Game #105: A's 7, Blue Jays 4
July 29, 2006 | A's vs. Toronto
LIVE BLOGGINGTop of the 1st: Troy Glaus grand slam in the top of the 1st. Barry Zito gave up a grand slam this season (Opening Night) and only one other time in his career. No TV coverage today so I'm spared the visual torture. The grand slam took place before we even got one measly out. Ugh. A's 0, Blue Jays 4.
Bottom of the 1st: Nothing for the A's. A's 0, Blue Jays 4.
Top of the 2nd: Zito doesn't have it today as the Blue Jays are collecting hits off of him. Is Zito wondering if he's going to get traded? My co-worker Mike, a Mets fan, tells me the rumors are that Zito's going to the Mets. I know Zito would like it in New York... But would it make sense to trade Zito right now? To me, our rotation is Zito, Haren, and Blanton if it's a good day. Two and a half starters does not a rotation make. If Billy Beane is able to trade Zito for three pitchers ready to take the mound... well that might be worth it. But what am I saying? I dare not try to outthink Billy Beane. Who knows? He just might hang on and let Barry finish the rest of this season and his contract.Anyway, the bases are loaded and wouldn't it be funny (funny sad, not funny ha ha) if Zito gave up another grand slam? Well, he doesn't. Thank you. A's 0, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 2nd: The A's go down to McGowan. Gadzooks. I don't even know who this pitcher is! We're just not hitting! A's 0, Blue Jays 4
Top of the 3rd: Yay, the A's defense is alive. The Blue Jays leave no one on base this time. A's 0, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 3rd: Chavy gets a base hit! Mr. Tendinitis is feeling much better and I hope he transitions into his traditional second-half form. Chavy opted not to have shoulder surgery in the last off-season. He's been an iron man, starting at third for the last several years and having few days off. I fear this is only the beginning of more injuries for him.
McGowan faces the minimum in this inning. A's 0, Blue Jays 4
Top of the 4th: Nothing for Toronto. A's 0, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 4th: On one out, Milton Bradley's stand-up double scores Kotsay. Good ol' Milton. He didn't have a great night last night, so it feels good to see him do something today to get us on the board. Frank Thomas base hit moves Bradley to third. JayPay drives in a run! On the radio, I can hear the crowd chanting, "Let's go Oakland!" as Swisher comes up to bat, but he strikes out. Chavy walks. Inning is over with Scutaro, but the A's are back in the game. A's 2, Blue Jays 4Top of the 5th: Nice outs by the A's. Zito has settled down, but his pitch count is at 89. I wonder if he'll make it to the 7th. A's 2, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 5th: Vernon Wells can't make the play so Mark Kotsay's double scores Jason Kendall. Toronto changes pitchers — Brian Tallet takes the mound with two outs to go. Tallet walks Thomas and the bases are loaded. JayPay drives in two runs! We're in the lead! A's 5, Blue Jays 4
Top of the 6th: Amazing play, I'm told by radio, from Eric Chavez that gets the first out of this inning. Chavy also gets the second out. Ken Korach says on the radio that Chavy is setting a record for the most error-less starts at third base. I'm not surprised. [Updated 7/30/2006 - Associated Press elaborates: Eric Chavez set an Oakland record with his 60th consecutive errorless game at third base. Chavez broke the mark set by Mike Gallego over a five-year period from 1985-90. Gallego, who played mostly at shortstop and second base in that period, did commit 37 errors in that span.] A's 5, Blue Jays 4Bottom of the 6th: Milton Bradley scores Jason Kendall! And we still have Kotsay on second base and now Bradley on first. But that's all we're going to get for now. Amazing. This game started out so badly, but now Zito might end up with a win! A's 6, Blue Jays 4
Top of the 7th: The crowd is doing the Zito chant at the Coliseum: "Zi-to! Zi-to! Zi-to!" After Zito strikes out Alex Rios for the fourth time today, Macha comes in for a pitching change. Duchscherer comes in. The fans at the Coliseum gave Zito a standing ovation, asked for and got him to come back out of the dugout, something that's usually asked only of big hitters, not pitchers. And of course we must wonder if this is the last Zito start in an A's uniform. Duchscherer gets the third out this inning. A's 6, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 7th: Lyle Overbay error and Swisher is safe at first. Another double that drives in a run, this time it's Chavy scoring Swisher! A's 7, Blue Jays 4
Top of the 8th: Nothing for Toronto. I feel like we're cruising. It's a nice feeling. A's 7, Blue Jays 4
Bottom of the 8th: We're still hitting and still getting on base! But the score remainns the same.
Huston Street is coming in for the 9th and he'll face the tough part of the Toronto line-up. A's 7, Blue Jays 4Top of the 9th: Street gets the save! A's 7, Blue Jays 4
The A's are back in first place. But it's such a tight race in the AL West, every game counts!
(Game experience: KYCY 1550 AM)
A's record: 54-50 | streak: W-1 | well-A-meter: 3
posted by blank book at 1:09 PM
4 Comments:
Seems like Zito needs to revisit his pre-game routine. He's getting rocked early.
I'm preparing myself for Zito to get traded. Billy Beane is unpredictable and he'll do something that'll defy logic and yet still make sense.
Zito's performance today is the kind of thing that makes it easier for Beane to trade him.
Whatever Z does with his pre-game routine, I tell myself there's a chance he'll be tweaking it with another team.
My hunch is that Zito will not be traded. In fact, Double B might add a player to the Oakland roster in the next 24 hours. The A's are going to try to make a run this year with Zito leading the charge. In the offseason, they will allow the Yankees to sign him to huge, multi-year contract and the A's will score some nice draft picks in return.
I just hope the Angels don't get Soriano. That might spell trouble.
That was a great play-by-play! I was doing chores so could only listen to the radio recap, but was pretty excited when I heard the A's came back from a 4-0 deficit. Sunday is AN Day at the ballpark -- woo hoo!
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