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At the last checkpoint, the Oakland A’s were 39-42 at the midway point of the season. On pace for 78 wins, they have gone a blistering 16-3 since to move to 55-45 and are on the verge of taking the lead in the American League wild-card standings. For the month of July, they are 18-3 and show no signs of slowing down.

What is all the more remarkable about this turnaround is that is has happened without many of the cogs people expected the A’s to need to have any kind of chance to contend for anything in 2012. For starters, Jemile Weeks, expected to be the catalyst for the Oakland offense, continues to languish around .220 for the year. The A’s shortstops have combined for splits of .184/.244/.276 as of July 28th. That is by far the worst in baseball. Catchers have not been much better, performing at splits of .198/.250/.269 in 2012. 

Meanwhile, the A’s have the No. 1 pitching staff in the American League despite having three rookies in the rotation. The team ace Brandon McCarthy has missed chunks of the season with a balky shoulder and rotation stalwarts Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden have yet to make one pitch at the major league level. 

So what have the A’s done well? First off, they are getting great production from Yoenis Cespedes. Backed by a hot July, Cespedes currently has splits of .302/.361/.541 for an OPS of .902. Considering “The Cuban Missile” has missed about 30 games to injury, the production he has had is all the more remarkable.

Even more of a surprise has been the amazing play of Josh Reddick. Billy Beane looks like a genius for acquiring the right fielder for Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney. All Reddick has done is lead the team with 22 home runs, drive in 50 runs and compile his own slugging percentage of .537 with an OPS of .885 in 2012. By far the A’s most consistent hitter during the year, Reddick has helped the A’s balance out their lineup over the course of the season. 

Of course, Oakland’s success could not happen without great pitching. The trio of Jarrod Parker, Tom Milone and A.J. Griffin has done more than just complement veterans Bartolo Colon and the surprising Travis Blackley. They have become the lead story in a rotation that continues to surprise.

Parker, while having some struggles in July, still sits at 7-4 with a 3.38 ERA on the season. Milone has been lights out in Oakland, going 9-7 overall, while Griffin has truly been a pleasant surprise. In six starts, Griffin has gone six innings in each, winning his last three decisions while posting an ERA of 2.25 on the year. Instead of being a warm body until other starters got healthy, Griffin appears to be firmly planted in the rotation. 

Knowing how quickly the situation can change, it is important to note that the A’s still have a tenuous schedule to navigate. The 10 games with Los Angeles and six with Texas will likely determine if Oakland has a position in the 2012 playoffs. But there are also six games with Tampa Bay, three more with the Yankees, three with another division/wild-card hopeful, the Detroit Tigers, as well as six with the always pesky Seattle Mariners.

Either way, to be on pace for 89 wins with this team, there is no doubt that Bob Melvin deserves more than just a little consideration for AL Manager of the Year. Whether he will merit it will depend on his team in the next few weeks.

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Yoenis Cespedes drove in three runs, Chris Carter hit his eighth home run in just his 18th game and Bartolo Colon threw 5.2 shutout innings as the Oakland A’s rolled to a 6-1 win over Baltimore at Camden Yards. The win moved Oakland to a major league best 18-3 in July as they can move into first place in the Wild Card standings with a loss by the Los Angeles Angels tonight.

Colon was not exactly dominant, but he made enough quality pitches to keep Baltimore from scoring. He scattered seven hits with one walk in his 5.2 innings while striking out five hitters. Jordan Norberto and Evan Scribner pitched the final 3.1 innings with the only run coming on a Nick Markakis home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Oakland scored first when after a Jemile Weeks’ single, Cespedes mashed a 3-2 slider from Orioles‘ starter Tommy Hunter to make it 2-0 in the fourth inning. The A’s would make it 3-0 in the fifth when Eric Sogard singled home Kurt Suzuki, who doubled to the opposite field to start the rally. 

In the sixth inning, after Cespedes reached on a fielder’s choice, Carter crushed an inside fastball about nine rows up in the left field seats to give the A’s a 5-0 lead. Cespedes would end the scoring by hitting a triple to deep right field scoring Weeks and making it 6-0. 

