The Oakland A’s were supposed to contend this season, especially in the American League West, and though they are in second just two weeks in they are playing way below .500.   One of my favorite writers, Susan Slusser, talks with Matt Holliday about his his lack of hitting so far, and she lays out A’s offensive malaise in a chart which shows where the A’s rank on several offensive categories.

In the piece, Holliday seems to say he thinks he has diagnosed the problem, he’s not getting his hands out so that he isn’t driving the ball.  Others, particularly those with him on a fantasy team, I’m sure believe it is the product of not being in the Colorado air.  But when you look at his numbers from this season, as short as it is at this point, his home and away splits look very much like they always do, just down a little, and even his numbers on the road the past two years have not been anything to sneeze at on the road.  Holliday comes from a family of baseball men, with his father coaching at NC State and his uncle a scout for the rockies.  In some ways Holliday might be a professional hitter, being groomed for the role from an early age.  He can and will adapt to the conditions.

Additionally, another Rockie scout mentioned to me during spring training that the air in Colorado might affect hitters as much as pitchers, since when they leave Colorado pitches break more than they do in the mile hight air.  After a long home stand, where most pitches seem pretty straight, stepping into a batters box on the road, a hitter can’t be prepared for what a good breaking pitch will do.  That alone can lead to a dramatic difference in the home and road splits.

Now that Holliday doesn’t have to deal with that adjustment, he just needs to focus on hitting consistantly. And as someone who understands hitting, that shouldn’t take very long.  Holliday will come out of the slump he’s in, and then, perhaps the A’s will move towards the winning ways that was expected of them.  One thing is for sure their pitching is quite good.  One is thing for sure, from the chart in the Slusser article, the A’s can not continue to  be last in the American league in Runs scored, home runs, BA, slugging, and tied for last with the Mariners in OBP and have any hope of making it to the playoffs.