What a dreadful series for Oakland.

For the first time in 25 years, the A’s dropped all four games of a series at New York, and in the process, Oakland basically fell out of the AL West race.

The A’s came into Yankee Stadium on Monday having taken two of three from division-leading Texas, cutting the deficit to 7 1/2 games. Oakland left New York 10 games back in the West.

Overall this season, the A’s lost nine of 10 to New York, and they were outscored 56-23 in the process.

Dallas Braden was on the mound against Cy Young candidate CC Sabathia on Thursday in the finale, and while Sabathia allowed one hit in eight innings, Braden gave up two hits, including a solo homer by Jorge Posada.

Braden had to leave in the sixth inning because of severe…

New York pitcher C.C. Sabathia gave up only one hit over eight innings to earn his major league-leading 19th win, and steer the Yankees to a 5-0 win over the Oakland Athletics in the American League on Thursday. Sabathia (19-5) gave up a single leading off the second, but thereafter gave the A's nothing as New York completed a four-game sweep and opened a 1-1/2 game lead atop the AL standings.

From the very first batter, the Oakland Athletics simply looked overmatched against CC Sabathia. Leadoff man Coco Crisp took an awkward cut at a fastball for strike three. Next, Rajai Davis got fooled by an offspeed pitch and almost fell over. Then, Kevin Kouzmanoff flailed at a slider. A lot of weak swings and soft outs followed Thursday, as Sabathia pitched one-hit ball for eight innings to earn…

Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden has left his latest start because of heat-related cramps. Braden bent over after a pitch in the sixth inning Thursday at Yankee Stadium. He was checked by a trainer and slowly walked off the field. New York led the A's 1-0 at the time.

The Oakland Athletics have recalled pitcher Ross Wolf and purchased the contract of pitcher Justin James from Triple-A Sacramento. Wolf was with Oakland during July and August, but went three weeks without playing before he was sent down Aug. 21. James has yet to make his major league debut. He was drafted by Toronto in 2003 and played in the Reds organization, too.

In 1995, the owner of the Oakland Athletics, Walter Hass Jr., died. Successors Stephen Scott and Ken Hofman had watched Hass spend an abundant amount of money on players, and they wanted to go into an entirely different direction.

The duo immediately implored then-general manager Sandy Alderson to become cost-effective—to slash payroll, focus more on the farm system’s development, and abide by sabermetric principles in obtaining relatively undervalued players.

Alderson did what they said, but it didn’t translate into success. The Athletics had losing records from the time the new mindset was put in place until his departure after the 1997 season.

Billy Beane took over for his mentor and did what he could not. He didn’t spend much money but saw a steady increase in wins. The team improved drastically from year to year, and it was all because of Beane’s drafting, infatuation with their minor league system, and desire to continue the thriftiness.

He especially excelled in the pitching department, which was my focus in this 2009 piece praising his genius:

“He was behind the drafting of right-hander Tim Hudson in 1997, and wasted no time in his first year at the helm stocking the minor league system with more prime pitching talent, drafting left-handed pitcher Mark Mulder out of Michigan State with the second overall selection. His pick was a wise one; starting his minor league career in Triple-A, Mulder became the Athletics’ top prospect, second-ranked in all of baseball, and was in the majors to start the 2000 season.

“On June 7th, 1999, the day before Tim Hudson struck out 11 San Diego Padres in his five-inning debut, and while Mulder was in the midst of his fast track to the major leagues, Beane selected left-hander Barry Zito with the ninth overall pick. Zito, a UC-Santa Barbara product, nearly beat him to the majors despite being drafted a year after Mulder, and like Mulder, as well as Hudson before him, he flourished immediately. So, watching his team from his suite, Beane saw his three draftees, three immediate aces, take the mound every fifth day.”

The trio of aces led the A’s to four straight playoff appearances from 2000-2003; in 2001 and 2002, the team won 102 and 103 games. But then the three were gone. In line for big contracts, they left. Beane couldn’t afford them. It was as simple as that.

The rebuilding would begin, right? Surely the A’s couldn’t keep up their winning ways with such formidable pitchers elsewhere.

Beane found a way: The A’s won 91, 88, and 93 games from 2004-2006. And he’s still finding a way, growing a new crop of young arms to pick up an offense that is unflattering statistically yet somehow effective enough to put the Athletics in the playoff hunt.