At the 100-game mark, the A’s move 10 games over .500 for the first time at 55-45. They will look for the sweep Sunday afternoon as Travis Blackley will face Baltimore’s Wei-Yin Chen. First pitch is set for 10:35 a.m. 

Note: According to a tweet by CBSSports.com Insider Jon Heyman, the A’s have reached an agreement to acquire Milwaukee Brewers catcher George Kottaras. Kottaras has splits of .209/.409/.364 and bats left handed, giving manager Bob Melvin potentially more lineup flexibility as the season reaches the home stretch. It’s currently unknown what/who the Brewers will receive in exchange for Kottaras. 

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Don’t look now, but there are two teams in the playoff hunt in the Bay Area. Tom Milone worked around 10 hits over six innings and was backed by four early runs as the A’s cruised to a 9-3 victory Saturday evening against the Minnesota Twins. The win ensures another series win, and Oakland will attempt to sweep Sunday afternoon. 

It was a power surge for the A’s offense as Chris Carter, Yoenis Cespedes, Brandon Moss and Seth Smith all went deep to pace the offense. Josh Reddick added three hits and scored two runs as the A’s had 12 hits total. That was more than enough for Milone, who worked out of multiple jams to hold the Twins to two runs despite 10 hits and a walk in six innings. 

Oakland still can’t seem to figure out Josh Willingham, who hit his fifth home run in as many games against his former team. However, tonight’s blast game, with the score 8-2, did not cause any real damage.

The A’s put the game away early as a two-out rally was started with back-to-back opposite field hits by Reddick and Cespedes whose double opened the scoring. After Moss was hit on an 0-2 pitch, Carter crushed a fastball into the left center field bullpen to make it 4-0. 

Cespedes added his 10th home run on an opposite field bomb in the third inning to make it 6-0. Home runs by Smith in the fifth and Moss in the sixth put the game well out of reach. Smith just missed his second home run in the ninth, instead plating Kurt Suzuki with a triple to close the scoring. 

Jordan Norberto, Evan Scribner and Jerry Blevins combined to allow a single run in the final three innings as the A’s continue to make noise and appear to be making a move to seriously compete for a wild-card spot in the American League.

With the win, the A’s moved to 45-43 on the year and will look to sweep the Twins Sunday afternoon at Target Field. First pitch is set for 11:10 a.m. as Jarrod Parker will look to bounce back against Minnesota starter Brian Duensing. 

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Ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Tom Milone appeared to have an easy first out on a Nelson Cruz grounder to third. Instead, it became the start of a five-run fifth inning as Brandon Inge could not make a play on the ball.

The Rangers would ultimately score two runs on Ian Kinsler’s single, and then the big moment was Josh Hamilton’s 23rd home run, making the score 6-2. Texas would go on to win 7-2, now one game away from a four-game sweep in the series. 

The A’s continued to see promise from Chris Carter, who went 2-for-4, including his second home run in as many games. Inge knocked in the team’s only other run with a single in the fourth, scoring Carter to make it 2-1. But the A’s did not play their best, committing three errors overall and going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Milone took the loss to drop his record to 8-6 on the year. Of the six runs he allowed, only one was earned, a solo home run to Adrian Beltre in the second inning. Brian Fuentes continued to struggle, allowing the final run of the game in seventh inning while again throwing more balls (16) than strikes (15).

Good

Chris Carter. Despite an error at first, it appears as though Carter may be earning a chance to play much more in 2012. As he finally translates that power to the big-league level, it will be interesting to see how he adjusts for the duration of his stint in Oakland. To see him go opposite field for a home run was definitely encouraging.

Bad

Brandon Inge. The good thing is he came through with a good at-bat in a run producing situation. The bad thing is his error basically started the A’s implosion in the fifth inning. That is now five errors for Inge on the season, which for him has been all of 49 games. A little too frequent in that department.

Ugly

Brian Fuentes. It is to the point where the dreaded tag of “gas can” applies to Brian Fuentes. He has no business pitching for the A’s at this point, and only the albatross of his contract keeps him on the big league level. He has no control, not much velocity and a propensity for home runs. Other than that, he’s doing fantastic.

Sunday, the A’s will try to avoid a sweep as Travis Blackley will face of with Texas phenom Yu Darvish. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m.  

