Game #106: A's 6, Blue Jays 5

[Updated 11:04 PM: I embedded some video I shot of Beane talking about Chavy. See below.]

July 30, 2006 | A's vs. Toronto

ATHLETICS NATION DAY

What a great day! I went to a game at the Coliseum after a long hiatus. I had excellent company in my good friends No. 19 and Tanner Boyle. Walk-off home run by Milton Bradley seals the win. And, oh, it was the third AN Day and I got to see Billy Beane in person!

Highlights of my day:

Today is Dan Haren Bobblehead Day. You know how much I love Danny Haren. No. 19 and I joined the snaking Gate D line about 10:30 AM, just before they opened the gates. There are only 15,000 of these bobbleheads being given away. I wasn't counting on getting one, but once we passed security I saw many boxes still stacked by the entrance. We each got one!

This is the earliest I ever showed up for a ballgame. So early that batting practice hadn't even started yet. But the pitchers were on the field doing light calisthenics.

Huston Street with full beard and sunglasses casually reclined on the grass. Barry Zito with short hair barely doing the exercises. I watched Brad Halsey and my chest filled, as if I was once more a teenager espying my crush in the high school hallway. I gushed when Dan Haren joined the guys. Around me fans pressed forward, clutching their brand new boobleheads and Sharpies. I took some photos, but with the Coliseum's large foul area, they're not very good. You can see better photos here.

No. 19 and I came to this game specifically for AN Day. Athletics Nation, as you know, is an A's blog started by one-time sports reporter Tyler "Blez" Bleszinski in November 2003, and it currently is one of the most trafficked sports blogs on the web. I went to the first AN Day (and brought GeneralChiang with me) and there were only 30 of us. Last year, No. 19, Celeste and I sat together for AN Day 2 and got to hear Blez's pre-game guest speakers: radio announcer Ken Korach, Chronicle reporter Susan Slusser, and MLB.com reporter Mychael Urban.

This year, No. 19 and I showed up early to hit the buffet at the outdoor BBQ Plaza. Just before we sat down for sausages and hamburgers, a Coliseum staff member approached me with a long box full of black visors courtesy of FSN Bay Area. I happily brought it to AN blogger/AN Day organizer Baseballgirl for later distribution, after I took one for myself, of course. (For those of you taking note, my "treasure chest" now contained one bobblehead and one visor.)

Over our early lunch, I also received a homemade kid's workbook that an AN member assembled. It's full of fun, baseball-themed puzzles like Find-A-Word and Cryptograms. Maybe I could persuade my niece, a traitorous Giants fan, to solve a couple of the puzzles with me.

After noon, the crowd moved inside to hear the mystery guest speakers whom Blez invited. Inside, I saw Ken Korach and Blez settling down on two stools in front of the standing-room-only crowd. But one stool remained empty. As I dug into my bag for my digital camera, I had a fleeting wave of disappointment that Blez had Korach as a repeat guest. I mean, I like Korach a lot, but who else could possibly be here? When I straightened up, I was stunned to see that the second mystery guest had arrived. It was none other than A's GM Billy Beane!

My knees almost buckled and I leaned on No. 19, swooning. "Get a hold of yourself," she scolded.
I didn't take notes, so these are not verbatim quotes from Beane:

On doing any trades before the deadline: We're not anticipating doing so. We don't think there's anyone out there who's better than the guys we're waiting to come back (from the DL).

On Bobby Crosby: We're being patient with him. He's a young player and he's had injuries that have interrupted his development. But he's very talented. He hasn't had two full seasons because of injuries. So be patient with him the way we are patient with him.

On Milton Bradley: He fits really well with the clubhouse. He is intelligent and soft-spoken.

On DJ: He's talented and we'll bring him back.

On Chavy: Eric Chavez is a true leader. He stepped up and played hurt — even though it wasn't known to the public that he was hurt — and that was very big of him. Players have pride and it took a lot for him to go out there and play when he was hurting.

[Updated 11:04 PM: I shot video of Beane talking about Chavy, which I uploaded to Google Video.]



On the thing he hates the most: I really hate it when we have a full house, or a sold-out game, and the A's lose. I'd like for the fans who come to a game to see a win when they do.

As for Ken Korach, he spoke fondly of the late Bill King and it was a bit of a sobering moment when we all remembered, Beane included, the legend we've been living without this season.

Tanner Boyle showed up near the tail end of Beane's remarks. Tanner, recently returned from a Southeast Asia vacation, gave me a present: a very beautiful journal. Thanks, TB!

