Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, and to mine. Love you Dad!
Well, for a team that usually wins or loses games 1-0, 2-1 or 3-2, this series has been somewhat of a surprise. Both teams scored an unusual amount of runs, but the A’s, once again, found themselves on the short end of an offensive explosion.
The A’s started the game down early, but only for about ten minutes. After a first-inning homerun by Spiezio: The Little Red Goatee (who I am very glad plays on a team the A’s never see), the A’s roared back in the bottom of the inning. After a hit by Buck and a hit batter, great base-running got Buck to third on a deep fly ball by Swisher; giving the A’s a chance to tie with a sac fly. Of course, Jack Cust, officially the streakiest hitter ever, made a bid for a sac fly, but it went over the fence for a three-run homerun. Crosby followed with a double that scored the fourth run, and Kendall knocked in the fifth with a double, and that’s all they would get until another double by Crosby that plated Cust in the seventh, for the so-close-yet-so-far sixth run.
Kennedy struggled early and often, and after the A’s failed to add onto their lead with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the third, I think everyone knew that might come back to haunt. It didn’t take long; the Cardinals got to Kennedy big time in the fourth, and it could have been much worse. With a runner on first and no one out, Kennedy walked the next batter, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Kennedy coaxed the pitcher’s best friend, the double-play, out of the next batter, and it was lucky he did. A combination of bloop hits and errors produced two runs after that, and Kennedy found himself facing Pujols with two runners on. Luckily for the A’s, he walked instead of hitting a 650 foot homerun, and after a scary at-bat to Encarnacion, he grounded out, taking the game to the bottom of the fourth; the A’s up by a single run.
All was quiet on both sides until the Cardinals exploded again in the seventh. After the first two men reached base, a single brought in the tying run, and moved runners to the corners with nobody out. After teasing us with two strikes, Colby Lewis gave up the big blow, a three-run homerun that untied the game and put the Cardinals ahead by three. They would add two more later with the help of unusually poor defense by the A’s.
Some silver linings on an otherwise disappointing day include Casilla being awesome, per usual, and Jack Cust wrapping up the weekend with another hot game. Other bad news sees the Angels winning again and the A’s dropping back to six games out. Tough loss.
But as they say, tomorrow is another day, and the A’s take on the Reds at 7pm.
AN Day 4 Update: I have mailed out the first set of tickets, and am placing the next ticket order on Tuesday. Please contact me ASAP at baseballgirl1976@hotmail.com if you would like to be a part of this order. If you have already purchased tickets for this second order, you will receive a confirmation email tomorrow.
