In four of the last six years the Oakland A’s advanced to the playoff only to get bounced in the first round. Entering the playoffs against the Minnesota Twins, a repeat playoff nemesis, the monkey on the A’s back had become a 2000 lb gorilla in the stadium. Though the A’s had already taken the first two of the five game series, the A’s had lost 10 series-winning games this decade and it was with some supressed memories of heartbreak that I attended yesterday’s game.

It was clear, however, the A’s felt that they had accomplished nothing yet as the A’s scored the first runs and never gave up the lead. When Marco Scutaro (this season’s Mr. Clutch) hit a 3 -run double in the bottom of the seventh making the score an insurmountable 8-2 I, and 35,000+ pathos-filled fans became unrepentant screaming maniacs. I’ve been to a couple World Series games that were more singularly glorious (Yankees 1977 and Mets 1986, both game 6) but never have I experienced such group joy for simply advancing to the second round. Whatever happens in the American League finals, it’s already a defining year.

My congrats to Eric Chavez and Barry Zito and all the coaches who participated in all the recent playoff attempts, and to the 2006 Oakland A’s for stunning all of baseball by handily dismantling the hottest team in baseball. Keep your game face on A’s, this is only the beginning. There are still eight very difficult wins ahead.

Here are a couple awful little video I grabbed to document that if there were a roof on the Coliseum it woudda been blown off ;>

Photos: SF Chronicle.