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Ryan Cook has been almost lights out for the A’s this season. Tonight was not one of those nights. The San Francisco Giants overcame a 3-1 deficit with four in the ninth to beat Oakland 5-4 and take the opener of the Bay Bridge series in Oakland. Cook took the loss, while Giants reliever Clay Hensley got credit for the win. Former A’s reliever Santiago Casilla allowed Josh Reddick’s 16th home run in the ninth, but picked up his 20th save.

A’s starter Jarrod Parker went six-plus innings, allowing only a single run on four hits and two walks while striking out four. Struggling Giants starter Tim Lincecum actually resembled his former dominant self after the first inning, going six innings and allowing three runs on only three hits. Lincecum struck out eight. But he did walk four batters, as his control remained elusive.

After Parker went 1-2-3 in the first, the A’s immediately struck against Lincecum. Coco Crisp led off with an infield single. He then promptly stole second and third base and scored on Jemile Weeks’ single to center field. Josh Reddick then snapped his 0-for-19 slump with a bloop single that landed just in front of Nate Schierholtz. A walk to Yoenis Cespedes loaded the bases.

Then Seth Smith hit a grounder to Giants first baseman Brandon Belt. 

Belt, instead of tagging first base for the force out, stepped over the bag and threw home, where Weeks slid home to beat the tag of backup catcher Hector Sanchez. Brandon Inge followed with a bases-loaded walk to force home the third run of the inning. To Lincecum’s credit, he stopped the bleeding, striking out Brandon Moss, Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington in order to keep the score 3-0. 

The Giants scored their run in the top of the third when, after a leadoff single by Sanchez, Parker threw a wild pitch to advance him to second. Gregor Blanco then singled to right field for the RBI, making it 3-1.

But Parker would allow nothing else, and the bullpen effort of Jerry Blevins and Grant Balfour was splendid. Cook just could not shut the door. Belt’s two run double and RBI singles by Sanchez and Blanco put the victory in the Giants’ win column.

Good: Jarrod Parker. He definitely deserved to win. Unfortunately for him, it was one of those deals where the closer just didn’t have it. But Parker was solid. He threw six-plus innings and did enough to exit with a 3-1 lead. He kept the Giants guessing with his fastball and changeup and continues to impress at home.

Bad: A’s 7-8-9 hitters. You can’t completely scapegoat the bottom of the lineup, but they do deserve some criticism. It’s is not really the overall performance (1-for-10 with five strikeouts), but the lack of production in the first inning, when the A’s could have ended the game right away. With the bases loaded and no outs, Moss could not put the ball in play. Needing only a sacrifice fly, Suzuki could not put the ball in play. And the last chance to produce, Pennington, struck out meekly. The A’s gave the Giants an opening and they took it.

Ugly: Ryan Cook. It was bound to happen. Most closers have a bad appearance or two in the course of a season. Cook’s was definitely tonight. His control was off from the beginning and walks—a season-long issue—were his undoing tonight. In total, he was charged with four earned runs. That is double the two he had allowed entering the game. This was a disheartening loss for the A’s, who appeared well on their way to getting the opener against their Bay Area arch rivals. 

Looking to bounce back from this tough loss, the A’s will send Tyson Ross against Madison Bumgarner on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 4:15 p.m.

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Jonny Gomes was hitless in his last 34 pinch-hit appearances. He got over that in a big way, crushing a go ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning as the A’s rallied to win their fifth straight, 6-4 over the San Diego Padres.

Gomes’ home run capped a three-run rally as the A’s recaptured a lead they lost in the top of the inning. Sean Doolittle got his first major league victory in spite of allowing two runs in the seventh inning, and Ryan Cook converted his third save with a perfect ninth inning.

Tyson Ross was brilliant in a spot start for Oakland. With a breaking ball looking as sharp as it has been in 2012, Ross did not allow a hit for 5.2 innings. His only hit of the game was a two-run home run to San Diego’s Carlos Quentin in the sixth inning. Other than that, he was fantastic throughout. 

The A’s offense continued its recent success, notching two runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Seth Smith opened the scoring with a solo home run off Padres starter Ross Ohlendorf. Then, Collin Cowgill singled in Brandon Moss after he doubled to make it 3-0. The Padres took the lead in the seventh on a two-run double by Will Venable off Doolittle.

