Oakland Athletics put youth on full display in four-game sweep of Houston Astros
The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros are headed in different directions this season, but it was the last place A’s that scored 10+ runs in three straight games (nine in the other) against one of the World Series favorites this weekend.
After losing eight straight, the A’s won the final game in their series against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, but with a weekend series that included a doubleheader against the Astros on the docket, hopes weren’t terribly high for a long win streak. But there’s a reason that I’m writing this, and that’s because the A’s took all four from Houston, and did so without leaving much doubt who the better team was this weekend.
After a wild ninth inning on Friday night that resulted in a come-from-behind win for Oakland, the effects of that loss were seemingly visible the rest of the weekend. In the doubleheader, there was a malady of errors from the World Series contenders, looking like anything but, while the young upstart A’s squad keep pumping life into the hope that these kids could be ready to be a bit more competitive than the sub-70 win squad the A’s have been trotting out the past couple of years.
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The first game on Saturday included the Astros issuing 13 walks, five of which brought home runs. Sunday’s game, started by Dallas Keuchel, included a 40 pitch inning, four runs and four walks allowed in just 5 2/3 innings. The A’s managed four homers in the series finale, and they came from four the the building blocks for the A’s in first baseman Matt Olson (17), third baseman Matt Chapman (12), Ryon Healy (24) and Boog Powell (3).
Olson and Chapman man the corner infield spots and while Chapman is known more for his glove at the hot corner, he has shown that he is growing into his power at the big league level. Olson, another solid glove over at first, showed his power potential in the California League when he mashed 37 bombs a couple of years back. Now he’s proving that that season wasn’t a fluke by sending them out of Oakland at a high rate.
Obviously this is just one series in a long, long season, but for this group of kids that the front office is hoping to build around to come out this weekend and take this series from a team that is hoping to play deep into October, that’s something that they can build upon next season and in seasons after that.
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The Oakland Athletics are mocked and laughed at quite a bit around the the baseball world. The Houston Astros used to be in that boat, being deemed the Lastros for a number of years before their rebuild began to bear fruit. The one thing that can change the narrative for any team has been winning. The A’s still have some rough times ahead, but as always, they’ll be fun to watch while they attempt to change that narrative.