, god forbid, the Amazing A's start to slump). If the A's can sustain their killer tear, winning better than three out of four games, they will finish with a gaudy 102-60 record... they haven't broken the 100 win barrier since 2002, when Barry Zito won the Cy Young Award. It's a good time to be an A's fan, that much is for certain. UPDATE (8-12-2005 @ 11:01am): Baseball Prospectus discusses our A's today. Rawk.