PAGE 4B
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2012
BASEBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
A's complete comeback
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKLAND, Calif. — Josh Hamilton made one thing clear: The Texas Rangers will forget their stunning season-ending sweep at Oakland and regroup as an American League wild card.
Texas needed one win against the upstart Athletics in three games, and didn't get it.
"You guys have a hard time believing we can forget about it and move ahead," Hamilton said. "But that's what we get paid to do. We'll go home, regroup and figure out what we have to do."
The Athletics captured the AL West with another improbable rally in a season full of them, coming back from four runs down and a 13-game division deficit to stun the two-time defending league champion Rangers 12-5 on Wednesday.
Hamilton dropped a fly ball in center field for a two-run error that put the As (94-68) ahead 7-5 in a six-run fourth inning. The As only added to Texas' troubles the best of the way.
"You can have all the expe
frience as you want but when you run into a team that's hot, experience has nothing to do with it", Rangers manager Ron Washington said.
While Texas (93-69) is headed to the new one-game, wild-card playoff, the As get some time off before opening the division series in their first postseason appearance since 2006.
Both teams had to wait to learn their opponents from a pair of night games. Boston at New York, and Baltimore at Tampa Bay.
The As would earn the ATS No. 1 seed if the Yankees lose, and open the division series at the winner of Friday's wild-card play-off featuring the Rangers. If New York wins, Oakland would be the 2 seed and begin at Detroit.
Texas squandered a five-game division lead in the final nine days.
Grant Balfour retired Michael Young on a fly to center for the final out, then raised his arms in the air as the As streamed out of the dugout and began bouncing up and down in the infield.
Oakland pulled off another remarkable performance in a season defined by thrilling walkoffs, rallies and whipped-cream饼 celebrations by a team that was never supposed to be here.
"We knew this is a beast of a team we would have to beat, and to be able to beat them three games in a row and win the division on top of it, really it's a magical type thing," manager Bob Melvin said.
The As trailed Texas by 13 games on June 30.
Now, the Rangers have all the pressure as they try to make another run deep into October.
These are the same Rangers who twice came within one strike of the franchise's first World Series championship oefore losing Games 6 and 7 to the wildcard St. Louis Cardinals. It was Texas' second near miss in as many years after losing the 2010 World Series to the Giants.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"We have to go win that playoff game," Napoli said. "We didn't come here to lose. They got it done and we didn't, plain and simple. It's going to be a tough road."
Oakland Athletics' Stephen Drew, right, and Coco Crisp celebrate after scoring on an error by Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton during the fourth inning of their baseball game Wednesday in Oakland, Calif. The Athletics won 12-5 to clinch the American League West.
OCTOBER 8TH,2012 UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS UNION PLAZA
CHALLENGES BEGIN @10:00AM
One guy and one girl will compete to see who's got the strength and toughness to be named TOP DOG on campus.
Enter for the chance to win a trip for you plus a friend to spring break.
BASEBALL
Tampa Bay Rays' Ben Francisco hits a seventh inning BRI suicide fly off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen during a baseball game Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Rays 'Evan Lanyon scored on the play.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
O's back into Wildcard
I ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria hit three home runs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Baltimore 4-1 Wednesday, ending the Orioles' bid to force a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East title.
The loss on the final day of the regular season left the Orioles as a wild-card team. They'll play Friday at Texas, with the winner advancing to the division series.
Baltimore began the day one game behind the New York Yankees in the division. The Orioles needed a win, plus a loss by the Yankees to Boston, to pull even.
Longoria finished the season with a bang for the second straight year, hitting solo shots off Chris Tillman in the first and fourth innings and adding another solo shot off Jake Arrieta in the sixth.
With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Longoria grounded out in the eighth.
Longoria's second career three-
homer game came a year after the
three-time All-Star hit two of them
of the final night of last season,
Ryan Roberts also homered for the Rays in the fourth against Tillman (9-3).
including a 12th-inning game-ending shot that clinched a postseason berth. His bid for the first four-homer game in franchise history ended when he grounded out against Pedro Strop in the eighth.
Jeremy Hellickson (10-11) allowed one hit — Adam Jones' fourth-inning single — in 5 1-3 innings. Jake McGee, Wade Davis, Joel Peralta and Fernando Rodney teamed to hold the Orioles to two hits — JJ. Hardy's double and Matt Wieters' single, both in the ninth inning — the rest of the way.
Jones ruined Tampa Bay's shot at a 16th shutout with a sacrifice fly off Peralta. After Wieters singled, Rodney was summoned to get the final out for his 48th save in 50 opportunities.
Chris Davis, who tied an Orioles record when he homered for the sixth straight game on Tuesday night, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.
Longoria is 6 for 12 with three homers lifetime against Tillman, who lasted five innings and allowed
three runs and four hits in his first loss since Kansas City beat him on Aug. 11. The right-hander who had gone 3-0 with a 1.20 ERA over his previous five starts also allowed three homers in that game, matching his career high.
The Rays won 12 of 14 down the stretch, remaining in contention for the second AL wild card until the 160th game and finished with at least 90 wins for the third season.
Hellickson allowed three baserunners, two of them in the fourth inning when Jones singled to right-center after Davis struck out on a wild pitch that allowed the Orioles outfielder to reach first. The 2011 AL Rookie of the Year walked Manny Machado leading off the sixth and replaced by McGee after getting the next batter, Nate McLouth, to pop out.