The Demons of October

Hello all! I know it's been too long since I've last posted. I'd love to tell you why I haven't been posting but believe me, I have a legit excuse. Some day in the future I'll tell you why.

So the A's won their 16th division title on Sunday and I was there in attendance, my 38th game of the year. It was a wonderful celebration that was a lot more business-like compared to last year's cocktail party of the century. This post however, is not a happy post by any means. It's a tale of my childhood and the disappointments during the month of October. I hope this doesn't ruin your night, and I apologize if I do but it's time these memories get posted.

To provide some background, I'm 20 years old and wasn't alive during the Haas family's wonderful reign as A's owners where we won our 4th World Series title and won 3 straight pennants in the late 80s. My first memories of baseball were during the 2000 season where Jason Isringhausen's big curveball gave us our first division title since 1992 and started what hoped to be a glorious era of A's baseball. Sadly, that era ended every October in disappointment and thoughts of what could've been.

If you've seen the movie Moneyball, you have a taste of what those disappointments felt like but not the whole candy bar. From 2001-2003, the A's had the best team in the Major Leagues, there's no doubt in my mind. We had the best pitching staff with the big three: Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. We had wonderful young players from Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez. And each year they couldn't get over the hump of the ALDS. From 2000-2003 the A's lost in the first round in 5 games, they could never put away their opponents and this post will lay out all of the demons of October. For A's fans reading this, please bare with me.

Demon #1: "Slide Jeremy Slide"

Yankees fans call it "The Derek Jeter Flip Play" while to A's fans it is simply known as "Slide Jeremy Slide." It was game three of the 2001 ALDS, the A's were up 2-0 after winning two brilliantly pitched games by Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson in the Bronx, Barry Zito looked to slam the door on the three-time defending champion, New York Yankees. I was 7 years old at the time had just come home from my neighbor's house where I saw Barry Zito hang his curveball to Jorge Posada who hit a solo home run into the left field well to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The A's were struggling to string hits together  against Mike Mussina but Terrence Long's hit down the line into the corner seemed to be the play that would ignite the momentum in our favor, then it happened. The throw from the outfielder missed the cutoff man and suddenly a figure came into the picture out of nowhere and what happened next was my first devastating moment as a sports fan. The figure flipped to the catcher Posada and Jeremy Giambi who thought he was going to score easily was tagged out and the air in our house suddenly was taken out. That play would change the momentum in that series, I attended game four where Jermaine Dye broke his leg on a foul ball and game five was where the A's made 3 errors that would complete the Yankees comeback. I couldn't believe what had happened, watching the play now it's clear that Jeremy Giambi was safe but should've slid because he would've been safe by a mile and who knows what would've happened from there.

Demon #2: AJ Pierzynski, Billy Koch and the "Curse of the Closer"

It's hard to pick any one moment from this series to define it all but this one is probably the best, I couldn't find the picture of what I wanted. Which is where Pierzynski taunts A's catcher Greg Myers as he crosses home plate but this will do. This was the series shown briefly in Moneyball where they showed game 5 being played at night rather than when it actually was played which was during the day. It was the win or go home game, there are many faults to this series. The main one for me was the handling of the rotation, it should've been Zito, Hudson and Mulder so Zito could pitch in game 5 but sadly that didn't happen. It was the top of the 9th, 2-1 Twins was the score and A's closer Billy Koch served up a predictable first pitch fastball that was launched out for a 2-run back-breaking home run. What Pierzynski would do after would cause two bench clearings in their meeting the next season. David Ortiz would add on a run in that inning making it 5-1, not even Eddie Guardado could screw that up. Mark Ellis hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 9th but the A's would fall short and once again our "season of destiny" abruptly ended. Billy Koch would end up being traded in the offseason to the White Sox. When the season was over, I turned to my dad and said, "We have to go through yet another long season don't we?" Clearly I was already frustrated. And it wouldn't end.

To explain the "Curse of the Closer," is something that spans over several years. The A's are fortunate to have had two of the greatest closers to ever play this great game: Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley. Whenever they came into the game, it was over. Everyone knew it. 

Caution A's fans, the first appearance of the "Curse of the Closer" is extremely traumatizing and I urge you all to please be careful.

It hurt to even post these stupid pictures and I wasn't even alive for it! This was game one of the 1988 World Series and the A's had a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth thanks to a blistering grand slam by A's MVP slugger Jose Canseco to dead center that dented the center field camera. That should've been the image of that game and maybe the series, unfortunately it wasn't. When Eckersley walked to the pitcher's mound in the 9th inning, everyone thought it was over and so did Dodgers fans with Eckersley retiring the first two batters. Then came the hobbling Kirk Gibson, the count was 3-2 with Alfredo Griffin on second base and Gibson drilled a backdoor slider that ended up being a painful moment for A's fans all over. The Dodgers would go onto win the series in 5 games despite clearly being the inferior team (and anyone who thinks otherwise is totally delusional) that home run was what the Dodgers needed to stun Tony La Russa's team. My mom to this day is still scarred by that home run and I've never had a conversation longer than 2 minutes with her about it. Many kids were scarred by this moment in the East Bay, I'm convinced. This was the birth of the "Curse of the Closer" it would be four years before it reared it's ugly head.