After Beane and Korach were done and returned to their respective gameday duties, Blez announced he would start a trivia game in a few moments. "I want to win something this year," I told No. 19. "Back in the first AN Day, I knew all the answers [a bit of an exaggeration on my part], but I wasn't picked for the trivia game."

"What do you mean, you knew the answers?" she said. "What kind of questions were asked?"

"One of them was, when did Athletics Nation start. And I knew it was November 2003."

Blez starts the trivia game and the prizes — Oakland Athletics DVDs, t-shirts, A's beanies, etc. — go fast. The questions are all A's-centered and somewhat obscure, even for No. 19 and Tanner Boyle. I knew none of the answers. Stuff like, which player has played the most franchise games with the A's and what year did the A's win the most games.

Finally there's only one prize left. Blez begins the last question, "When did Athletics Nation—" and I raise my hand because I know what he's going to ask.

"NOVEMBER 2004!"

Blez looks confused.

"I mean, November 2003," I cry. "I know it's November 2003! I answered it the first year!"

Blez tosses me the prize, an AN t-shirt, and I'm ecstatic even though No. 19 is berating me, "That was a moochy way to win the prize! That was whiny! You whined your way to it!"

Treasure chest: AN tee, journal from Indonesia, visor, puzzle book, bobblehead. I'm so excited to get this loot, you'd think I'd never been to a tsotchke-filled convention or gotten free t-shirts before.

At this point, I was so elated from being in the same room as Billy Beane and getting a free prize that I didn't care whether there was a baseball game to be played.

Tanner Boyle and I took turns scoring the game in No. 19's program with a blunt pencil. Though it wasn't as hot as it was last weekend, today's 70 degrees felt very warm. When the sun was out, there was plenty of glare.

We were sitting in the right field reserved section, somewhere none of us had ever sat before (we're a bunch of snobs who prefer the third base line, preferably as close to the field as possible). The viewing angle was so unusual for me, I was like a child confusing my left from my right. I once entered a base hit into the score card upside down.

We didn't know how to pronounce Shane Komine's last name. We made fun of Alex Rios's all-strikeout performance from yesterday. We enjoyed the drummers/fellow AN'ers who usually sit in the left field bleachers as they relentlessly beat out a chant or cheer for every pitch and at-bat.

And then... Kiko Calero relieved teen idol Brad Halsey and could not get an out for the life of him. Macha brings in Huston Street to get the last four outs of the game.

No. 19 disagrees with me, but the way I see it, the World Baseball Classic took something out of Huston Street which weakened him and exposed him to injury and he hasn't been quite the same since. To whit: Street gives up a run in the 8th to Hinske, then a two-run double in the 9th to Overbay, and another double that brings the score to 5-3, Blue Jays.

Somehow the A's have to get three runs in the bottom of the 9th. From All-Star B.J. Ryan. Starting near the bottom of our order. Okaaay.

Crosby flies out and we're one away. Ellis gets a base hit! Kendall flies out, but No. 19 and I are both impressed at how far his fly ball carried to left center. I'm proud of myself for noting in the scorecard that Ellis reaches second on defensive indifference. Kotsay faces Ryan in a epic at-bat which included seven foul balls. "Wear him down!" I think. Kotsay walks! We have two outs, runners on first and second, and here comes the soft-spoken Milton Bradley.

I'm tired and languid from being under the sun for hours. I've been ready to go home since the top of the 8th. I project telepathic thoughts to Bradley: "Please hit a home run so we can all go home."

The count goes to 2-1. In the AN section, we're all standing. At the next pitch, Bradley makes contact. We watch the ball rise in the air. Once again, the angle is so unusual for me that, just as with every other play in this game, I cannot quite predict where the ball will land. It's going to center field, but our view is obstructed and I can't tell if this is going to be another F8. But the ball is high in the air, and as I follow its downward arc, I see it still has long way to go. In fact, I can see more than enough of what I need to see: it is a home run!

Like everyone else around me, I'm jumping up and down and screaming at the top of my lungs. No. 19 and I hug each other and high-five the people around us.

"And you wanted to go home," she chides me. Yeah, but I didn't, right? And we experienced one helluva walk-off home run to cap the end of what was already a wonderful, wonderful day.


(Game experience: Sec 248, though I didn't sit in Row 1 Seat 11 like my ticket says. Tanner was to my left and No. 19 was to my right.)

A's record: 55-50 | streak: W-2 | well-A-meter: 4