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by Doug Thews.
Original Post: A's Lose 4th Straight ALDS Game #5
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The Oakland A's not only passed the mark of postseason futility, they busted it wide open. By losing Game #5 of the ALDS, the A's are now 0 for their last 9 in potential series clinching victories over the past 4 years. This mark annihilates the previous mark of 0 for 6, set by the Anaheim Angels (who broke their streak last year).
In a very tense game, the A's took a tentative lead with Barry Zito on the mound pitching a no-hitter through 3 innings. Zito tired quickly, and in the 6th he gave up 4 runs when he lost command of his curveball because of being worked on 3 days rest, and had to throw fastballs exclusively to the aggressive Red Sox hitters.
The A's scratched back and got to within 4-3. With nobody out and runners on 1st & 2nd, Ramon Hernandez (hero of Game #1) bunted the runners over to 2nd & 3rd. Things looked good for the A's, as they accomplished something in that at bat that had haunted them in the past postseasons - moving runners over late in the game. However, Ken Macha decided to pinch hit for Jermaine Dye (who has been mired in a .172 season-long slump), with reserve Adam Melhuse who had 3 hits the night before. Unfortunately, the plan backfired. Dye was going to be walked, which would have loaded the bases. Instead, Boston Melhuse pitched to Melhuse after the substitution and took called strike 3 for the 2nd out of the inning. Chris Singleton then worked a walk to load the bases, and Macha called upon much maligned Terrence Long to pinch hit for Frank Menechino (who was a pinch runner for Billy McMillon in the 8th, who himself had a pinch RBI hit double in that inning batting for slumping Mark Ellis). So, Terrence Long had one good swing at a pitch away that landed deep but foul. Then, with 2 strikes, Long was caught looking at the same pitch delivered to Melhuse for strike 3 and put an end to the latest chapter of Oakland's postseason futility.
Right now, I am utterly destroyed by this loss. Those who know me, know that I bleed my team's colors, and really do not root hard for anyone else because I am so glued in to my teams (A's, Dolphins, ASU Sun Devils). This loss is probably the hardest of the past 4 years to take, and it will take a while for me to get over it. Once I feel up to it, I'll provide a series post-mortem and what I think the A's should do next to get themselves ready to defend their AL West crown.
Until then, it'll be back to working on ASP.NET 2.0 and some web tools for managing multiple .NET Framework versions. And then, there's always my beloved Dolphins who (through Week #5) are looking pretty good and improving with each passing week.
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