There IS an "A" in mirAcle...

  
     Let me tell you a story of a true underdog team overcoming tremendous odds that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in sports history. The location was Lake Placid, New York and the time was 1980. The Winter Olympics was the back drop for a massive nation verses nation battle among the favored Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and a surprise pack of rascals, the United States of America, in the medal round of hockey play.



     The game seemed out of reach for the Americans, who were lead by head coach Herb Brooks. That was until late in the third period when the United States tied the game 3-3 with a Mark Johnson goal. With the end fast approaching they pressed and showed their grit and determination by scoring the game winning goal off the stick of Mark Pavelich, completing America’s “Miracle on Ice”.

      I bring this up because the 2012 season for the Oakland Athletics’ seems to be all but a loss. So many fans are feeling down in the dumps, especially after the trades of three All-Star Pitchers: Gonzalez, Cahill and Bailey. With a five year absence from the playoffs, and the lack of a winning season since the 2006’s division championship team, it’s been hard for fans old and new.

     But, fear not fellow brothers and sisters. This coming season should excite you. We are celebrating two teams that provide us with many warm memories: the 1972 World Champion, the Swingin A’s; and the 2002 twenty game winning Streak team. Mix that history with the talent of the coming season: Jemile Weeks, Yoenis Cespedes, and the new addition of Manny Ramirez; and we could be looking at the “Miracle A’s” of 2012.This year’s team will help the Franchise rise like a phoenix to reclaim our great legacy.

     The Swingin A’s was the start of the proud Oakland Dynasty. They won three World Titles in a row from 1972 to 1974. The Moustache Gang racked up 93 wins behind stellar pitching by Blue Moon Odom, Vida Blue, Ken Holtzman and Catfish Hunter. While the power and speed were provided by “Captain” Sal Bando, Bert “Campy” Campaneris, Joe Rudi, Reggie Jackson and World Series MVP Gene Tenace. Anchoring the team was Hall of Fame closer Rollie Fingers. Rollie will be honored this year with a bobble head on April twenty-first at the O.Co with his fellow teammates.

     Following this team the Athletics hit a major dry spell and were absence from many peoples minds until 1988- 1990 when the Athletics went to three World Series and won one against the Giants in 1989. Another dry spell awaited the Athletics from 1993-1999. In that time they did not make the playoffs at all.

     Enter The “Money ball” Era: the Athletics won four Division Titles and a wild card from 2000-2006. The biggest team that came to national relevance was the 2002 club that won twenty straight games. This set an American League record. That year the Streak team won 103 games and produced the American League Cy Young, Barry Zito, as well as the American League MVP, Miguel Tejada.

     The twenty consecutive wins started on August 13th and ran until September 4^th. There Scott Hatteberg hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Jason Grimsley. My fondest memory of the Streak team was the mini streak of the late Cory Lidle. He did not allow a single run for 32.2 innings and posted five wins himself. Lidle was a great player that the game lost too soon. Even with out him, it will be an amazing weekend in August when Justice, Dye, Tejada, and Scott Hatteberg reconvene at the O.Co, with events such as the Scott Hatteberg Bobble head game.

     Since this last great run in 2002, the Athletics have fallen on some harsh times. With public battles of moving to Fremont or San Jose, the dismantling of talented players, and the fears of truly losing our OAKLAND Athletics we may fall in the land of contraction. Even though the thought of the Green and Gold no longer existing stays in the back of our minds, we must focus on the bright future that lays ahead of us.

     Think about what could be a magical season in Oakland, my friends. Though our pitching is the biggest question mark of the season, we do have a perfect game winner in Dallas Braden. He is coming back and battling to prove his place as a top pitcher in the American League. Also we have emerging talented hitters in the form of Jemile Weeks and Yoenis Cespedes.

     Weeks was a major spark last season and in my eyes should have been the Rookie of the Year for the American League. He posted a .303 average with 123 hits, 22 stolen bases, and 36 RBI’s in 97 games. Cespedes has been titled a five tool player and posted a staggering .333 average, a record 33 home runs in the Cuban League and 99 RBI’s. Could this be the second coming of a bash brother in Oakland?

     To round out the thought of a miracle season the Athletics brought in Slugger Manny Ramirez. Manny will be serving a 50 game suspension for using PED’s. However, this could be like the addition of Frank Thomas back in 2006. Wrap this around the brilliant managing of Bob Melvin and the Athletics’ could write the “Miracle on the Diamond” story. A story of overcoming the super powers: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the two time defending American League Champions the Texas Rangers.

     So my fellow A’s fans, to you I say enjoy the ride as we try to resurrect our dynasty. To the players that are battling it out during spring training like: Daric Barton, Brandon Allen, Chris Cater and Michael Taylor; remember this is your time to shine. Reach for it and run with it.

