Third time the charm?

[magicnight]

If you had asked me at in April, which was the least likely to occur - an American triple crown, a British triple crown, or a big league triple crown - it would have been the baseball version, hands down.

Well, here we are, and Cabrera is 2 for 3 tonight, hitting .331 (up six on Trout), and Hamilton needs either two home runs or 13 RBIs to beat him out in one of the power categories. I don\'t want to jinx the guy but - damn! - it looks like he is gonna win it in a canter.

And baseball really pulled a straight flush this year with the new wild card format. Winning the division has real meaning once again. And, while a four-way race for three spots would have been OK, the chance for two division titles being decided on the last day of the season (go, A\'s!), with the two losers playing a single game playoff to get into a divisional series, that\'s - as Johnny Miller would say - good stuff.

[P-Dub]

A\'s look a little sloppy so far, something I was afraid of after last night\'s celebration.  Went last night, great game.  Hopefully they give me a reason to play hooky again for tomorrow afternoon. Time for them to wake up.

[magicnight]

Paul, you don\'t sound well. You may have a bit of a fever.

[P-Dub]

Jut got a call, offered 2 tickets 10 rows behind the dugout for $50. Geezus, I hope that doesn\'t anger the baseball Gods. 3-1 8th and I can\'t sit still.

[magicnight]

$50? Is that below face value?

The Raiders sell out and you need to pay people to go see these guys?

[P-Dub]

Buddy has 4 tickets, he\'s using 2.  Yes, below face. $56 face value each.

2 weeks ago he told me he had 4 tickets for me.  Tonight its 2 for fiddy.  No complaints, need 3 more outs.

I promise I won\'t bitch about a photo or a DQ if we can get thru this inning......or \"Wide Mike\" references.

[magicnight]

Good friend you got there! Hope its a great game. Enjoy!

And with the afternoon game, Cabrera will know if he needs to hit any homers by the time they start playing in KC.

And the AL East gets settled - or not - starting at 705.

One hell of a day for the junior circuit!

[P-Dub]

He plays poker in my room, real good dude.  He knows I LOVE the A\'s, and would appreciate the tickets.  He did say that having Pocket Aces hold up would be part of the payment.

Yes, attendance is a sore point with me.  These last 2 nights have been awesome though.  When you have an owner that does everything he can to alienate the fans, its hard to get casual fans to show up. ATT park sells out, with half busy eating food and texting friends.  Its a yuppy crowd - nothing wrong with that, it fills the seats - that likes to be seen there. They have their share of great fans, no doubt.  Oakland and the East Bay is blue collar, and while smaller crowds the fans that do go are extremely passionate about the team.

I\'ve followed this team since 1970, and have seen over 1,000 games at the Coliseum. My father had ticket hookup when I was a kid and we went often (he knew the equipment manager). I would be pulled out of school to watch playoff games....Palmer vs Hunter, Cuellar vs Blue, etc... Saw Campy fire a bat at Legrow, all of it. What memories.

Sorry for the ramble...and JB.....sorry I hijacked the board for this. I am just really excited about this team right now, and can\'t wait to sit in the sunshine and have a cold one tomorrow afternoon.

[Edgorman]

\"How About that!!!\"

[miff]

\"How About that!!!\"



....Allen the greatest??

[Edgorman]

For this Yankee fan for sure.  But would be hard not to give that distincton to Vin Scully now.  Great times listening to both of them in the 50\'s.  It\'s brutal that we have to listen to the self promoting calls of Sterling, Kay and Cohen. i think it was Phil Mushnick in the post who described them as \"smarmy\"

[miff]

Ed,

Allen my fav, Scully great. My sports buds would argue that Jack Buck had the best pure voice and delivery ever.

Mike

[magicnight]

Only heard him do a couple of games (6 & 7 from the \'52 Series at the Museum of Broadcasting), but what about the old redhead?

[P-Dub]

Those guys are all fantastic.

Bill King one of the greatest ever at any sport.  How he isn\'t in the HOF is criminal.

[richiebee]

Jack Buck and Mike Shannon, spring training game, early 1970s:

Shannon: Two balls, two strikes, two men on here in the bottom of the second inning..

Buck: I guess we\'ll be betting the two dog at the track tonight

Buck outstanding voice and play by play. Harry Caray was hilarious, but may have
thought he was bigger than the game he was calling, a transgression that many
purists could not forgive.

Sterling (now blind enough to be a NYRA steward) and Suzyn (the \"Yankee Yenta\")
Waldman absolutely embarrassing.

As for my Mets, another year, another $1.9 million payment to Bobby Bonilla, who
hasn\'t worn a Met uniform since 1999...