Eck called it "Gibson 2," and luckily I wasn't alive to see this awful moment either. This was game 4 of the 1992 ALCS and the Toronto Blue Jays had a 2-1 lead in the series going into game 4, the A's were poised to lock it up at 2 games apiece. The A's jumped to a 6-1 lead after 7, then came the 8th where the Jays pulled 3 back to make it 6-4, La Russa already brought in Eckersley who gave up 2 of the Jays 3 runs. Eck pitched once again in the 9th, his normal role and he gave up a 2-run game tying home run to Robbie Alomar that tied the game. And opened the door for the Jays to win the game in the 11th. Dave Stewart would save the A's in game 5 but Mike Moore couldn't do the same in game 6 and the A's were eliminated.

Every closer has their awful moments, Eck has Gibson and Alomar. While Mariano Rivera has Sandy Alomar Jr., Luis Gonzalez, and the 2004 Red Sox. I'm in no way tarnishing what Eckersley has done for our franchise but as you will see from these next few demons, the "Curse of the Closer" is quite spooky.

Demon #3: Eric Byrnes, Miguel Tejada, Keith Foulke's "Curse of The Closer" and Derek Lowe's "Crotch Shot"

There is no one demon in this series. There are many demons you can point at, so I had to include all of them. The series began with the same song and dance, the A's jumped to a 2-0 series lead after Ramon Hernandez's squeeze play won the game during extras in game one. Barry Zito shut the door and the A's pounded Tim Wakefield in game two. The plane ride to Boston would be one where the course of the series would change in an instance during one flurry of plays in the top of the 6th of game three. This was the sequence.

The A's were down 1-0 in the 6th when a rally got them going. A wild pitch appeared to have scored Eric Brynes who hobbled away after sliding into home but the umpire mysteriously didn't signal and Jason Varitek made a heads up play and tagged out Byrnes in a bizarre sequence that had my family up yelling and screaming. During our scolding of the tv, the A's got a base hit that drove in one run but then Miguel Tejada was jumping up and down and screaming at the umpire before being tagged out mysteriously. Apparently, Miggy was clearly interfered with by Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller but no umpire saw it happen, that quelled the A's rally and opened the door for a Trot Nixon walk-off home run in the 11th off Rich Harden and the series was now 2-1. What happened in the days leading up to game 4 was quite odd, Tim Hudson was scheduled to pitch game three and he went to a Boston bar with Barry Zito and was caught up in a bar fight. Ironically, Hudson had to be relieved in the first inning of game 4 due to a strained oblique, A's manager Ken Macha said that the bar fight had nothing to do with it but many believe otherwise. Irregardless, the A's bullpen pitched valiantly and the A's held a 4-3 lead and were 6 outs away from advancing to the ALCS. Keith Foulke was brought in the 8th for a possible 6 out save and ironically he'd be pitching against the team who he'd close out the "Curse of the Bambino" with the next year. Foulke would give up a David Ortiz two run double after Ortiz was hitless all series and that would end up being the game winner. That would be Foulke's only contribution to the "Curse of the Closer" since he only spent one year with the A's (he would return several years later but not for a playoff contending A's team). Definitely hard to fault Foulke, getting a 6 out save against what was the best statistically hitting team in some time was already a hard task, but he still has to be mentioned.

Then came the last of the demons in that series, game five.

It was game five, I was in fourth grade and my mom surprised me when my dad brought me home that she bought tickets for game 5 and I was excited yet nervous after all those other game 5's. It would be Barry Zito on the mound for Oakland vs Pedro Martinez for Boston. Sadly, this would be the last playoff game where the Coliseum would be used to it's full advantage with capacity. As Lew Wolff would buy the team in 2005 and tarp the upper decks. The A's would fall behind thanks to home runs by Jason Varitek and Manny Ramirez but the A's would chip away and going into the 9th, it was 4-3 Red Sox and the bases were loaded. Then came the move that we all could feel was going to be the dagger, Boston's closer by committee was used once again as Grady Little brought in Derek Lowe to face Adam Melhuse and Terrence Long. Lowe would strikeout both Melhuse and Long, and Lowe would do a crotch grab and point it at Miguel Tejada in celebration to make the defeat even more sour. Once again, we were eliminated when we had no business losing that series.

