IST -- Oakland - Detroit ALDS

[Frayed Knot]

Game 1 -- Jarrod Parker [13-8; 3.47] vs Justin Verlander [17-8; 2.64]

I look at the Oakland roster and think of Butch and Sundance saying to each other: "Who are those guys?"
Parker, in particular, is one of numerous rookies on the pitching staff, starting 29 of the 100+ games started by 1st-year players for the A's this year.
The 23 y/o was originally drafted 9th overall by the DBacks in 2007 and was acquired last December as part of a package for Trevor Cahill, Craig Breslow, and, get this, cash (cash coming from Oakland?!?).


The other guy who cracks me up on that staff is reliever Sean Doolittle.
He just turned 26 a couple weeks ago and pitched in 44 games this year to a 3.04 ERA & 1.08 WHiP after turning to pitching just this year.
He played 1B and the OF (plus one inning on the mound) from 2007 when the A's took him 41st overall through last season. This year he started as a pitcher in A-ball and went through AA & AAA before landing in the majors all by the 1st week in June!

[Zvon]

This game is not on a regular old TV station??

[Frayed Knot]

Zvon wrote: This game is not on a regular old TV station??

MLBN exclusively.
They're doing one more on Wednesday also.

Matt Vasgersian & the always good Jim Kaat on the call.
Now if they'd only get rid of the constant crawl on the bottom which tells you nothing you didn't already know and does so over and over again - we'd be in perfect shape here.
Some day stations are going to realize that just because ESPN does something doesn't make it a good idea.

[MFS62]

Game 2.
Tigers win 5-4.
The winning pitcher was Alburqueque, the guy who Mike Francessa said didn't exist. (He said the caller was making the guy up.)

Later

Edited October 7, 2012 by Guest

[Ceetar]

That was a crazy game. Wild pitches, bobbles in CF and the Tigers win on a Don Kelly sac fly in the bottom of the ninth.

MFS62 wrote: Game 2. Tigers win 5-4. The winning pitcher was Alburqueque, the guy who earlier in the year Mike Francessa said didn't exist. (He said the caller was making the guy up.) Later

Think that was last year in the playoffs, but I could be mistaken.

[MFS62]

Yes. It was last year. I edited my post.

Later

[Guest Kong76]

Point me
In the direction of Albuquerque

[Edgy MD]

Cool. Partridge Family reference.

[Guest Kong76]

I was born in a house with the television always on

[ashie62]

Here also, today dissapointed the A's are dissolving.

[Frayed Knot]

[u:13h5367v]Game 2[/u:13h5367v]

We actually have a game here in danger of coming in at under 3 hours.

2-0 Oakland bottom 7
Good pitching and defense all around so far.
Tiger starter Anibal Sanchez just now getting yanked w/2 out in the 7th.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Tense, well-pitched, loaded with defense... AND under three hours.

This has secretly-- because it seems like TBS/MLB are determined to hide it-- been the most-entertaining series of the opening round.

[Edgy MD]

Their Chris Carter is better than our'n.

[metirish]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Tense, well-pitched, loaded with defense... AND under three hours. This has secretly-- because it seems like TBS/MLB are determined to hide it-- been the most-entertaining series of the opening round.

some great plays in the outfield........but we knew that was going to be the case because Buck "I can't stop talking" Martinez told us that from the git go and has only repeated it a hundred times since, fucks sake like, take a breather and stop talking for just a moment ......seriously , sometimes less is better and I think he is probably a good reader of the game and has a lot of stuff to pass on but he talks and talks and talks.....

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I watched most of it on mute. Lucky me!

[Frayed Knot]

Didn't stay up for the end of Game 4 of this one -- 3 hours+ on top of a 9:37 start ... too pissed off at the result of the previous game, etc. -- but the A's live another day and now play a do-or-die game tonight (same bat time, same bat channel).

