Shorthanded A's fall short in playoffs

Missing manager, brother Kevin Metcalfe picks up A's to sweep Giants, but too much missing to beat Titans

Kevin Metcalfe delivered the bad news to the bad news to the A's before the playoffs began then delivered his strongest performance of the season, going 3-for-7 with 4 runs and 3 RBI in a 14-8, 11-6 sweep over the Giants in the opening round with the A's looking every bit the top seed against the No. 4 seed with offense to spare despite missing two of the top five hitters in the lineup.

Clinton Yeager did his part to make up for Metcalfe's table-setting and Breidinger's production, filling both roles in the sweep. He broke open a 2-2 game in the fourth inning of the first game of the Saturday doubleheader with a three-run triple. He scored on an RBI single by Billy Dodson
(1-for-3), who scored the second of three runs on an RBI triple by fellow 3-run man Shawn Purcell (3-for-4). Sloppiness by the Giants got the rally rolling when Brodie Nissen (2-for-5) singled and scored on a pair of errors and a third error along with a walk and a hit batsman allowed four other runners to reach base and eventually score in the 8-run fourth that gave the A's a 10-2 lead.

Kevin Metcalfe, who broke out of a slump with a single in the third, reached on an error in the fourth, then led off a four-run sixth with a single. He scored on an RBI single by Yeager. Mike Mastro'
(2-for-5) hit an RBI single for his third RBI in three different at bats in the game. Nissen followed with an RBI single and Brent Everett closed the scoring with an RBI single.

Yeager led the charge again in the second game, being the one getting hit rather than getting a hit to spark a comeback. Trailing 1-0 in the third, Yeager (2-for-3) led off with a hit by pitch, stole second and scored on a single by Purcell (3-for-5, 2 RBI) to get another 8-run inning going. Mike Mastro' (3-for-4, 2 runs) singled then Keith Lederer and Kevin Kennedy (2-for-4, 2 runs) kept the drive alive with RBI singles before Kevin Metcalfe (1-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI) upped the production with a 2-run single. Yeager took one more for the team and Dodson followed with a 2-run single.

The Giants had little hope of coming back from an 8-1 deficit against Purcell, who cruised through 9 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and striking out 6 in the 11-6 victory. Kevin Kennedy was almost as smooth in the opener, allowing 1 earned run through seven innings before tiring in the 14-8 win.

The A's should have saved some of those runs, because they were hard to come by the following week against the Titans. Purcell and John Bulleri were locked in a pitchers' duel in the opener. Purcell overcame the wildness that walked in a run in the first by striking out 13 and waling just four more after walking four in the first. He allowed just four hits, two by Tony Bulleri, who singled and scored on a walk in the first and led off the ninth with a walk and scored his second run on a sac fly by Kenton Lewis. John Bulleri was thankful to have cousin Tony there or the game might have went scoreless until the teams ran out of sunlight because the A's were having trouble making solid contact of John, who struck out 10, walked 1 and gave up just 3 hits in the 2-0 win.

The deflated A's didn't recover from the loss falling 11-3 in the second championship game. The A's were down 11-0 after four innings and the only member to get more than one hit in the game was Dodson, who had 3 on the day to lead the A's. The only other A's player with at least 2 hits on the day was Mastro. After splitting a pair of 1-run games during the season, the A's expected the Titans to be tough, but they didn't expect to be swept or to fall like they did in the second game.

"We went out there really wanting to win one for Ryan, but after losing that first game like we did we were just lost," said Roland Belcher, who filled in for his former college roommate and pitched in a walk and a stolen base. "It was one of those games were nothing went right."

The week after the A's lost the championship, Metcalfe came out of his drug induced coma and began the long road to recovery. His left leg has a long way to go, but his mind is already working on ways to make the A's better and beat the Titans.

Kevin Metcalfe (3-for-7, 4 run, 3 RBI) picked up the slack for his ailing brother Ryan in Giants sweep.

Roland Belcher (left) came through again for the A's when they needed an extra player against the Titans in the championship series.

Billy Dodson, A's season MVP, kept his bat hot
(5-for-13, 4 run, 4 RBI) in the playoffs but he only scored 1 run against the stingy Titans pitching.

Wrench-MVP     (vs. Giants)