So will the A's finally do it?

[Guest NoCalMike]

So with the A's being on fire going into September, I am sure their stock among the "experts" was soared. So I must ask, can the A's finally get over the hump that is called "The Yankees" ?? I think if the A's win their division they will avoid the Yankees in the first round, but it will only be fitting for them to meet in the ALCS with more at stake.....

[Guest bob_barron]

Well unless Derek Jeter does the holy shit play again- they should be able to do it

[Guest Some Guy]

They have better pitching than the Yanks and adequate hitting so I think they can beat them and I'd love to see it. Oakland/Arizona or Atlanta would be a very good WS.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Right now, I don't think there's ANY team in the world that can beat the Oakland Athletics. Unless they slip up in a big way, they've got a clean path - a virtual gimme with KC and another series with the Twins, whom the A's already swept earlier in the streak - to tying or surpassing the record for the longest winning streak in a season (disregarding the Giants' asterisk-influenced mark in 1916).

 

And the other good news for Athletics fans is that there have been five other times in Oakland history that the A's have won more than 13 straight games...and in those five times, the A's reached the World Series.

[Guest Some Guy]

This is the best time for the streak to happen as well. If it gets broken and they slump a little, they still have until the end of the month to get hot again going into the playoffs.

 

BTW Tejada is the MVP, no question.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The reality is except for Tejada, Chavez, and Zito know ones having that great a season. Mulders got a good record but his ERA is 3.70, Hudson's pitched well recently but he's struggled, and Liddle pitched great in August but besides that stretch he's done nothing. The bullpen is still very suspect Koch is shaky has the closer.Besides John Mabry and Ray Durham who killed the Twins, what position players have had great seasons. Long and Dye have had flat out disapointing seasons.

Anyway. Next to the Twins and Astros(losing to Rangers...for shame) I want the A's to win the World Series. Since Houston probably won't make the playoffs and the Twins will get bumped out by the A's in the first round. The A's are the team that I want to win the W.S. with a realistic chance.

Amen. Tejada is hands down the MVP. Hear that Harold Reynolds. Get your lips off of your buddy A-Rod's ass. Or is that outstanding performance at home against Tampa Bay only solidify your pick.

[Guest Some Guy]

I can understand the arguement for A-Rod but his team sucks and are going nowhere. Tejada has carried the A's offense and replaced one of the best hitters in the majors and the team is going to the playoffs. It has to be Tejada.

 

The Yanks would be greta without Soriano, Seatle would be good without Ichiro, Texas would lose without A-Rod, but Tejada is the A's offense.

[Guest DragonflyKid]

Dye is finally healed from his broken leg and is hitting well, his early season struggles can be blamed on his leg.

 

Justice is playing well and nobody has more post-season experience than him.

 

Tejada: M-V-P M-V-P M-V-P

 

Hudson has had a few bad starts but overall he has had a great year with little run support, his record is misleading.

 

Mulder struggled early on but has been great since.

 

Lidle is incredible, he is a known second-half player but this is outrageous. I was worried when they got Lilly Lidle would get sent to the bullpen luckily that didn't happen.

 

Durham is a very good leadoff guy which they need since Damon left.

 

Koch can be dominating but also inconsistent. He usually lets a few guys on before blowing away the final batters to end the game.

 

The A's bullpen is solid and deep.

 

I will be in Oakland on the 17,18,19,20 and will attend games those 4 days(Then it's off to San Jose to catch a WWE card on the 21st.).

[Guest DragonflyKid]

Plus it's the Most Valuable Player award and not the Best Player Award. If they are going to award A-Rod the MVP then they should change the name of that award or have two seperate awards as to not overlook a great player on a bad team.

[Guest Crippler15]

I just dont see them beating the Yanks but yeah Tejada is MVP not Soriano.

[Guest Some Guy]

Why don't you think they can beat the Yanks?

A lot of Yanks are hurting now and could get worse, Jeter and Giambi have bad hamstring history, Clemens, El Duque, Petite, and Rivera have been hurt this year and could all go at any given time, while the A's are mostly healthy and far younger and possibly hungrier for a championship.

[Guest El Hijo Del Lunatic]

If anyone's got a chance at the Yankees, it's Oakland.

 

They have better pitching than the Yanks and adequate hitting so I think they can beat them and I'd love to see it. Oakland/Arizona or Atlanta would be a very good WS.

 

They actually have better than average hitting. They're 7th in the AL in runs scored, sixth in slugging, fifth in OPS, tied for fourth in homeruns. Outside of maybe Ramon Hernandez, there isn't an easy out there. I don't know if their pitching is better than New York's overall, but the trio of Hudson, Mulder, and ZITO~! might be better than Mussina, Clemens, and Pettitte. If Mussina wasn't struggling this year, though, I wouldn't say that.

