Miracle A’s can’t be stopped

Those spunky A’s.

You could feel it coming. Down 4-3 to the vaunted Yankees entering the bottom of the ninth inning, you could feel something was going to happen.

Then, BAM! Seth Smith sent most of the 30,470 into a frenzy. He had just tied the game. For eight and a half innings, the Yankees had wrestled away momentum from the A’s. But with one swing, the A’s took it right back.

As Sunday’s extra innings wore on, a certain air inevitability breezed through the Coliseum.

In the bottom of the 12th, Coco Crisp made it a reality. With one out, Crisp, who entered the game in the 8th inning, flared one over second base, sending Derek Norris home with the winning run.

The unthinkable had just happened. The A’s had done something never before done in their history: Welcomed the Yankees into their home for four games, and won them all. They had never swept a four-game home series against the Yankees until this weekend.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the Coliseum that loud.

In all their history, the Yankees had never lost all four games of a four-game series by one run. They will search, but no moral victories emerge from a series like this.

Yankees have never lost 4 straight one-run games to a team in a single series ever.

— Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch) July 22, 2012

As for the A’s, there are so many things to take out of the sweep. Three rookie pitchers — A.J. Griffin, Tommy Milone and Jarrod Parker — excelled against the explosive Yankees lineup. Yoenis Cespedes went 7-for-15 in the series with a couple of moonshot home runs. He is clearly the player that makes the biggest difference for the A’s.

In those games Cespedes hasn't played, Oakland is 12-20. When Cespedes has played, the Athletics are 38-24.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 22, 2012

#Athletics have used the most rookies in baseball this year: 17, according to STATS LLC. Next on the list? #Tigers, with 14.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 23, 2012

The A’s haven’t played this well in six years. It’s staggering to watch such a young team play this well, well enough to be at the top of the American League Wild Card standings along with the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels.

The #Athletics 14-2 stretch is their best over 16 games since July/August 2006 when they went 15-2 over 17 games.

— David Feldman (@dfeldy) July 23, 2012

How good are the A's? “We’ll just keep going out there, battling, and at the end of the year we’ll see what happens," Crisp said.

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) July 23, 2012

Sunday was the A’s 11th walk-off win of the season. The all-time record for walk-off wins in a season is 18, set by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1959.

Veteran columnist Carl Steward had a fitting recap to the wackiness the A’s are exhibiting on the field after these miraculous wins.

#Athletics are going to run out of pies and Gatorade the way this season is going. Amazing run.

— Carl Steward (@stewardsfolly) July 22, 2012