Welcome to the off-season

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I missed the A's disappointing last game in the ALCS on Saturday. I was in Sacramento visiting relatives. Since none of them are baseball fans I was unable to catch the game, although I did manage to catch the score in the 9th inning on my Blackberry - 3-to-3. I thought at the time that the A's just might have a chance if they could get into extra innings. They seem to do well in extra innings games.

Unfortunately luck was not with the A's as Huston Street gave up 2 singles and the game winning HR. I was pretty upset at Street until I realized later, after coming home, that Macha had put Street in during the.....7th inning???? What the heck was Macha thinking?

Anyways, I had high hopes for the A's after their dramatic sweep of The Twins, the team I feared most going into the playoffs and who I felt had the best chance of killing the A's. But the A's fell flat on their faces in the ALCS. Poor starts from Zito and Loaiza didn't help, but the A's offense was non-existent as well. It was nice to see Bradley shine, unfortunately he did all the shining. I know some people are upset that Frank Thomas failed to get a single hit, but he was outstanding vs. Minnesota and if it weren't for Frank the A's possibly wouldn't have made the post-season anyways.

So the A's finally managed to get past the first round only to find themselves quickly swept by Detroit and quickly into off-season mode. I will post my season review of the A's and key players when I get some free time. It's been a pretty glum ALCS but quite and exciting 2006.