2005 Oakland Athletics season

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.

2005 Oakland Athletics
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMcAfee Coliseum
CityOakland, California
Record88–74 (.543)
Divisional place2nd
OwnersLewis Wolff
General managersBilly Beane
ManagersKen Macha
TelevisionKICU-TV
FSN Bay Area
(Ray Fosse, Tim Roye, Hank Greenwald, Glen Kuiper)
RadioKFRC
(Bill King, Ken Korach)
KZSF
(Fernando Arias, Julio Gonzalez)
← 2004 Seasons 2006 →

The Athletics entered the 2005 season with low expectations. The team had won more than 90 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

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  • 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

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Dennis
Eckersley

Pitcher:
1987-95(OAK)

Retired 2005

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 95 67 .586 49‍–‍32 46‍–‍35
Oakland Athletics 88 74 .543 7 45‍–‍36 43‍–‍38
Texas Rangers 79 83 .488 16 44‍–‍37 35‍–‍46
Seattle Mariners 69 93 .426 26 39‍–‍42 30‍–‍51


Record vs. opponents

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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

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  • 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

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2005 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Jason Kendall 150 601 163 .271 0 53
1B Dan Johnson 109 375 103 .275 15 58
2B Mark Ellis 122 434 137 .316 13 52
SS Bobby Crosby 84 333 92 .276 9 38
3B Eric Chavez 160 625 168 .269 27 101
LF Bobby Kielty 116 377 99 .263 10 57
CF Mark Kotsay 139 582 163 .280 15 82
RF Nick Swisher 131 462 109 .236 21 74
DH Scott Hatteberg 134 464 119 .256 7 59

Other batters

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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
Marco Scutaro 118 381 94 .247 9 37
Jay Payton 69 275 74 .269 13 42
Eric Byrnes 59 192 51 .266 7 24
Erubiel Durazo 41 152 36 .237 4 16
Keith Ginter 51 137 22 .161 3 25
Adam Melhuse 39 97 24 .247 2 12
Matt Watson 19 48 9 .188 0 5
Charles Thomas 30 46 5 .109 0 1
Hiram Bocachica 9 19 2 .105 0 0
Freddie Bynum 7 7 2 .286 0 1
Alberto Castillo 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Jermaine Clark 4 0 0 ---- 0 0

Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Barry Zito 35 228.1 14 13 3.86 171
Dan Haren 34 217.0 14 12 3.73 163
Joe Blanton 33 201.1 12 12 3.53 116
Kirk Saarloos 29 159.2 10 9 4.17 53
Rich Harden 22 128.0 10 5 2.53 121
Seth Etherton 3 17.2 1 1 6.62 10

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Kennedy 19 60.2 4 5 4.45 45
Ryan Glynn 5 17.0 0 4 6.88 15
Relief pitchers
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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Huston Street 67 5 1 23 1.72 72
Ricardo Rincón 67 1 1 0 4.34 27
Justin Duchscherer 65 7 4 5 2.21 85
Kiko Calero 58 4 1 1 3.23 52
Keiichi Yabu 40 4 0 1 4.50 44
Juan Cruz 28 0 3 0 7.44 34
Jay Witasick 28 1 1 1 3.25 33
Octavio Dotel 15 1 2 7 3.52 16
Ron Flores 11 0 0 0 1.04 6
Tim Harikkala 8 0 0 0 6.39 7
Santiago Casilla 3 0 0 0 3.00 1
Britt Reames 2 0 0 0 9.53 4

Farm system

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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 Juan Navarrette
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Ruben Escalera

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Midland

References

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  • 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.