 

Right now, I don't think there's ANY team in the world that can beat the Oakland Athletics. Unless they slip up in a big way, they've got a clean path - a virtual gimme with KC and another series with the Twins, whom the A's already swept earlier in the streak - to tying or surpassing the record for the longest winning streak in a season (disregarding the Giants' asterisk-influenced mark in 1916).

 

Don't you think you're simplifying things a bit much? This is BASEBALL, for Christ's sake. If you win two out of every three games in baseball, you win your division EASILY. All it takes is a good performance from a hot pitcher, or some timely hitting, and you could very easily lose a game you shouldn't. The A's are looking at Paul Byrd tomorrow. Don't look past him.

 

The reality is except for Tejada, Chavez, and Zito know ones having that great a season. Mulders got a good record but his ERA is 3.70, Hudson's pitched well recently but he's struggled, and Liddle pitched great in August but besides that stretch he's done nothing. The bullpen is still very suspect Koch is shaky has the closer.Besides John Mabry and Ray Durham who killed the Twins, what position players have had great seasons. Long and Dye have had flat out disapointing seasons.

 

Yeah, but they're all still having SOLID seasons. Even Dye (.255-17-67) and Long (.242-13-59) are solid, even if those aren't the numbers you'd expect from those two. Mulder (16-7, 3.80) and Hudson (12-9, 3.22) aren't putting up great years, but they're certainly good enough to hang with Clemens (11-5, 4.45), Mussina (16-8, 4.71) and Pettitte (8-5, 3.61).

 

I can understand the arguement for A-Rod but his team sucks and are going nowhere. Tejada has carried the A's offense and replaced one of the best hiters in the majors and the team is going to the playoffs. It has to be Tejada.

 

Well, he's getting hot at the right time. They brought up an interesting thing on Kornheiser's show today: most players don't win the MVP award until September. Giambi probably won it last year because of a great September. Chipper Jones won it a few years ago (1999, I think) because he hit 5 homers against the Mets and won the NL East for Atlanta. Tejada's getting himself a couple moments like that right now. Also, look at the top four guys for MVP this year - Soriano, Tejada, A-Rod, and Nomar. They're all middle infielders.

[Guest Some Guy]

I agree with your post but Ichiro won the MVP last year, Giambi won it in 2000.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

ICHIRO~!

 

Sorry, I mark for Ichiro, even yelling ICHIRO~! when he's on Sportscenter and stuff.

 

I'll go back to my average, statistic-ignorant fandom now...

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest El Hijo Del Lunatic]

You know what I meant.

 

LUNATIC

- Pimpin' ho's and clockin' a grip like my name was Dolemite.

[Guest Some Guy]

Yes I did but your post was so well done that a glaring error like that really hurt it.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Don't you think you're simplifying things a bit much? This is BASEBALL, for Christ's sake. If you win two out of every three games in baseball, you win your division EASILY. All it takes is a good performance from a hot pitcher, or some timely hitting, and you could very easily lose a game you shouldn't. The A's are looking at Paul Byrd tomorrow. Don't look past him.

Yeah, there's a little bit of simplification (anything can happen in a 162 game season, sure enough), but the main thing that I see is that even when the A's are against the wall, they've been pulling it out through the entire streak. These 19 straight wins aren't all 12-0 blastoffs - a good portion of them, especially the later games, have been fairly close games.

 

But the Athletics have always found a way to win.

 

Yes, the A's draw Paul Byrd, the absolute man for the Royals this year.

Yes, the A's will go into Central-leading Minnesota in the Metrodome for a three game series afterwards.

 

But to beat the record, all they have to do is get past Byrd and take the first two from Minnesota...which isn't all that unrealistic.

 

They get Hudson to match up against Byrd...and if the game goes dramatic into the later innings, the A's will have Mecir and Koch to hold things together for the red-hot offense, who could potentially be teeing off on a thin Kansas City bullpen.

 

Minnesota, who's been a .500 team through the last month, will have their best shot at spoiling the streak in the first game, when they'll probably draw Aaron Harang. In all likelihood, that's where it would probably end if it did. But after that first game, they get Cory Lidle, who's been a maniac since the All-Star Break.

 

And this is not counting intangibles on either side - if you say that Torii Hunter could have a six RBI day, you can't really say that Eric Chavez couldn't. The team attitude of the A's has been phenomenal as of late - Billy Koch himself said that, even if somebody were to throw up a ten spot in the first inning, he felt like the A's could still pull out a win.

 

It may be a little more optimistic than realistic (strangely, I'm not even an Athletics fan), but I definitely think it's within reach and I'm for any team that could match up well against New York.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

It's pretty sad that a BoSox fan is willing to jump on a bandwagon to see another team beat the Yankees because his team can't.

