Playoffs?

With just over a week remaining in the regular season, things are getting pretty interesting. At this point, three teams have clinched a playoff spot. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Washington Nationals, and the Baltimore Orioles each won their respective divisions this week, with Orioles and Nationals clinching on Tuesday and the Angels clinching on Wednesday.  The Nationals are one of two franchise to never have played in a World Series, the other being the Seattle Mariners.

The Orioles have been a team to beat since their sudden insurgence in 2012. It almost seemed like fate would match up the two teams nobody saw coming in the ALCS, but both Baltimore and the Athletics were eliminated in game fives of the ALDS. Last year, many expected them to build on their success from 2012, but the Boston Red Sox fed on the energy of the Boston bombing, carrying the city on their back all the way to World Series champions. I’m excited to see what Baltimore can do in the post season this year, especially without Manny Machado, and recently suspended slugger, Chris Davis. The post season, however, is different than the regular season. You’re facing the best teams, and anything can happen. Tuesday was the Orioles first time winning the American League East division since the 1997 season, when they were eliminated in six games in the ALCS.  The Orioles last World Series appearance was in in 1983, which they won in five games.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, you sneaky bastards. I have to give the Angels props for capitalizing on the A’s woes, and not only surging from 6 games back to claim the lead in the division, but to move a whopping 11 games ahead. The Angels have played well, and got hot at the perfect time. The A’s, well, they have gotten frigidly cold at the worst possible time. After leading the division all season, the second half, which has always been the A’s strong suit, has been disappointing. Everybody is quick to blame the Cespedes trade for the woes, but that can’t be all of it. Players aren’t hitting, and with the closer, Sean Doolittle hurt, the bullpen all but collapsed, much like the season. Last night, the A’s were eliminated from back-to-back-to-back AL West Champions. The Angels are last week were winners of ten straight, which helped them pad their division lead while the A’s had won 14 of their last 33 games.

Staying in the AL West, the Seattle Mariners are surprising everybody this year. With the GM dropping money like it was hot this past off-season, the M’s have put together a good team that’s hanging tough for a shot at one of the wild card spots. Saturday night, the A’s and M’s faced off in Seattle with the first ever night court with their king on the mound, looking to leap frog the A’s in the standings. With the Royals winning, their first win against Boston this season (I guess you could say I was good luck), they were in a virtual tie with the A’s for the first wild card spot. Now, the A’s, along with every other team, have struggled against Felix Hernandez, and have yet to record a win in games he starts. Until Saturday. The sellout crowd in Seattle was looking to capitalize on the A’s struggles, and with King Felix pitching, they by all means should have won. After 12 innings, the Mariners lost 3-2, with Fernando Rodney walking in the winning run; a scene A’s fans saw themselves the weekend before. Sunday’s game was huge, as the two face off for the last time in the regular season. It would be extremely interesting if the two teams win the wild card spots and are forced to play a one game playoff for the final spot in the playoffs.

The Kansas City Royals would much rather the Mariners watch the playoffs at home and claim a wild card spot from them. After years of being the worst team in baseball, the Royals stock piled on draft picks and are making their move. Loaded with young talent, the Royals are a major threat to not only the wild card, but the AL Central. I would personally love to see the Royals beat out the Tigers for the division, and for the Tigers miss the playoffs all together, but that could be the bitter hatred I have for them after having to watch them beat us in game five at home two years in a row. Just maybe.  The Royals and Tigers face off for the final time during the regular season in Kansas City.  These three games are going to be a big piece in the playoff picture.  At the moment, the Royals are sitting just half a game behind the Tigers for first place in the division and half a game in front of the A’s for the first Wild Card spot.  The Tigers have Justin Verlander going tomorrow night, and this will be important for the Tigers to see how he performs in a playoff type game.  With all the talk around Verlander’s arm this year, the best thing he can do is go out and silence them by pitching like we all know he is capable of.  However, if he struggles, the Tigers could be in trouble.  It’s going to be rocking in KC this weekend!

To the Yankees fans, I’m sorry.  It would have been nice to see Derek Jeter go out with once last playoff appearance, but it is looking like the Yankees will miss the playoffs for the second straight year.  Congratulations to the Washington Nationals and their fans on clinching the National League East this week as well.  It’s going to be an intense next week of baseball, and I can’t wait!

