Crisp in middle of Indians run
Popular former A’s outfielder hit homers in ALDS and ALCS
In the space of six weeks, Coco Crisp has gone from last place to the World Series.
Traded by the cellar-dwelling A’s to Cleveland the last week of August, the switch-hitting outfielder hit one homer in each of the Indians’ two postseason series wins. The second of those came as the final run of Wednesday’s 3-0 victory that eliminated the Toronto Blue Jays and vaulted Cleveland into the Series for the first time in two decades.
And nobody had a better view of that one than Dan Otero, the former A’s reliever.
“That ball he hit off Marco Estrada, that almost hit us in the bullpen,” Otero said Thursday from Cleveland. The Indians were back at home after an evening of celebrating in Toronto,
then a late-night flight back to Cleveland. “It was a pretty unique view of a very big hit.
“I thought the ball he hit in Boston, the one that cleared the Green Monster, was a big homer, but that’s just Coco. We’re used to seeing him in big moments, big spots in the game coming through.”
Back on the West Coast, A’s catcher Stephen Vogt said seeing Otero and Crisp on the roster, his eyes are on the Indians’ drive to the World Series.
“I’ve been watching the Indians closer than anybody with Otero and Coco playing there and both doing so well,” Vogt said. “It’s fun to sit back and see Coco do what we have seen him do for so many years in Oakland for us. He was always a great teammate for me and for all of us, and to see him get a chance to play in the World Series and maybe win it, there’s some natural jealousy, but also I’m very, very happy for Coco and Dan.
“Those homers that he’s hit in the postseason, for those of us who have played with him long enough, we know when he’s likely to step up. There have been multiple times in Oakland when I would turn to someone on the bench and said, ‘We’re going to win now because we’ve got Coco at the dish.’ He likes to come through in those big situations.”
The homer against the Blue Jays on Wednesday came in the fourth inning. It took five more innings, but eventually Crisp, Otero and the Indians gathered en masse near the pitcher’s mound to celebrate.
For Otero, who was lost on waivers by the A’s last November, and for Crisp, who waived his no-trade rights Aug. 30 to move from the stumbling A’s to a team pushing for the playoffs, the celebration had a special feeling.
“Suddenly the world became pretty inside,” Otero said. “It was pretty crazy to think that we were both in that group celebrating. There were decisions made in Oakland, and then the Cleveland front office saw something in both of us that they thought we could help. So it was kind of surreal to both of us celebrating together knowing what he went through.”
Otero’s help included a 5-1 record and 1.53 ERA in 62 games (702⁄3 innings) with the best WHIP of his career, 0.906. He was coming off his worst big league season, going 2-4 with a 6.75 ERA with Oakland in 2015.
“Last year was definitely not my best year, but when I got to the Indians, I got back to mentally pounding the bottom of the zone the way I did with the A’s,” Otero said. “Last year was a combination of a lot of things. I made some bad pitches and had some bad luck.
And he watched as Crisp played in pain, limited to 44 games by head and neck problems last year.
“With Coco I think is he’s feeling healthy again,” Otero said. “He still has aches and pains like we all do, but this month has shown when he’s healthy he’s a big-time player.”
Vogt said the A’s weren’t the same after Crisp left, and the numbers back him up. Oakland was 57-73 when Crisp left, a .439 winning percentage. The club went 12-30 after the deal, a winning percentage of just .375.
“The dynamic changed when Coco left,” Vogt said. “He epitomized the A’s. He was the steady fixture, and when he left there was definitely a change to the culture and the dynamic. But it is fun to watch him now, knowing what he’s been through.
“He’s having fun. And we’re all a bit jealous.”