Oakland A's: What Do We Know so Far About the Athletics in 2012?

The start of the 2012 season has been a little mind boggling. The Oakland A's are 8-10 and are in second place in the American League West.

Six of the A's 10 losses have come against the Seattle Mariners and the M's have only won one game against a team not named the A's.

We can also point to the three-game winning streak at the expense of the Los Angeles Angels as part of the head-scratcher. Such is the beginning of the baseball season.

Oh yeah, and the Angels are in dead last in the West. As confusing as things are right now for the A's and their division, let's focus on what we do know about the A's.

Reliable pitching

A common remark made by A's fans these days is, "I'm not worried about the pitching."  Most of the time, fans are correct in not letting themselves worry about this aspect of the club.

Although not outstanding, the A's arms have pitched well enough in past years and the present to give the A's a chance to win games. But you can't win if you don't score.

Run Support

The A's have been shutout four times already this year.  I'm well aware that lack of run support is not a new thing in Oakland, but until the problem is fixed I will continue to bring it up.

Jemile Weeks and Coco Crisp are still struggling and need to start getting on base for Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes.  Crisp missed a few games due to illness, but he was he wasn't getting things done before that either.

Cliff Pennington took Crisp's place in the two-hole.  He was 5-for-25 in his last five starts at the two spot before Crisp returned on Monday night.

Before Crisp went out, manager Bob Melvin has been toying with the lineup all year, and the two-spot has to be a concern, as he has seen no consistency.

Bright Spots

As mentioned, the A's pitching has held it's own.  Bartolo Colon (3-2) has been a welcome surprise and Tom Milone (2-1) has raised eyebrows as well.  Tyson Ross (1-0), 2.13 ERA has been very solid.  I'm not knocking Brandon McCarthy (0-3), 3.38 ERA, but the other guys have out shined the A's number one so far.

Josh Redick and Yoenis Cespedes lead the team in hits and bating average, respectively.  Both are hitting below .260 though, so their is definitely room for improvement.  Veteran Kila Ka'aihue is starting to turn some heads.  In 30 at bats, he is hitting .333 with a .375 OBP.  Ka'aihue could settle in as the A's everyday first baseman.

Bob Melvin

The A's manager will continue to work.  He will tweak and fiddle with the lineup until he finds the right mix.  If guys like Weeks and Crisp start to improve, which they should, things will start to turn around for the A's.  Cespedes is still learning and should improve as well.

The bottom line is, Melvin has to wait out the slumps that some of his key guys are in and trust they will eventually start to produce.  Eventually he will squeeze every ounce out of his players.

The team seems to like Melvin and win or lose, they continue to play hard for him every time out.