Changing Their Stripes

If the A's have any chance -- even to make this series a bit closer than it has been -- they are going to have to play like the better team.

On a lighter note, Tim Hudson will be on the postgame show.

The thing that really kills me inside is the idea that the Coliseum will sit quiet next week. That there'll be no more foul lines on the grass, no more drummers in the stands, no more chants and Stomper dances and endless hours of our boys on the field.

I love October baseball, and the idea of it ending is just heart-wrenching. The idea of never seeing Barry Zito stride out on that field in a white uniform with green socks at his knees breaks my heart. I wanted to see him in a World Series game. I wanted to see him stare down the competition in Game 1.

The past month and a half have been rough for me, but I've always been able to come home to the A's, and that means everything to me. They gave us one hell of a ride, and it's genuinely made a difference in my life. I'm not ready for it to be over.

Seeing them in the ALCS is amazing, even with the losses... And they may be down 3-0, but honestly, I'm not ready to give up yet. The boys were NAILS for quite awhile this season, they've made it so far this season, let's just give 'em some hope and joy and excitement until the very last minute of their ride in the playoffs. Because it's sure as hell not over yet.

We've seen before that it's not over, it's never over until that final damn out. Haren's a big game pitcher, tomorrow's a big game. I really believe these boys won't go down quietly -- let's make this a race. There's more baseball to play.

Kielty DP'd in his only appearance, but the A's were already down 3-0.

Those things that went our way last week are not going our way this week, and here we are - in a position we all hate. And more than likely, we're going to have at least one more painful game where we all turn off the TV set after yelling at one more out in yet another painful inning of a frustrating game. Then, we count the days until Spring Training. It's how baseball works. 29 teams will go home frustrated. We just never want it to be us.

The Jimenez whining is perplexing to me. The A's middle-infield, not by their own choosing is Scutaro and Jimenez.: A back-up and his back-up, starting, front and center. Put that out there for 162 games and you will not be in the playoffs, ever.

I feel I have only one legitimate whine and that is what I believe was a very poor selection for the ALCS rotation. People as wise and intelligent as the A's brass are should have seen the importance of getting Haren out there in the first three games over Loaiza and Harden, who--by no fault of their own--were simply not as likely to come up big.

But really, it wouldn't have mattered. The Tigers have simply been better at adjusting to the situation and doing what they need to do to win. Consider the hat tipped. But the white flag not yet waved. Not yet.

The A's just have to avoid the sweep tomorrow. And I'm glad we have Haren on the mound to do it. Hopefully, some of the bats can get it together. All is not lost. Not yet.

And then see what happens,  if by chance, Zito get another start and the A's get another shot at Robertson.

And, perhaps, we all get one more day to see a game in Oakland...then maybe even one more....

But it all starts with one game tomorrow.

Just win one game.

We are back into the elite class of teams now, and we have made it further into October than any Beane team thusfar, even whilst having our team utterly decimated by injuries for whole stretches of the season.  Shucks, tonight was Richie's 10th start of the season and it's the middle of October.  We don't even have Duke right now and Ellis was gone as of a week ago Wednesday.  

No excuses, but it's very tough to do what we came to this point to do without key components, especially against a team so hot and so focused and so well-managed and so worthy as these Tigers.  They are playing exceptionally, and we're playing like we always do in May, but that shouldn't dampen the achievements our boys have accomplished in this most memorable year.

I will leave my sig up until the last hope is extinguished... a lot of you wanted me to change it a million times over the course of the season but I am not that kind of fan and wouldn't know how to be.  I put that up the day we signed Frank Thomas and it stays until we are eliminated.

Remember all the fun, all the thrills we have had this year as you watch tomorrow, and be thankful and show love and gratitude no matter what the outcome.  Never forget that this is the team that does the most with the least, perhaps in all of sports, and that we made it on guts and grit and grind further than the vast majority of MLB this time around.

4 game streak starts...now.

To date DET have played very well but I can't help but think that the two pitchers' who this team really relied on to come through, failed to do their jobs-Zito and Loza. For me, this series was over after the first 3 innings of game 1. "Fearful In The Zone" reared it's ugly head and Loza's pitiful attempted just finished them off.

I suppose the only good thing about losing in 4 games is I won't need to sit through Zito pitching in G and G ever again. Wear It Barry...you failed. Good Bye. Good Riddance. Take your goofy act down south , or better yet, to NY where they'ii eat you alive.

Offensively, well what can you say. I think we might have been all fooled, or were willing to be fooled, when the A's some how beating Santana. Then A's go on to beat some idiot named Boof and a late 30's Radke with a bum shoulder. All is right with the mighty A's O!!! Guess again.

If it sounds like a duck, walks like a duck, farts like a duck...well then, it's a duck. The statheads on this site love to point out "sample size". Well, the A's, once again this year, sucked. And it's just not SLG % or OBP but its the apparent inability to play simple, little league, baseball. First batter hits a double, no outs, and he gets stranded...time after time after time. Fuck, i absolutley hate that shit. And somewhere Dave Hudgens is drunk as a monkey, throwing darts at a billy beane picture and laughing at this poor offensive display.

Can Haren win tomorrow? Maybe, but I doubt it. Have the A's had what might be a successful year? No.

Nothing less but winning it all should be the A's ultimate expectation. I definitely know it's mine.

Time to reload for '07.    

5-2/3 innings, 3 runs, 5 hits, 5 walks, 105 pitches, only 56 strikes?

I think it can be argued convincingly that he pitched worse than either Zito or Loaiza. This is precisely the sort of start Zito was having mid-season where oaktoon was saying "Cy Young! Cy Young!" while everyone else pointed out how awful Z's peripherals were and that he was getting extremely lucky. (And remember that Kotsay made 2 excellent plays to rob the Tigers of hits off Harden, and there were lots of line drives right at infielders; low BABIP is not a repeatable skill for 99% of pitchers.)

At this point, I am not really tripping about the outcome of this series. I don't really care about the World Series. I just want to see Zito get another start and give us all one last good memory of him.

The only thing about this loss that is really bothering me is thinking that I may have already seen Zito's last start and that is making me a little sick to my stomach.

So I say Haren goes out there and does one last good thing for his buddy and mentor, and give him one last shot at the mound in the Green and Gold! Please Danny, do it for Z!!

But if not, Detroit played one helluva series to look that good.

Hopefully there's more to look forward to from the A's in 2007.

1.  I didn't think the absence of Mark Ellis' glove would hurt us this much.  It definitely has, and that's not a knock on Jimenez.  I just don't think I appreciated how many extra outs a superior second baseman can get you.
2.  I didn't think the Tigers would hit this well.  They are taking pitches when they need to, and attacking them in all other cases.

As far as the A's performance in this series goes, they've spent the entire year being a team either red-hot or stone-cold--probably because of the spare parts approach Oakland necessarily adopts to building its team.  Unfortunately, they've gone stone cold at the worst possible time.  I have to remind myself, though, that if any team can suddenly rip off four wins in a row, it's probably the Oakland A's.  So I'll keep watching until the final out nestles itself into someone's glove.

I've loved the A's ever since I new anything about baseball, but I have also learned that sometimes you simply have to tip your cap and admit the truth.

Oh, I know the A's will keep on fighting - and I still harbor the slimist of hopes of the impossible four game win streak comeback, but I'm not foolish either.  These Tigers are GOOD and it is the longest of long shots to come back.

Frankly, if it can't be the A's taking the crown, I would feel pretty good about the felines from Detroit hauling up the flag.