I’m not sure if the A’s deserve a thread of their own, but there must be a few Oaktown fans here who need an outlet. I watched that dramatic game on Friday, I attended both games Saturday and Sunday, which disappointed me.
Monday’s game, however, Pissed Me Off. How the FUCK do you blow a 9-3 lead? Oh, I know, typical A’s September choking and shit starting pitching. And did it look to anyone like Street is STILL injured? Duchscherer should be moved into the closer’s role IMMEDIATELY and Street should only pitch mop-up innings.
I’m fearing a historic collapse, which is on one hand a ridiculous fear, but this fucking team over the last several years has caused it. Those late-80s/early 90s teams, I knew they were the best fucking team in baseball. Even when Eck gave up the home run, I knew they were the better team. This team scares the shit out of me every time they take the field. I don’t know how they’re standing at the end, and I am not sure it’s possible to fuck things up even more than they have done before, but they always find a way.
Last night was a fucking disgrace. Shameful. Cowardly. I was utterly disgusted, and knew they were going to lose even before the Mariners tied the game in the ninth.
However. let’s not lose perspective. They win one more game–just one–and the worst that can happen is that they and the Angels finish tied, one game playoff for the division. And for that to happen, it would have to be A’s lose out, Angels win out. Possible, but just going on the “even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while” principle, I can’t imagine the A’s not winning one of their remaining six games. And if one of those games is against the Angels–and the A’s have played them very tough in Anaheim the last few years–then, Poof! the Angels disappear and all problems are (momentarily) solved.
Yes, Street has been shaky, but frankly I think all closers not nicknamed “The Hammer of God” are shaky. He blew the game last night, to be sure, but if the other pitchers hadn’t laid down like dogs, too, it wouldn’t have come to that.
On the good news side: it looks to me like the Tigers will win the Central, and I have a weird feeling that the A’s could handle Detroit in the playoffs. Not a cinch, certainly, but a team like the Tigers, playing in the postseason for the first time in a long time, they could come up short in a hurry. And while the A’s have had a lot of flameouts in the playoffs recently, just remember that before the last couple of years (including last year’s World Series appearance) the Astros were also notorious for getting to the playoffs and then folding faster than Superman on laundry day.
I won’t hold my breath, and I’ll be satisfied with the division title, but I think there’s reason for hope. But it will be a white knuckle ride no matter what.
Tigers / Twins is way too close to call. A’s are a lock, but the AL pecking order is up in the air. At least your A’s won’t be playing my Yankees. You’d be guaranteed a playoff exit!
Remember that line Lincoln said? About the hen being the wisest of creatures, because she only cackles after the egg has been laid. You might want to keep that one in mind. Because I’ve been getting the feeling that the Yanks aren’t nearly the lock everyone is making them out to be. I think there’s a reason A-Wad has not won anything yet, and there’s enough weirdness right there to bring a playoff flameout. Tread with caution.
And yes, the records are still quite close. But I don’t see the A’s making up 4 games on either the Tigers or Yankees, so the wild card team will play NY. And Detroit finishes at home against KC, while the Twins get the White Sox (at home as well, if I remember correctly). I like Detroit’s chances of finishing first, especially if Minnesota does not overtake them in the next two days (while the Twins are playing the Royals).
However it shakes out it will be Interesting…(possibly in the “Chinese” sense of the word).
It was nice to see the whole team show up last night, unlike the previous couple of days.
RickJay, I would not give up yet on the team that has arguably the best position player in the game. Just a couple of wins and the ship will be well righted once more. It is interesting, though, to watch that happening to a Tony LaRussa team from an East Bay perspective. The one thing we saw when LaRussa managed here was, his teams tended to get rolling, start steamrolling everyone, and all was well and good…but if they hit a bump (as happened in the '88 and '90 Series), they could be stopped cold. Don’t know if it’s really something that’s a product of LaRussa’s managerial style or not, but it is a curious thing. His teams just don’t finish well.
Not that recent vintage A’s teams can talk about finishing well…
Still, I will keep the chin up and appreciate the playoff appearance, however long it runs.
Haha. Did anyone see Huston interviewed by Ray Fosse after the clinch game in Seattle?
Ray made an offhand joke about whether Huston was old enough to drink
Huston: “What? I was 21 last year, this year I’m 23!” I love this team.