2013

Thursday night marked the end of my season when the Oakland Athletics were eliminated from the post season by the Detroit Tigers.  They lost 3-0 in Game Five, for the second year in a row.  I was there last year, and I was there on Thursday.  It was a painful and felt like deja vu. Last year, after we lost Game 5, all of the fans stayed and cheered “Let’s Go Oakland” and it was beautiful and moving.  This year, it happened again, but I didn’t stay.  I couldn’t do it.  I stood at my seat last year tearful cheering for my team that had proved everybody wrong and shut up all the nay-sayers.  This year, they proved they weren’t just a fluke last year and fought the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the American League.  It was supposed to be our year.  To see it end that way, again, was just too much.  I sat in the car on the way home in shock of what just happened.  It felt like somebody had died, and somebody did- our season.  Our hopes of shutting up the Giants fans that were rooting for the Tigers, the Giants fans that dismiss the A’s as a second-rate team, and the baseball analyst that will always pick the Angels and Rangers over the A’s, saying they have no chance.  This team looked like the one.

Then the post season came.

I wanted the best record for two reasons: to say we had the best record, and to avoid playing the Tigers.  I have now been to three post seasons, and have seen our post season dreams end with losses to the Tigers all three times.  I thought this year would be our chance, especially the way the month of September went.  The A’s played well, including a four game sweep of the Minnesota Twins to clinch the division.  The Tigers, on the other hand, finished their season one game ahead of the Cleveland Indians and were swept by the Miami Marlins, including being no-hit in the final game of the regular season.  The odds were in the A’s favor.  However, the baseball gods thought otherwise.  The bats of the A’s players were silent against the Tigers dominate pitching, producing K after K.  I don’t agree with a lot of the strike calls that were made, and I can only hope that MLB is finally going to do something about that.  My point with that is when the umpire gives one pitcher a large strike zone and the batter is forced to swing at pitches they normally wouldn’t, it’s an issue.  That and having two different strike zones is not OK.

Last year, Game 4 was the best playoff game that I have ever seen in my life.  You couldn’t script a better ending to a game fi you tried.  Coco Crisp had the walk off hit that won that game, and the place when nuts.  I would have said that nothing could ever top that.  Game 2, however, did.  Sonny Gray, the A’s rookie pitcher, got the start against Justin Verlander.  Most people would think the A’s were stupid to start a rookie pitcher against Verlander, but they were wrong.  Sonny Gray showed the nation what we in Oakland already knew, that he is AMAZING.  Gray matched Verlander zero for zero on the board the whole game.  He dominated and it was a beautiful sight.  He deserved a win for the game he pitched, and while he didn’t get the win, the team did.  The bottom of the 9th was going to be special.  You could feel it in the air.  The crowd of 48,000+ was cheering and waiting for a walk off.  Yoenis Cespedes came to the plate, and I was hoping for another bomb, but I took the base hit.  Seth Smith followed that with another base hit.  The crowd was going crazy.  Then the Tigers walked Josh Reddick, who had been struggling badly, to load the bases.  Enter the hero of the night, Stephen Vogt.  I was there when Vogt got his first hit, a home run, against the St. Louis Cardinals, but this single was far better than the homer.  Vogt just singled home the only run of the game to win the game.  My dad, who was sitting next to me, complained that he thought he was deaf in one ear from my screaming, and my throat was killing me the next day.  Signs of a good game.

I had some great memories this season that I will never forget.  Opening Day, making new friends on Twitter (one of the best parts), traveling to see the A’s around the country, watching them clinch that final Sunday at home, and watching them in the post season.  Sure, the season didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but it was a great season.  Plus, we were lucky enough to make it to the post season.  There were fans from 22 other teams that didn’t get to watch their team in the playoffs.

I can’t wait for 2014.

The Oakland A’s rush onto the field after Stephen Vogt singles home the winning run in Game 2 of the ALDS

OAKtober

As you all know, I am a HUGE Oakland A’s fan.  For the second year in a row, we have beaten the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to win our division (pause for a happy dance).  I’m lucky enough to have my neighbor/faux grandfather, since he is a season ticket holder and makes sure that I always have a ticket for the post season.

