You know the games where you feel like everything that could go wrong does? The one where you smoke the ball and it turns into a double play? Or the one where every single questionable call goes against you?
Yeah, this wasn’t one of them. Thanks to the eighth inning and a couple of two out infield hits, the A’s turned a 3-2 deficit (and another potential tough loss for Blanton) into a veritable offensive explosion by scoring five times.
A couple of game details:
- Blanton pitched pretty well
- Looking at Chavy’s solo homerun stats, I’d swear that he was a leadoff hitter
- Swisher, Johnson, and Cust couldn’t have looked worse at the plate
- Scoring runs is fun!
But of course, in case you missed it:
JASON KENDALL HIT A HOMERUN!
I think this one was a little less shocking than the last, for a couple of reasons. First, many of us have noticed that Kendall does seem to be hitting with more power lately, probably due to the fact that the outfield has started to play him at the edge of the grass, and he needs that real-estate for his singles. Second of all, if there was ever a perfect homerun park for Jason, this is it.
Interestingly, Joe Blanton was the starting pitcher, and I was the front page writer on May 31, 2006, as well, when Jason went deep at the Coliseum.
Found this quote from my recap a year ago:
Harden - Will pitch in Las Vegas tonight. If all goes well, will be Sunday's starter.
Loaiza - Will pitch in Las Vegas tonight. No set return date.
Bradley - Took live batting practice yesterday from both sides of the plate. Will hit off a tee soon.
Duchscherer - Injury reports look less-than-encouraging. He will be out a while, possibly until the All-Star Break
Déjà vu, indeed.
But there is no doubt that this entire game belongs to Jason Kendall, who went 3 for 4 with a homerun, and basically single-handedly jump-started the rally that took the A’s from the L to the W.
Big win to even the series, and a well-deserved win for Joe Blanton. And yes, I'm over yesterday's loss.
The A’s try to win the series tomorrow at 11AM; Chad Gaudin vs. Jason Jennings. See you then!
