2005 Oakland Athletics season

2005 Oakland Athletics
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
McAfee Coliseum (since 1968) Oakland, California (since 1968)
Results
Record	88–74 (.543)
Divisional place	2nd
Other information
Owner(s)	Lewis Wolff
General manager(s)	Billy Beane
Manager(s)	Ken Macha
Local television	KICU-TV FSN Bay Area (Ray Fosse, Tim Roye, Hank Greenwald, Glen Kuiper)
Local radio	KFRC (Bill King, Ken Korach) KZSF (Fernando Arias, Julio Gonzalez)
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The Oakland Athletics' 2005 season was their 37th in Oakland, California. It was also the 105th season in franchise history. The team finished second in the American League West with a record of 88-74.

The Athletics entered the 2005 season with low expectations. The team had won more than ninety games in each of the previous five seasons; despite this, there were concerns about the team's starting pitching. During the 2004–05 offseason, general manager Billy Beane traded two of the team's so-called "Big Three" starting pitchers. Beane traded two of the three, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, to the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals (respectively); in both instances, he received prospects in return. The A's retained All-Star starter Barry Zito; despite this, many worried about the quality of the team's remaining starters. Some even picked the Athletics to finish last in the American League West, despite their having finished second (one game behind the Anaheim Angels) just months prior.

The A's seemed to validate these concerns in the early days of the 2005 season. On May 29, they were 17-32 (the third-worst record in baseball at the time); moreover, the team trailed the division-leading Angels by 12.5 games. The Athletics would follow this poor start with a stunning turnaround. From May 30 to August 13, Oakland would go a league-best 50-17. The surge was brought about, in large part, by the strong pitching of young starters Dan Haren (received in the Mulder trade), Rich Harden, and Joe Blanton. The team stunningly erased their 12.5 game deficit over this span. Oakland would pace the Angels well into September; at their peak, on August 30, the A's actually led the Angels by two games. In the end, though, the team fell short; a collapse in the second half of the 2005 season, combined with a dramatic Angels surge, saw the Athletics finish seven games out of first place.

The 2005 season also saw Athletics closer Huston Street win the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Street earned the honor after posting a 1.72 earned run average in his first major-league season; he did so while recording 23 saves. The Rookie of the Year Award was Oakland's second in as many years (and sixth overall).

Offseason[]

• November 27, 2004: Jason Kendall was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with cash to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Redman, Arthur Rhodes, and cash.^[1]
• December 16, 2004: Tim Hudson was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Atlanta Braves for Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer, and Charles Thomas.^[2]
• December 18, 2004: Dan Haren was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals with Daric Barton and Kiko Calero to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder.^[3]

Regular season[]

Dennis Eckersley Pitcher: 1987-95(OAK) Retired 2005

Season standings[]

v t AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	95	67	0.586	—	49–32	46–35
Oakland Athletics	88	74	0.543	7	45–36	43–38
Texas Rangers	79	83	0.488	16	44–37	35–46
Seattle Mariners	69	93	0.426	26	39–42	30–51

Record vs. opponents[]

2005 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	LAA	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Baltimore	—	8–10	2–6	1–6	3–5	4–2	2–4	3–3	7–11	4–6	7–3	12–6	4–6	9–10	8–10
Boston	10–8	—	4–3	4–2	6–4	4–2	6–4	4–2	9–10	6–4	3–3	13–6	7–2	7–11	12–6
Chicago	6–2	3–4	—	14–5	14–5	13–5	4–6	11–7	3–3	2–7	6–3	4–2	3–6	4–2	12–6
Cleveland	6–1	2–4	5–14	—	12–6	13–6	3–5	10–9	3–4	6–3	7–3	4–6	3–3	4–2	15–3
Detroit	5–3	4–6	5–14	6–12	—	10–9	4–6	8–11	1–5	1–5	5–4	5–2	4–2	4–3	9–9
Kansas City	2–4	2–4	5–13	6–13	9–10	—	2–7	6–13	3–3	2–4	2–7	3–5	2–8	3–6	9–9
Los Angeles	4–2	4–6	6–4	5–3	6–4	7–2	—	6–4	6–4	10–9	9–9	4–5	15–4	1–5	12–6
Minnesota	3–3	2–4	7–11	9–10	11–8	13–6	4–6	—	3–3	4–6	6–4	6–0	3–6	4–2	8–10
New York	11–7	10–9	3–3	4–3	5–1	3–3	4–6	3–3	—	7–2	7–3	8–11	7–3	12–6	11–7
Oakland	6–4	4–6	7–2	3–6	5–1	4–2	9–10	6–4	2–7	—	12–6	4–5	11–8	5–5	10–8
Seattle	3–7	3–3	3–6	3–7	4–5	7–2	9–9	4–6	3–7	6–12	—	4–2	6–13	4–6	10–8
Tampa Bay	6–12	6–13	2–4	6–4	2–5	5–3	5–4	0–6	11–8	5–4	2–4	—	6–2	8–11	3–15
Texas	6–4	2–7	6–3	3–3	2–4	8–2	4–15	6–3	3–7	8–11	13–6	2–6	—	7–3	9–9
Toronto	10–9	11–7	2–4	2–4	3–4	6–3	5–1	2–4	6–12	5–5	6–4	11–8	3–7	—	8–10

Transactions[]

• July 13, 2005: Eric Byrnes was traded by the Oakland Athletics with Omar Quintanilla to the Colorado Rockies for Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick.^[4]

Roster[]

2005 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 55 Joe Blanton 50 Kiko Calero 46 Santiago Casilla 51 Juan Cruz 29 Octavio Dotel 58 Justin Duchscherer 30 Seth Etherton 40 Ron Flores 56 Ryan Glynn 40 Rich Harden 24 Dan Haren 49 Tim Harikkala 37 Joe Kennedy 57 Britt Reames 73 Ricardo Rincón 31 Kirk Saarloos 20 Huston Street 45 Jay Witasick 13 Keiichi Yabu 75 Barry Zito		Catchers 22 Alberto Castillo 18 Jason Kendall 17 Adam Melhuse Infielders 49 Freddie Bynum  3 Eric Chavez  4 Jermaine Clark  7 Bobby Crosby 44 Erubiel Durazo 14 Mark Ellis  6 Keith Ginter 10 Scott Hatteberg 11 Dan Johnson 19 Marco Scutaro		Outfielders 29 Hiram Bocachica 22 Eric Byrnes 23 Bobby Kielty 21 Mark Kotsay 16 Jay Payton 33 Nick Swisher 26 Charles Thomas 12 Matt Watson		Manager 39 Ken Macha Coaches 35 Brad Fischer (first base) 52 Bob Geren (bullpen) 48 Dave Hudgens (hitting) 15 Rene Lachemann (bench) 38 Ron Washington (third base) 41 Curt Young (pitching)

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Other batters[]

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI

Starting pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA

Relief pitchers[]

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Sacramento River Cats	Pacific Coast League	Tony DeFrancesco
AA	Midland RockHounds	Texas League	Von Hayes
A	Stockton Ports	California League	Todd Steverson
A	Kane County Cougars	Midwest League	Dave Joppie
A-Short Season	Vancouver Canadians	Northwest League
Rookie	AZL Athletics	Arizona League

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Midland

References[]

• 2005 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 2005 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.