From ’04-’06, the A’s were led by third baseman Eric Chavez before his career came to a sad, injury-plagued end; up-and-coming Nick Swisher, who is now extremely valuable for the New York Yankees; and in the latter of the three seasons, Frank Thomas, who amazingly hit 39 home runs in just 137 games as a 38-year-old, clubbing the most homers per plate appearance of his Hall of Fame career.

Oakland didn’t manage winning records the next three seasons, but considering their payroll sat near the bottom of the league, the 75, 75, and 76 wins they did collect weren’t all that bad. This year, they are on a better pace, with 65 wins and 32 games remaining.

That .500 record has them just 7.5 games behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West. Now, unless the Rangers have a Metsonian collapse, the A’s won’t make the playoffs. But an 80-win season is in their sights. This is hard to fathom.

However, it would not be entirely unbelievable when the following is considered: Their pitching staff is among the best in baseball and, obviously then, the main reason behind their success. Their team ERA, even after allowing 11 runs to the New York Yankees, is 3.48, which is second in the major leagues.

Trevor Cahill, their 22-year-old ace, leads the team with 14 wins and has a 2.82 ERA, and as a result is in the Cy Young conversation. He has allowed just 119 hits in 158 innings, and that is after surrendering eight runs on nine hits in just four innings against New York.

Twenty-four-year-old Gio Gonzalez, who was acquired a few years back from the White Sox for Swisher, is 12-8, and Dallas Braden, 27, who tossed a perfect game earlier this season, is 9-9 with a 3.28 ERA.

There is a new trio of aces in town—and that’s not all that has Oakland buzzing. Their offense is an eyesore statistically, but improbably it has done enough to back the pitching. The A’s don’t have a hitter hitting over .300. Catcher Kurt Suzuki is leading the team in home runs with twelve. Twelve. Think about that.

Their offense is 24th in the majors in runs, 19th in batting average, and 26th in RBI. Yet their offense is well versed in small ball, manufacturing just enough to back their pitching staff. Case in point: Oakland is 22-18 since the All-Star break despite batting .241. Why such a good record? Their team ERA is 2.64. In the A’s case, averaging four runs a game is enough.

Despite their poor statistics, the A’s offense has some productive hitters. Coco Crisp anchors their lineup and has hit .275 in the 58 games he’s played this year, while Daric Barton has been their best hitter, batting .294 with seven homers and 46 RBI.

Kevin Kouzmanoff is tied with Suzuki in the home run category, has a team-leading 65 RBI, and has been stationed in the middle of their order for all but two games this year. Yet he has a .260 batting average and an obscene .295 on-base percentage.

The team isn’t far behind in the on-base percentage category, and their batting average is worse than his mark. But an 80-win pace is what good pitching and good situational hitting can do.

It’s pretty much only their pitching, as they aren’t a particularly good fielding team, ranking 18th with 80 errors. Again, how in the world are they conceivably within range of Texas? Situational hitting and top-of-the-line pitching: two things the A’s, run by the genius that is Billy Beane, have always successfully and remarkably been built around.

Read more Oakland Athletics news on BleacherReport.com

Moneyball is a baseball film starring Brad Pitt and Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it’s set to open sometime in 2011.

Hoffman will perform as former big league manager Art Howe, and Pitt — one of the most famous people in the universe — will be playing Billy Beane, the “mastermind” general manager of the Oakland A’s.

Can you imagine that? Beane has been so successful in Oakland that a movie is being made about his innovations and triumphs as the A’s leading man. Not only is the film being made, but Beane’s character was given to one of the most recognizable faces in the business — a sex symbol, nonetheless.

And who can blame Hollywood for wanting a piece of this action? Beane has achieved so much during his time in Oakland…wait a second…

Has a Beane-led A’s team ever won anything?

This is Beane’s 13th season as GM of the Athletics, and his club has won the World Series zero times during his reign. Wait, it gets better.

In the previous 12 seasons, the A’s have won zero American League championships.

During that time period, they’ve only appeared in the ALCS once (2006). Beane’s Athletics performed well in that series against the Detroit Tigers…if “well” means getting swept. The Tigers made quick work of the light-hitting boys from Oakland.

Simply put, these results don’t make any sense. They don’t make any sense because Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game is likely the most popular baseball book in publishing history. It may not only be the most popular baseball book of all time, it is arguably the most popular book of all sports.

Lewis’ detailed work elevated Beane to a stratosphere never before occupied by a general manager. As far as media coverage and attention, GM’s are often secondary to the skippers that patrol the dugouts of their respective teams.

