This thread is brought to you by Joe Morgan, who once said that a walk rarely ever wins a game. Now, back to our regularly scheduled celebration.
Over the course of a 162-game schedule, a team needs to pull out some unlikely wins here and there if they're going to be a division-contending team. And often times, certain players who are routinely ripped by a team's fanbase will contribute to an unlikely victory.
This thread, this VICTORY thread may be brought to you by Morgan, but it is dedicated to Ron Flores and Antonio Perez. Flores, who I've made a habit of saying still doesn't belong at the ML level, proved me dead wrong today, pitching four spectacular innings.
And Antonio Perez who has been roundly criticized here and elsewhere for his Ginterish season, came in and provided something that the A's stars could not. A bases loaded walk to basically win the game in extra innings. Lightning does indeed strike twice. The A's have basically had 31 innings decided by a walk.
Jay Payton also deserves a ton of credit today with his clutch two-run home run.
Huston Street is starting to become quite the concern. He's been erratic this year, and even though he probably should've gotten out of the game today with a save were it not for DJ's mistake, Street has been absolutely enigmatic this season. He had a stretch in early June when he was just slamming the door, and now he's blown his last two. Speaking of concerns, is anyone worried that Swisher might be distracted? And could it have been perpetrated by the whole Slusser article blowup? The guy had seven ABs today and struck out five times. That's Swisher circa 2005. I don't necessarily agree with Bochy's decision to walk Chavez in the 14th considering Eric is now sporting a .179 average in June with a .606 OPS. Then again, with Flores on deck and an empty bench, it was probably a good percentages play. It's just that knowing how badly Chavez is struggling right now, maybe you even go for the unintentional intentional walk. He might've swung at some bad balls.
The A's were also the recipients of two fortunate double plays, including the one that Sauerbeck got and Gaudin's to end the game. I was starting to believe the game was going to go six or seven hours.
I feel bad for Danny Haren, who pitched very well today against a tough pitcher in Peavy. He was in line for a win until Calero coughed it up. But that's the way it goes sometimes.
By the way, I will be pulling the AN Day 3 thread up to the top in a few hours just so folks have their final reminder. AN had more than 1,380 comments for the game. That very well may be a new record.
I'll send you out with one more dedication to Perez and Flores, a little song by Helmet called "Unsung":
Your contribution left unnoticed some
Association with an image
Just credit time for showing up again
Attention wandered I'm left with it
I apologize to Ron...Mr. Unsung when there was no one left.
