The Full Count: How do the A’s do it?

1. No offense means nothing: They have the lowest slugging percentage and batting average in the AL. They have scored just one more run on the season than the pitiful Kansas City Royals. No one in their lineup is batting over .300. And yet they still lead their division. The mystery team is the Oakland A’s, and they have rolled through their division despite numerous underachievers in their everyday lineup. The A’s pounded through the Red Sox 9-0 last night, as Esteban Loaiza continued his remarkable resurgence. Loaiza threw seven innings and gave up no runs, his third straight start with no earned runs. His ERA has dropped from 6.72 at the end of July to 4.82 now after an outstanding 4-0 August. Oakland got some offense too, with homeruns from their best two players: Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher. Each player went yard for their 28th time this season as the A’s pounded the ailing Red Sox. Boston has now lost four games in a row. Even worse, David Ortiz was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. The length of his absence is unknown.

2. Rookie madness: Without a doubt, this has been the year of the rookie in the MLB. From Justin Verlander to Jonathan Papelbon, rookies have been drawing headlines all year. But one of the best first year players, surprisingly enough, hasn’t received enough attention. He’s Josh Johnson, one of many outstanding young players for the Florida Marlins. Last night Johnson improved to 12-6 after a 7-strikeout performance against the Brewers. His ERA, at 2.87 is numero uno in the National League. Johnson has been a tour de force all year, with a winning record in every month since he became a starting pitcher. The Marlins are hot, too: they have won 8 in a row and have moved to just 2 games back of the Wild Card lead.

3. Simply unbeatable: In a National League filled with inconsistent, unpredictable floaters; at least one team is looking good. They are the New York Mets, who have won 9 of 10 to move to an outstanding 80-49. Yesterday they dismantled the Phillies 8-3, sending them back to .500 on the year. The Mets featured two RBIs each by Carlos Delgado and David Wright as well as Jose Reyes’ 16th triple of the season. The latter is good for the MLB lead and gives him two consecutive 15+ triple seasons, the first player to do that in 60 years according to Elias Sports. For the losing Phillies, Ryan Howard jacked his 47th homerun of the season.

4. Inconsistent phenom: Will the real Felix Hernandez please stand up? The second-year pitcher has puzzled many this season while other young pitchers have shined. Hernandez has an 11-12 record and a 4.57 ERA, both very mediocre. But last night he looked like the ace he could be, recording a complete-game shutout of the Angels. Hernandez walked none and allowed just five hits in the effort, which came just one start after being blown away with seven earned runs. Felix is one of the reasons for the Mariners’ disappointments this year. The team had lost 20 consecutive divisional games before their victory last night over the Angels.

5. Your future MLB stars: Almost every major league player started out in the Little Leagues, right? So maybe there were some future MLB players out there in Williamsport, where the Little League World Series final was held last night. In a matchup of Columbus, Georgia, the US champions, and the Japanese champions, the US team showed that our country can still win something in international competition. The Columbus squad took the game and the tournament with a narrow 2-1 victory. This gave the US back-to-back victories in the series for the first time since 1992-93, when Long Beach, California took two straight titles. So while our major league Americans showed they can’t beat Japan (who won the WBC), at least our country’s 13-year-olds can do it.