     I’ll leave you guys with a quote from Herb Brooks. He said this to the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey team during the second intermission. “ You were born to be a player. You were meant to be here. This IS your moment.” Go get them Athletics this is your moment!

Sharks need to call Goalie 911....

     The speakers of the HP Pavilion are rumbling to the sound of the Jaws theme from the famed movie, the sellout crowd is doing the iconic “Chomp”. The “Shark Tank” is buzzing as it should be because this exciting team has been giving fans, young and old, many things to cheer about in its twenty year history. Fourteen playoff appearances, six as the Pacific Division Champions and four of those come in back-to-back-to-back-to-back fashion from 2007-2011. Possibly the best season in San Jose Sharks history was when they won the Presidents’ Trophy in the 2008-2009 season for being the overall best team in the National Hockey League. They lead the league with 53 wins and had 117 points under the control of Head Coach Todd McLellan. With all the success the Sharks have had in the past twenty years the team is still searching for it first Stanley Cup Finals appearance. The Sharks have reached the Western Conference Finals three times in Franchise history, but unfortunately Team Teal has a disappointing 3-12 record. These poor numbers come on the heels of back-to-back appearances in the last two seasons in the Conference Finals losing both times to the Vancouver Canucks and being swept by the Chicago Blackhawks who would go on to win the Stanley Cup in the 09’-10’ season.

     It seems like the Sharks always have a stellar offence which scores goals and win games, however it can also be said that some areas of play can be weak at times. You have a who’s who of talented player donning the Teal and Grey or the newly added “Black Out” jerseys in Jeff Friesen, Sandis Ozolinsh, Mike Rathje and Ricci. All-Stars like Owen Nolan, Vinnie Damphousse, Teemu Selanne, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Cheechoo all the way up to Joe Thornton, Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski. These men have shed an astonishing amount of blood and sweat to be put down in record books, for most games played, goals, assists and points. Most of these records belong to “Mr. Hat Trick” Patrick Marleau who holds the Franchise record for most points with 768, goals with 357 and assists with 411. When it comes to single season records you have big Joe Thornton leading the way with 114 points and 92 assists in the 06’-07’ season where he won the Hart Memorial Trophy. So it seems that with all this star power it seems rather confusing how the Sharks haven’t won multiple Stanley Cups let alone never reach one???

     From my standpoint and analysis I personally believe that the short comings of Team Teal can be pointed at our goaltending core. Sure during the regular season the goalies tend to get the job done and lead us to the playoffs as Division Champions or even the number 2 seed in the Western Conference. But when the lights are bright and you’re fighting towards the games grandest stage and the goalies wind up folding under the pressure of the big game can we say it was really worth it? Dating back to the formation of the San Jose Sharks in the 1991 season our goaltending presence was better than most. Arturs Irbe set the bar for the goalie measuring stick, and in postseason play Arturs folded in his two appearances for them giving up 82 goals in twenty games. The sub standard play in the post season continued when Evgeni Nabokov took hold of the reigns, granted Nabby holds the Franchise record for most games played with 77, wins with 46 and 9 shutouts. When the lights went bright on the playoffs Nabokov turned in horrible performances year after year and ended with a 40-39 record in the post season with the sharks, he allowed a total of 184 goals. When this happens not even an offensive rich team can overcome that in a win or go home scenario. Exit Nabokov and enter Stanley Cup Champion Antti Niemi who left the Blackhawks after sweeping the Sharks out of the Western Conference Finals in the 2009-2010 season. High hopes surrounded the addition of Niemi and he didn’t let the Sharks faithful down leading us to another Division Title and our latest playoff appearance. Though Niemi lead us to the Conference Finals in his first season in Teal, he allowed more than 4 goals in five of his eighteen playoff games. Niemi allowed 58 goals and allowed nearly 2 and half goals per game and posted a miserable .896 save percentage, this lead to a devastating loss to the Canucks.

     For the Sharks to overcome the lackluster play in the playoffs two simple things need to happen; first the Sharks need to sign a proven goalie that has had multiple seasons chasing Lord Stanley’s Cup, and even winning it. A couple of names that come to mind; Nikolai Khabibulin and Marty Turco, have either man play from time to time and help mold Niemi into a stonewall player that can finally deliver Lord Stanley’s Cup here to the Bay Area. The second thing the Sharks need is a smash mouth defenseman like that of Chris Pronger. I’m not saying that I like the man, but his play is proven and its style will give the Sharks a much needed boost to their power play kill. A power play kill that ranks in the bottom three of the National Hockey League with a 76.5 % kill, heck even the damn restart Jets have a better penalty kill then we do.

     Minor adjustments and some added player personnel can be the thing to help the Sharks over the hump so they can bring the FIRST hockey world title to the Bay Area. Coach McLellan has the determination; let’s just hope this is the year that the Sharks live up to the hype as the team that’s supposed to win the Cup.