Demon #4: Kenny Rogers' Magical Clump of Dirt, and Huston Street's "Curse of the Closer"

To start this demon out, I have to acknowledge some of the good moments that happened before this awful nightmarish demon. The 2006 ALDS was one that was inconvenient for all A's fans, the games were all during the day (and usually starting at 10 am PST since the Twins had homefield advantage) and all during the week. All the so called "experts" were picking the Twinkies and who could blame them? The A's were so snake bit in the playoffs, that we all had some doubt in our minds. Something about it felt different, and while I was at school I heard about how Frank Thomas took Johan Santana to the woodshed with two monster home runs that gave the A's a big win in game one. In game two, the A's were caught in a back and forth clash that saw Mark Kotsay being the hero in what is the only play where Torii Hunter has actually helped the A's (being a huge A's killer), Kotsay had an easy single that Hunter tried to make a diving catch on and failed, the ball rolled all the way to the wall and Kotsay ran all the way around the diamond for a two-run inside the park home run that would give the A's a 2-0 series lead leaving the Twin Cities. I was far from optimistic heading into Oakland, I was well aware that history was not on our side and we had to get a huge monkey off our back.

Once again, I wouldn't be able to watch the majority of this game. The game started with Eric Chavez a  

man who was much aligned for his poor postseason stats came through with a 2-run jack and Milton Bradley followed up with a 2-run homer of his own to make it 4-0 A's, it would then turn into the Marco Scutaro show. Yes Giants fans, Marco Scutaro was being the boss for the A's long before he was with the Giants. Scutaro would have 4 RBIs in the game including a 3-run double that would make it 8-2 with 6 outs away, surely the monkey was off our back. The Twins would pull one back but that would be all, the A's had swept the Twins achieving payback for 2002's rubbish. Only one problem remained, we had to wait around for awhile before the ALCS.

The Tigers would be the team we'd play in the ALCS and we would have to be without our sure handed second baseman Mark Ellis due to a broken finger. This would play crucial as his replacement D'Angelo Jimenez would make several errors that proved costly.

Before game one, the news came in that former A's pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in a plane crash. Lidle was on the 2001 A's and our starter for game one, Barry Zito was struggling with the loss. It was certainly something that created an uneasy feeling for this series. Zito (in what would be his last game as an Oakland A) would not pitch like his usual self and gave up home runs to Brandon Inge and Pudge Rodriguez. In game 2, a young Justin Verlander would get the win as the A's could not keep the Detroit offense at bay in an 8-5 loss. Down 0-2, the A's would have to try and become the first team ever to win a League Championship Series after losing the first two at home. Then came the demons that put us away.

The picture on the left is a picture from game 3 of the 2006 ALCS, the one on the right is a picture from the 2006 World Series. News started to come out after game 2 about Kenny Rogers' mysterious "clump of dirt" on his hand. There were whispers of pine tar usage since the weather was so cold he couldn't grip the ball. What pissed me off was that the same clump of dirt was seen on Rogers' hand in his game 3 start against us as well as his game 4 start in the ALDS against the Yankees. This may have had no effect on the result since Kenny Rogers had long been an A's killer since leaving the A's especially when he was with Texas. Rogers allowed two hits and no runs as the A's were shutout and now down 3-0.

The Curse of the Closer, Huston Street had been reliable during the postseason as well as during the stretch run. It was before the playoffs had started that my brother Gavin mentioned the "Curse of the Closer" for the first time. He said he was worried about Street, and ironically it happened to close the series. The A's had actually come alive in game four and took an early lead but that wouldn't last as the Tigers quickly erased the A's 3-0 lead with a rally that included a Magglio Ordonez tying home run. Moving to the 9th inning, Huston Street was called on to keep the Tigers scoreless in the 9th. Then came the hanging slider, Ordonez killed it and just like that we were eliminated. All that happiness that I mostly didn't get to see was erased, just like that. The A's had once again found a way to come back to their losing ways. Huston Street would be traded after the 2008 season in the Matt Holliday deal. He's just one more name on an ever increasing list of closers who were so dominant yet failed in crucial postseason moments. It'll be interesting to see if Grant Balfour can defy history and end "The Curse of the Closer." This demon would sting the longest because of all the bad A's teams that followed the 2006 season, from 2007-2011 the A's were prolonged by mediocrity and these demons were lingering in our minds. Now that the postseason is about to be here, I can tell you that this is why I dread the postseason, it's not fun. It's not a fun ride, it's a grueling and usually heartbreaking event and that's why I'm often pessimistic about any A's team that makes the postseason, I'm always looking for them to screw up because that's just what I'm used to, this is how the A's fan who was born after 1989 feels and I'm no different.

Last year was a wonderful run, we were happy to be there and there was no real "curse of the closer" moment. Though you could argue game 2 was that but with how Coco Crisp played the rest of that series you just simply can't do that. This year, the A's will be trying to extinguish all these demons that linger in the A's fans memories. The demons that prevent some A's fans from watching Moneyball for fear of reliving those October demons that cloud the mind. The only way you can get rid of demons is by winning the whole "F*CKING THING" as Tom Berenger would say in Major League. Unless we win it all, more demons will be born and deep down I fear that our window for winning in Oakland is closing. We simply have to win, it's bigger than baseball, it's my family, it's the city's crown jewel, all that is at stake and winning will only enrich that legend that others have helped build. For those of you who aren't A's fans, or hell even if you're not OAKLAND A's fans you just simply wouldn't be able to understand this situation because our team is in a fight for something bigger than a championship, it's SURVIVAL and a 5th ring would certainly help that fight.