The Oakland A’s finished the first half of the 2011 season with a 39-53 record which has them in last place in the A.L. West, 12 games behind the Rangers. The A’s are also 16 games behind the Yankees for the A.L. Wild Card. The A’s have been really disappointing with the bats so far this year as they are only hitting .233 with a .636 OPS as a team and that’s pretty anemic. They are only averaging 3.4 runs scored per game and they have wasted a lot of good pitching this year. The A’s have a 3.14 ERA as a team and a 1.26 WHIP which doesn’t exactly go with a 39-53 record. Here’s the players who made the biggest impact in the first half of the 2011 season:

Team MVP: 25-year old lefty starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez has been outstanding for the A’s so far this year. He has started 18 games for the A’s in 2011 and he is 8-6 with a 2.47 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. Gonzalez has only given up 92 hits in his first 113 innings this year and he has whiffed 111 batters and he has been electric so far. He has walked 52 times this year but it hasn’t hurt him yet.

Biggest Surprise: The A’s turned to 27-year old righty Guillermo Moscoso when injuries ravaged the starting rotation this year and he has done an outstanding job. Moscoso has pitched in 10 games (8 starts) for the A’s so far this year and he is 3-4 with a 2.16 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 34 hits in his first 50 innings with the A’s this year as he has been very solid. The A’s hope that Moscoso keeps rolling in the second half of the 2011 season.

Biggest Disappointment: This is a tie between 25-year old lefty swinging 1B Daric Barton and 29-year old righty swinging 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff began the season as starters for the A’s but they are both in AAA-ball now. Barton has played in 67 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 50 for 236 (.212 avg, .592 OPS) with 27 runs scored, 0 homers, 21 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Kouzmanoff has played in 46 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 30 for 136 (.221 avg, .615 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 4 homers, 17 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. I don’t expect either of them will get back to the majors until they are either dealt to another team or until rosters expand on September 1st.

The Oakland A’s went 1-2 this weekend despite only being outscored 12-11 by the Mariners. The A’s just couldn’t solve the Mariners’ pitching staff as they only hit .237 with a .629 OPS over the weekend. The bullpen also conspired to hurt the A’s as they were 0-2 with a 5.79 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. The A’s need to start hitting and the bullpen needs to pitch to it’s ability for the team to get back on the right track.

The A’s are 43-46 on the season which has them in third place in the A.L. West, 7.5 games behind the Rangers. The A’s just don’t have any power and it has ruined the season so far. Here is a look at the surprises and disappointments for the A’s so far this year:

Pleasant Surprises: 22-year old righty starting pitcher Trevor Cahill has really developed in his second year in the majors. He has started 15 games for the A’s this year and he is 9-3 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. Cahill has only given up 70 hits in 95 innings this season as he’s missing a ton of bats. 24-year old lefty starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez has finally learned how to pitch. Gonzalez has started 18 games for the A’s this year and he is 7-6 with a 3.79 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. He still has walked 53 batters in 107 innings so Gonzalez is far from perfect. 27-year old righty swinging infielder Adam Rosales has played all over the place this season and he’s doing a solid job for the A’s. Rosales has played in 68 games for the A’s this season and he is 60 of 217 (.276 avg, .744 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 6 homers and 27 RBIs. 31-year old DH/OF Jack Cust started the season in the minors which was dumb of the A’s. Cust has played in 44 games for the A’s this year and he is 40 of 136 (.294 avg, .831 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 4 homers and 18 RBIs.

Disappointments: The A’s expected 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff to give them some thump in the starting lineup but it just hasn’t happened yet. Kouzmanoff has played in 86 games this season and he is 90 of 338 (.266 avg, .688 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 8 homers and 40 RBIs. The A’s signed starting pitcher Ben Sheets with one eye on the trade deadline but I don’t think they’re going to get much for him unless he pitches well in the next couple of weeks. Sheets has started 19 games for the A’s this season and he is 4-8 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. 31-year old righty reliever Michael Wuertz had a career year for the A’s in 2009 but he has been pretty awful this year when healthy. Wuertz has pitched in 24 games (0 starts) for the A’s this year and he is 2-1 with 1 save, a 5.60 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. 32-year old DH Eric Chavez started the season as the A’s full time DH and he was awful before injuring himself. Chavez has played in 33 games for the A’s this year and he is 26 of 111 (.234 avg, .610 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer and 10 RBIs.

The Oakland Athletics are off to a 9-5 start this season which has them in first place in the A.L. West, 2.5 games ahead of both the Angels and Mariners. The A’s have gotten great pitching and better hitting than they expected as they have outscored opponents 62-47 this season. The Yankees come in for a 3-game set in Oakland starting tomorrow so we will get a chance to judge them against the defending World Champions. The Indians come in for a 3-game set over the weekend. We will see if the A’s are in first place after this week.

The A’s are now 5-2 on the season as they are in first place in the A.L. West, 1.5 games up on the Rangers. The A’s have outscored their opponents 39-25 so far this year. The offense has been a surprise for the A’s and they can maintain a good record if they continue to hit because they have a solid pitching staff. The A’s have a 2.98 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP as a team so far this season. The A’s will stay busy as they have to play 7 games again this week. It starts with 3 games at Safeco Field against the Mariners starting tonight and then they fly home to play 4 games against the struggling Orioles.