Twins Win, Giants – Braves Settle Game 5 Tonight
The season came to a crashing close for the A’s Sunday at the Coliseum before 32,000 fans.
The Twins hit when they needed it, the A’s didn’t. If the A’s didn’t have a lefty on the mound the Twins eyes light up.
The Twins hit up and down the order, they made use of the eight and nine spots with AJ Pierzyinski and Denny Hocking coming through with key hits in the biggest game of the year.
The Twins got away with their ineffective closer Eddie Guardado, the A’s couldn’t get out of the ninth inning without Billy Koch giving up three runs.
Tim Hudson couldn’t win a game, Brad Radke won two, including game five, the biggest game of his career.
Now the Twins face the Angels. One of those two teams will be in the world series.
Hitting is the common thread of the two teams. They both used a good offense to oust their opponents, two teams, the A’s and the Yankees, that won 103 regular season games.
Now the Giants and Braves play game five in Atlanta.
Here’s what I think.Hitting is the key. Good pitching can stop good hitting. There is a scary little stat going through the playoffs, pitchers throwing on three days rest, just don’t win. I don’t care who they are.
If the great Cy Young pitched on three days rest today, he would be gone in five innings.
Kevin Millwood goes on the dreaded three days rest tonight.
Tonight is Barry Bonds’ playoff coming out party. The NL MVP will make a difference in the game and lead his team into the second round.
Livan Hernandez pitched beautifully just as I thought he would when I wrote the Dish on Sept.27th.
Confidence in Livan’s game allowed Dusty Baker to bring Russ Ortiz back on normal rest.
The Giants have better overall hitting than the Braves. The Braves, like the A’s, have that nasty little habit of disappointing in October, tonight will add to their legacy.
The A’s will need to make some changes next year. The team needs a new centerfielder, leftfielder, more catching help, a better righthander in the bull pen, and most likely a DH when Ray Durham leaves.
Will Jack Cust be an Athletic soon. The former Arizona farmhand, now a Colorado Rockies player, has been a favorite of Billy Beane’s for too long to pass up.
Cust fills the bill since he walks, strikes out and homers at eye opening rates. He’s not much in the field which won’t bother the A’s GM.
The playoffs require successful teams to hit doubles, hit for an average, and create runs against tough pitchers. The A’s are not built to do any of these things and that is as big of a cause for their October exits as anything.
The core group of Tejada, Chavez, and Dye are still learning and maturing as hitters and as young men. They just haven’t been able to get it done in the playoffs.
The A’s need the replacements next season to be legit major leaguers who are about thirty years old, have some moxie about playing the game, and not one dimensional players.
Sort of the Reggie Sanders type, someone with something left in the tank, not a reclamation project.
The A’s will be back in the playoffs because the starters can all win 20 games next year, they are great over 162 games, but they need help to be winners in the post season.
The team didn’t choke, they are still growing as big time major league players.
The expectations were high based on the 103 wins, they just didn’t get it done.
No shame in that.
The team won 103 games, have awards by the bushel coming next month, set an all time record in the American league with 20 straight wins, and gave over 2 million fans a lot of wonderful memories.
They just didn’t beat the Twins in the ALDS.
Look out the window the sun is still shining.
0 comments
I still think guys can be effective on three days of rest. Mark Mulder pitched fine yesterday, Jarrod Washburn won the other day, and both Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling would have won on three days rest in the World Series last year if it wasn’t for Byung-Hyun Kim’s little blowups. I think some guys are better cut out for it than others. The big, strong guys handle shorter rest better than others. Kevin Millwood is a big, strong guy. I think he will be fine.
As far as the A’s are concerned, how much experience does it take to get over the top? It seems like the same thing was said about them the last two years.
Mulder took four innings to find himself Sunday the first nine righthanded hitters got on base eight times agaimst him. He just wasn’t sharp until the fourth. Johnson and Schilling are in a class by themselves. Everyone else struggles. Probably the biggest issue the A’s have is the offensive philosophy of the long ball which catches up to them in the playoffs. Playoff pitching staffs don’t walk the opposition as much, thus you need a diversified attack. I still think Tejada and Chavez are getting there as hitters, but aren’t the every at bat threats that they will be. Tejada had a great season but a lousy playoff.
Marty
Sorry Marty but Hudson certainly didn’t turn out to be the cool intimidator you thought he might. Mark Mulder was the one of big three to pitch like we know he can, and you can’t blame Hudson’s first game on three days rest. He just couldn’t keep the ball down in the zone. What about Koch? I know he put up great numbers in the regular season but he sure made games more interesting then you’d like your closer to do. Billy is a great personality to have around the team and maybe he has the stuff the be a forget about it type of closer but not until he can get those fastballs down, and maybe if Ramon can stretch his arms so he has six inches more reach I will feel more comfortable with Koch on the mound.
The Twins seemed to have scouted the A’s hitters well. Tejada, Justice and Dye all looked helpless at the plate in game five.
You still have to love the A’s 2002 season. It’s one I won’t soon forget.
The A’s just couldn’t hit in the middle innings. maybe Radke did win two games, but I think he got the assist from 54 year old David Justice and Terrence Long, a man that swears bailing out on the oustside pitch is worth it as long as he can hit a bomb ever time luck smacks him in the ass. Great T, .250 aint bad. Maybe his strategy is to workout the left fielder to exhaustion with all of those pop ups behind third base.
One more thing, Ramon Hernandez needs to open his eyes to the fact that he is expendable, though I did give him two stars for mellow dramatic acting; that face after every missed pop up up or ground ball hit to to third was very convincing. I could feel him saying to himself “stupid pitcher, won’t put it on a tee for me, I didn’t want to play anyway”.
Regarding T-Long, did you hear the announcers in game 5 talking him up as a great center fielder? I like T but I had to laugh at those guys. It was like the only play they had ever seen him make was that great catch in Boston.
All the comments are appreciated. Here’s some more thoughts on what must be done.
Get a regular centerfielder. Trade Terrence Long. Forget his potential I don’t think he works hard enough at his game. Sign Ray Durham he gives flexibility at second base if Ellis needs help in his second season plus he is your DH for three years. Get rid of Tam and Mecir for anything anyone will give you. Get one more established hitter to hit fifth, I mean a regular not a Dave Justice/John Jaha prayer. Preferably a left fielder. Trade Piatt, Byrnes, and Lidle for the hitter. The team doesn’t have enough confidence in them to make it work in Oakland. Get a legit backup who can catch twice per week without compromising the pitching staff. Sign a fourth starter, send Lilly to AAA to learn how to start, sign a 94 MPH righty to set up for the pen. Not a lot to ask and all within reach of this market and especially with the revenue sharing coming next year.
Left, left, right, left, and if needed left. Why wasn’t the A’s braintrust able to come up with the rotation the Twins most feared? Every year’s 5th game playoff collapse teaches a new lesson. Still suffering from Heredia hangover, and Bob Brenley envy, you could see the desire for just using the Big Three, but why not arrange the rotation for the best advantage over the team you are currently playing. At least now they are graduates of the Dusty Baker School of Postseason Playoff Stradegy, as the starting rotation is perfectly aligned to pitch against the Angels. If the A’s ever want to advance to the next level, management needs to focus on the current series rather than the elimination of last years mistakes and mimicking the successful methods of last year’s world series winner. Susan
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