Mark Ellis' walk-off HR, with 2 out in the 9th and the game tied 2-2, had no chance of being high enough to clear the LF wall. Until a flying unicorn swooped down and carried it over the wall. It's been that kind of month for Ellis, who drove in 2 of the A's 3 runs to give him 19 for the month of August.
This after the umpires, on this Turn Back The Clock Day, tried to re-enact the Black Sox scandal in the top of the 9th inning. First they allowed Jayson Nix to reach 1st on an infield hit on which he appeared to be out -- so much so that the entire A's defense took 3 steps towards the dugout before realizing the inning wasn't over. Bob Geren argued. Nix then stole second, but over slid the bag and was tagged out by Crosby. Nix was ruled safe on the premise that Crosby had moved Nix off the base with his glove. Bob Geren argued, but was throw out before he could argue for the cycle in the inning. Undaunted, Andrew Bailey struck out Scott Podsednik to end the inning and the rest was unicorn lore.
This was all made possible by a strong 6+ inning, 2 run effort by Trevor Cahill, a clutch performance by Jay Marshall to get out the two on, nobody out mess left behind by Cahill in the 7th, and a daring "hustle double" by Rajai Davis, followed by a game-tying double by Scott Hairston, in the 8th.
The atmosphere today was fantastic. The A's did the Turn Back The Clock event beautifully, from the uniforms to the black and white Diamond Vision, to the scoreboard's "PHI" for the home team's linescore, to the Depression Era music, to Dick Callahan's presence in a straw hat sitting behind an old-time mike at an outside table down by the A's dugout.
Just a great day overall capped off by Unicorn magic. Enjoy it for the next 36 hours, because Brett Tomko is starting on Monday night to try to continue the theme of great depression.
