2013 MLB Season Thread - Page 100

We won't have home field in any way. Doesn't really matter and I actually prefer it. Games 1 and 2 are at home. Verlander and Fister/Max at home for 2 then Fister/Max for Game 3. Our home record is so much better.

Bobby V trotting out a minor league lineup last night. What a douchebag. Maybe he's just warming up for his job for next year.

Just got two tickets for Game 1!!

Just like to say that the A's are the best story in baseball.

spoke too soon. jesus. what's next??? cabby falls off the wagon

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121002/SPORTS0104/210020431/1129/rss15

The Orioles say, from the bottom of a pile of fourteen losing seasons, you suck.

what the A's have done with their payroll, player experience, division (O's too, but not as much since the Sox are a train wreck this year), etc. is incredible.

Tonight is the penultimate broadcast of 2012 with TV Tiger announcers Mario and Rod. Kind of sad. They are like members of the family.

Sorry Douglas, but he's right. Can you name one player on the A's roster other than Yoenides Cespedes? Hell, up until last month I had no idea they were even within striking distance.

Oh Boston, the one time I need you to do something and you somehow manage to screw it up. 3-1 top of the 9th to 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th. Just hurry up and quit on this season the way you quit on Valentine and ownership. What a fucking franchise. No heart having pussies!!!

RAUL IBANEZ!

AGAIN!

A's win! Giants win! (Cardinals are in now) God damn this is an exciting end to the season. When was the last time we had so many spots up for grabs on the last day?

Jonny Gomes. Josh Reddick. Coco Crisp.

The only reason you can name anyone on the O's is because you're a Yankees fan and have to keep an eye on the O's. Everyone expected them to fade all season. Half the starting lineup is injured or out, only 1 starting pitcher has made 30 starts. Of the opening-day 5-man rotation, only one guy is still there (Chen. Hunter, Arrieta, and Matusz have all been demoted. Hammel is hurt). 2nd base has been a mess. Last year's opening day leadoff batter (Brian Roberts) showed up midseason and then disappeared again. This year's opening day leadoff batter (Nolan Reimold) got hurt early and missed the season. The current leadoff batter (McLouth) is a 2-time castoff from the scrap heap. The starting 3B is a late-season callup. O's have succeeded in the big, bad AL East, which, granted, seemed to be down the Sawx this year, but they still have good players on that team. Tampa's pitching is probably the best in baseball.

This is not to take anything away from the A's, who have been an exciting team and no doubt have a similar list of castoffs and scrap heap acquisitions and surprising performances, but the O's have had such a long record of futility and eroding fan base that it's also a great, great story. All the extra inning games, the 1-run wins, hell, the negative run differential.

In the context of things, is anyone ultimately THAT surprised that Billy Beane picked some pockets in the offseason and came away with a haul of good young players that can ball? The only surprise around the O's front office is that Dan Duquette actually has a job again.

Both great stories, and obviously both NorCal and I are informed by our geography, but I can tell you it's been a long, long, long time since anyone's been able to root for the O's, and this team has such a great team concept and has won so many late, nailbiting games and hung around til the end of the season despite every talking head in the game saying it couldn't last, that I'm gonna stand with my team.

As someone who doesn't have any horse in the race, my sense is that the Orioles are the great story of the year. I remember listening to ESPN radio in the spring when the baseball analysts were predicting how the upcoming season would shake out. I remember them scoffing at the Orioles, saying they'd obviously be the last place team in the AL East. All the buzz in the East was for the Blue Jays, who were expected not to win the East, but to contend. That's not to say the A's aren't a great story too, of course.