Looks like Oaktown has all the ducks in a row, more or less. Harden is back, hopefully for the full post-season. Street’s 3 Ks calmed me down a bit. Harden is going on a 90-100 pitch count sunday against the halos. Hopefully he’ll be 100 percent in the playoffs.
Since we’ve got this A’s thread going here, I’d like to take this opportunity to throw a little dap Milton Bradley’s way. He was a big question mark coming into the season, but he kept his cool (mostly) the whole season, and though his season overall was probably not what he or the team hoped for, at a number of crucial moments he was money: the Sunday game against Toronto he won with the walk-off; his performance coming off the disabled list in Boston (right after the All-Star break, which really jump started the team); in Monday and Tuesday’s games in Seattle. And he provided energy and passion whenever he was in the lineup. Guys like Bradley get a lot of grief when things go wrong with them–he should get some credit for the positive contributions, too.
And yeah, I think Harden could make a big difference if he’s 100 percent. I’ve been there in the Coliseum when he’s been “on,” and he’s the one guy on the A’s staff who can truly be unhittable. He will make even more of a difference if the A’s get out of the first round–Oakland’s starting staff is deeper than the other teams’ staffs, and that will show more in a longer series. I am liking their chances. Let’s just keep the fingers crossed.
There are many ways to do this, as a Royals fan, I can probably name you all the ways that have thus far been discovered, and no doubt new discoveries are just waiting to be made.
Speaking of which, I’d kind of like the Royals to lay down and let the Tigers sweep them this weekend, so Minnesota won’t win the division. Could you please pass the word along?
Do you think the Royals neccesarily need to “lay down” for that to happen? It could happen if they play their hardest!
But what do I know? I’m going to the Indians v. Tampa Bay game Sunday. I’m thinking that the game will take about an hour and 30 minutes because both teams will be rushing to go home!
All the Tigers need to do is show up. The Royals offense has been AWOL since Teahen and Grudz came out of the lineup, and if by some miracle they scratch out a lead, the bullpen will blow it.
Que sera sera, I guess. It’s not really the fault of the Royals. It’s the Tigers who disgraced themselves. I couldn’t believe it either, but I knew they would lose yesterday’s game when I heard that Rogers had come in to pitch in the extras. Rogers is a coward who folds like origami in any real pressure situation. The Tigers were doomed the moment they called him in.
If the Tigers had any dignity, they’d just forfeit their playoff series and spend the next six months whipping themselves in a dark cave. Detroit fans should probably tape their eyelids open; if they blink they’ll miss their team’s playoff games. NY will probably beat them so fast it will all look like a blur.
“Expect the worst. Then you can only be pleasantly surprised.”
That’s going to be my motto for the first round series. Of course it’s hopeless. The A’s have a long, rich history of taking one look at the Metrodome and shitting themselves en masse. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.
What’s the connection? Well, I was resigned to the Royals suffering another 100-loss season knowing that their last 3 games would be in Detroit, against whom they’d only won one all year. So when Joe Mauer homered with two outs in the ninth to deny the Royals a win on Thursday night, eventually leading to loss # 100 in extra innings, I didn’t care all that much.
Now that the Royals swept the Tigers, it means that that homer cost the Royals a potential season under 100!
At least we weren’t worst in the majors this year…Thanks, Tampa Bay!
I didn’t watch his start last over the weekend; did anyone else?
The A’s certainly drew the most undesirable opponent, but I’ll remain cautiously optomistic. As Beane says, the playoffs are a crapshoot. Of course I’d rather be crapshooting against the Tigers
A’s and Twins get no respect… 10 a.m. (PDT) game times two days in a row? Sheesh! God forbid they should show their faces in primetime.
It may seem like that right now, but I’d bet that when the moment comes they’ll go with Harden. As likely as not, the A’s will be in a position where they’ll need a win, badly. As much as Blanton has done good work these last two years, I think in that situation I’d much rather take a shot at running Harden out there and hoping he’s got that electric stuff that day, versus just letting Blanton go out with his good but not great stuff. If Harden is on, the other team has little to no chance; they’ll be looking for that kind of shutdown performance. The smart money says reservations aside, Harden will get the call. (Unless he’s actually injured again.)
