LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE CREDIT UNION

It appears that absolutely nobody with a laptop, steno pad or powdered donut hanging out of the corner of their mouth is willing to pick the A’s in the ALDS. It appears only a few knuckle draggers who also think that, well, that don’t think that the A’s even have a chance at advancing. Well, here’s a little clue; The A’s took 2 of 3 from Boston in Boston this season and they split 2 of 4 in Oakland.

“See, the Red Sox can win on the road and take 2 in Oakland and…”

Hang on there professor. What everyone from Bennifer to Jfleck seem to be forgetting is that one of Boston’s wins in Oakland was Mulder’s last start before the ‘Night to Forget’. Wait, no, that does make sense, then. August 13th was the last start Mark Mulder made before removing himself from his next start with a fractured femur. Mulder went six innings but was mostly ineffective. If Mulder walks more than two batters in a game, that’s usually a bad sign.

Further, Erubiel Durazo was sporting the purple leg. Durazo had been hit with a pitch in a recent game and his leg had gone all Barney on him. Finally, the A’s brought out their B lineup against Tim Wakefield on get away day August 14th which was also the Mug Root Beer Float day. Had Ken Macha sent in Keith Foulke in the 8th inning, the A’s would have taken 5 of seven from Boston this season and Manny Ramirez would not have launched a game tying homerun in the 9th.

It doesn’t seem to matter as the often spoken of East Coast bias is running amuck in New England. From Peter Gammons on the Baseball Tonight set to Martha’s Vineyard everyone with any connection to the media is pushing the Sawcks. It’s showing. ESPN’s panel of baseball columnists and hangers on have the Red Sox in the World Series on 10 of 18 ballots with the Red Sox winning the World Series on four ballots. Only one writer picked the A’s to even get to the World Series and they lose out to the Braves.

MLB.com of course has to take the middle ground and there is equal time for both teams, but you can read the Bahs-tahn accent ringing though. MLB tries to paint the teams as mirror images. Hmm, the only problem is the A’s mirror is located in an alley behind an East Bay Motel 6 while the Boston mirror is located Boston Harbor Hotel…and there’s money taped to the mirror. And maybe some lobster.

Anyway.

Is this the mismatch of the century or is all that hot wind from the recent hurricane inflating the pride of the Sox? There’s a big factor the Red Sox have been missing. Yankee haters take a lot of the bandwagon seats. There’s also the curse.

No, not the Curse of the Creature’s Ghost…

But, the Bambino’s Curse, the Curse of the Bambino or the reason why the Red Sox Nation is okay with not winning a World Series for 4/5 of a century. It’s the reason why the Red Sox can trade away Jeff Bagwell or have innocent ground balls disappear near first base. It’s the reason for freak injuries of Red Sox players and not freak injuries for Yankees players.

Edward Cossette runs Bambino’s Curse. Yes, his blog is much prettier than ours.

But, the Bambino’s Curse (the blog, not the Red Sox excuse pool) and Elephants in Oakland have a bet for the ALDS. The blog who covers the losing team will be providing something to the winner. Depending on the nature of the wager, it could be a long and awful poem written as an ode to the victorious team. There is nothing on earth quite like bad poetry. Or it could simply be the Next edition of Baseball Prospectus went it hits the stands.

We’re still debating.

Last year you may have seen the Twins Geek and our blog involved in similar shenanigans. Well, we are simple minded and lazy.

IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK TO DELETE ONE NAME

The post-season rosters will not be announced until today which is quite odd. It’s not as if the 24th or 25th man on a post-season roster is going to swing a series. But, it does create a little more work for the advance departments of each club and it keeps each team on its heels with just over 24 hours until first pitch (strike one).

If the A’s can see their way of keeping Terrence Long off the roster, that would be great. However, if they expect to trade him in the off season (we’ll do charity work, tell you your hair is not thinning and become monks, of please Billy Beane, please call Kenny Williams!) the A’s are going to have to find a way to ‘feature’ Terrence Long without having him cost the team a chance to advance to the ALCS.

ALCS…WHAT’S THAT?

That’s not funny.