Phil Naessens shares his first introduction to the Athletics, wonders what will happen if heaven forbid there's an injury to a middle infielder, and leaves you with an interesting question.
I still remember the first time I saw the Oakland A's play. It was 1972 and they were playing the Detroit Tigers in the playoffs. Okay, maybe I saw them play before but this time they were facing off against my Detroit Tigers. I still remember asking myself "what's a Blue Moon Odom" and he showed me and the rest of the world by winning Games 1 and 5 and sending my Tigers packing.
As much as a seven-year-old possibly could I hated that 1972 team but I also became fascinated by them as I watched this band of long-haired mustache-wearing Dudes from "out west" beat the Cincinnati Reds in seven games to win Oakland's first World Series.
1973 wasn't much better for me either. In fact it was worse. The A's predictably reached the World Series but this time they were facing my New York Mets. This Mets team, with the midseason motto of "You Gotta Believe," went from worst to first and taught little boys like me that anything was possible. Of course those effing A's had to ruin it all by winning their second World Series that year, and my hatred and fascination with this amazing A's team grew.
Those A's teams of the 70's were great. I wanted to see more of this team but living in the East and spending summers with my grandpa in the Midwest made watching this great team play ball extremely difficult. Luckily for me there was an All-Star Game and in 1975 the A's had eight players representing the American League. It was a real treat to watch these excellent baseball players do their thing on national TV.
Flash forward to 2014 and your Oakland A's have seven representatives as well (six plus Jeff Samardzija). It's nice to see that the best team in baseball has so many players chosen. I'm sure for you fans it's a very rewarding feeling and for me it's another chance to watch great classy players doing their thing on national TV. Congratulations to all seven of your Oakland A's!
What was your first reaction to the trade with the Cubs? Talk about going all-in, right? Billy Beane wheeled and dealed his way to a starting rotation that boasts five starters in the top 32 in all of baseball. That's a heck of a deal isn't it?
What happens if, heaven forbid, Jed Lowrie gets injured?
Morbid I know but for me that's a real question. I would have thought the A's might have been concentrating on a middle infielder but they didn't. I suppose if something does happen then Nick Punto can fill in on the short term but a middle infield of Eric Sogard and Nick Punto isn't exactly going to set the field on fire. Something tells me Billy Beane has a couple more tricks up his sleeve and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think he will do in the comments section below.
In segment two of my show today Alex joins me for his weekly segment to talk about the All-Stars and the trade and as usual had a great time doing so. I'm also joined on the show today by Indy Cornrows Tom Lewis and Grizzly Bear Blues Joe Mullinax. Lewis and I talk possible Indiana Pacers trades and Mullinax and I speculate on the future of Grizzlies point guard Nick Calathes. It's a fun show and as usual I'll leave the player below or you can download the show from my site here.