But the A’s were able to respond with the three-run at the bottom of the seventh. The tying run was scored on a wild pitch by Luke Gregerson, plating Cliff Pennington. 

Good: Jonny Gomes

Gotta be happy for a guy who, by all accounts, is an awesome teammate and great clubhouse guy. His chances have diminished simply because the A’s don’t face many lefties. But he came up in a big spot and delivered—big time.

His home run looked like it was headed to his hometown of Petaluma. That’s the kind of clutch hitting the A’s will continue to need if they want to push for .500 before the All-Star break.

Bad: Sean Doolittle

Yes, he got the win, but he put himself in a bad situation with bad pitch location and a crucial walk. His stuff is electric, but the consistency is clearly not there yet. Thankfully, it did not cost the A’s today. I have a feeling there will be plenty of good things to say about him before it’s all said and done.

Ugly: N/A

Nothing ugly about a five-game winning streak. Tomorrow’s game is big with the Giants and Dodgers coming to town. You want to be riding a big wave instead of coming down when quality opponents venture in. 

Now 31-35, the A’s look for their second straight sweep as Bartolo Colon takes the bump against San Diego’s Clayton Richard. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. 

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The A’s came back from a four-run first inning and played long ball en route to an 8-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

The longest and largest of the four home runs the A’s hit was by Brandon Moss, who hit a third-deck shot estimated at 461 feet in the third inning to give the A’s the lead for good. Moss would hit two home runs, and both Brandon Inge and Cliff Pennington also went deep. Seth Smith hit a pair of doubles and drove in two RBI on the night, as well.

While Bartolo Colon was not his best, he did settle down after the first inning to keep the Rockies off the board until Todd Helton’s solo homer in the fifth inning. By that time, the A’s were up 7-4. Colon’s line on the night was five runs allowed on nine hits, three walks and four strikeouts in five innings pitched. But it was enough to notch his sixth win of the year.

The key—along with the offensive outburst—was Oakland’s bullpen. Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour struck out four and allowed only a single hit and one walk combined in three innings. Then the A’s turned to Ryan Cook to close the game. After a leadoff walk and a single to former A’s utility man Marco Scutaro, Cook responded by striking out Carlos Gonzalez and Michael Cuddyer, and inducing a game-ending force out from Todd Helton for his first save.

Good: Brandon Moss and Brandon Inge (tie)

Both were big during the six-run rally to take the lead in the third. Moss’ first home run was a tape-measure shot with the kind of power the A’s have been looking to add at first base. Inge provided insurance with a long home run of his own and also had an RBI double and a huge defensive play to save two runs in the sixth inning.

Neither will hit .300 in a season, but they are both legitimate power threats when their swings are on. Inge also provides above-average defense at a spot that had been a wasteland before his arrival

Bad: Coco Crisp

Another 0-for-4 at the plate. Collin Cowgill should be playing right now. The A’s need every capable hitter they can get, and it seems clearer with each passing day that Crisp is just not going to turn it around with some burst. It is better to just cut losses now.

With the win, the A’s move to 27-35 and look to build on this performance, sending Tom Milone on the bump against former A’s starter Josh Outman. First pitch is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. ET.

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Tonight, the A’s scored plenty of runs. They just did not get the last out in time. Using a six-run second inning off Arizona starter Daniel Hudson, the A’s were able to take a 6-0 lead and lead the Diamondbacks 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth.

It was not enough as the Diamondbacks scored three times off Brian Fuentes in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-8. Tom Milone was not particularly sharp, but he was in line for the victory going five innings and allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks.

The offense came in a productive second inning when the A’s batted around. After a leadoff Brandon Inge single, Kurt Suzuki hit an infield single to third base. Cliff Pennington then slapped a double to right, scoring Inge and moving Suzuki to third. Milone then helped his own cause with a two-run single to make the score 3-0.

After Jemile Weeks flied out, Coco Crisp doubled to left center to score Milone. Josh Reddick followed with a single to make the score 5-0. Seth Smith’s single pulled Hudson and reliever Josh Collmenter promptly allowed Inge’s single to plate Reddick and make it 6-0. 

