Savoring the Moment(s)

So I couldn't follow the game today. It happens. I've been to a few playoff games already. It wasn't going to kill me if I couldn't make it to this one. And I certainly survived not following the game in realtime because I was at the office as the A's swept the Twins.

At least a couple of times since Tuesday I've heard a baseball player saying in an interview that getting to the playoffs is rare, you never know if it'll happen, it may never happen, and therefore you must savor it should you be lucky enough for it to actually happen to you.

And, it could be argued, the same goes for the fan. I was crushed when we didn't make it to the postseason in 2004 and 2005. It made the eight playoff games I attended since 2000 that much more special. (Wow! I've been to eight?!)

I'm going to take one last time to remember how bad I felt when the A's lost the ALDS in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Those last two were especially bitter for me.

There's been much written lately about the A's choking in the nine clinching games during those years. But most of the guys on the A's roster this post-season weren't in an A's uniform during those years. Heck, the younger ones like Swish and Huston Street weren't even in the minor leagues when the A's lost to the Yankees in 2000.

The bitterness and disappointment belongs to a few. Zito and Chavy. Billy Beane. And thousands of us A's fans.

As the Twinkies committed gaffe after gaffe in the just-concluded series, I thought maybe this is how sloppy the A's looked to others in the early years of this decade. This time it was the A's who were playing solid baseball. They played so well that I said more than once today, "This Game 3 is in the bag."

And why didn't I go to the game this afternoon? Well, uh, I didn't have a ticket.

To savor this ALDS victory, I spent time tonight watching the highlights, listening to interviews, and surfing the web.

ContraCostaTimes.com | 10/06/2006 | Beane showing his genius again: "'It's very exciting,' said Haren, who not only has the benefit of pitching with a two games-to-none lead, but of having no personal memories of the A's 0-9 record in clinching games over the past six years."

Recall that Billy Beane traded Mark Mulder to the Cardinals for Danny Haren and Kiko Calero. Mark Mulder lost two of those nine clinching games.

How many times have I said, I love Danny Haren. Not only did he make me forget about Mulder in 2005, every time he starts for the A's I feel like we're going to win.


Major League Baseball : News : Getting the monkey off their backs: For lefty starter Barry Zito, who beat probable Cy Young winner Johan Santana in the series opener, and third baseman Eric Chavez, who snapped out of a nasty postseason funk just in time to provide a spark in the clincher, the embrace they shared after Oakland closed out a three-game sweep over the visiting Twins was as sweet as it was short. 'It was a quick little moment, a quick hug,' Chavez said. 'But it was pretty powerful. We've been through a lot.' 'Neither of us really said anything,' said Zito. 'I think we just wanted to check to make sure the monkey wasn't still on the other guy's back.'

Barry Zito's Playoff Blog: I can't explain how it feels: It’s just unbelievable that we can finally move forward past all that negative energy associated with not getting past the first round. We’ve broken that curse of being the great team that can’t get over the hump, all that b.s. everyone talks about. It’s over.

Major League Baseball : News : Baseball Perspectives: The A's, like the White Sox last year, weren't given much of a chance to go very far in the postseason. Thomas conceded the latter point. 'Everybody says we can't do this and we can't do that,' Thomas said. 'On paper, we don't look that good. But you don't play the game on paper.'

ESPN.com - MLB/PLAYOFFS2006 - Caple: A's finally enjoy a happy ending: 'In other years,' veteran third baseman Eric Chavez said, 'it's been the Big Three, or it's been Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada. But this is the one year I think you could say this is Oakland A's baseball that participated, and I think with the defense and relief pitching, that really sets us apart from other years. 'You know, talent-wise, this is one of the least-talented teams I have ever been on and participated in the playoffs, but it's a bunch of hard-nosed baseball players who really love to play the game of baseball and it's really showed,' Chavez said.

Yeah, and who do they consider the MVP of this series with the Twins? Utility infielder Marco Scutaro.

MercuryNews.com | 10/06/2006 | Purdy: No white horse, but Scutaro is surely the hero: By Friday, Scutaro had emerged as a full-fledged cult hero. Whenever he came to the plate Friday, one clump of fans yelled "Mar-co!'' and another clump answered "Scu-ta-ro!'' It was the McAfee Coliseum version of the Marco Polo game from neighborhood swimming pools.

Cool champagne showers must have been soothing to a red-hot Scutaro: The bases-loaded double in the seventh inning that assured that the Oakland Athletics would advance to the American League Championship Series is the one everyone will remember, but he also doubled in the first run in Game 2, and doubled in the second run in Game 1. But the moment that will stand for him as the zenith of his career was the RBI double in the second inning Friday, the one that sparked the Elephants' 8-3 win over Minnesota, and what led up to it. 'When I heard the people chanting my name,' he said, rivulets of champagne pouring from the end of his cap and nose. 'That was special for me. That's the one that meant the most. I remember saying to myself, 'Please don't strike out.' '

Major League Baseball : News : Major League Baseball News: 'I'm going to e-mail Paul DePodesta because I remember the day he came to me and said, 'I want to claim this kid on waivers,'' Beane said of Scutaro. 'Probably thinking I was doing something more important I said, 'Sure kid, go ahead and claim him on waivers.' Here we are three years later he not only saved us this week but the year [Mark Ellis] went down, too. [The] credit goes first to Marco and second to Paul. I'd like to take credit for that one, but that one was all Paul.'

I like that Billy Beane often in his interviews gives credit where credit is due. And he names names.

After all, baseball is a team sport. It takes more than one person to win a game.

Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants spring training blog from ContraCostaTimes.com: No limit to the heroes for the A's, and that's what it generally takes to win one of these series. Barry Zito's Game 1 effort set the tone, as did the two-homer performance by Frank Thomas. The A's did all the fundamental things right in Game 2 (well, all these games really), then caught a break on Mark Kotsay's inside-the-park home run. Then in Game 3, they got contributions from Chavez, Scutaro, Nick Swisher (a great at-bat in drawing a bases-loaded walk immediately before Scutaro's double in the seventh; he fought back from a 1-2 count), Milton Bradley (a two-run homer that caromed off the back wall beyond the center-field fence), Dan Haren (six solid innings), Justin Duchscherer (two lights-out innings in relief), and Huston Street (closing it out in the ninth). Heck, D'Angelo Jimenez was excellent, too, handling all five chances, starting one double play and turning another.