A's Cannot Capitalize; Red Sox move on.

I made the executive decision to basically do the MLB Playoffs like I did with the Brewers this season. Meaning the previews will be the same, highlights and lowlights will show up plus some recaps and bigger pieces. Hope you enjoy.

Detroit 8 Oakland 6 - The land of missed opportunities. Oakland will always wonder 'what if' whenlooking back at Game 4 against Detroit. The A's had multiple chances to win this series and once  again as Oakland has done over the years, they could not close out a team leading to a Game 5 on Thursday night in the Bay Area against Justin Verlander and the Tigers.

The game featured a great back and forth scoring which is not always seen in baseball.  The teams were tied at 3-3 heading into the 7th. Enter Game 1 starter Max Scherzer into the game. A former reliever, Scherzer took the mound in an attempt to roadblock Oakland from scoring again because manager Jim Leyland has zero faith in his bullpen. It did not go as planned as Stephen Vogt hit a lead-off single and Coco Crisp, one of the best players in the postseason this October, drove him in giving the A's a 4-3 advantage. Unfortunately for Oakland that would be their last happy moment of the evening.

Victor Martinez hit a solo home run to begin the bottom of the seventh tying the game and basically deflated any momentum Oakland had after retaking the lead against what might possibly be the American League Cy Young winner only to have V-Mart batting from the right side, technically his bad side, hitting an opposite field home run. The Tigers did not stop there as Detroit filled the basepads leading to an Austin Jackson RBI to take the lead.

The tennis match continued between the two teams as Oakland loaded the bases on Scherzer with no outs to start the eighth. Apparently, the A's caught Brewers disease as they could not drive in a run. This includes an awful strikeout by Josh Reddick swinging at a 3-2 pitch thrown directly into the dirt. The Tigers did the complete inverse driving in three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Oakland could not mount a full comeback in the ninth.

This is a pretty demoralizing loss for Oakland. They should have won this baseball game. Dan Straily dominated for the most part besides one bad pitch to Jhonny Peralta, and to get a run then load the bases with no outs against one of the AL's best pitcher only to get nothing is horrible.

Boston 3 Tampa Bay 1 - To be honest, this game bored me compared to the first game of the day. Joe Maddon changing pitchers more than strippers changed their outfit on a Friday night was infuriating to watch. I am personally glad Boston won so no manager will try to emulate hipster Tony La Russa for the rest of the playoffs.

The weird thing though about Maddon is it almost did work.  I give Maddon credit for managing his way through it, but it still does not mean it frustrated the hell out of me. The Rays held a 1-0 advantage after David DeJesus drove in a run in the sixth inning. Although Boston's seventh summed up the series in general for Tampa Bay as the Red Sox scored their runs on a wild pitch and an infield single. The Rays defense has been a problem for them the entire playoff series and it came back to haunt them once again.

Jake Peavy pitched great for the Red Sox along with the bullpen of Craig Breslow and Koji Uehara. Boston's pitching staff for the greater part has been great for the first four games of the playoffs. They really only had one bad inning which was just a home run to Evan Longoria, a postseason monster. This is major going forward for Boston and scary for whomever wins tonight between Boston and Oakland. There is not a doubt in my mind Boston is the clear favorite going forward in the American League.

-Charlie.