[Guest alkeiper]

I think the MVP is Alex Rodriguez. I just think that its stupid not to give the MVP to the greatest season ever by a shortstop. When people say someone like Tejada, they usually pick the person first and then pick and choose stats that support them.

 

As for the playoffs, its a crap shoot really. You win some, you lose some. Simple as that. A fly ball falls 20 feet short, a guy swings at ball 4, its more luck then anything else.

[Guest bravesfan]

...its more luck then anything else.

Which I believe always falls in the favor the New York Yankees, who have some supernatural force on their side. The Athletics had them in the ropes last year in the ALDS, yet somehow Dye got hurt on a fluke injury, while Jeter made the play of the year (even if Giambi might've been safe). Wham, the A's are sent home packing.

 

Hopefully, the A's can somehow muster the old spirits of Dennis Eckersley and Jose Canseco to pull them through this year...

[Guest El Hijo Del Lunatic]

Yes I did but your post was so well done that a glaring error like that really hurt it.

 

I blame it on trying to post and play Madden at the same time.

 

It may be a little more optimistic than realistic (strangely, I'm not even an Athletics fan), but I definitely think it's within reach and I'm for any team that could match up well against New York.

 

Oh, I agree with you, and I'm not saying that the A's CAN'T win the next three games. They've done nothing but impress me during this streak, between really good, smart, TIMELY hitting and some great pitching. I believe now that if anyone can beat the Yankees, it's the A's. They've got the arms and the depth to do it. However, what you said before sounded to me like you thought the A's SHOULD win the next three, not COULD; and especially in baseball, there are no "shoulds".

 

I think the MVP is Alex Rodriguez. I just think that its stupid not to give the MVP to the greatest season ever by a shortstop. When people say someone like Tejada, they usually pick the person first and then pick and choose stats that support them.

 

I agree with you right now, but if Tejada stays hot through September and the A's win the West by a few games, that'll sway my vote. If Nomar goes nuts and the Sox catch the M's and Angels, how could you not give hm the MVP? I guess it's harder for a last-place guy to solidify himself in September in my eyes, because the pressure's off and what he does doesn't matter much in the standings. Fair? I don't know. But if A-Rod were on the bubble right now, he'd need help from the other candidates to be my MVP regardless of his September.

 

LUNATIC

- Pimpin' ho's and clockin' a grip like my name was Dolemite.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

What part of Valuable don't people understand. Gammons was on Baseball Tonight saying the A's players told him Tejada has been getting big hits all season long. When was the last time A-Rod had a really important hit. Tejada is the definition of MVP.

 

No way Terrence Long's having a solid season. I'll give you Dye because of the injury, but Long's numbers suck.242 13 hr 59 bi is not a solid season. The real point I was trying to make is they don't 7-8 guys having All-Star seasons.

 

If the A's sweep the Twins at Minnesota I'll be shocked. Minnesota's maybe the best home team in the league. Plus that was a close serious last week. Guardado blows the lead in the 9th, Chavez gets a fluke broken bat single, and the Twins OF played poorly in the field on Friday. The Twins should of definetley won on Sunday. But when you've won 19 straight games every thing goes your way.

[Guest NoCalMike]

The A's are just playing very solid right now They are a cohesive unit like no other. They put the burden on 1 or 2 Allstars to get the job done, rather everyone does their part and has a heroic game. I think they will not quite get to the record of 26 but I am not ruling it out either. Basically, it COULD happen, but it doesn't really matter since they don't need to break the record salvage a season or anything. Oh and the reason I give Tejada the MVP over A-rod(besides me being an A's fanatic) is the fact that the Rangers suck, and how can you give the MVP to someone who isn't making the entire TEAM better. Texas has a pretty potent batting order even without A-rod, but like Giambi LAST YEAR, Tejada is basically carrying the A's on his emotional shoulder and keeping them gel'd as one.....if the Rangers were even CLOSE to being a playoff team I would give him the MVP.

[Guest RevEvil]

...its more luck then anything else.

Which I believe always falls in the favor the New York Yankees, who have some supernatural force on their side. The Athletics had them in the ropes last year in the ALDS, yet somehow Dye got hurt on a fluke injury, while Jeter made the play of the year (even if Giambi might've been safe). Wham, the A's are sent home packing.

 

Hopefully, the A's can somehow muster the old spirits of Dennis Eckersley and Jose Canseco to pull them through this year...

I still believe the Yankees were given the pennant because of 9-11.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

The A's can make it to the Big Dance, but WILL they? I'll belive it when I see it.

 

Besides, if tomorrow the A's get in a slump, there's a chance, however unlikely, that they may not make the playoffs...

