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I think the scores in Japan so far mean zilch. Someone can say the A's had the same jet lag to deal with, OK, that's fair. Things went their way this time in the exhibition games. But those games were hardly a measure of the 2012 Seattle Mariners OR the Oakland A's.
In fact, I think the first two regular season games in Japan mean next to nothing besides hoping you can avoid a sweep for psychological reasons. The whole excercise of the Japan trip is so outside the normal routine of spring training/regular season that I could very easily see a young team just trying to establish itself getting thrown for a loop.
And then the team gets to embark on the long journey back and play...
some more exhibition games.
Whoopie! Talk about getting your psychology screwed up.
Maybe I'm overplaying it, but to me it's up in the air how the team will do until things finally settle into a familiar routine. They could breeze through it like it's nothing, or they could get so discombobulated that it takes until later in April to settle down.
There's road trips, and then there's road trips. This one is a ROAD TRIP like nothing anyone on this team has experienced before. Custom made to mess with your mind.
Give the M's a pass at least until mid-April or even later. And let's hope the way they handle it is much better than a worst case scenario.