Game #93: A's 8, Red Sox 1
July 16, 2006 | A's @ Boston
Yes, I know my coverage of this Red Sox series hasn't been up to par. But the weather's been good and there are things to do, places to be.Also, I've been reading Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch," his memoir about his lifelong obsession with the Arsenal football club. I can't match Hornby's devotion to his team with my own to the A's. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of fan I can be.
Today...
• Joe Blanton gets a win! I heard in a post-game interview that the 93-degree weather didn't bother him. Last Friday Ken Macha got a nosebleed and yesterday Frank Thomas got dizzy. How much of that is related to the heat? Who knows? But Blanton went seven innings and had only one earned run, the home run to Alex Gonzalez.
• Mark Kotsay is 4-for-5 with three RBI. I hope that slump he was in is finally and completely over.
• Eric Chavez didn't play in this series because of his arms. Instead we've seen Antonio Perez at third (and still Perez isn't hitting) and Marco Scutaro (two errors today alone). Chavy has been so good for so long that I don't even consider him to be one of my favorites — it's too obvious. But when he's not around, Chavy is strongly missed.
• I saw Jay Payton's catch of David Ortiz's almost-long ball in the highlights. There's been talk of Payton getting traded to the Yankees, now that we have Milton Bradley back. I don't know... I like all of our outfielders. I want to keep all of them!
(Game experience: None)
A's record: 48-44 | streak: W-1 | well-A-meter: 3
2 Comments:
I would have thought that winning three out of four from the dreaded Red Sox in Boston would rate a 4 on the well-A-meter.
The most satisfying run came after Adam Melhuse got hit by a pitch and later scored with a two out single by Payton in the 5th inning. Swisher is still smarting from Saturday's beaning and it's good the A's made Boston pay for it a day later.
When Boston comes to town next week, it will be interesting to see if the A's will seek retribution.
I wonder about that myself. The A's in general don't strike me as a "retribution" kind of team.
I recall that in the years when we had the Big Three, only Huddy had the reputation for being capable of deliberately hitting a batter to settle some kind of score.
Post a Comment
<< Home