I was planning not to watch yesterday’s game at all, but as game time approached, a strange zen-like calm descended upon me. The nervousness I usually suffer during A’s playoff games left me, and I was able to watch the fabulous pitching duel between Johan Santana and Barry Zito with great pleasure. For about two hours, anyway.
The best thing about yesterday’s playoff games is that all the games were decided by great players making great plays: Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Cris Carpenter, Johan Santana, Frank Thomas, Barry Zito. Any sport is at its best when its best players rise to the occasion when it counts the most.
How much money do you think free-agent-to-be Barry Zito earned with yesterday’s performance? $10 million? He’s already the most durable pitcher in baseball (he’s never missed a start), with a Cy Young award under his belt. And now he can add “can outduel the best pitcher in baseball in a playoff game on the road” to his resume. Scott Boras went to bed last night a happy man.
This game was a great example of why Zito is a much better pitcher in 2006 than he was back in, say, 2003. Back then, he was strictly a three-pitch pitcher, and if one of his pitches was off, he had no way to adjust. Since then, Zito has added a slider and a cutter. When his command of a pitch is off, he has plenty of other options for attacking a batter. Yesterday, his fastball wasn’t particularly sharp, but he still got batters out, by throwing his fastball out of the zone, and mixing in some changeups, sliders and curveball with masterful effect.
Santana was similarly masterful. The dude is awesome. He will, however, give up the occasional long ball. Which leads us to Frank Thomas. What else can you say about Frank Thomas? He is THE MAN.
So it was a beautiful day for baseball, with one exception. Which was exactly the sort of thing I had feared about facing the Twins: that great baseball would be ruined by bad architecture. In the ninth inning, the Metrodome decided to insert itself into the proceedings and score a run for the Twins, as Milton Bradley lost a fly ball in the roof.
I flipped out. I ranted. I shouted. I screamed in horror. I think I punched a wall for good measure. Thankfully, my wife stepped in and restored calm in the Arneson household, by ejecting me from the ballgame. I spent the rest of the game exiled in the kitchen.
Huston Street closed out the victory without me, and the A’s have a 1-0 lead in the series. We A’s fans know not to get too excited about that, though.
So here comes Game 2: Esteban Loaiza vs. Boof Bonser. Do I dare test the Metrodome fates, and watch the game again?
Today’s Lineups:
Oakland Athletics
J. Kendall c
M. Kotsay cf
M. Bradley rf
F. Thomas dh
E. Chavez 3b
J. Payton lf
N. Swisher 1b
M. Scutaro ss
M. Ellis 2b
Minnesota Twins
L. Castillo 2b
N. Punto 3b
J. Mauer c
M. Cuddyer rf
J. Morneau 1b
T. Hunter cf
R. White lf
J. Tyner dh
J. Bartlett ss
1. Bill King always referred to that monstrosity as a "facility," a fitting sobriquet if ever there was one.
I was chatting with a guy who spent time in Minn. when they had an actual ballpark; he said it was quite nice and that the weather was fine during baseball season. Too bad that had to be sacrificed to the football gods.
2. Again I am sure the text message updates on my phone will be scintillating.
3. Please let this not be the day that the Twins figure out that the best way to pitch Frank Thomas is to send him four wide ones.
4. Can we fire Kruk and Phillips and keep Eric Byrnes and Vernon Wells? Throw Gammons along those two, and BBTN is watchable again.
5. would it have made a difference to the game if milton hadn't lost track of the ball? looked like it bounced off the wall pretty high up.
6. I think it hit the warning track before bouncing up off the wall.
7. He would have at least had an opportunity to make a play on the ball.
Joe Morgan should be prohibited from commenting on most parts of the game, but he was right about how annoying the Metrodome roof can be.
8. I hope Boof pitches like he did in the game I saw him pitch against the A's in June -- which is to say, several mistake pitches that the A's turned into souvenirs.
9. He didn't look that bad through the first half.
10. Well that was a good start for Loaiza.
11. Esteban DOMINATED Team Canada! He's also the #1 pitcher in the Kentucky Industrial League.
Pretty decent first batter though. Hope he's sharp today and it looks like he is.
Joe Mauer, the People's Choice? I think The Rock is going to have something to say about that.
12. Mauer totally erased all questions with one hit Karros.
13. Esteban really is a guy that needs that velocity to make his cutter work. At the beginning of the year it was not there and that is a big part of why he struggled.
14. And the WBC is a big part of that. (See Chen, Bruce, and Majewski, Gary).
Watching Nats/Os games this year has been torture.
15. What the heck is Chavez swinging at?
16. 14 Watching O's games only became torture this year?
17. 15 Chavez is swinging at a magical green alien that only he can see.
18. Insects.
19. 16 Well, I hate Peter Angelos, so I kinda feel happy when they lose. As much as I don't like the O's, I kinda like Bruce Chen (blame MVP Baseball 2003) so watching his struggles this year wasn't so hot.
