There are so many points I could dissect from this awesome and crazy game that I wouldn't know where to start if I tried to get them all in. Here's a few...
- Thank you, Mike Scioscia, for walking Nick Swisher, he of the nearly 150 strikeouts, 0/4 career against K-Rod with 4 strikeouts.
- Thank you, K-Rod, for deciding not to throw your slider to Marco Scutaro, and for putting an 0-2 pitch where Scooter could drive one to the outfield.
- Thank you, Ken Macha, for your best managing move of the season: somehow outwrestling Milton Bradley in his attempt to decapitate Ron Kulpa, and avoiding the 712-game suspension we all saw unfolding before our eyes.
- This morning I talked about how this series was kind of a warm-up for the type of game the A's would see in the playoffs. If recent ALDS experiences have been characterized by anything, it has been the phrase, "sooooooo close, and yet..." Tonight, the A's were within a centimeter of a game-winning catch by Payton, but...no. Then, if Scutaro's fly ball to right stays fair, the A's win, but...no. It was like, "Slide, Jeremy!" and "Run, Miggy!" except...The A's won. File that away.
