"We had one big meeting, and there were so many people at so many different levels on the system. Every one of them was on the same page."

With that unified effort comes a unified approach to building a team. Oakland's hitters share more than just a tendency to be burly, fun-loving, truck driver types. Even those players who hit for a low average tend to draw a large number of walks. DePodesta maintains that the A's abundance of players who know how to get to first is no coincidence.

"On-base percentage is very important to us," he says. "I'd say it shows in our personnel decisions more than most teams. We beat it into players' heads the moment we sign them. It's all part of a baseball theory that we hatched several years ago, and it's a theory that has evolved and that we've gained more confidence in as time has gone by."

The necessity of such inventive ways of winning is clear.

"We don't have a huge payroll," DePodesta says. "So we have to be more intellectual and creative about our decisions than other teams. When I was in Cleveland, most of the decisions people made were just about money -how much do we pay this guy, things like that. Here, we talk more baseball than anything else."

Eventually, the financial issues could catch up with the A's. Free agency will give some of Oakland's young stars to either press the A's for cash or look for more lucrative deals elsewhere. DePodesta recognizes that hanging on to the youngsters will be a challenge.

"We try to make pre-emptive strikes," he says. "We've locked up Giambi and a couple of guys long term. We're looking to remain competitive anyway -we've got a great farm system- but we definitely hope that as our team does better, our resources will increase, too."