It's been a tough month for this fan

It's been a tough month, one I hope that doesn't happen to me again.

First off, can you remember the last time neither the A's or Giants made it into the post-season playoffs? It was truly hard to see both teams play themselves out of the playoffs, and even worse to accept that both the Angels and Dodgers made the playoffs.

Neither the A's ot Giants got good enough pitching out of their bullpen, especially the closers.

The A's made a huge mistake by not enticing closer Keith Foulke to re-sign with them. The team tried to make former set-up man Arthur Rhodes a closer, and that was a big mistake.The A's obtained Octavio Dotel in a mid-year trade, but he wasn't the answer either.

Dotel blew at least eight saves, and when you consider Oakland missed by a game or two of making the playoffs, that's huge. His ERA was a little more than four, again way too high for a closer.

Robb Nen never recovered from his off-season surgery, and to top that off, the Giants let Todd Worrell get away. Granted I think Worrell is a better set-up man than closer, he still did a decent job a year ago in the closer role. I wouldn't have sold the farm to keep Worrell, but I do think the Giants could have upped their ante a little bit.

The Giants used several different guys as closers, but finally settled on Dustin Hermanson late in the year.

Hermanson is a journeyman pitcher; a serviceable starter. He doesn't have the good velocity to be a dominant closer. He did chalk up 17 saves, but his ERA was an unimpressive 4.53.

Both teams need to shore up that area by the time next season rolls around, or it will be two straight years of no playoffs.

Secondly, being a De La Salle High alum, September was a gruesome month.

Not only did the Spartans have their 151-game win streak snapped by Bellevue, but they were beaten the next week by Clovis West of Fresno and tied the week after by Palma of Salinas before beating up on Mitty 49-0 two weeks ago.

And for the first time in more years than I can remember, De La Salle might not be favored to win the section title. Pittsburgh High, the last team to beat De La Salle before it lost to Bellevue, looks strong this season.

I would love to see a Bishop Manogue or McQueen get on the field with the Spartans. Some may argue that McQueen's team of two or three years ago could have given De La Salle a game. Not a chance, and most real football people know that.

(insert bullet) The University of Nevada's baseball program had the 39th best baseball recruiting class, according to Collegiate Baseball, which is headquartered in Arizona.

The Wolf Pack signed 13 players, including eight freshmen, two four-year transfers and three JC transfers.

Nevada has some big shoes to fill offensively. It lost left fielder Chris Gimenez and Joe Mercer. That leaves Brett Hayes, Jacob Butler and Ben Mummy, who missed several weeks with a broken wrist, as the power guys in the lineup.

Rice's recruiting class was rated 13th and Fresno State's recruiting class was rated 17. No other WAC schools were mentioned.

It will be interesting to see how Rice fares with its three top pitchers all signing pro contracts at the end of last season.

And, speaking of WAC baseball there is a small chance that you could see Sacramento State being added to the WAC for baseball only. If that happens, it would give the WAC seven teams. You need six to get an automatic bid into the NCAAs.

Ken Wainwright, the Nevada baseball trainer, is leaving Nevada to take a job with the University of Kansas, a member of the Big 12. Wainwright is leaving in three weeks. He will be working with KU's baseball team.

(insert bullet) Kudos to Douglas football coach Mike Rippee for a solid season to this point. The veteran coach lost more than 30 players to graduation last year, but his team has been competitive with a 4-1 record before last night's game.

The Tigers, led by running back Spike Agosta, appear to be a sure bet to make the regional playoffs, and I'm sure the Tigers would love to get a return game with Reed, the only team to beat them this year.

(insert bullet) Last week's Dayton-Spring Creek game, or at least the fourth quarter, goes down as one of the best games I've ever seen in my 32 years covering high school football.

Though Dayton lost 36-35, I think 3A teams will take the Dust Devils a lot more seriously the rest of the season. Dayton will find out a little more about its team next Saturday when it visits first-place Truckee at 1:30 p.m.

Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.