My last two post seasons have been cut short by the Detroit Tigers.  I refuse to let that happen for a third time.  After all, the say “Third times the charm” has to hold some clout, right?  All week, my office has been buzzing with excitement for the game and by the time Friday rolled around, us A’s fans couldn’t concentrate on work.  4pm could not come fast enough.  I quickly raced up the stairs in the parking garage, why I chose to park on one of the top levels, I have no clue.  Driving to BART, I did my best Speed Racer impersonation and just barely made it in time to catch the train.  Now, I used to go to school in the city, so I’ve seen the BART train packed, but that was nothing compared to the packed train of green and gold.  It warmed my heart to see so many people going to the game.

The last time there was a sellout in Oakland, full capacity sellout, was in 2004.  Friday night, there was 48,401 fans cheering the team on for Game 1 of the ALDS.  It was loud.  It was so weird to look up and see fans in the third deck.  Weird in the best way.  While Game 1 didn’t go as well as we could have hoped, it was still a great game.  So much energy and excitement.

Last night, there are no words that can do last night justice.  My hands are sore from clapping, my throat is killing me from screaming and my legs are sore from jumping in excitement.  Sonny Gray.  Wow.  He matched Justin Verlander pitch for pitch out there like he’d been pitching for years.  The “Sonny” cheers were well deserved.  If he can keep pitching like that, Oakland is in a very good position to win now and in the future.  The other half of last night, was the guy catching for Sonny, Stephen Vogt.  He’s a great catcher and he was battling last night.  In the 7th inning, that at-bat against Justin Verlander was huge.  It ended in a strike out, but man, that was an intense battle.  That 10 pitch battle, which included seven pitches Vogt fouled off, helped to knock Verlander out of the game.  You could feel he was going to do something.

The bottom of the 9th inning.  2012, the A’s home game two, was Game 4.  Going into the game last night, I would have said that was the best post season game I have even seen.  Coco Crisp had a walk-off single to win the game and the place went nuts.  It was something I thought would never be topped.  Until last night.  I admit that I was hoping Cespedes would hit a walk-off home run, but that was only because the A’s were struggling to get the runners in.  Didn’t want to see more guys stranded on the base path.  Yoenis Cespedes got a base hit.  Crowd got into it.  Seth Smith got a single and Cespedes advanced to third.  Crowd really got into it.  They WALKED Josh Reddick, still think that was stupid.  Crowd is pumped and into it big time.  Stephan Vogt gets a hit over the shortstop.  The crowd goes CRAZY.  It was insane, magical, and amazing rolled into one glorious moment.  As we made our way out of the stadium, fans were high fiving each other, or as I called it, a high-five train.  It was just like last year.

After the game, we were over behind 148 in right field and things were even better.  Everybody was cheering “Let’s Go Oakland” and “Sonny! Sonny!”. So proud to be an A’s fan.

Now, we just need the boys to win the next two in Detroit.  I’m pretty excited for tomorrow, and I’m never excited about Mondays.

LET’S GO OAK-LAND!

A’s win!

Happy girl after the walk-off

My dad rockin’ his Rally Cap in the 9th

Game 2 of the ALDS at the O.co Coliseum

Payback Time

In baseball, when your team loses to another in the playoffs, you look forward to the first rematch of the following season.  It’s your chance for a little payback.  As luck would have it, this weekend is Payback Weekend, unofficially of course.

