My
silence and lack of writing over the past week during the ALDS against the
Tigers was more or less due to a whirlwind personal schedule and a desire to
not sound like a whining homer. Overall,
while ignoring the final outcome, I thought the series was filled with good
baseball and a ton of exciting moments.
No one ran the gamut of emotional ups and downs more than Coco Crisp of
course.
Game 1 started off
with a bang, literally, as Coco led off the game with a HR. Parker pitched good enough to win, but the A’s
could not do anything after the HR against Verlander – who I’ve grown to hate
in one calendar week.
Game 2 was the
crushing defeat that the A’s couldn’t stand to make. While Coco became the goat of the game, I don’t
think that is necessarily fair. The rest
of the lineup left way too many runners on base and each of our “big three”
from the bullpen had a rocky inning of relief work to give up runs. This game was for the taking and it should have
been won.
After
game 2, my thoughts were already on the feasibility of beating Verlander in
game 5. However, I didn’t realize how
much excitement would be coming over the next few days. In game 3, Brett
Anderson returned to the mound to pitch an absolute gem, with the A’s taking it
2-0 to force a game 4. Game 4 was
absolutely amazing. In the words of Glen
Kuiper, this was “un-be-lievable!!” I
was traveling for work and believe I woke up half the floor at the hotel when
this game ended. It was the perfect
personification of the A’s season, walking off in the 9th inning
after doing virtually nothing for 3+ hours.
Going
into game 5, I could
only think of one thing – how were the A’s bats going to come to life against
Verlander. In two words, they didn’t. There were so many bad at bats and strike
outs, that it isn’t even worth calling one or two players out on it (not to
mention a wildly exaggerated strike zone).
However, when you lose 6-0, you can’t blame the strike zone. Oddly enough, I actually prefer losing in
this manner vs. a game that comes down to the end. By the bottom of the 9th inning, I
was already in a positive-angle frame of mind and thinking about what a great season
it was.
To
that end, let’s not forget what the A’s accomplished this season and the amount
of fun that it was, for both the players and the fans. We had the “Bernie Lean”, the pie celebrations, a
collection of rookie pitchers playing their hearts out, and a lineup that had a
flair for the dramatic. It was a great
run for the team who wildly overachieved vs. expectations.
Beane
has already stated that
he wants to keep this roster together.
There are a few small decisions to make based on this past season’s roster
(Gomes, Drew, etc.). I’ll be putting
together some thoughts on the offseason this coming week, but take a look at the new poll on the right hand side and let me know what you think the priority should be for this team.
For
now, let’s remember what a great year it was for the 2012 AL West Champions, Oakland A’s!! Let’s go Oakland!
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