A Giant disappointment…

     The confetti has fallen on the city by the bay, and San Francisco’s first baseball championship has arrived. The lovable “miSFits” worked hard and battled to obtain baseball’s grandest prize. As the championship hangover went into full swing the Giants were ready to defend their title as baseball’s team to beat. In doing so they chose to film a show for Showtime called “The Franchise” chronicling the road to repeating.

The Giants came out of the gates swinging and ended the month of April with a .500 record going 13-13. At this point Giants fans would not know the suffering and true “Torture” that was in store for the defending champions, because on May 25^th in the top of the 12^th inning in a tied game against the Marlins; Emilio Bonifacio hit a fly out to Nate Schierholtz. At 3^rd base Scott Cousins tagged up and proceeded to try to score the winning run for the Marlins, in doing so Cousins plowed through Buster Posey and proceeded to break Posey’s fibula and tare ligaments in his ankle. This could easily be the dagger that ended the Giants hope of being back to back champions, but you also have to bring into account the injury to Freddy Sanchez along with some horrible hitting that ultimately added to the reason for the Giants’ downfall in 2011. As a mid season addition the Giants brought in CF Carlos Beltran for top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. Beltran gave the Giants some much needed pop since the loss of Posey. Beltran ended the season with 17 runs, 54 hits, 7 home runs, and 18 rbi’s, and a .323 average. Though he heated up down the final weeks of the season it proved to be a little too late for the Giants and they failed to reach the playoffs finishing 8 games behind the National League West Division Champions Arizona Diamond Backs.

     In my eyes the biggest asset to the Giants is their pitching, finishing in the top two in all major pitching categories as a team. A team ERA of 3.20 which was better than Arizona’s 3.80 ERA, 1,316 strikeouts which was the second best in the National League while the Dbacks posted only 1,058 k’s which was third worst in the National League. The Giants only allowed 1,260 hits which was the least in the National League, and a whip of 1.24 was the icing on the cake for this great pitching staff. Though Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner were all around .500 pitchers, together with Ryan Vogelsong who was by far the best Giant pitcher of 2011, the Giants were the second best pitching staff behind the Philadelphia Phillies. Ryan Vogelsong went 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA, 139 strikeouts and a 1.25 whip. Tim Lincecum is the Ace of the staff and had a off season posting a 13-14 record seeing him lose a career high 14 games and posting his worst win-loss percentage in his career with a .481%. A ray of hope waits in the minor league in the form of Eric Surkamp who posted a 10-4 record with a 2.02 ERA, 165 strikeouts and a 1.08 whip. The addition of Surkamp to this already top notch staff can have the Giants on the verge of returning to the playoffs.

     The biggest thing that ruined the Giants’ playoff hopes was the horrible offence that was one of the worst in the National League, I mean even the Pirates, who haven’t posted a winning record since 1992, had some stats better than the Giants. The Team batted .242 which was in the bottom three of the league joining the Nationals and Padres. The Giants scored 570 runs which was the worst in the National Leagues, while the Diamond Backs scored 731. The team only racked up 1,327 hits which was 2 hits less than the Pirates. With these hit 121 of them were Home Runs and only counted for 534 Runs Batted In. In the wake of the poor hitting that was the 2011 Giants, Pablo Sandoval was the only offensive ray of light posting a .315 average, racking up 134 hits, 23 home runs, 70 rbi’s and 55 runs. A drastic change is needed if the Giants want to give the top notch pitching staff a chance to become world champions again. As the off season hot stove came to a boil the Giants stated they weren’t going to jump in the Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols bidding wars. Instead they traded former No-Hitter throwing pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to the Royals for Outfielder Melkey Cabrera and traded speedster Andres Torres to the Mets for Angel Pagan. Out of the two moves the Cabrera trade has the greater up side considering Melkey posted numbers that would make him the team leader in runs scored with 102 and rbi’s with 87, not to mention he posted a .305 average and 18 home runs. With this being a contract year I see him putting up at least 20 or more HR’s, 90 plus RBI’s, around 90 or more runs scored and a .300 average. Giving the Giants a boost in offence but not what a Pujols or Fielder could do. If you want a upside, maybe Gary Brown could be the second coming of Buster Posey and jump from single A to the Majors where he might flash his .336 average, show off some power and maybe hit 15 or more HR’s and rack up 75 or more RBI’s.

     The Giants might be a flash in the pan world champion team if they do not address their lack of offensive pop and provide what might be the best National League pitching staff in 2012 a little more run support. It’s a season of “What if’s” that will ultimately shape the 2012 season for the Giants. Will The Buster Posey, coming back from knee surgery, be the same Buster who won the Rookie of the Year? Will Freddy Sanchez be a force at 2^nd base and provide a little excitement for the fans at a packed AT&T Park? With spring training around the corner only time will tell