I had a long day on Wednesday so I'm just getting to this latest post now (and my post from Tuesday night) just was posted this morning too so my tardiness is unacceptable.
But who cares? The A's won the American League West, and I was in the stands at O.Co Coliseum. It's trivial to just write a few paragraphs about an event words can't do justice to.
But I'll try with a bullet points:
*The sellout crowd was surreal. Yes, there were a lot of bandwagons parked in what looked like from the BART bridge walking a jammed lot. I went to I think eight games before Wednesday's season finale, and frankly this team deserved more support long before the final series against the Rangers (blame the ballpark, Lew Wolff or the Giants if you want). But none of that really mattered Wednesday. The fans arrived early, cheered hard, despite being quieted for a brief period by the Rangers' surge and some shaky Oakland defense, and most incredibly stayed well after the end of the game. When we finally left after most of the players retreated into the clubhouse to continue their celebrating, the thought "We don't want to leave yet" probably conflicted many other A's fans who didn't want this thing to end.
*Even Scribner. Guess it was fitting that another Athletic I would guess 60 percent of the crowd had never heard of was an unsung hero Wednesday. The unheralded reliever who usually is far behind the bullpen pecking order of Blevins, Cook, Doolittle, Balfour and even guys like Pat Neshek (unfortunately more on him later), Jim Miller and before his injury Jordan Norberto. But here was Scribner taking over for ineffective and unlucky starter A.J. Griffin after Texas looked poised to poison the A's fairy tale apple. The A's were bumbling in the field, it was 5-1 and surely the Rangers were at worst going to score a couple more runs, because that's what their offense does regularly. No sir. Scribner ended the five-run third with no further damage, got through a hardly perfect but scoreless fourth, set the Rangers down in order in the fifth and got the two outs of the sixth. By then the A's were leading and Scribner's three scoreless innings became one of the game's turning points. I can't imagine how great Scribner must have felt hearing the fans cheer his exit.
*The comeback. The last nine games of the season, when the A's shaved all of a five-game deficit, made for the ultimate comeback. But the six-run fourth inning Wednesday carved the Mt. Rushmore of Athletics' rallies during the season. If anything because of the situation. Texas may have coughed up a comfortable Western Division lead, but this was still the two-time defending American League champs, and a 5-1 lead with everything on the line given the Rangers' postseason pedigree could have been difficult for some teams to recover from, especially given how potent that Texas lineup can be. But here were the A's getting the first four hitters on base to score two runs. You could see something brewing. Then with two outs and a pitching change, Coco Crisp doubles in the tying runs. And then Yoenis Cespedes' lazy fly ball to center field and......
*.....Josh Hamilton's error. Full disclaimer: I'm a big Josh Hamilton fan. The guy has been to hell and back in his life and career. It doesn't matter that Hamilton himself created many of his own demons, even as an A's fan and Texas hater, you root for Josh Hamilton to get through every day sober. But with the A.L. West title at stake you also want the Hamilton who struggled at the plate with three strikeouts. But that Cespedes lazy fly ball that Hamilton botched to score what proved to be the winning runs was something totally different, damn lucky for Cespedes, sweet for A's fans, sour for Texas fans and just an unfortunate mistake by Hamilton. Admittedly, I yelled out "Thank you, Josh Hamilton!!!!" for that gift-wrapped gaffe. But it was just the A's time, and Josh Hamilton committed the cardinal sin of giving away two runs to what was by all accounts a team of destiny to win the division and complete the unprecedented comeback. You hope Hamilton bounces back from his error, and with free agency looming gets far away from the American League West and has fewer chances to do damage against the A's in the future.
*Grant Balfour. He's on a roll folks. He kind of guaranteed a victory after Tuesday's latest clutch closer outing. And while it would have been a better story for him to have to come into a one-run game and finish off the Rangers and face far more pressure than he did with a seven-run cushion, you have to love this guy's bravado right now. Now let's see if he can keep up this pace during the ALDS.
*The Motor City Kitties. One of my close friends back in Arkansas is a big Tigers' fan and we traded e-mails about this pending series. I still have a hard time talking Detroit baseball with him since that 2006 American League Championship Series sweep of the A's, which was one of the most disappointing performances by a team I've rooted for given what was on the line (the Sharks' last two Western Conference Finals' performances were right there too). But this will be a tough series for the A's with having to go to Detroit and Justin Verlander waiting on the Comerica Park mound. I'll have a little more on this series closer to Saturday's game and maybe a prediction. But if the A's can split the first two in Detroit, I like their chances to move on. Get swept in the first two games and even this team may have met its match.
