A’s Would Enjoy a Party at Home
Two wins over the Angels this weekend, and the Oakland Athletics can do what the Angels did in 2004 and 2005 -- clinch the American League West title and stage a wild celebration in McAfee Coliseum.
Just an extra morsel of motivation for the A’s entering tonight’s game against the Angels, which kicks off what was supposed to be a showdown series but is shaping up as a possible coronation, what with the A’s reducing their magic number to four with Thursday’s 7-4 win over the Indians.
“I’ve seen them celebrate here the last two years, and that ain’t gonna happen,” Oakland first baseman Nick Swisher said after Thursday’s game. “That left a bitter taste in my mouth. If we win two, then we can celebrate on our field instead of them. It would be nice to do it in front of our own fans.”
Payback was the furthest thing from the mind of A’s Manager Ken Macha, who took a Lou Holtz, doomsday approach to the series, saying the Angels’ pitching is “unbelievable, it’s going to be a challenge, a huge challenge.”
Asked what he thought of the matchups for the weekend, Macha said, “I refer you to the series before the All-Star break.”
That’s when the Angels won three of four games in Oakland, with John Lackey, Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana, the same trio that will start this weekend’s games, pitching brilliantly in victories. Lackey, after giving up a leadoff double to Jason Kendall on July 7, retired the next 27 in a row in a 3-0 win.
“Anything can happen, and when you start looking at the future, you forget about what you have to do today,” Swisher said. “But we’ve put ourselves in a great position, and we’re confident.”
Go beyond the scoreboard
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