Barber: Driven by past, A’s beat Angels 4-2

OAKLAND - The A's, it seems, are a team perpetually aimed at the future. Groom a kid into an All-Star, then trade him for three minor-league prospects. When you hit pay dirt with one of them and he approaches stardom, trade him for more prospects. Keep it on a loop, the world's longest-running Vine.

Monday at the Coliseum, the A's discovered what a lot of teams have known for a while: The past can be a fertile source as well.

Three of the pillars of Oakland's most recent World Series champion, the 1989 team, showed up to mark opening night in varying roles.

Rickey Henderson, the genius of base stealing, basked in adoration as the organization christened Rickey Henderson Field.

Dave Stewart, the workhorse pitcher, caught Henderson's ceremonial first pitch.

And Jose Canseco, star of the A's, the tabloids and, for a short stint in 2016, the Sonoma Stompers, was calling the game for NBC Sports Bay Area.

And hovering over the festive evening was the voice of legendary play-by-play man Bill King, honored before the game as winner of the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, which is presented by the Baseball Hall of Fame to broadcasters who make “major contributions to baseball.”

Rickey, Stew, Canseco and King combined to lead the A's to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

No, they did. Henderson didn't steal any bases (though he almost certainly could, at 58.) And Jose Canseco didn't take anyone deep (though his shiny-penny tan alone looks powerful enough to force a baseball over a fence). Give the current A's the credit for winning this game.

Except for one thing: The A's don't win on opening day. They don't do it when they're good. And they certainly don't do it when they're expected to be bad, like this year.

In their previous 12 opening-day games, the Athletics were 1-11. The only win came two years ago, when they crushed the Rangers 8-0 behind Sonny Gray. So yeah, if they can spot their pitcher eight runs, they can start the season 1-0. Otherwise? Forget it.

An astounding parade of pitchers had lined up for the procession of losing: Barry Zito (twice), Dan Haren, Joe Blanton, Dallas Braden, Ben Sheets, Trevor Cahill, Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson, Gray (who lost in 2014) and Rich Hill. Take the mound. Take the L.

Kendall Graveman started this year's opener only because ace Sonny Gray is laid up with a strained right shoulder. Graveman, 26 years old and owner of 16 career wins, might have been expected to join the parade of futility. The moment should have been too big for him, but he stared down the Angels hitters and routinely hit the mid-90s on the radar gun. Clearly, he was inhabited by the spirit of Dave Stewart.

Canseco found a way to rub off on the boys, too. Khris Davis clubbed two home runs for the A's, and Stephen Vogt added another to account for three of the home team's four runs.

No, the A's didn't make Henderson happy by stealing any bases. But come on, this is 2017. Aggressive baserunning has practically gone the way of wool pants by now.

The guy who was missing Monday was Dennis Eckersley. The A's should have named their bullpen for him or something. Because Oakland's relievers crushed it against the Angels. Ryan Dull started things off with a perfect seventh inning, whiffing three straight batters. Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson handled the eighth, and Santiago Casilla picked up the save.

Yes, Santiago Casilla. A day after expensive new closer Mark Melancon blew his first save attempt for the Giants, the guy who ruined so many of their ninth innings last year got off to a fine start for the A's.

It had to be divine intervention. How else to explain Davis' power drive?

The left fielder smacked 42 homers last year. But he was Mr. Quiet through spring training in Arizona.

“Quiet?” Melvin asked after the game. “I pitched (batting practice) to him every day, and I don't know that he hit a ball out in BP this year in spring training, let alone the game. And hits two balls on a cold night that are no-doubters.”

And what other theory could you have for Doolittle's quick work in the eighth. He caught Los Angeles leadoff man Yunel Escobar looking, then got No. 2 hitter Kole Calhoun to foul out to third base.

“Doolittle comes out throwing 96, we hadn't seen that all spring,” Melvin noted.

And so the A's have found their formula: Embrace the past in order to re-create it, or at least mimic it as best they can.

No one represents that past better than Henderson, described by many people on Monday - and accurately, I'd say - as the greatest player in Oakland A's history. He did Rickey as only Rickey can, wearing sunglasses throughout his press conference deep in the recesses of the Coliseum. Addressing fans before the game he talked about how the field is now called “Rickey Henderson,” as if the A's were naming a son.

Asked about how he used to sneak into the stadium as a boy, Henderson said. “Did I get caught? No, I was too fast or something like that. The kids behind me, they got caught.”

That's the kind of swagger these A's need. On opening night, they had plenty of it.