The A's were one of the biggest waste of pitching talent and some good offensive players that I have ever seen. Horrible, horrible defense for a playoff team. Guys making horrible baserunning decisions. A) Je Giambi (I think in game 3 when they closed in on a sweep) not sliding allowing exceptional Jeter's flip to get him out and keep the Yanks 1-run lead; B) Tejado not going 1st-3rd on a ball hit to RIGHT FIELD last night with 1 out with the 2nd base guy scoring on the play (Tejada would have scored on the next play). Just horrendous fundamentals probably costs them the world series. They had the best 3 starters in baseball and thick longball hitting offensive line-up that piled up one of the best 2nd half stretches in baseball, ever, but they wasted it. I have always like Art Howe, as a player and nice guy manager, but his team was poor managed and exhibited poor fundamentals. That is why the lesser talented but more fundamentally solid Mariners and Yankee's are playing for the ALCS and they A's are home crying.
Hmmmmm, sounds like the same sort of complaints Dierker gets. Although Tejada MAY have scored on the following play, the entire situation would have been different. With a runner on third the pitch selection may have been different and the batter may not have had the opportunity to hit a SF. To say that the exact same thing would have happened, if a different event had occurred before it is not necessarily true. For all we know, the batter may have hit a 3 run HR if Tejada had gone to third or he may have hit into an inning ending DP. This is the fallacy that most announcers get into. For example, if a runner is picked off and the batter hits a HR on the next pitch, the announcers will bemoan the fact that they guy got picked off and cost them a run. They are overlooking the fact that the pitch sequence/location would have been different.
True, things could have changed, but that doesn't impact the fact the guy should have gone to third when the closer guy to the left fielder was heading home. Totally poor fundamentals. Further, what about the potentially tying run NOT sliding and allowing an easy tage by the catcher in game 3? That was inexcusable. Had the A's guy slide into home like the D-Backs fellow did with that series ending play the A's might have swept that series. The D-Backs guy probably didn't even need to do the headfirst slide--touching the base low and from the left side, but did it for extra measure. Had the A's guy done the DBacks guy's slide there is NO way that tag could have been made, it would have been hard enough of a tag to make with a strait on feet first slide. The A's guy and coaches either were not using their head (blame on coach) or not hustling (blame on player) on that play. Also, all the unearned runs in the series were clearly evident of lack of fundamentals by the As. One error or so would be understandable, but they had series of errors responsible for key runs.
I respect the A's for not changing their logo or color scheme. Too bad the Houston teams didn't follow suit in that area.
bobrek is my hero. The A's certainly did blow it, but I'm not certain that it's a good idea to attribute the loss to any single mistake. At least Houston can "try again next year." Without Giambi, the A's are in trouble. And yes, I know that Seattle did just fine w/o A-Rod... but I think that's an abberation, rather than the norm. Also, Seattle was willing to take the money they would have used on A-Rod and reinvest it in other players. I'm not at all certain Oakland (small market) will be willing to do that.
from espn: <I>The Yankees had just brought Mike Stanton in to relieve Roger Clemens -- in the fifth inning, remember -- just to face him. And on the first pitch Stanton threw him, Giambi fired a bullet into right field for an RBI single that drew the A's back to within one run, 4-3. But when he looked up to see that the runner on first, Miguel Tejada, had stopped at second instead of hoofing it from first to third, Giambi convened another session of his never-ending leadership seminar. He stared at Tejada angrily and waved toward third. Then, as if that message hadn't been clear enough, he marched over to Tejada after the inning ended with him stranded and repeated the message, loud and clear. No one else on this team could have delivered that missive with quite the same force or anywhere near the same meaning. Two hours later, though, Giambi admitted he'd just gotten "all fired up" and that Tejada's explanation -- that he couldn't get thrown out at third there -- was rational enough. He said he'd actually gone back to Tejada later and apologized. "That's just part of the game," Giambi said. "I play with a lot of intensity. I went up to him later and told him it was my fault. I was just trying to make something happen." </I>
Agreed on the Mariners. Yes, they traded Unit. But they got Garcia in that deal, and he and Moyer anchored a very good pitching staff. Yes, they traded Griffey. But they got Mike Cameron, who has been great for the Mariners filling Griffey's shoes. Yes, they lost Arod to free agency. But they signed Ichiro, who defines the term superstar almost as much as Rodriguez did. And Boone stepped up and had a huge season. Its incorrect for the As (or the Stros, for that matter) to hold up the Mariners as an example of a team living without its superstars, when in fact all they did was change to a different set of outstanding performers. As for the A's: everyone loves the system when it's winning, and questions it when it's not. They've built an offense based on slugging and walks, instead of speed & defense-type players. Other than Giambi, the rest of the lineup didn't produce the pop that highlights their attack. Losing Dye didn't help, either.
Why does eveyone overlook Je Giombi not sliding in Game 3 when they could have swept the Yankees (the play where Jeter shuttled the ball to the catcher). Or the A's like 4 errors in the final game and numerous errors or at least non-hustle plays through games 3-5. The Yankee's beat them with inferior starting pitching and an offensive line-up because of 1 reason, fundamentals.
The A's made their share of fundamental mistakes which led to their demise, but the fact is they went 1 for whatever with runners in scoring position and that had a lot to do with it as well. The Astros went 0 for whatever although the Astros whatever was much less than Oakland's. If Giambi slides and is safe, the Yankees could still have won that game. Giambi acted a lot like Alou. He tore Tejada a new one for not getting to third yet made a baserunning mistake as well. I guess that is the competitive "fire" that a lot of folks like.
Ooooops... All those Giambi's look the same to me. Does that mean it was Jesus Alou who got on Berkman's case?