You see, the American League Division Series, the Yankees and Orioles are facing off in New York, while in Oakland, the Tigers and Athletics are duking it out this weekend.  As an A’s fan, this series, while early, is very important.  These guys sent us home, ended our season, and crushed out dreams just 6 months ago.  Watching the A’s comeback to win with a walk-off home run by Josh Donaldson in the 12th inning on Friday night was great, and reminded me of Games 4 when we came back to win, forcing a Game 5.  Before the game, it was announced the Yoenis Cespedes had been placed on the Disabled List after injuring his hand/wrist while trying to steal the night before and that Coco Crisp was also injured, but listed day-to-day.  Those were two big blows to the team both offensive and defensively, but luckily, the A’s are the masters of roster depth  Yesterday’s game, gave me flashbacks of Game 5, and that’s not good.  Like that last game of 2012, Verlander was on the mound yesterday, and like that game, he had a very generous strike zone.  Ah the strike zone.  The home plate umpire had the weirdest strike zone I have ever seen.  Pitches thrown back to back in the exact same location were not the same call.  Both Bob Melvin and Jim Leyland were chirping from their dugouts, with Melvin finally getting tossed in the 8th inning after a very questionable strike three call on Brandon Moss to start the inning.  Brett Anderson, who started the game, had issues with either his footing, or leg, it was hard to tell, but he was wobbly the pitches leading up to a massive home run by Torii Hunter in the 3rd inning and never really seemed comfortable out there.  The A’s did manage to get the tying run to the plate in the 8th inning, but were unable to score, as they left ten on the bases for the game.  In the end, the struggles by A’s pitchers was the common theme yesterday and today.  Today, Jarrod Parker, who started Game 1 and Game 5, struggled out of the gates, giving up two runs in the first, the second, and four in the fourth.  Parker lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up 8 earned runs, striking out only two, forcing the question of what’s wrong with Parker.  In Parker’s three starts this season, he’s 0-2, and was lucky to get a no decision in Anaheim on Tuesday.  That said, Anibal Sanchez was dealing today, looking like his fellow starts Scherzer and Verlander, striking out 8 in 7 innings pitched.  The Tigers starting pitchers (Scherzer, Verlander, Sanchez) had a combined 25 strikeouts.  Holy crap.  The good news for the A’s is that the Houston Astros are coming into town this week, so there’s a chance for them to get back on track, even though the Astros have been playing pretty good ball the last week.

In New York, the Orioles sadly met the same repeated fate as the A’s did this weekend, losing 2 out of 3 against their division rivals.    Friday night, C.C. Sabathia was very C.C. pitching 8 innings allowing 1 run while striking out 9.  Miguel Gonzalez of the Orioles, went just 6 innings, giving up 3 runs, 2 earned while walking five and striking out four.  Something interesting though, while the O’s only scored 2 runs, they had 9 hits compared to the Yankees having 5 runs on 6 hits.    The difference maker was when Adam Jones dropped a fly ball in the 7th inning with the bases loaded, leading to three runs, all unearned.  The Orioles ties the series yesterday after Phil Hughes struggled, lasting only 3 innings after giving up 5 runs.  Of those five runs, three were from solo home runs.  For those who say solo shots aren’t going to kill you, if you give up enough of them, they will.  The good news is that the Yankees bullpen threw six solid innings, including David Phelps who threw four innings in relief, while not allowing a run for the remainder of the game.  Home runs seemed to be in plenty last night though.  Along with the three hit by the Orioles, the Yankees had two, solos as well, in the game.  What are the chances of there being five solo home runs in one game?  Crazy.  Tonight, the Orioles went for their second win in a row, and a series win, but despite solid pitching by Wei-Yin Chen, the Orioles lost.  Chen is win-less in his last 10 starts, dating back to last season, but pitched well.  He allowed just three runs in 6 innings, with all three runs coming in the 5th inning, two of which were on the home run hit by Jayson Nix off the foul pole.  Meanwhile, Yankees pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda, threw a complete game shutout allowing five hits, no walks and five strike outs.  These two teams will face off many more times throughout the season, and I expect each series will be high pressure, much like last season.

While both the A’s and Orioles had chances to get a little revenge for their playoff eliminations last season, both failed to do so, at least this time.  Hope you all had a great weekend and you were able to see 42.  If not, go!  It’s amazing.

Champions

The San Francisco Giants are the 2012 World Series Champions.

Last night, the Giants finished off a four game sweep of the Detroit Tigers, giving them their second World Series win in three years.  This Giants team was down, but never out for most of the playoffs, coming back to win game five in the NLDS to knockout the Cincinnati Reds, and coming back to win game seven of the NLCS to eliminate the defending World Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals.  For the World Series, the Giants said they didn’t want to play with their backs against the wall, and to come out strong.  They did just that, only trailing the Tigers briefly in game four before reclaiming the lead.  The Tigers pitching was strong in games two, three and four, but the Giants pitching was better the whole series.