20. Got that? Scutaro averages just over 2 walkoff hits a year! Oh Em Gee!
21. Kotsay really deserves a Gold Glove.
22. ESPN is beginning to ascribe Jeter-like powers to Joe Mauer.
23. Clearly all of Bonser's great changeups are all thanks to Mauer.
24. Wow, heckuva play by Morneau.
25. Nice pitch there from Esteban to ring up Castillo.
26. The Twins should fine Punto every time he dives into first base. He's lost two hits this series already from that.
27. Why do you slide, Nick Punto?
28. He has to slide in order to remain a scrappy, small-market ballplayer.
29. Not like stretching will make much difference.
By the by, what's the over/under on the time it'll take Punto to reach Eckstein status?
30. Yeah A's offense!
31. Is it a splash hit if he hits it into the milk carton?
32. The A's are starting to hit the ball hard, but everything is finding a body.
33. Good swing by Chavez; damned Boof.
34. 32 Literally.
35. How did Frank Thomas get to 3rd on that line-drive, btw?
36. Wasn't "Boof" the name of Michael J. Fox's girlfriend in "Teen Wolf"? How do you manage to become a major league ballplayer with the name Boof?
37. Argh! Another atom ball.
38. 35 Bonser dropped the ball twice before throwing to first.
39. Having Mauer lead off an inning is like having Ichiro lead off an inning. You're lucky if they don't start a rally.
40. I'm not sure: Is having Milton Bradley spill coffee on you good or bad luck?
41. So they're ripping on Milton Bradley for accidentally knocking over a cup of coffee? Sheesh.
42. Great AB by Morneau there.
43. They said if it were Roger Clemens he would have beaten Milton up. I don't know, my money would be on Milton.
44. I'd take Bradley against almost anyone in baseball. Dude's crazy.
45. They just blamed the coffee for why Loaiza has given up hits.
46. So they're blaming those two hits on the coffee? I guess the coffee is bad luck, then.
47. Or at least brought up the idea.
48. 44 Except Ken Macha.
49. Fortunately, there was cream in the coffee, otherwise, Rondell White would have gotten a hit.
50. Maybe they should make some sun tea. Too bad they're in the MetroDome.
51. Come to think of it, the A's would be pretty good in a fight.
52. The Twins didn't have a fielder there.
53. Take the ESPN! The coffee woke up the offense.
54. Same spot! The Twins need a 10th fielder down the right field line.
55. Productive out, and a single by Kendall! Small ball, A's style!
56. Are they seriously still talking about Bradley??
57. Hide the lattes!
58. YES! i get home and turn on the game and voila, 2 runs! i'm lovin' it.
[19] i have a special liking for bruce chen too. it's somewhat inexplicable, really.
59. what did bradley do that they're talking about his judgement for?
60. Now they will ask Macha about it.
61. Way to not answer the question there, Macha!
62. 59
He threw a bottle up and it knocked over a cup of coffee on Loaiza. Then him and Perry got in an argument about it.
63. Uh-oh, they just mentioned a Buck.
64. I bet Punto's just itching to slide into first again...
65. Argh! Loaiza! Cover the dang bag!
66. sucks to buck.
67. Curse of the Buck strikes again.
68. I'm just waying till they mispronounce Punto.
69. Chavez!
70. *waiting
71. Phew!
72. Now if only he could remember how to hit.
73. Loaiza is really groundball-heavy so far: 11 ground outs and 3 weak singles against 2 fly outs.
74. Well, that wasn't a ground ball.
75. He's done.
76. The Twins are taking better ABs against Loaiza now.
77. Who didn't see that coming.
I guess Macha.
78. back to back, ouch!
vr, Xei
79. A battle of bullpen attrition now. Twins have the head start so far.
80. 79 I know that he hasn't given up 5 runs yet but come on now.
81. Ump is squeezing Calero.
82. I love how his strike zone tightened up when Calero enters the game.
83. I mean that the A's went to the pen before the Twins did, so they'll run out of arms earlier.
84. What a bunch of garbage. That pitch against Swisher was so far out.
85. It looked like the ump had a wide strikezone earlier based on the gameday pitch locations. Is that true, or is gameday off?
86. Well that made up for some of it.
87. 85
It's true. He has been wide all game except for when Calero first entered.
88. 85 I think Diaz has been inconsistent the whole game, particularly on breaking pitches.
89. They looked clueless against Neshek yesterday.
90. Let's talk about Derek Jeter so more.
91. Ray Durham returns!
92. Inside the parker!
93. Wow! Inside the parker for Kotsay!
94. holy toledo!
95. That was very foolish, Torii Hunter. Not that I'm complaining.
96. When Kotsay hit it, I said "He hit it to the wrong guy." Guess I was wrong about that. The thing sliced away from Hunter at the last instant, and we were off to the races.
