"depravity and disappointment!" cried the needles and pins
Then again, a clover's only a plant....
For what it's worth, tonight, nobody seemed ridiculously broken by losing the postseason, and that was good to see. It's disheartening, but there's a lot to be proud of, too. Elly's had a stellar comeback year - better than anybody could have expected, I think. Kendall's said so many times this is the best season he's had, here in Oakland, and I don't imagine narrowly missing a playoff spot is going to change that for him; plus, he's finishing off this year hotter than a jackrabbit on a hot tin roof in the middle of August..... (yeah, I'm quoting Spongebob. That's sad.) Scoots has 9 homers on the year, a career best. All our Oakland rookies are something to boast about - I'm proud of all of you to a degree you can't possibly imagine. Nicky, I can't SAY everything I have for you, but then you're used to that. *eyeroll* You never cease to amaze me, honey, even if you see yourself as one of the less colorful crayons in the Oakland box lately - at least as far as baseball is concerned. You're no rookie in my eyes. I believe Payton's found a home - even if he still looks at me funny every now and then... Um... anyway. Zito, man. Zito. Truly deserving of that whole Comeback Player award - innings pitched up, hits, runs, earned runs all down from last year. Nothing short of awe-inspiring. DANNY'S STUCK HERE FOUR YEARS AT LEAST BWAHAHA. Chavs has been Mr. Positive down the stretch as usual, keeping us all sane with his freakishly calm demeanor. That's simply critical. Richie's battled through so so much lately, only to reach triple digits again tonight and show us he's still got every bit of gas he ever had. Mark, even if you'd rather not hear it, I thought you looked simply beautiful out there tonight - two hits? Damn skippy. Plus, a quick trip to Yahoo will tell you you have twenty less strikeouts than last year here. Granted that might not stay that way, but if you strike out twenty times in a week, I'll have to hurt you. If you don't plan on spending the night harassing poor Jamie, come over, kay? Kielty, Saarloos, Gint, Melhuse, Bobby - everybody, you all have reason to be entirely proud of what we've accomplished this season.
I'm proud of all of you, and even if we haven't got a postseason to look forward to, we still have some baseball to play. We might as well make it damn good baseball, right? We'll wow the die-hard Athletics fans still left in the stands for the rest of these games - ALL THREE OF THEM! YEAH!