Game Day Diary – Toronto @ Oakland, 8/3/12

It is a disgustingly muggy Friday night here in NJ and the A’s are in the news today.  There really isn’t a better reason for another game day diary.  First, tonight we have Dan Straily’s major league debut.  Straily has been lighting the minors up over the past few months.  No reason to talk anymore about him, we’ll (hopefully) be covering that for quite a few innings. 

Second, contrary to the ground breaking news from last week’s diary below, Kurt Suzuki was traded today to the Nationals.  As I expressed last week, I really wanted Suzuki to stay on the roster and be a great presence.  However, I completely see the rationale behind the move; i.e. the A’s are moving on.  Here’s a question that I seem to ask every year; what’s the point of the MLB trading deadline if teams are still moving players after it? 

Derek Norris and Michael Taylor are back up to the majors and Seth Smith is placed on the 15 day DL.  Phew.  In any case, we’re live from la casa for tonight’s game.  GAME ON!

10:02pm EST – Glen with a riveting open for A’s, Jays, Next!!  Fireworks night!  Immediately reminds me of my sole trip to Oakland from a few years ago, when we came to see the A’s play the Indians and stayed for the fireworks. 

10:03 – Hatteberg breaks down the Suzuki trade.  I don’t mind Hatteberg at all, in fact I think he’s pretty good and can only get better.  However, I really like Glen and Ray’s in-booth dynamic. 

10:09 – Straily warming up and so is this game day diary!  (Context clues)

10:10 – 91mph fastball, right down the heart of the plate and its strike one.  Save that ball!

10:12 – Well, that didn’t take long.  Straily gets his first strike out on the first batter.  For future trivia buffs and as a reference point, that was against Brett Lawrie.

10:14 – Another nugget for trivia fanatics, Straily’s first hit given up is against Colby Rasmus (single).

10:17 – What would Eric Byrnes call Straily’s facial hair?  That is still the funniest moment in sports broadcast history if you ask me.  You’ll need to figure that out for yourself if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

10:22 – Straily gets out of the first with a hit, a walk, and runners left on.  Unfortunately, that was a lot of pitches (29).  

10:26 – Coco leads off the first and breaks up Cecil’s short bid for a no hitter. 

10:29 – Omar Vizquel is still playing in the major leagues?  How old is that guy?  (Quick search: 45 … Wow, kudos to Omar)  While searching for information that no one needs, Reddick grounds out to end the first. 

10:35 – 9 pitch inning for Straily and we go to the bottom of the second, with a 3 pitch strikeout on Jeff Mathis to end the inning.  Well played rookie. 

10:41 – Carter walks after a Cespedes infield single.  Rally time?  Inge comes to the plate…

10:42 – Yes!  Inge gets a base hit to left field and Cespedes scores on a terrible throw home from Rajai Davis. 

10:47 – A’s are hitting the ball, but unfortunately it is right at infielders.  End of 2, A’s are up 1-0. 

10:55 – Another relatively quick inning for Straily. 

11:00 – Jonny Gomes goes long after Weeks and Crisp hit the ball a combined 18 feet!  2-0 A’s. 

11:08 – A very nice Suzuki montage from CSN.  Hatteberg then enlightens me to a Suzuki pool jump.

11:17 – Rajai Davis drives in a run as Straily has gotten himself into some trouble.  2-1 A’s. 

11:19 – Straily’s third strikeout ends the inning, thankfully. 

11:22 – Chris Carter will never see the minor leagues again.  HR Carter, 3-1 A’s. 

11:27 – Derek Norris had a nice hit to right field and ruined it by getting picked off the bases.  Why is the catcher running here?  I have no idea. 

11:35 – Straily is looking more and more comfortable as this game goes on.  We move to the bottom of the 5^th with little noise there from Toronto. 

  11:43 – Jonny Gomes smokes another pitch and it hits off the wall in left field.  1^st and 3^rd for Reddick and Cespedes; again, remember when I questioned Gomes hitting second in the lineup?  I don’t.