While the Tigers pitching was good, their bats were not.  The Tigers struggled to put runs on the board all series, and looked like a team that had a week off.  Much like 2006 when the Tigers swept the Oakland A’s in the ALCS, the NLCS that year also went to a game seven.  The St. Louis Cardinals won the series in five games.  Having a week off is nice in that it gives the players a chance to rest and relax, but a week is also enough time to mess up your timing.  The Tigers’s players looking lost at the plate the whole series.  They started to show signs of life in the game last night, but when you’re down 3 games to none, it’s a little too late.  This season, the Tigers have played far better at home, like most teams, but Comerica is a special ballpark.  It’s HUGE.  If it wasn’t for the strong wind blowing out, there wouldn’t have been any home runs.  They’ve brought the outfield walls in, and it’s still a huge yard.  The Coco Crisp play in game two of the ALDS showed how large the outfield is when he came running in and wasn’t able to cleanly catch the ball.

The Giants players came together like a team in the World Series, which was great to watch.  There was a different guy making things happen each night.  You see too many teams rely on one guy to get things done, but the Giants had each guy out there making things happen.  Plus, we have Angel Pagan making us all happy by stealing a base- Don’t forget to get your free taco from Taco Bell tomorrow (October 30) from 2-6 pm!  Pablo Sandoval got the Giants off to a good, and by good I mean great, start with the THREE home runs in game one off of Justin Verlander.  I believe in momentum, especially in baseball.  Beating Verlander, one of the best pitchers in the game right now, is a big deal, and put the Giants in a great spot.  Some argued that the Tigers should have started him on short rest for game four, but I think the Tigers made the right choice.  The Giants had Verlander’s number in game one, and I don’t think it would have changed in game four.  Also, I don’t think it mattered who the Tigers put on the mound.  The Giants were just too good and too hot to be stopped.  After everything they had to overcome to make it to the World Series, they deserved the win.  I’m very happy for Marco Scutaro, he played great, but I already knew he was more than capable of that.

Congratulations to the 2012 World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants.

Baby I Got Your Number

I can’t help but wonder if Pablo Sandoval is singing his own version of ODB’s “Baby, I Got Your Money” when facing Justin Verlander.  Sandoval seems to own Verlander, starting with the All-Star Game back in July.  In three at-bats against Verlander, Sandoval has three hits.

Back in July, Justin Verlander had one of the most embarrassing and disappointing starts, allowing five earned runs in the first inning.  One of the big hits in that inning was when Pablo “Panda” Sandoval hit a bases clearing triple.  Needless to say, Verlander was looking to put that behind him, but Panda wasn’t feeling that.  Panda, in the 1st inning welcomed Verlander to San Fran by taking him deep to put the Giants on the board first 1-0.  But he wasn’t done yet.  In his next at-bat, Panda took Verlander deep again to push the Giants lead to 4-0.  Verlander only lasted four innings before the Tigers had to go to the bullpen, but at that point, it was really too little too late as the Giants were already leading the Tigers by five runs.  Plus, if that wasn’t enough, he hit another homer in the fifth inning off relief pitcher, Al Alburquerque, bringing Panda’s RBI total on the night to four, or half of the Giants runs.  Holy cow!

On the flip side, we have Barry Zito.  I love Barry Zito, even if he did leave the A’s to go to San Francisco.  Is he highly overpaid?  Yes, but this year he’s pitching more like a guy that makes that much money.  Tonight, Zito pitched like the Barry Zito of old, the Oakland A’s Barry Zito, throwing 5 2/3 innings and only allowing one run.  And, Zito did something I LOVE.  In the fourth inning, Zito got a hit and knocked in a run.  I love to see pitchers hitting and helping themselves.

It was going to be important for the Giants to come out strong tonight, especially with Justin Verlander on the mound, and they did.  I’m looking forward to seeing how things go tomorrow.  I think that the Giants have a strong chance to win the series after what I saw tonight, and I think they have some major momentum going for them now.

Championship Series

I love baseball.  No matter what’s going on, and what goes wrong, I know I can always count on baseball.  I had a super rough day yesterday, and luckily, I had baseball to try to cheer me up.  It helped a little, but it would have helped more if it was the A’s playing not the Giants.

