This is what it's like to suffer through a Comerican Horror Story Sunday afternoon in downtown Detroit.
Simply put, the A's aren't playing the kind of championship or even series-winning baseball that defines October. Sure, the Athletics did get about as much from another rookie starter (Tommy Milone) as they could possibly ask for. They got a brilliant piece of baserunning from Yoenis Cespedes that helped the team take their final lead of Game 2 when Cespedes stole two bases, including a risky run to third that was a major gamble but the kind of gutsy call the A's needed on a day when they suffered self-inflicted wounds galore. And who would have predicted light-hitting Cliff Pennington to be his club's most productive hitter in the first two games?
None of those gold stars couldn't prevent the black asterisks that filled the box score in a 5-4 loss and desperation efforts needed to win games 3-4-5 to avoid having this fantastic season end. To make it short and sweet, these moments were devastating and the A's mostly have themselves to blame for them:
*Coco Crisp now knows how Josh Hamilton feels. Both center fielders must cope with botched fly balls that could be among the biggest gaffes that helped end their team's seasons. Crisp had no business dropping Miguel Cabrera's sinking fly ball that admittedly he had to cover a lot of ground to catch with two outs and two on in the seventh with the A's hoping to hold onto a 3-2 lead. He was still there in plenty of time to make the play. And if you're going to try and make a basket catch Willie Mays style, at least make sure you can laugh about your manager chewing you out in the dugout. Dropping the ball deserves more than a "Don't ever @#$%^in' do it again" response. You can't drop the ball in a situation like this one and not absorb some criticism.
*Ryan Cook has been outstanding most of the season as the Athletics' set-up guy, turned closer, turned all-star, turned set up-guy again. But with two outs and a 4-3 lead in the eighth, Cook's wild pitch that allowed Don Kelly to score the tying run was a brutal mistake at the worst time for a time that needed to even the series and couldn't afford to give away so many runs. Granted, the Tigers allowed the A's to tie the game the exact same way in the previous inning when Detroit reliever Joaquin Benoit bounced a pitch to the backstop. But the A's had already been far too generous with the Crisp two-run error.
*Like Cook and Sean Doolittle, who also struggled through their respective innings in relief Sunday, it's a knee-jerk reaction to apply too much blame to Grant Balfour. All three, headlined by Balfour were vital pieces in Oakland's surge to the American League West title. But like many closers who enter non-save situations -tie game starting the bottom of the ninth- and aren't really sharp, Balfour hurt his own cause when he allowed a one-out single to the solid but hardly feared Omar Infante. Not with Cabrera and then Prince Fielder coming up next. Cabrera promptly singled to center and moved Infante to third, forcing the A's to intentionally walk Fielder and allowing Kelly to swing selectively with the bases loaded and in need of just a deep enough fly ball, which Kelly did rather convincingly. It was simply not a good day for the A's bullpen.
What does it all mean? The A's are now facing tall odds as they get out of Comerica Park battered and shaken. They'll be hard-pressed to win one and then two games against a confident, playoff-tested club that has a significant margin for error knowing it can lose twice in Oakland and still come back with ace Justin Verlander if the series gets to a Game 5. But the A's are far away from even thinking about a fifth game, and they must realize they've done great damage on their own so far.
Simply put, the A's aren't playing the kind of championship or even series-winning baseball that defines October. Sure, the Athletics did get about as much from another rookie starter (Tommy Milone) as they could possibly ask for. They got a brilliant piece of baserunning from Yoenis Cespedes that helped the team take their final lead of Game 2 when Cespedes stole two bases, including a risky run to third that was a major gamble but the kind of gutsy call the A's needed on a day when they suffered self-inflicted wounds galore. And who would have predicted light-hitting Cliff Pennington to be his club's most productive hitter in the first two games?
None of those gold stars couldn't prevent the black asterisks that filled the box score in a 5-4 loss and desperation efforts needed to win games 3-4-5 to avoid having this fantastic season end. To make it short and sweet, these moments were devastating and the A's mostly have themselves to blame for them:
*Coco Crisp now knows how Josh Hamilton feels. Both center fielders must cope with botched fly balls that could be among the biggest gaffes that helped end their team's seasons. Crisp had no business dropping Miguel Cabrera's sinking fly ball that admittedly he had to cover a lot of ground to catch with two outs and two on in the seventh with the A's hoping to hold onto a 3-2 lead. He was still there in plenty of time to make the play. And if you're going to try and make a basket catch Willie Mays style, at least make sure you can laugh about your manager chewing you out in the dugout. Dropping the ball deserves more than a "Don't ever @#$%^in' do it again" response. You can't drop the ball in a situation like this one and not absorb some criticism.
*Ryan Cook has been outstanding most of the season as the Athletics' set-up guy, turned closer, turned all-star, turned set up-guy again. But with two outs and a 4-3 lead in the eighth, Cook's wild pitch that allowed Don Kelly to score the tying run was a brutal mistake at the worst time for a time that needed to even the series and couldn't afford to give away so many runs. Granted, the Tigers allowed the A's to tie the game the exact same way in the previous inning when Detroit reliever Joaquin Benoit bounced a pitch to the backstop. But the A's had already been far too generous with the Crisp two-run error.
*Like Cook and Sean Doolittle, who also struggled through their respective innings in relief Sunday, it's a knee-jerk reaction to apply too much blame to Grant Balfour. All three, headlined by Balfour were vital pieces in Oakland's surge to the American League West title. But like many closers who enter non-save situations -tie game starting the bottom of the ninth- and aren't really sharp, Balfour hurt his own cause when he allowed a one-out single to the solid but hardly feared Omar Infante. Not with Cabrera and then Prince Fielder coming up next. Cabrera promptly singled to center and moved Infante to third, forcing the A's to intentionally walk Fielder and allowing Kelly to swing selectively with the bases loaded and in need of just a deep enough fly ball, which Kelly did rather convincingly. It was simply not a good day for the A's bullpen.
What does it all mean? The A's are now facing tall odds as they get out of Comerica Park battered and shaken. They'll be hard-pressed to win one and then two games against a confident, playoff-tested club that has a significant margin for error knowing it can lose twice in Oakland and still come back with ace Justin Verlander if the series gets to a Game 5. But the A's are far away from even thinking about a fifth game, and they must realize they've done great damage on their own so far.
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