97. Guess Hunter didn't remember everything from the 2002 series.
98. Two innings of Duchscherer now?
99. 98 That's my guess.
100. Can someone describe the ItPHR?
101. All that talk of Reyes' miniscule ERA is why I believe in The Whammy. (And why I don't watch or listen to a game without a good piece of wood close enough to knock on.)
102. 100 Hunter was shading toward left, and he took a good angle but overestimated his diving ability. He missed it by two feet, and it rolled to the wall, with Kotsay easily sliding in ahead of the throw home.
103. 100 Line drive to center, Torii Hunter dove for it and missed. It rolled all the way to the center field wall.
104. [100] sinking liner to right center. torii hunter dives at it but misses by at least a foot, and it rolls all the way to the wall.
105. come to think of it, i guess it was closer to dead center. torii was shaded left a little.
106. 100 It was a flare to center field that looked like it was going to hold up long enough for Hunter to catch; however, it tailed at the last second. So Hunter, who was kind of committed at that point, dove for it, missed it, and it rolled all the way to the wall -- Kotsay could have taken a fifth base if such a thing existed.
The smarter play would have been to play it safe -- at worst, you've got runners at the corners. But more likely, Kendall holds up on second.
107. When Jon Weisman asks a question, people answer, damnit.
108. Got that, Jon?
109. Padgett wins for speed, Philip wins for style.
110. First bad at-bat for Big Frank.
111. Another Buck reference. Bah!
112. Chavez needs to stop doing that.
That's the analysis you can't get from just anyone, folks.
113. Thomas, Chavez and Payton all swung like the A's are late for their charter flight.
114. Duchscherer is money.
115. Anyone time that half-inning?
116. I'm sitting here with my boss, Jason, watching the game -- Hi, Jason! -- and he says: "Any bets on whether Torii Hunter swings like he's trying to hit a three-run homer here?"
There were no takers.
117. Get back to work, slacker!
118. 116 Yes, boss.
119. Did Swisher hurt himself there?
120. Swisher looks OK.
121. Great AB by Scutaro.
122. Nathan coming in to face Ellis. This should be interesting.
123. Wild pitch!
124. Derek Jeter would have blocked that pitch.
125. 122 I think Gardenhire learned his lesson a little too late. He's got to use Nathan now, because he can't let the A's score any more runs. But it won't matter if the Twins don't score in the bottom of the 9th.
126. 125 Unless, of course, Nathan throws a wild pitch to allow a run to score . . .
127. I come back from class and this is what I get! Excellent!
124 I was thinking the same thing.
128. Wow, some power from Kendall!
129. That's pretty much as far as Kendall can hit a baseball.
130. Good swing by Kendall; way to smash that baggy wall.
131. 128 How come you are not loading the dishwasher or are you waiting for the bottom of the ninth?
132. So do we think that pitch caught one of Ellis's fingers, or just jammed him hard?
133. That's nothing, Punto. Derek Jeter would have caught that one, too.
134. 132 I don't like the fact that Ellis just gave up on the AB after he got hit on the hand.
135. Oh, they had to show a Joe Buck commercial now, didn't they?
136. And all the punters shrink away from the ball, letting Punto make the catch. Sorta makes you long for Cubs fans, circa 2003.
137. This is bad.
138. Uh-oh. Ellis is out of the game.
139. 133...while diving into the stands. And while into the stands, he would have healed a sickly child sitting in the third row.
140. Eep. Hope his hand is ok.
Which pitchers have been in the game so far? I left while Loaiza was still in.
141. 139 And by extension, that child's grandparents would feel young and spritely again.
142. Evidently A's fans still haven't gotten over the "play".
143. Time for another K Castillo.
144. What kind of ball call is that?
145. Argh! Time to do some dishes...
146. And with that walk, Phil storms away from the TV.
147. Don't worry; Punto will scrub an infield single trying to slide into first.
148. Yes!
149. Congrats on being up 2-0.
150. A's win!
now how am i going to stay awake for the dodger game....
151. 2-0. And the "Metrodome Effect" goes the way of the "Santana Effect."
152. For the record, after Castillo walked I once again tended to the dirty dishes.
153. Minnesota's Cinderella story
Is quickly receding in glory.
Both pirahna and shark
Bow to inside-the-park
Home runs due to error by Torii.
154. This storming-out-of-the-room-when-the-tide-threatens-to-turn-against-the-A's thing I've got going will be very difficult to maintain when I'm at the game Friday.
155. 145,146 I don't understand how you can leave during a tense situation. That's exactly when I am on the edge of my seat, rooting my team on.
Congrats, though, on the A's win.
156. 155 I do it to try and shake up the momentum. A butterfly flapping its wings causing a typhoon in China and all that...
Yes, I'm a grown man.
157. 155 My wife kicked me out of the room yesterday, and since it worked yesterday...