This weekend, the league championship series started.  The drama and excitement are on full display in both games.  Saturday, we saw the New York Yankees come back from being down 4-0, to tie the game with a pair of two run homers.  Sadly, they lost not only that game, but their captain, Derek Jeter, to an ankle fracture.  Things didn’t get better for them in game two, as the Yankees’ bats continued to struggle.  It’s hard to watch when a team that’s as good as the Yankees, struggle this much.  Sure the series is best of seven, but right now the Yankees are down three games to none.  The Tigers need to win one game to advance now after another dominate start by Justin Verlander.  Only one team has ever come back from down 3-0 in the ALCS, the Boston Red Sox against the Yankees.  Plus, the Tigers had issues closing out the series against Oakland, allowing the A’s to come back from being down 2-0 to force a game five.  The Yankees need a win tomorrow, or they will be done.

Last night, the San Francisco Giants came to play and tied their series.  After a hard slide by Matt Holliday to take out Marco Scutaro in the first inning, the Giants seemed to rally behind that.  Angel Pagan took Chris Carpenter deep in the first to get the Giants on the board first.  It didn’t take long for the Cardinals to get on the board, as they tied the game the next half inning, but that was all they would get.  The Giants, however, were far from done scoring.  The scoring was highlighted by a bases clearing double off the bat of Marco Scutaro on a drive to Matt Holliday, who bobbled the ball allowing the runner at first to score.  Ryan Vogelsong pitched great, allowing just the one run in seven inning.  Those seven innings pitched marked the first time a Giants pitcher pitched more than six innings in the post season.  The best thing the Giants have going for them as they head to St. Louis, is they have played outstanding on the road this post season by winning three straight in Cincinnati to advance to the NLCS.

Tomorrow should be interesting.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the Giants do on the road, and if the Yankees can finally scrap out a win.

Movin’ On Up

Thursday we saw two game fives, and two game fours that lead to game fives yesterday.  One team made history and one did not.

Thursday the San Francisco Giants made history with their 6-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds.  Never before in National League history had a team come back from being down 0-2 in a series to win.  Giants did just that.  With ace Matt Cain on the mound for the Giants, they were in a position to shock the Reds and put themselves into the baseball history books.  Deadlocked at zero going into the 5th inning, the Giants bats came alive, highlighted by the grand slam off the bat of Buster Posey.  The Reds did their best to come back, including a run in the 9th inning, but in the end, came up short.  So while the Reds are out, they should be proud of what they did this season.  They went from being near the bottom of their division to fighting with the Nationals for the best record in all of baseball.  They played amazing baseball this season and I’m very proud of what they did.  I can’t wait to see what they go next season.  Congratulations to the team across the bay, the Giants.

This side of the bay, things didn’t go as well.  Going into Tuesday’s games, the Giants and the Oakland A’s (my beloved A’s) were both down 0-2, and both teams battled back to play in game fives.  Sadly, the A’s weren’t able to do what the Giants did, and the Detroit Tigers are moving on to the ALCS.  After game four, I thought, as did many A’s fan, the A’s were going to win.  The magic in winning in game three bled into game four and we all thought it would continue to bleed into game five.  Justin Verlander, however, pitched like, well, Justin Verlander.  The issue I had was the strike zone.  I had pretty good seats last night and you could see pitch locations extremely well.  Verlander had a rather large strike zone and Parker did not.  Pitches that were being called balls when the Tigers were batting, were strikes when the A’s were batting.  I get that Verlander is going to get some of the close calls, but every call is hard to watch.  This was a huge playoff game, the umpire needed to be a little better with his ball/strike calls.  And yes, I do realize that I sound like I’m whining about things not going my way.  All that said, the A’s struggled in the batter’s box all series long.  It’s hard to score runs when you’re not hitting, but it’s not helpful when you’re allowing runs to score.  The A’s on Thursday played sloppy in the field.  Derek Norris, I can’t even begin to understand what happened.  There was three stolen bases with throws that were nowhere near getting the runner out.  Then being the plate, he seemed lost and like he had never caught before.  He wasn’t blocking balls in the dirt properly, and at times had no clue where the ball was, when it was at his feet.  It was painful to watch.  Going into the top half of the 7th inning, the A’s still had a shot at winning.  Then everything went downhill.  The Tigers put four runs on the board and suddenly the A’s found themselves on the wrong side of a 6-0 score.  Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers.

However, the best thing happened when the game ended.  While the Tigers celebrated on the field, the A’s fan showed their love.  The stadium erupted into chants of “Let’s Go Oakland” and it was amazing.  The players came out of the dugout and embraced each other and tipped their caps to the fans.  I was moved, and still am.  Yesterday was a hard day for me.  The realization that the season, this amazing and magically season, was over.  I still can’t believe it.