Tigers led the entire game and heading into the 9th up by 2 they naturally call on closer Jose 'Papa Grande' Valverde ... but not much merriment ensued for Detroit-ites
JJ Reddick - single
Josh Donaldson - double [2nd & 3rd]
Seth Smith - double 2 RBI -- Tie game
George Kottaras (ph-ing for Norris) - foul out
[crossout:8aeikgj6]Chad[/crossout:8aeikgj6] Cliff Pennington - K
and so just when it looked like they were about to get out of it and at least survive to extra innings, Coco Crisp lined an RBI single although it looked like there would have been a play at home except that RF Garcia over-ran the ball charging it.


Of course this all means they have to win it against Verlander but that's better than not having a chance to win at all.
Jarrod Parker for the A's as the pitchers from Game 1 match up again.
Parker (Game 1): 6-1/3, 3 runs, 2 earned, 7 hits
Verlander: 7 innings, 1 earned, 3 hits, 11 Ks

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: JJ Reddick - single Josh Donaldson - double [2nd & 3rd] Seth Smith - double 2 RBI -- Tie game George Kottaras (ph-ing for Norris) - foul out [crossout]Chad[/crossout] Cliff Pennington - K

Who are those guys?
If you add a fat kid named Pedro, that lineup looks like the names from Bad News Nears XXII.

Later

[Ceetar]

disappointing, because if the Yankees do advance you'd like to have Verlander for 1-4-7 and you won't now.

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: Who are those guys?

My first thoughts too - in fact, go back and read my first sentence of this thread

Reddick I remember from his time as a BoSox
Kottaras is part-time catcher who kicked around with several teams including Milwaukee
You should remember Seth Smith from his days with Colorado [back when the Rox featured a line-up that contained both Peyton Manning's college backup (Todd Helton) and Eli's college backup (Smith)]
Donaldson is a 26 y/o rookie while Pennington has been toiling mostly in anonymity out in Oakland for a couple years now

[G-Fafif]

This A's team is the epitome of that scene in Major League in which it is asked of the Indians, "Who're these fuckin' guys?"

Fun bunch in the ninth last night, I tell you what.

[Frayed Knot]

Corvelli Crisp is certainly having an interesting series: leadoff HRs, stolen HRs, dropped balls, game-winning hits

[Frayed Knot]

[u:3dj63nlt]Game 5[/u:3dj63nlt]

2-0 Detroit in the 5th
Verlander just gave up his 2nd hit
An Austin Jackson double and a later wild pitch account for the runs.

[Frayed Knot]

Tigers busting loose in Oak-town
6-0 and still runners all over the place in the 7th

[Gwreck]

Couldn't get any more than 6 but Tigers looking good regardless.

[Frayed Knot]

Tigers taking nothing for granted as Verlander comes out again to at least begin the 8th and no one is even up in the pen

[Edgy MD]

Congratulations.

It took long enough to find their stride, but these guys sure looked stacked when the Mets were playing them every other game back in Spring Training.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Congratulations. It took long enough to find their stride, but these guys sure looked stacked when the Mets were playing them every other game back in Spring Training.

Detroit may have been the team most expected to run away with the division. They've got a huge bat coming back that missed all season, and some really nice pitching prospects to go with already the best pitcher in baseball.

poor Robin.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

A guy I know who's a Tigers fan remarked that this is one one of the worst Tigers seasons in memory, with the exception of Cabrera underachieving all year but somehow there at the end. I guess we'd liken it to 2007 had we made the playoffs that year.

[Frayed Knot]

Verlander fun-fact (courtesy of Tom Verducci):
Opponents (not just 'The Opponents' but all opponents in general) are hitting ~.150 w/no HRs against Verlander this season [u:8lv6dx7q]after he reaches the 100-pitch mark[/u:8lv6dx7q]

For those who didn't stay up for the late game yesterday: Complete game, 4-hit, 1 BB, 122 pitch shut-out to close out the series
Two of the hits came after pitch #100, singles on pitches 101 & 109

[Gwreck]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Cabrera underachieving all year but somehow there at the end.

Wait, what? Dude had a triple crown, and certainly didn't win it just with his September stats. (Had better OPS in July and August both).

The problem with the Tigers was they got substantially less production out of Catcher, Shortstop and DH (remember, Victor Martinez was out all year) than they did last year.