Opening Day: A's 2, Yankees 15

April 3, 2006 | A's vs. New York

I've been looking forward to Opening Day since October of last year.

To top it off, I go in expecting a pitchers' duel. Lefty vs. lefty. NL Cy Young Award winner of 2002 vs. AL Cy Young Award winner of 2002. HOF lock-in vs. um, John Mayer wannabe. It's Randy Johnson vs. Barry Zito.

This ought to be good. I wish for a tense game that the A's win 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th. I know this wish well, as I've had it before and met disappointment. Tonight is no different. It's a blowout: the Yankees take it, 15-2.

So after spending the morning IM-ing one another with "I can't wait!" and "I'm so excited!" I meet Kyle, Celeste, and Marisa at section 247. I hadn't even digested my Philly cheesesteak and already Zito walks four, gives up a grand slam, brings the score to 7-0 Yankees, and we're still at no outs in the top of the 2nd inning.

I've had this nightmare before. It was on September 8, 2004 -- Pedro Martinez against our own Tim Hudson. Huddy gave up four walks and went through the entire Red Sox line-up in the first inning of a game we eventually lost, 8-3. It turned out to be Huddy's worst outing of his career.

Tonight was Zito's shortest outing of his career. Probably the longest inning and a-third of my life!

Well... at least I got to the Coliseum early enough for the pre-game festivities. At least I got to enjoy the Bill King tribute, to see Chavy get his fifth Gold Glove, and Huston Street acclaimed as Rookie of the Year 2005. At least I finally got to experience what it's like to sit at a baseball game with a light drizzle falling on my baseball cap. Kyle cheered me up with this piece of logic: this is probably the most meaningless game of our season.

Postscript:
- This game marks Zito's first loss for the season. Zito's ERA is a staggering 47.25!
- This game marks Crosby's first injury for the season. He's not placed on DL, instead he'll miss a week.