2002 Oakland Athletics: Moneyball and 20

2002 Oakland Athletics: Moneyball and 20

2002 Oakland Athletics: Moneyball and 20

The heartbreak that came with the ending of the 2001 season would be quickly erased by the tremendous 2002 campaign the Oakland Athletics would embark on. Highly regarded as one of the most exciting seasons in the history of Major League Baseball, the Oakland Athletics were responsible for giving baseball fans across North America something to talk about and cheer for.

The unbelievable success of the Athletics wouldn’t have been made possible if not for the ingenuity of the team’s front office. General Manager Billy Beane was in desperate need of making a splash in baseball, and the Athletics didn’t have much money in their payroll to work with, so Beane devised a plan to make the Athletics competitive despite their lack of resources. That plan would be “Moneyball”, a system involving the acquiring of players depending on their in-game production. Sabermetrics is a key component to Moneyball.

The Athletics went 103-59 in 2002 to win the American League West by 4 games over the Anaheim Angels, the team who would go on to win the American League Wild Card and then the World Series. The Athletics went 11-9 against the Angels in head-to-head play.

Shortstop Miguel Tejada batted .308 with 34 home runs and 131 RBI’s off 204 hits, 30 doubles and 7 stolen bases. First baseman Scott Hatteberg batted .280 with 15 home runs and 61 RBI’s off 138 hits, 22 doubles and 4 triples. Third baseman Eric Chavez batted .275 with 34 home runs and 109 RBI’s off 161 hits, 31 doubles, 3 triples and 8 stolen bases. Second baseman Mark Ellis batted .272 with 94 hits, 16 doubles and 4 triples in 94 hits. Right fielder Jermaine Dye had 24 home runs and 86 RBI’s off 123 hits and 27 doubles. Center fielder Terrence Long had 16 home runs and 67 RBI’s off 141 hits, 32 doubles and 4 triples. Left fielder David Justice had 11 home runs, 106 hits, 18 doubles and 3 triples in 118 games. Catcher Ramon Hernandez had 94 hits and 20 doubles.

Acquired in a trade on May 22 from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for left fielder Jeremy Giambi, left fielder John Mabry batted .275 with 11 home runs, 53 hits and 13 doubles in 89 games. Acquired in a trade from the Chicago White Sox on July 25 in exchange for relief pitcher Jon Adkins and cash, second baseman and designated hitter Ray Durham batted .274 with 60 hits, 14 doubles, 4 triples and 6 stolen bases in 54 games. First baseman Olmedo Saenz batted .276 with 10 doubles in 68 games.

The Athletics of the 2000’s were famous for their amazing starting rotation, which featured a terrific trio of pitchers who were characters in their own right. Barry Zito went 23-5 with 182 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA, recording 1 complete game. Mark Mulder went 19-7 with 159 strikeouts and a 3.47 ERA, recording 2 complete games and 1 shutout. Tim Hudson went 15-9 with 152 strikeouts and a 2.98 ERA, recording 4 complete games and 2 shutouts. Despite going 8-10 Corey Lidle fared well by posting 111 strikeouts, a 3.89 ERA, 2 complete games and 2 shutouts. Aaron Harang went 5-4 as a starter. Erik Hiljus went 3-3 in 9 starts.

Closer Billy Koch was Oakland’s “Wild Thing” at the end of the bullpen as he went 11-4 with 44 saves, 93 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. Relief pitcher Chad Bradford was a special kind of pitcher who had a submarine throwing motion. Bradford went 4-2 with 2 saves and a 3.11 ERA. Jim Mecir was one of the very few pitchers in baseball to throw the Screwball, a reverse Curveball. Mecir went 6-4 with 1 save. Mike Venafro went 2-2. Micah Bowie went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA.

The significance of the 2002 Athletics lies in the statistics. The Athletics did only go 10-17 in May, but they more than made up for that in every other month. The Athletics went 15-11 in April, 21-7 in June, 15-12 in July, 24-4 in August and 18-8 in September. In blowout games where the final margin was 5 runs or more, the Athletics went 29-18.

Many fans will point to the outstanding 20-game winning streak, but leading up to that great streak were 2 separate 8-game winning streaks. The first streak started with a 10-4 Athletics victory over the Seattle Mariners on June 6, and it ended with a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on June 14. The 2nd 8-game winning streak began with a 2-1 win over the Giants on June 16, and that streak conveniently ended with a 13-2 pounding of the Mariners on June 24.

August was the best month the Athletics ever experienced as they began their monumental 20-game winning streak on August 13 with a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The winning kept coming for Oakland from that point on, and it would finally end on September 4 with a thrilling 12-11 win over the Kansas City Royals. Through the course of the winning streak, the Athletics had defeated their opponents by a combined 149-65 in total runs scored.

As exciting as the team proved to be, the Athletics couldn’t maintain their positive momentum as they would take an early exit from the postseason. The Athletics fell to the Minnesota Twins 3 games to 2 in the American League Division Series. In Game 2 on October 2 at Networks Associates Coliseum, the Athletics pounded the Twins 9-1. Mark Mulder pitched 6 innings and gave up 5 hits, 2 walks and 1 run while recording 3 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 1st inning Eric Chavez blasted a 3-run home run. In the bottom of the 4th Miguel Tejada had an RBI double, David Justice had a 3-run triple, and then Mark Ellis topped things off with an RBI double. In the bottom of the 5th Scott Hatteberg had an RBI single. The Twins got their only run in the top of the 6th when shortstop Christian Guzman hit a solo home run.

In Game 3 on October 4 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Athletics defeated the Twins 6-3. in the top of the 1st inning Ray Durham had an inside the park solo home run, and then Hatteberg followed with a solo home run. In the top of the 4th Terrence Long went deep with a solo home run of his own. In the bottom of the 4th Minnesota got on the board with an RBI single by catcher A.J. Pierzynski. In the bottom of the 5th third baseman Corey Koskie had an RBI triple, and center fielder Torii Hunter followed with an RBI single. In the top of the 6th Jermaine Dye hit his own solo home run. In the top of the 7th pinch hitting first baseman Randy Velarde had an RBI double, and then Tejada had a sacrifice fly to score Velarde.

Though they gave up their 2 games to 1 series lead to Minnesota, the Oakland Athletics and their fans could say that their 2002 campaign was one of their most successful campaigns in franchise history. The initial success of Billy Beane’s Moneyball method led to the development of a movie named Moneyball which hit cinema theaters years later in 2011.