Today, there are two big games in the playoffs. This afternoon the Giants take on the Reds and tonight the Tigers face the A’s. Both Bay Area teams are down 0-2 after many people here had hoped for another Battle of the Bay, this time without the earthquake.
The San Francisco Giants. I’m not a fan, clearly, as they are the A’s cross town/bay rivals that get all the glamour and attention while the A’s have been their weird cousin nobody talks about. Things have gotten better this season with the A’s having a great season, but still not equal. This morning on the radio, they were all about the Giants, and nothing about the A’s other than that they were down 0-2 and playing tonight. I never thought that the Giants stood a chance against the Cincinnati Reds, and with the first two games going the Reds way, the Giants are looking at a steep hill up. Needing to win all three games on the road against the second best record in all of baseball is not exactly ideal for any team, but the fans in Cincinnati are pretty hard-core, look at the Buckeyes games. The Giants offense is not scoring a lot of runs, which would be fine, if their pitching was pitching like they are capable of. Matt Cain is a lights out pitcher, but in Game Two of this series, the Reds dominated. In the first two games of the series, the Reds have scored 14 runs, while the Giants have scored 2. You are not going to win games with two runs. They didn’t even score in game two, while allowing nine. If the Giants can pitch the way they have all season, and can get their bats to heat up, they have a solid chance of winning tonight, otherwise, the Reds are the first team to move on to the NLCS.
Across the bay, we have the Oakland A’s. The Detroit Tigers have been a thorn in the A’s playoff side since the 2006 ALCS, in which the Tigers swept the A’s before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The A’s have won their last six games at home, including those three glorious games against the Rangers, including game 162 when they clinched the division. The battle back is going to be tough, but if anybody can do it, it would be this A’s team. They have shown all season that they are the comeback kids, and seem to relish in the moments when everybody counts them out. Being back home, for the final three, if it goes that far (fingers crossed!), is a major advantage. Manager, Bob Melvin, stated that last week with the packed coliseum, that the players seemed to thrive off of the fans energy, and the game tonight is a sell out. 35,000 people cheering you on is a major motivator. Another advantage, I’m going to the game. Of all the games I’ve gone to this season at the O.co Coliseum, the A’s have won them all- I hope I didn’t just jinks us there. This will be my second ALDS game in my life, the first being in 2006 when the A’s won game three to sweep the Minnesota Twins before being swept by the Tigers, for which I was at the first two games. The Tigers are a good team, with some of the top pitchers in the game. If the A’s win tonight, they face Max Scherzer, who is number two in strike outs in all of baseball, behind Justin Verlander who would pitch game five. No pressure or anything though.
No matter how these two game threes go, it’s been an incredible season, and us Bay Area folks are extremely lucky that both teams got this far. Still, I’m hoping for some game fours and fives!
Out of Left Field 