The A’s Way on Opening Day? Grinding past long odds and several missing men

New A’s manager Mark Kotsay said it in passing before Monday night’s home opener, a 5-1 victory over the Orioles, and I just had to ask a couple of follow-up questions.

“Did you just say the A’s Way?”

“The A’s Way, yeah.”

“What exactly is the A’s Way?”

“The A’s Way is to grind it out. It’s to not focus on what we don’t have but what we do have, and what we have is each other. We have a unit here that believes in each other.”

I hadn’t heard this from any other manager, either Tony La Russa or Bob Melvin or anyone in between, but here was Kotsay, sitting in the home dugout at the Coliseum, awaiting his first home game as a big-league manager, and proudly proclaiming his team does things its own certain way.

Well, he’s right about that. When the owner slashes payroll to a minimum, takes forever trying to build a ballpark and threatens to relocate a proud franchise, it’s necessary to pivot when figuring out things internally.

Kotsay wasn’t referring to John Fisher as much as the overall environment of A’s baseball, the cyclical rebuilding processes and the stadium issue that’s at the core of it all. On that front, not much has changed since Kotsay manned the outfield for the 2004-07 A’s.

“That’s kind of what formed when I was here, maybe even before I was here,” he said, “that we’re not caught up in the outside amenities per se. We may not have the largest crowds, but it doesn’t bother us. We’re going to go out and play baseball and be together and have fun doing it.”

It’s an intriguing and intelligent way of looking at it from someone who knows the organization inside and out, not just as a player but a longtime coach who got his first crack at managing after Melvin left for San Diego.

There’s no other choice, really, not after a particularly fan-unfriendly offseason that included the trades of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea, significant ticket price hikes and irritating comments from team President Dave Kaval, who continues to play his Las Vegas card.

Despite it all, no fans are more faithful than A’s fans. A small but lively crowd of 17,503 showed for Monday’s home opener — which featured 4 ⅔ hitless innings from Frankie Montas, two tremendous tags at the plate by Sean Murphy (with assists from Billy McKinney and Seth Brown) and run-scoring hits by Cristian Pache and Sheldon Neuse in the four-run sixth — and give those fans credit for not giving up despite all the reasons they could list.

“I started coming here when I was 3 years old with Eck, the Bash Brothers and them,” said James Doehle, who was sipping a whiskey ginger at the Bulleit Distilling Co., just behind home plate. “It’s the same dumpster fire of a Coliseum, but we’ve always had guys who play their heart out.”

Erin O’Rourke, who was sitting with Doehle, had season tickets in her family the past five or six seasons but didn’t re-up. “I don’t like the direction this is going, but we’re not going to miss this,” she said of the opener.

Both Dublin residents were thrilled with their team’s impressive start; Monday’s win followed a 5-5 trip through Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and Toronto. The A’s came home MLB leaders in runs scored and hitting with runners in scoring position.

However, because the A’s are the A’s, they’re seven players down. We’re not talking about the core members who were traded. We’re talking about players scratched from the roster for COVID-19-related issues.

If fans came to see the remaining recognizable players, well, Jed Lowrie, Chad Pinder and Lou Trivino were among the no-shows because of the virus. Monday’s lineup included just four players who were A’s in 2021: Tony Kemp, Elvis Andrus, Murphy and Brown.

“The times we’re living in,” said Murphy, the catcher and an A’s “veteran” with just 193 big-league games to his name. “It’s a cliche, but it’s next man up. I think a lot of these players will surprise people with how well they produce this year. Maybe the fans don’t know who they are or much about them, but they will know them throughout the season.”

One is Pache, a five-tool center fielder acquired from Atlanta in the Olson trade who’s winning games with his bat and glove. Another is Kevin Smith, a third baseman who arrived from Toronto in the Chapman deal.

There’s no reason Kotsay’s A’s Way can’t gain momentum. Decades ago, there was the Dodgers Way and Orioles Way, which were about sound fundamentals through the farm systems that translated to success at the big-league level, and there was a Giants Way under former owner Bill Neukom, but that didn’t last long.

Now we’ve got the A’s Way, which is about persevering despite long odds.

“Be patient. Watch us,” Kotsay said. “We’re going to play with an energy and a fight. We’re going to compete to win.”

As always, loyal A’s fans will be watching.