This week the Oakland A's swept the Dodgers in a 3-game series, limiting them to just a couple runs. Now the Giants are in town and the A's are a completely different team. Last night the A's led going into the 9th but collapsed and lost when their closer gave up almost a handful or runs while pitching 0.00 innings. Tough loss.
Tonight, another very interesting game with the San Francisco Giants vs. the Oakland A's at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland. I HATE that damned stadium name "O.co"!
I will NEVER give Overstock.com any of my business!
First, even before the first pitch the game set a Major League "record" for most Brandons in the starting lineup, including:
- Brandon Crawford, SF
- Brandon Belt, SF
- Brandon Moss, OAK
- Brandon Hicks, OAK
I can't recall the fifth one.
And the A's had Brandon McCarthy, a starting pitcher, in the dugout.
In the middle of the game, the A's Brandon Moss, a converted outfielder playing 1B, made 3 errors in the same inning, tying an MLB record. The last was SF's own Jack "The Ripper" Clark who "accomplished" it in 1987. Moss muffed a hot grounder off the bat of Pablo Sandoval, then slipped and fell on the grass behind first base when he tried to chase the ball down to pick it up while runners scored. Then, he didn't catch a throw from the pitcher on a grounder back to the mound. The throw was a bit tough, though, going through the wickets.
The A's need a REAL first baseman, no? It's been a problem spot for them all season.
SF trailed in this game 4-2 but took the lead on a couple of 2-run homers. The long ball has been mostly missing from the Giants lineup this year.
Oakland trailed 9-4 going to the bottom of the ninth when they rallied. With the bases loaded and the score 9-6 they got a double to the LF corner which would have tied the game -- but the ball bounced over the fence for a ground rule double. No matter: it was still 9-8. With 2 out, four different A's batters got down to their last strike. 2B Jamile Weeks was the fourth one, and he looped a ball to short right center that off the bat looked like it would fall in between 4 players and win the game -- but Giants 2B Ryan Theriot made a stretching snag to finally win the game.
Had the ball fallen, the A's would have set an MLB record as the only team ever to come back from 5 down in the 9th and win. But it was not to be.
Other local flavor to this game: the A's manager is Bob Melvin, who used to catch for the Giants. The TV announcers for Fox Sports were Dave Flemming, who once upon a time did radio play-by-play for the Giants; and Eric Byrnes, who used to play a very exciting outfield for the A's.
Attendance was sold out, including 1000 SRO tickets. But -- this is the Coliseum, which tarps over the entire 3rd deck due to lousy attendance (I think the A's were dead last in MLB attendance in 2011). However, there was one section up there tonight uncovered, and full of fans. Giants fans made up probably over half the crowd. Most A's fans left in the 8th inning and didn't get to see their home team *almost* win the game.
Good to see Brett Cecil make his debut today though and be somewhat successful. Hopefully he'll go back to the starter he was back in 2010. He left a lot of pitches up and was taken deep twice. Luckily they were both solo shots.
Camilla Belle 
Previous Topic
Index
