A's 2, O's 1 after the top of the 6th

Sale and Verlander had a great duel, separated only by god. I wonder which one will be portrayed by Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy based on this weekend.

Saunders, Britton, and Wolf starting for the Orioles in this series. Why Wolf and not Steve Johnson? Steve Johnson has been nothing but good.

The baseball fan in me is really happy to see Baltimore playing Oakland in a big game in mid-September; a possible playoff preview(!?).

What a great game! Real playoff atmosphere in Oakland, winning a one run game against the masters of close games. Live by the sword, die ny the sword. Great opening game.

Caught him stealing! What a great way to end a good game.

I made the mistake of un-muting Harold Reynolds as the MLB network showed the end of the Baltimore-Oakland game. He thought Avery trying to steal second with two outs in the ninth inning was a bad decision because even if it succeeded, it would take the bat out of Chris Davis's hands.

a. The A's are not going to pitch around Chris Davis with 2 outs in the ninth inning.
b. (corollary to a) Chris Davis is not good enough of a hitter to be concerned about taking the bat out of his hands.

Why Wolf and not Steve Johnson? Steve Johnson has been nothing but good.

I don't get this, either. What does Johnson need to do to get a start? He's only been lights out every time he's given a chance.

Methinks that should be "exacts revenge" ... or have I been saying it wrong all these years.

What a great game! Real playoff atmosphere in Oakland, winning a one run game against the masters of close games. Live by the sword, die ny the sword. Great opening game.

Agree 100% - that was one of the best nights I can remember at the Oakland ball-yard.
AND followed up a great game with fireworks on the field - Star Wars theme, including Darth Vader and stormtrooper procession!

Among the top 11 Yankees in career WAR, Jeter is 10th in WAR/PA.

I'm guessing that when they put the promotion schedule together they were thinking a late-season A's-O's tilt needed a little attendance boost.

Why Wolf and not Steve Johnson? Steve Johnson has been nothing but good.

I would start Arrieta but I can see why they don't. Now he's probably done for the series, which makes me happy as an A's fan.

What a great game! Real playoff atmosphere in Oakland, winning a one run game against the masters of close games. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Great opening game.

Agree 100% -- that was one of the best nights I can remember at the Oakland ballyard.
AND followed up a great game with fireworks on the field -- Star Wars theme, including Darth Vader and stormtrooper procession!

So for one night, at least, the Orioles were the Evil Empire (as they were to many Washingtonians until 2005).

I attended my first ever AL game this year. Athletics versus Orioles at Camden Yards. I knew that both teams were having surprisingly good years, but I didn't expect either of them to figure into the playoff picture. Hopefully it was a playoff preview.

The O's and A's played back-to-back ALCSs in 1973-74, and both of them were classics. OTOH if you ever want to get a sense of the size of the Orioles' fan base before "Oriole magic" took over in 1979, the last two games of that '74 LCS featured matchups of Palmer vs Blue and Hunter vs Cuellar, and drew 32,060 and 28,136 on two perfect early Autumn afternoons. Neither of those teams came close to drawing a million that year, even though the A's were two time defending champions and the Orioles and Yankees had a tooth and nail division race that wasn't decided until the 161st game of the season. Those were what some people call "the good old days."

the last two games of that '74 LCS featured matchups of Palmer vs Blue and Hunter vs Cuellar, and drew 32,060 and 28,136 on two perfect early Autumn afternoons

Among other things, I just think there plain wasn't as much money around in those days. Times were rough, there was an oil crisis, people were eating horsemeat when they couldn't get cube steak. Certainly the players didn't earn as much, and the franchises were worth a fraction of what they are now, and the infrastructure was often even more heavily state-supported than it is today (Baltimore's Memorial Stadium was IIRC a true municipal stadium, built and owned by the city; the Oakland ballpark was/is at least owned by the city and/or county). People just have piles of money to be put to use on recreation today, even in the 2000s version of a recession.

Times were rough, there was an oil crisis, people were eating horsemeat when they couldn't get cube steak.

You youngsters probably think this is an exaggeration, but there was an episode of "All in the Family" from 1973 when the Bunkers had horsemeat for dinner.

Those were what some people call "the good old days."

Other than Quentin Tarantino, who the hell has ever referred to the mid-1970s as the "good old days?"

You youngsters probably think this is an exaggeration, but there was an episode of "All in the Family" from 1973 when the Bunkers had horsemeat for dinner.

I bet that back then a wedding without at least 3 deaths was considered a dull affair.

Every time the Orioles lose I feel like "this is it, back to reality, this is a team that's putting out an everyday lineup with only three guys hitting over .250 and they're about to lose 8 of their next 10 and the season's over."

Also, if you were a kid in the '70s, there truly is a sense in which that era feels like "the last good time" before the early to mid '80s, when there was a palpable sense of doom everywhere -- the US was going to be overtaken by the economies of the Far East, nuclear destruction could come at every time, the country was careening into an uncertain future with nobody at the wheel, etc.

Also, if you were a kid in the '70s, there truly is a sense in which that era feels like "the last good time" before the early to mid '80s, when there was a palpable sense of doom everywhere -- the US was going to be overtaken by the economies of the Far East, nuclear destruction could come at every time, the country was careening into an uncertain future with nobody at the wheel, etc.

Really? The sense of doom started at least with the '73 Oil Crisis, and recession. Followed up by, Waterate, the loss of South Vietnam, I don't think anyone viewed the 70's as being a "happy time".

I spent the 1970s in HS and college. Sure, there was a lot of crappy stuff going on, but I and most of my friends were pretty darned happy for the most part. I would think that most people who are lucky enough to grow up in the kind of circumstances that most of us were lucky enough to grow up in tend to view the years of their youth as being a "happy time."