A’s Fall Short in First Playoff Game vs. Detroit Despite Fans’ ’10th Man Effort
The Scrappy Oakland A’s were the underdogs in the first
American League playoff Game against Detroit and Cy Young Pitcher
Max Sherzer. Their own ace, 40 year old wonder Bartolo Colon was,
perhaps affected more by the five day layoff after the end of the
season and gave up three runs in the first inning. But, after that, the
A’s were the winners, scoring the only other runs of the game in the
sixth inning on Yeonis Cespedes’ two run homerun that put them only
one run down. With 48,000 screaming fan exhorting the A’s on almost
every pitch one almost expected A’s Magic to happen again as it has so
many times during the season. But the top pitcher in the American League
and Detroit’s bullpen was just a little more than the A’s could handle;
perhaps the layoff and first game jitters could account for part of
their weak hitting performance ( only 3 hits on the night for a team
with a .295 average against Sherzer; of course, the other side had to
contend with the same layoff and jitters though it might have been
harder for a 40 year old pitcher and an A’s team of younger players.
The second game on Saturday will truly show what the A’s have in them,
if they can bounce back – but it won’t be easy with another top pitcher,
Verlander , going against them.
But, this game has to go down as one of the more exciting games for
the home fans, despite the loss. As a fan next to me said, the
enthusiastic A’s fan base may have gotten Cespedes’ juices going to hit
the big home run that brought the A’s back to within one run. But one
player’s performance a game does not make – Cepedes had two of the three
hits – and the A’s needed fewer strikeouts and better performances from
some other players this night. Our guess is that the A’s will show
definite improvement in Game 2 with the first one under their belt.
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OAKLAND A'S Official On-field Caps and Tshirts and Playoff Souvenirs ON SALE NOW
Joe DiMaggio once worked with the Oakland A's and Charlie Finley in the 1970s/80s and would be proud of the current team, which plays much in the style of the old Yankee Clipper....good old, hard-nosed, no nonsense , smart baseball. There are no big name stars, just a lot of eager, aggressive, intelligent fun-loving 'lower paid' players who are playing for the love of the game as much as anything. There is also a manager, Bob Melvin, who has upset GM Billy Beane's old theory that the manager doesn't make a difference, who took over a team that revolted against it's previous manager - and the coaching staff is second to none. They've gotten the most out of their young team. No help from modern technology, ie PEDs, like the cross Bay team. This is good old, real Golden Era Baseball like when DiMaggio played.
FORGET MONEYBALL - WHAT MONEY? 'Low Paid' 2013 A's The Real Hollywood Story
by Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News
OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps
you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland
Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the
baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic
thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.
Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The
current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made
about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a
rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday
when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League
Division Series.
To be sure, the A's of 2002 were intriguing.
Oakland Athletics players and fans exult as the last out of the game is
made against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, at O.co
Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. (D. ROSS CAMERON)
They had
a 20-game win streak and did break ground when general manager Billy
Beane (portrayed by Pitt in the film) started using statistical data to
make personnel and lineup decisions.But come on. Those A's did
not feature a stadium that leaked raw sewage; or an uncertain future in
their home city; or a relief pitcher from Australia who screams a lot
and grew up playing rugby; or a right fielder nicknamed "Hillbilly
Jesus"; or a powerfully exotic slugger from Cuba who obliterated the
Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. The A's of 2013 have given us all
of the above. And then some.
"We do have some interesting guys," A's manager Bob Melvin conceded this week.
Not that many casual sports fans in the Bay Area would know.
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OAKLAND A'S PLAYOFFS CENTRAL
