Game #45: A's 4, White Sox 5

May 22, 2006 | A's @ Chicago

I heard that Frank Thomas got a warm welcome from the Chicago White Sox fans when he returned albeit wearing an Oakland Athletics uniform. They even made a video tribute for him!

(I was at the Coliseum when Jason Giambi came back to Oakland as a New York Yankee. When he was introduced in the line-up, Diamond Vision displayed his name as "Jason Jiambi.")

Amidst all this hoopla for the Big Hurt, it sounds like Bad Barry Zito showed up on the mound. He had seven strikeouts, yes, but also six walks. Zito didn't make it past the 6th inning. To make it through the end of the game, Macha had to use Kiko Calero, Steve Karsay, Randy Keisler, Huston Street, and Ron Flores.

I didn't get to watch this game so my news is all second-hand, including this chilling fact: Street allowed the White Sox to tie and forced the game into a 10th inning. Flores succeeded him, gave up a run, and got the loss.

Ahh, let's just give this one to the White Sox. Somewhere in a Chicago suburb is my White Sox counterpart who's happily going to bed with good memories of the Big Hurt going 3-for-5 with two home runs. And the home team still wins.

(Game experience: I checked ESPN MLB on the cell phone a couple of times. At the 10th inning I was with Tanner Boyle at Jillian's in San Francisco asking a waitress if she could get the A's game on a corner of their humongous multiple-image screen. No dice. I heard about the loss on the radio.)

A's record: 22-22 | streak: L-3 | well-A-meter: 2