I just got back from tonight's game against the Mariners, and oh man, it was an awesome game!  My buddy called me at 6:45 tonight saying that this girl he was sposed to take to the game bailed on him and he had an extra seat on the 3rd base line, 10 or 12 rows up, so we jetted down to the Coliseum and entered the stadium yelling to anyone who would listen, "Who's in first place?? OAKLAND!!!" and "Who's in last place?? The Giants! and stuff like that.  Everyone seemed to love it; it was the perfect way to enter the Coliseum, especially since the game had already started.

We got a few drinks and went down to our seats, just as Zito was getting out of the runners on 2nd-and-3rd-with-nobody-out-jam in the 3rd or 4th, I believe.  What a way to welcome us to the park.

The energy in the stadium was awesome, even though the crowd could have been larger.  Then again, it is a Monday night after all.  But after FT and Ellis' homers, respectively, the crowd was jumping.  And from the 7th inning on, the energy was some of the best of any baseball game I've ever been to.

I know some people don't like the wave, but it was hard not to like it tonight.  In the top of the 7th inning a double wave got going around the stadium and must have gone around at least 15 times before dying out as Gaudin set down the Mariners.  It was definitely the longest lasting wave that I've ever experienced in person.

And in the 8th inning, I totally called Swisher's home run.  I said to my friend as the inning began, "This is our inning.  Swisher's gonna hit a 2-run homer to right field."  No joke.

It looked like Ichiro might come down with it, but when my buddy and I saw the umpire signaling home run, we (and the rest of the stadium) just lost it.  We were hugging random people around us and slapping 5's with anyone and everyone.

The drummers in left field get a lot of the credit for the energy tonight; Once again they were amazing.  I have to say, the Milton Bradley beat is just SICK.  Absolutely filthy.  And when you guys were playing all throughout the 9th behind Duke, it was tremendous.  A tip of the cap to you all.

After the game ended and my bud and I were leaving out of the north exit, we heard the drummers and saw the left field brigade leaving the game.  Saint, Duke of Left Field and High Street were playing their hearts out, and I was able to say whats up quickly to them, but I'm not sure if they realized it was me, since we'd only met once before, last Wednesday.  Everyone's energy was so high after the Ichiro pickoff put us 5.5 up on the Angels and Rangers, it's understandable if they didn't.

In any case, on the walk back to the BART parking lot, I felt like I was on Cloud 9.  What a great game.  My friend said to me that tonight showed him that the A's have a good shot to win the World Series this year.  Normally this comment would get me freaked out over potentially cursing ourselves, but tonight it didn't.  The fact of the matter is that he's right: tonight's game is proof that this team is resilient and resurgent, and can pull out the necessary games to go far in September and (hopefully) October.

Then again, just to be safe... <knocks on wood>