* Pat Neshek's tragedy. It's understandable if we're still sky high about this dream season and looking ahead to the playoffs. But baseball means very little right now to A's reliever Pat Neshek and his wife Stephanee, who will have to ask why life can be so cruel and twisted that they could give birth to what they thought was a healthy baby boy -Gehrig John Neshek- and then less than a day later losing Gehrig for what was at the time unknown causes. I will keep the Neshek's in my thoughts.
But who cares? The A's won the American League West, and I was in the stands at O.Co Coliseum. It's trivial to just write a few paragraphs about an event words can't do justice to.
But I'll try with a bullet points:
*The sellout crowd was surreal. Yes, there were a lot of bandwagons parked in what looked like from the BART bridge walking a jammed lot. I went to I think eight games before Wednesday's season finale, and frankly this team deserved more support long before the final series against the Rangers (blame the ballpark, Lew Wolff or the Giants if you want). But none of that really mattered Wednesday. The fans arrived early, cheered hard, despite being quieted for a brief period by the Rangers' surge and some shaky Oakland defense, and most incredibly stayed well after the end of the game. When we finally left after most of the players retreated into the clubhouse to continue their celebrating, the thought "We don't want to leave yet" probably conflicted many other A's fans who didn't want this thing to end.
*Even Scribner. Guess it was fitting that another Athletic I would guess 60 percent of the crowd had never heard of was an unsung hero Wednesday. The unheralded reliever who usually is far behind the bullpen pecking order of Blevins, Cook, Doolittle, Balfour and even guys like Pat Neshek (unfortunately more on him later), Jim Miller and before his injury Jordan Norberto. But here was Scribner taking over for ineffective and unlucky starter A.J. Griffin after Texas looked poised to poison the A's fairy tale apple. The A's were bumbling in the field, it was 5-1 and surely the Rangers were at worst going to score a couple more runs, because that's what their offense does regularly. No sir. Scribner ended the five-run third with no further damage, got through a hardly perfect but scoreless fourth, set the Rangers down in order in the fifth and got the two outs of the sixth. By then the A's were leading and Scribner's three scoreless innings became one of the game's turning points. I can't imagine how great Scribner must have felt hearing the fans cheer his exit.
*The comeback. The last nine games of the season, when the A's shaved all of a five-game deficit, made for the ultimate comeback. But the six-run fourth inning Wednesday carved the Mt. Rushmore of Athletics' rallies during the season. If anything because of the situation. Texas may have coughed up a comfortable Western Division lead, but this was still the two-time defending American League champs, and a 5-1 lead with everything on the line given the Rangers' postseason pedigree could have been difficult for some teams to recover from, especially given how potent that Texas lineup can be. But here were the A's getting the first four hitters on base to score two runs. You could see something brewing. Then with two outs and a pitching change, Coco Crisp doubles in the tying runs. And then Yoenis Cespedes' lazy fly ball to center field and......
*.....Josh Hamilton's error. Full disclaimer: I'm a big Josh Hamilton fan. The guy has been to hell and back in his life and career. It doesn't matter that Hamilton himself created many of his own demons, even as an A's fan and Texas hater, you root for Josh Hamilton to get through every day sober. But with the A.L. West title at stake you also want the Hamilton who struggled at the plate with three strikeouts. But that Cespedes lazy fly ball that Hamilton botched to score what proved to be the winning runs was something totally different, damn lucky for Cespedes, sweet for A's fans, sour for Texas fans and just an unfortunate mistake by Hamilton. Admittedly, I yelled out "Thank you, Josh Hamilton!!!!" for that gift-wrapped gaffe. But it was just the A's time, and Josh Hamilton committed the cardinal sin of giving away two runs to what was by all accounts a team of destiny to win the division and complete the unprecedented comeback. You hope Hamilton bounces back from his error, and with free agency looming gets far away from the American League West and has fewer chances to do damage against the A's in the future.
*Grant Balfour. He's on a roll folks. He kind of guaranteed a victory after Tuesday's latest clutch closer outing. And while it would have been a better story for him to have to come into a one-run game and finish off the Rangers and face far more pressure than he did with a seven-run cushion, you have to love this guy's bravado right now. Now let's see if he can keep up this pace during the ALDS.
*The Motor City Kitties. One of my close friends back in Arkansas is a big Tigers' fan and we traded e-mails about this pending series. I still have a hard time talking Detroit baseball with him since that 2006 American League Championship Series sweep of the A's, which was one of the most disappointing performances by a team I've rooted for given what was on the line (the Sharks' last two Western Conference Finals' performances were right there too). But this will be a tough series for the A's with having to go to Detroit and Justin Verlander waiting on the Comerica Park mound. I'll have a little more on this series closer to Saturday's game and maybe a prediction. But if the A's can split the first two in Detroit, I like their chances to move on. Get swept in the first two games and even this team may have met its match.
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