On a Friday afternoon, the Oakland Athletics finally did it.  After going 0-9 in games in which they could have concluded a playoff series and move on to the next round, the Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins 8-3, completing a three-game sweep.  Many favored the Minnesota Twins as they had the advantage in every way, other than pitching depth past Johan Santana.  After beating Santana in Game One at Minnesota, the odds of the A’s winning series got a whole lot better as Santana was the true litmus test of how the series would go, as he is the most dominant pitcher in the game today.  However, Barry Zito showed why he won the Cy Young just a few years ago and led the A’s to a 3-2 Game One win.

In Game Two, A’s pitcher Esteban Loaiza and Twins pitcher Boof Bonser had an excellent pitching matchup and played evenly.  The bullpens was the deciding factor in this game.  Well, and a missed Tori Hunter dive for a Mark Kotsay hit, which turned into an inside-the-park homer.  On that play, the A’s took the lead and never looked back, winning the game 5-2.  Second year relief pitcher, Huston Street garnered his second consecutive save.  Being an A’s fan, I commneted to a colleague of mine how Street would be the next Mariano Rivera, meaning he’d do great in the postseason.  So far, things are looking good.

In Game Three, the A’s just did everything right and the Twins everything wrong, committing three errors and giving up five unearned runs.  And at the end, Athletics Nation rejoiced!  It was a tough series for the Twins who had an excellent season and clawed there way to an A.L. Central division title.  But, the A’s stayed the course and did it their way, with pitching, defense, and taking advantage of mistakes.  It helped that Frank Thomas, Milton Bradley, and Eric Chavez found their power stroke.

Next up in the American League Championship Series, the A’s will face the Detroit Tigers, hosting them at McAfee Coliseaum.  Game One starts at 5pm PST.  Look for the A’s to throw out Zito in Game One.  The true X-factor in this series could be pitcher Rich Harden who was injured for most of the season, but was sizzling when he was on the mound.  Fortunately for the A’s, they didn’t need to use him in Game Four of the Twins series as they planned.  More rest for Harden could mean more success for the A’s.