11:46 – Reddick gets a sacrifice fly, partial thanks to the Blue Jays center fielder taking the fly ball away from the right fielder.  However, the A’s manage to make another base running decision with Gomes trying to go to second on the throw home.  These base running errors have reared their ugly head too many times in the past few years.  Stop it!  4-1 A’s

11:53 – As has been proven a number of times this season, Cespedes is best served in center field, as a double gets just over his glove.  He didn’t look comfortable there at all. 

11:55 – Straily gets through 6 innings, goes over 100 pitches, and stands to win this game.  Well played. 

11:58 – Cespedes has two infield hits tonight.  He’s good.

12:03 – After easily taking 2^nd, Cespedes gets thrown out trying to steal 3^rd.  On the next pitch, Inge misses a HR by a few feet down the line.  Guess what happens next …

12:03:30 – You guessed it, on to the 7th

12:12 – The Aussie comes in and takes care of the Jays quickly.  We’re heading to the bottom of the 7^th.  I’d hate to throw this out there … but … I’d love to play the Jays another 20 times or so this season. 

12:15 – Rosales slides into first … and he’s out.  Has that ever worked?

12:20 – Glen announces the crowd at 30K+!  Nice!

12:22 – Scoreboard watching and the Angels lost tonight, while the Rangers won.  I’ll take it. 

12:24 – Balfour takes the one fan yelling “Let’s go Balfour” to task and ends the top of the 8^th very quickly. 

12:36 – Cespedes is apparently out of this game, with Michael Taylor hitting for him.  Uh-oh

12:38 – After a relatively nice at bat, Taylor looks at strike three to end the 8^th.  Cook is coming in to close this game with a save opportunity and I’m barely keeping my eyes open. 

12:45 – For some reason, I find it fitting for Cook to strike out Rajai Davis to end this game. 

12:46 – To no avail, as Davis gets a 2 strike hit to right field and the tying run is now up to the plate.  Come on Cook!

12:48 – So the umpire got hit in the mask and I think the A’s catch a break there with two strikes and the runners not advancing. 

12:50 – Cook just gave up a HR and this game is tied.  I believe that is Cook’s second HR given up all year.  That also ruins Straily’s win.  Awesome. 

12:53 – We go to the bottom of the 9^th … for no good reason … with the A’s looking for another walk-off win.

1:02 – Joy – extra innings as the A’s go down in order.  I’d also like to vote against the gold uniforms this weekend as I won’t be around to watch the games. 

1:09 – Jerry Blevins is not looking too good right now; hit batter and a pretty ugly walk.  If I just warm up the Keurig, that will keep the game from going much longer, right? 

1:12 – Pat Neshek checks in for the A’s and gets them out of the inning.  We go to the bottom of the 10^th and I would like nothing more than a pie celebration.

1:16 – Eric Sogard comes up because any time you can get a pinch hitter to the plate that bats .176, you have to do it.  By the way, he just struck out. 

1:17 – Weeks gets a single and so help me god if he makes a base running mistake. 

1:23 – Crisp walks, Weeks on second.  Pie … Pie … Pie …

1:25 – Wild pitch, runners advance.  Pie … Pie … Pie …

1:28 – Gomes walks to load the bases and Mr. Pie himself comes up to bat.  Pie for Reddick?!

1:32 – Reddick takes strike three and Brandon Moss comes in to PH for Taylor (thank you). 

1:34 – Well, we go to the 11^th as Moss grounds out to end the inning.  If I drank cappuccino, I’d be looking for one right now. 

1:41 – Neshek strikes out the side in order.  In the bad news department, it is being reported that Cespedes left the game earlier with a right wrist sprain.  I’m too tired to make a joke here.

1:47 – We now go to the 12^th.  Nothing for the A’s there whatsoever.  Thanks again Cook!

(zzzzzzzzzz)

2:57 – 70 minutes later and Glen just woke me up with the A’s win.  Clearly, I didn’t miss anything.  Game over … finally/thankfully ….. Let’s go Oakland!!