After Arizona responded with three in the bottom of the second, the A’s saw the lead cut by another run as white-hot D-Backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt slammed a long home run off Milone to make it 6-4. But Smith hit a two-run home run off of former A’s reliever Craig Breslow to make it 8-4. The A’s would need those runs as Arizona scored twice in the bottom of the sixth. 

In the ninth, Brian Fuentes recorded the first two outs before allowing a walk and a single. With the winning run at the plate, Fuentes allowed a walk-off home run to left center field by Ryan Roberts. 

Good

The A’s offense. Eight runs and 16 hits should have been enough to win the game. Plenty of contributions and lots of clutch hits. That’s a positive sign.

Bad

Brandon Moss. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and three of those AB’s were with runners in scoring position. Definitely needed something from him because it turned out the A’s did not have enough runs.

Ugly

Brian Fuentes. First Balfour, now Fuentes. The closer role is a black hole right now. Nothing but white-knuckle jobs in the ninth inning and this may have been the tipping point.

To get the first two outs, then walk someone allowing the tying run to come to the plate, that’s inexcusable. A very deflating loss and the upgrades the A’s were supposed to have from 2011 have simply not been such for their bullpen. Expect Ryan Cook to get the nod at closer sooner than later.

With the loss, the A’s drop to 26-33. They will try to bounce back from this loss tomorrow night as Jarrod Parker, who was acquired from Arizona, will face the man he was traded for—A’s starter Trevor Cahill.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

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Talk about a good walk spoiled. Brian Fuentes gave up a two out, three-run home run to former Oakland slugger Josh Willingham and the A’s lost their seventh straight game, 3-2 in Minnesota. Fuentes took the loss, giving up all three runs on two hits and a walk. 

The blown save negated a solid start by Jarrod Parker, who went six shutout innings and was staked to a 1-0 lead when Colin Cowgill singled in the first run of the game in the seventh inning. Coco Crisp, who has been mired in an awful hitting slump, went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice and his eighth inning RBI single appeared to be insurance as the A’s lead 2-0. But the win and ultimately the game both slipped away.

Fuentes began the ninth by allowing a single to Jamey Carroll and walking Denard Span. After Ben Revere’s attempted sacrifice was bunted back to Fuentes, Joe Mauer hit into a fielder’s choice putting the runners on first and third. Willingham then hit a 1-0 pitch to left center to end the game.

Good: Coco Crisp. He reached or produced in all four plate appearances. Considering he was hitting .156 entering the game, that is remarkable. In all seriousness, it is a great start to hopefully turning his season around at the plate.

Bad: Twelve men left on base. Too many chances to score runs and too many left on base. It came back to bite the A’s again.

Ugly: Brian Fuentes. The merry-go-round at closer continues as Fuentes can not get the job done. The A’s can only hope this is a blip and not what appears to be a real issue finishing games.

Now 22-28, the A’s look to salvage the final game of this series as Tyson Ross faces Francisco Liriano. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. Manny Ramirez was expected to make his season debut for the A’s, but it appears as though that will be pushed back a couple of games.

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Ervin Santana went 7.2 shutout innings and Mike Trout and Albert Pujols paced the Los Angeles Angels’ offense as the Oakland A’s fell 4-0 in Anaheim.

Losing pitcher Bartolo Colon allowed four runs on 12 hits in 6.2 innings while striking out four. He is now 3-4 on the season. The A’s only managed five hits and could not get a big hit with two chances late in the game.

In the sixth inning, the A’s loaded the bases on walks by Cliff Pennington and Josh Reddick and a single by Jemile Weeks. But the threat was ended when Seth Smith struck out. In the eighth inning, the A’s had runners on the corners, but pinch hitter Jonny Gomes grounded out to second. Beyond that, the A’s did not do much against Santana, who struck out nine. 

Good: N/A. Nothing good about being shut out and having your starting pitcher allow 12 hits in less than seven innings.

Bad: Bartolo Colon. He was not terrible, but another uneven start has his earned run average at 4.13. This is more indicative of the pitcher the A’s signed. He is good, but not great.

Ugly: N/A.

Now 19-18, the A’s will head to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers for two games starting Wednesday. Tom Milone will start against Japanese sensation Yu Darvish. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.

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