ALCS Preview 1: Twin teams play on
posted in Oakland A's, Post-season |Super Marco, they called him. Marco Scutaro is as scrappy and unknown a ballplayer as you’re ever going to find. He didn’t crack the A’s lineup to start the year. He wouldn’t crack the A’s lineup if everyone was healthy now. But all he did in the ALDS against the Twins was come through in the clutch and drive in six runs in three games — while batting in the bottom half of the order.
This is the type of team the Tigers are playing for the right to go to the World Series. Their guys are every bit as anonymous as our guys. If there wasn’t some sort of law stating you must write about a few select performers in October, they’d likely remain that way. Everyone knows gold-glove third baseman Eric Chavez. Everyone knows 2002 Cy Young Barry Zito. And we’ve quickly become re-acquainted with DH Frank Thomas. Past that, it drops off quick. And yet the Athletics won 93 regular season games and swept the Twins out of the playoffs, including two victories in the Metrodome. It was easy for the national “experts” to look them over in the wake of the Tigers dispatching the Yankees, but nobody else should. The A’s define scrappy, and Scutaro’s picture is in the dictionary.
Following the A’s this year left me with the conclusion it’s the Tigers changing jersies and flying west very quickly. They have the ability to get men on base with no outs, and leave them standing on base when the third out is recorded. I think if you asked an A’s fan about their offense, the reply would be “Frustrating.” Bases loaded, no outs, no freakin’ runs?! Are you kidding me? Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? Don’t let the OBP thing scare you. Their offense is, at times, pretty inept.
Their starting pitching, while very good, is not as consistent as they’d like. Sound familiar again? Of the four likely pitching matchups, they probably have the advantage in two, and the Tigers probably have the advantage in two. The bullpen? It has a great setup man in “The Duke” Justin Ducsherer. It has a closer who has pretty good stats but scares the fan base with his appearances as bit as often as Todd Jones. Still, he usually gets the job done. They’ve got some good role players in there, and a few guys who just fill out the numbers. You’re probably going to hear some debate about which team has the better pen. In reality, with how they’ll be used in this series, it is almost a dead-on tie. It is most certainly a wash.
And they even have a strange old man as a manager, who took some heat at times this year for his strange decisions, but who nonetheless warrents manager of the year consideration.
But just as they are frustrating, the A’s are fun. They have a lot of fun in the clubhouse, in the dugout, on the field. They gave their fans a lot of fun moments during the year. And they have a good, dedicated, but small, fan base. This series will allow the MLB — probably against its will, or the networks’ will, anyway — to showcase some of the best things about baseball. There’s going to be a very likable team playing in the World Series.
That said, I don’t really know what to expect of this series. I am familar with both teams, the Tigers moreso but I can name more A’s than I can Detroit Lions and Red Wings combined. It sounds cliche, but it’s going to come down to execution. The A’s beat the Twins because the A’s played their game perfectly and the Twins, well, didn’t. The Tigers beat the Yankees because the Tigers played their game perfectly. And if both of these teams are executing, it’s going to be every bit the fight some of those regular season games were. Even Baseball Prospectus computer puts this at nearly 50-50. (Oakland has a 0.2% edge).
As for me, I’d really like to see Barry Zito leave the A’s on top. And I, nickname: Chavez, have followed Eric Chavez since 2000. But I’m a Detroiter through-and-through. That’s where my loyalties lay. I just hope this series benefits both teams and fans. They deserve it.
