OAKLAND EARNS THE GOLDEN SOMBRERO
Boston advances to ALCS as A's are eliminated from playoffs
Oakland fails in 4th straight attempt to advance to Championship Series

Do you remember some really bad movies that were so bad you could replay them over and over in your head? Watching the Oakland Athletics play in the A.L Divisional Series is just like that. It's like a bad movie replayed over and over and over.

For the fourth time in as many years the A's were eliminated from the ALDS. Their latest conquerer is the Boston Red Sox. The Sox put their best pitcher on the mound and the Athletics countered with the best pitcher they had left. It was Pedro Martinez vs Barry Zito. Whoever's team won would advance to the Championship Series and face the New York Yankees.

As usual everything started out great for the Athletics. They won both games at home to start the ALDS and traveled confidently to Boston knowing they had only one more to win. One more and the curse that had been dogging them for the past four years would finally be broken. Yeah right.

Game 3 turned out to be a comedy of errors. The Athletics, who had played so brillantly at home, looked inept in this pivotal game. Ted Lilly took the mound and pitched the game of his life. He threw seven strong innings and left the game having not surrendered an earned run. Lilly did his job, but some of the other guys wearing his uniform did not.

Down only 1-0 going into the sixth inning the Athletics started coming to life. Oakland's Eric Byrnes singled off Boston's Derek Lowe, stole second and went to third on a grounder. Miguel Tejada then hit a weak roller which was fielded by Lowe who fired to his catcher, Jason Varitek. The throw was offline and Byrnes who was barreling into home crashed into Varitek. The collision caused Varitek to drop the ball. Byrnes, who hurt his knee on the play, was limping around in pain. He didn't realize two things. One, that Varitek had dropped the ball and two, he hadn't touched home plate. Varitek simply picked up the ball and tagged Byrnes out. It didn't stop there.

Eurbial Durazo and Miguel Tejada advanced to third and second on the play respectively. Next, Nomar Garciaparra misplayed a grounder allowing Durazo to score. Tejada rounding third ran into third baseman Bill Mueller. Instead of continuing toward home plate Tejada stopped and argued that he was obstructed, thereby, getting himself tagged out. The umpires ruled that if Tejada had been thrown out at home, because of the interference the out would have been nullified. However, since Tejada stopped of his own accord any consequence the obstruction had caused was thrown out the window and Tejada was out.

Now let's go back to the second inning. The Athletics caught Boston's Bill Mueller in a rundown between home and third. With Mueller retreating toward third base and catcher Ramon Hernandez in hot pursuit third baseman Eric Chavez called for the ball. Hernandez waited until Mueller was right on top of Chavez before lobbing it to Chavez. Mueller crashed into Chavez who was between Mueller and the third base bag. The umpires, again, ruled interference and awarded Mueller home plate. It was the only run scored by the Red Sox while Lilly was pitching.

To cut down on this sad tale let's go to the 11th inning as both teams were locked into a 1-1 tie. With Rich Harden on the mound for the A's Trot Nixon whacked a two-run home run to end the evening with a 3-1 Red Sox win.

No problem Oakland thought. We're still up two game to one. Well, the baseball gods have a funny way of doing things. The Athletics started Game 4 with one of their potent triumvirate, Tim Hudson, on the mound. Things started off swimmingly for Oakland as Hudson set the Sox down 1-2-3. Hudson came out to start the second inning. He threw a couple of warmup tosses and all of a sudden his infield, manager and trainer were standing around Hudson. Seconds later, Hudson walked off the mound and into the Athletics' dugout. He was done for the day. Later, we were told Hudson had strained his left oblique.

The Athletics played a valiant game. They were able to manufacture a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth when, once again, disaster struck. Oakland's pitching had handcuffed both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz in the first three games. In fact, Ortiz had not collected a hit in almost four games. With Nomar Garciaparra (double) and Ramirez (single) occupying the corners Ortiz came up to face closer Keith Foulke. Foulke threw Ortiz a changeup, which Ortiz promptly deposited off the right field wall for a double. Both Garciaparra and Ramirez scored and suddenly Oakland trailed 5-4. That is where the game ended.

Sound familiar now? That game was the eighth time the Oakland Athletics had a team on the brink of elimination and couldn't close the deal. Now the series shifted back to Oakland for Game 5. The winner advances to the ALCS and the loser goes fishing. Unfortunately for the A's history wasn't on their side.

The Athletics were doomed. Boston knew it. After Oakland took the first two games of the series Red Sox manager Grady Little said that the Athletics had better sweep his team or they would be sorry. Oakland started Barry Zito who was pitching for the first time on three days rest. Boston looked to their ace Pedro Martinez to guide them. Zito pitched five scoreless innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth. Powered by Manny Ramirez' 3-run home run the Red Sox scored four runs in the frame and took a commanding 4-1 lead.

Oakland, to their credit, whittled away at Boston's lead. They scored once in the bottom of the sixth and once in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the score 4-3. It set up a dramatic ninth inning. The Red Sox failed to score in their half of the inning. Oakland came up with just 3 outs to salvage their season. The curse, the curse, THE CURSE! Oakland managed to load the bases and with two out and A's fans biting their nails down to the nubbins Terrence Long came to the plate to face Derek Lowe. Lowe, having inherited two runners walked by Scott Williamson, decided to walk one of his own. He now faced Long knowing that with one hit Boston's season would be over, the Curse of the Bambino still in effect and Oakland would finally get out of the first round. But like I said, Oakland was doomed. Terrence Long took a 1-2 pitch from Lowe and was struck out. The Athletics, like Casey at the Bat, stuck out.

The Athletics have now earned the ALDS' version of the golden sombrero or going 0 for 4. The Red Sox, as they did in 1999, live to fight another day after trailing 0-2 in the series. Now they are headed for the Bronx, on a collision course, to meet their century long arch-enemies the New York Yankees. It's cowboy up versus the Bronx Zoo. Will it be another year of frustration for the Red Sox hearing the chant "1918! 1918! 1918," or will they finally break the curse that has been plaguing them for 85 seasons? We'll all know in seven games or less.

As a side note there was a very scary moment in the seventh inning when Red Sox second baseman Damian Jackson violently collided with centerfielder Johnny Damon as both players were converging on a bloop hit into shallow center. Jackson and Damon smacked their heads together, which sent both players crumpling to the ground. Jackson tried to sit up, but Damon didn't move. Medical help arrived and Damon, who had been knocked unconscious, began responding. The placed Damon onto a gurney and loaded him into an ambulance. Jackson, although wobbley, walked off the field with a little assistance. The preliminary finding from the hospital as reported by the FOX broadcast team was that Damon had suffered a concussion. He was to be kept in the hospital, overnight, for obsrevation. No one wants to see something like that and I am thankful it didn't end up any worse that it did.

That's all for now.....See you Wednesday for Game 1

PLAY BALL!