The house was almost full. Over 40,000 people showed up on a Tuesday night for the battle for first place between the A’s and Angels.
The crowd was buzzing. Up in the stands, everyone seemed excited. The game started. The first pitch:
And that was the end of the good news. All the bad breaks, crazy bounces, and unfortunate mistakes that the A’s had been avoiding for two months suddenly showed up all at once in the first two innings. The A’s had double-play balls in each inning that resulted in no outs. There was a strikeout that didn’t get an out. Rich Harden’s a very good pitcher, but it’s hard for even the best pitchers to hold down the opposition when he has to get 11 outs to get through two innings.
It left me shaking my head. It felt just like one of those playoff losses where the A’s lost, not because the other team beat them, but because of the most bizarre, uncharacteristic plays you could imagine.
Looking down on the field quickly went from exciting to depressing. I decided to look up instead. The sky was much more interesting than the game.
There was a small moon over the Arena:
And a colorful sunset over the parking lot.
Good night. See you tomorrow.
1. Tomorrow was better, at least for the A's. Personally, I've had better days.
2. And I didn't even see the sky tonight.
3. What's it like to root for an organization that has a clue? I can't even fathom what it would be like if my Cubs behaved like the A's.
4. Well, it's nice, if all you want to do is, you know, watch some ballgames. But it makes blogging harder; it kinda ruins the fun of pretending you're smarter than the GM.
On the other hand, I have no idea what it's like to root for a team that has a dollar. I can't even fathom what it would by like if my A's could go out and sign a top-notch free agent on the open market.
5. Neither can I.