Thanks to Lewis and Moneyball, things are quite different in Oakland. Beane is the star. The managers (Howe, Ken Macha, and Bob Geren) are puppets manipulated by the front office’s many strings and hindrances. 

The question is: does Beane deserve the stature he has achieved?

Many consider him the best general manager in the game; is he worthy of that distinction?

Well, at the very least, I can’t argue with his ability to evaluate starting pitching. It started with the extremely impressive trio of RHP Tim Hudson (an all-star again this year), LHP Barry Zito (having a bit of a bounce-back season), and LHP Mark Mulder.

Then there was RHP Rich Harden, an incredible but oft-injured talent. RHP Justin Duchscherer has been an all-star, and Beane’s trade for RHP Dan Haren came at exactly the right time in his career.

Today the A’s have a slew of capable young arms, including sinkerballer Trevor Cahill, flame-throwing lefty Gio Gonzalez, workhorse Dallas Braden (of the Perfect Game fame), electric closer Andrew Bailey, and potential long-term ace LHP Brett Anderson.

But the 2010 Oakland Athletics are a mere .500 ballclub. This infusion of impressive arms isn’t leading them to playoff-type success. And why, you ask?

Because Billy Beane teams don’t hit. Not since the steroid star power of 1B Jason Giambi and then-SS Miguel Tejada have the A’s had a lineup for opposing pitchers to fear. Their leading regulars this season are OF Ryan Sweeney (.294 BA) and limited-pop 1B Daric Barton (.279).

Although for Beane, it’s not about batting average; it’s about OBP and OPS. Unfortunately, Oakland’s on-base experts are 25th in the bigs in runs scored. What good is a razor-sharp understanding of the strikezone if you can’t drive in runners in scoring position?

Not much good at all, of course.

While we’re on the topic of offense, I can’t ignore the fact that Beane traded OF Carlos Gonzalez (aka “Cargo”).

Cargo, now an immensely popular member of the Colorado Rockies, is currently leading the National League in batting average at .326. In addition to that impressive average, he has 29 HR, 90 RBI, 20 SB, 86 R, and a .955 OPS.

With those outstanding numbers in mind, Cargo is locked in a nip-and-tuck MVP battle with Reds’ 1B Joey Votto. Both candidates have the statistics to warrant an MVP award, but Cargo is the better all-around player.

If the Rockies find a way into the postseason, in my opinion, Cargo should take home the hardware.

Can you imagine that? Beane, the “mastermind” at the helm of an offensively-starved franchise, traded an all-world talent when he was just 23 years old. Even worse, he traded Cargo for a one-year rental in LF Matt Holliday, who was shipped to the St. Louis Cardinals as soon as the wheels fell off the A’s 2009 season. 

Go figure.

And yet, in the end, I know Billy Beane is a talented executive. I completely understand the financial deficiencies of the Oakland A’s franchise. I know that Beane has drafted and developed some excellent major league ballplayers.

But…the best general manager in professional baseball? Really?

Hollywood, a full-length movie, and Brad Pitt? Really?

I’m sorry folks, but I’m not buyin’ it…

Unless Billy Beane is sellin’ it. I’d probably rip him off in a deal.

(John Frascella is the author of “Theo-logy: How a Boy Wonder Led the Red Sox to the Promised Land,” the first and only book centered on Boston ’s popular GM Theo Epstein. Check it out on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble online. Follow John on Twitter @RedSoxAuthor.)

Read more Oakland Athletics news on BleacherReport.com

Trevor Cahill hardly looked like a Cy Young Award contender against the New York Yankees. Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira and the Yankees tagged Cahill for the second time this season, emphatically ending the All-Star's run of pitching excellence in an 11-5 rout of the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.

The Oakland Athletics needed this one, and Dallas Braden delivered. Braden threw a four-hitter for his second career shutout, Daric Barton homered and the A's trimmed Texas' imposing lead in the AL West with a 5-0 victory over the Rangers on Saturday night. Braden (9-9) improved to 5-7 since his perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, striking out one and issuing no walks in a 120-pitch…

Josh Hamilton helped keep Tommy Hunter's success going at home. Hamilton had his major league-high 24th three-hit game of the season, Hunter pitched into the eighth inning and the AL West-leading Rangers pulled farther away from the Athletics with a 7-3 victory over Oakland on Friday night. Hunter (11-2) improved to 7-0 in nine starts at Rangers Ballpark this season, allowing three runs and…