It just isn't AN Day without a walk-off. Three years ago came the epic Kotsay at-bat followed by Milton Bradley's 3-run HR off of B.J. Ryan; tonight, in front of dozens of AN fans -- most of them completely insane, I might add -- and apparently about 26,000 other people (we didn't much notice), Kurt Suzuki's liner to left-field off of Zach Miner sank in front of a diving Ryan Raburn as Adam Kennedy sped around from 2nd. Raburn made a rather remarkable play short-hopping it cleanly, getting up and firing a strong strike to the plate, but Kennedy was already there. This sent ANers into a high-fiving, ass-slapping (I'm looking at you, mikev), "kiss a friend, grope a stranger," "flash a random usher" type of frenzy usually seen only in Bloggers Gone Wild I, II, and III (if you haven't rented them, they're a "must see," by the way -- gigglingone is a surprisingly good actress).
Highlights prior to the walk-off hit included another excellent effort by Trevor Cahill (7 innings of 5 hit, 2 run ball), a 3-hit game from Adam Kennedy, and a "lights-out" 3 up, 3 down 9th inning by Andrew Bailey (11 pitches, 9 strikes) to return him the winning pitcher.
And prior to that, highlights included an awesome cake in the design of the AN logo, arguably the best bacon-wrapped scallops and "shrimp a la lynnzgal" that you'll ever find, gigglingone's individual cupcakes, "dead animals galore" on mikev's "big ass grill," a really cool banner for Justin Duchscherer, and much, much more -- to be brought to you soon in photo form through upcoming fanposts.
Thank you to everyone who attended AN Day and to those who stepped up to organize, bake, cook, grill, inappropriately fondle, or line a game-winning single to left at just the right time. AN rocks, and tonight the A's rocked too!