[Guest alkeiper]

What part of Valuable don't people understand. Gammons was on Baseball Tonight saying the A's players told him Tejada has been getting big hits all season long. When was the last time A-Rod had a really important hit. Tejada is the definition of MVP.

 

So we're going to give the MVP to Tejada cause his teammates say he's good? We have the internet now. Why not document those hits? And I can remember A-Rod hitting a few game winning home runs himself. Really though, it all comes down your own beliefs. But if you think the MVP should go to the best player, period, its Rodriguez.

[Guest bravesfan]

... and how can you give the MVP to someone who isn't making the entire TEAM better

 

Let's face it. If the Rangers had 80 wins at this point, A-Rod is the MVP...hands-down. To say that Tejada is doing a better job at his position than A-Rod is...well, that's completely ludicrous. It's obvious that A-Rod is not on a winning team, but....

 

A-Rod isn't making his team better? ARE YOU WATCHING HIS GAMES?

Rodriguez is hitting .403 OBP/.641 SLG/.316 AVG (50, 124 and 5 points more than Tejada respectively) with 48 homers (18 more) and 121 RBI. The man has 10 less hits than Tejada, but had 41 less AB's, which by my math is enough for a .316 hitter to make up. Tejada, ever the team player, has 29 walks to Rodriguez's 70 and 11 less runs. Let's not forget about 45 less total bases.

 

What more can you ask out of A-Rod? DO YOU WANT HIM TO PITCH?!? MANAGE?!? SELL HOT DOGS?!?

 

Overall, he is the the best player in the game. If Tom Hicks wants to pay him $252,000,000...well, that's Hicks' fault. If Hicks wanted to build a baseball TEAM, spend it on hitting AND pitching...A-Rod could've just gone to any number of teams at $180-200 million and done the same exact thing he's doing now...and everyone in MLB would be creaming over themselves voting Alex for MVP.

 

Texas has a pretty potent batting order even without A-rod

 

The word is HAD. As in APRIL. Hicks invested all of his money in injury-prone (Juan Gone, I-Rod), unpredictable (Chan Ho, Rocker) and other busts that are not even playing half of a season. Hollandsworth has crapped out... so has Everett Palmeiro is his only reliable position player besides A-Rod, and he's 1-2 years away from a deserving retirement.

 

(Another stat note: Tejada has 573 AB's in 138 games. Rodriguez has 41 less in one less game. What does that say about each team's offense?)

 

Tejada is basically carrying the A's on his emotional shoulder and keeping them gel'd as one....

 

It's really easy for Tejada to "bring the team together", when they have 5 quality starting pitchers! Wouldn't Barry Bonds resemble a god, if he had Mulder, Zito and Hudson? How about Sammy Sosa?

 

Tejada is leading a bunch of talented, but underappreciated YOUNGSTERS. A-Rod is dragging OLD overrated/ overpaid cripples with him. Who's got the harder job?

 

The NBA and NHL are sports where you can take the MVP and it actually means MVP. In the MLB, you can't control your pitching staff (if you're a hitter) or batting order (if you're a pitcher), whereas another athlete can control the defense AND offensive side of the ball/puck (Ex: Shaq). The NFL is a bigger question though.

[Guest bob_barron]

...its more luck then anything else.

Which I believe always falls in the favor the New York Yankees, who have some supernatural force on their side. The Athletics had them in the ropes last year in the ALDS, yet somehow Dye got hurt on a fluke injury, while Jeter made the play of the year (even if Giambi might've been safe). Wham, the A's are sent home packing.

 

Hopefully, the A's can somehow muster the old spirits of Dennis Eckersley and Jose Canseco to pull them through this year...

I still believe the Yankees were given the pennant because of 9-11.

Ummmmm riiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

Yankees beat Oakland in Game 3 with the holy shit play and that seemed to really kill their spirts so they won games 4 and 5.

[Guest treble charged]

On this whole A-Rod making the Rangers a better team front, I'll just point out that he basically single handedly swept the Jays a few weeks ago. Something like 4 homers in 4 consecutive at bats. Pissed me right off.

[Guest redbaron51]

I really don't think Oakland could beat the Yanks this year. Even though they seem better right now, the Yanks usually have their "fall magic"* around September and October, which they are hard to beat (except for the D-Backs).

 

Fall Magic: This is when the yanks get very good, when it counts. Hurt or not, the team plays every game like the seventh game of the world series. Usually unknowns step up, pitching goes up, Bernie Williams goes down (thats obvious), and basically that is all.

 

But Oakland is like D-Back light. Solid pitching, hitting, defence...but the lack of stars, that make you say who? (too the common fan...if there are still anyone who really gives a damn).

 

Now after all my Yankee defence, i'll give myself a bath in chlorene