In New York yesterday the other storybook story in baseball met the same fate at the A’s.  The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 with C.C. Sabathia going the distance for his first post season complete game.  The O’s forced a game five after winning in 13 innings on Thursday night, but last night their magic fell short.  Much like the A’s, the O’s bats struggled with only one regular, Nate McLouth, hit over .215 in the series.  In the final three games of the series, the Orioles were 3 for 22 with runners in scoring position.  Another big development in game five was who wasn’t in the line up- Alex Rodriguez.  A-Rod had been struggling all series and in game three was pitch hit for by Raul Ibanez, which ended up being a rather good thing considering the outcome of his at bats.  The Orioles should be extremely proud of themselves.  After fourteen consecutive losing seasons, the Orioles not only put together a winning season, they went to the playoffs after battling with the Yankees for first place in their division.  That is something to be proud of, no matter how the season ended.  Congratulations to the New York Yankees.

With so many surprises this season, last night held yet another surprise, and it was a big one.  Owners of the best record in baseball, the Washington Nationals pulled of a win on Thursday to force a game five against the wild card winners, and reigning World Champs, the St. Louis Cardinals.  I can’t believe what I saw.  After adding an insurance run in the 8th inning, it seemed that the Nats were moving on to the next round, but if the A’s taught me anything this season, it’s that the game isn’t over until the final out if made.  Carlos Beltran lead off the inning with a double before Storen would get two quick outs.  However, things took a turn for the worst when Storen couldn’t find the strike zone.  Before you knew it, the Cards had the bases loaded before a shot up the middle hit off the glove of Ian Desmond, plating two runs to tie the game.  The next batter, hit a ball to right field scoring two more runs to put the Cardinals up by two.  I couldn’t believe it.  The Nationals lost the game and the series.  After having the best record in baseball, including a 21 game winner in Gio Gonzalez, and making the post season for the first time in Nationals history and first time in D.C. since 1937, their season is over.  The Cardinals are moving on to the NLCS to take on the Giants and are looking to be the first team since the Yankees in 2000 to win back to back World Series.  Congratulations to the Cardinals, and first time manager Mike Mathney.

Down, But Not Out

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!

Clinch Party

With the final day of September coming to a close, and the regular season set to end in a mere three days, the American League remained with the playoff picture in limbo.  The National League, is all but set, with just the second wild card position available, but the AL had no clinches.

However, like many things in baseball, things change quickly.  While this morning, nobody in the American League had clinched playoff spots, now, three teams have.  With the Texas Rangers win tonight over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Rangers have all clinched a playoff spot.  There are only two playoff spots reaming now, the final wild card and the AL Central.  Right now, the O’s and Yankees are once again tied for the AL East, and could very easily end up playing 163 games to decide who gets the wild card and who gets the division.  Who else loved that game a few years ago in Colorado when the Rockies and Padres duked it out in the extra game to decide who would go to the playoffs and who went home.

Starting tomorrow, the Rangers are in town to take on the Oakland A’s in what is going to have huge impact on the playoff picture.  With the A’s sitting two games out in the AL West and one game out in the wild card, this series against the Rangers is huge.  Huge doesn’t even seem to be the right word.  By the time Wednesday rolls around and the regular season ends, things could be very interesting.  The two teams are battling it out for the division title, and depending on how the series goes, either one of them could take it.  I’m so excited to go to the game on Wednesday!

The Chicago White Sox.  What the heck happened?  A month ago, the White Sox were well on their way to the playoffs, and now they’re sitting three games back of the Detroit Tigers.  In their last ten games, the White Sox have only managed two wins, while the Tigers have won seven.  I thought the Sox had a chance to do well this season and they were doing well until recently.  The Tigers on the other hand are starting to look like the team everybody thought they would be, plus they have the two top strikeout pitchers in the majors with Verlander and Scherzer.  The schedule is in favor of the White Sox, if I had to pick.  The Tigers face the Kansas City Royals, who have played extremely well this year (looking forward to seeing what they can do next year), while the White Sox are taking on the Cleveland Indians, who have struggled to perform this year.

I’m glad to see the American League final clinch some playoff spots, and look forward to the rest.  Hard to believe there is only three games left, so bummed.