Breanne and I went to the ballgame in Oakland today. As usual, I got my tickets on ebay. There's always some seller on there that doesn't place a reserve or starts the bidding too low, or too soon, and I've found it's the best place to get baseball tickets. We had two seats just a few rows behind the A's dugout. At the box office they would have been 110 bucks- I paid 53. It's not often that I'm satisfied with the value of a purchase, whether it's baseball tickets or bottled water.
The game was a memorable one. The first few innings were dominated by the pitchers, Blanton and Batista, until Cust led off the 4th with a solo moon shoot than cleared the wall in center field and probably landed 420 feet from home plate. The A's ending up scoring 4 in the 4th, the last run coming on a collision at home plate. Jack Hannahan, who uses strictly Irish entry music, whether it be traditional or U2, scored from 1st on a double down the line, putting a lowered shoulder into Kenji Johjima and knocking his mask off. Oddly enough it was the first of three tight plays at the plate.
In the top of the 5th the Mariners answered with 5 runs off Blanton. As in the previous inning, a bases clearing double resulted in a home plate encounter. Suzuki, one of only two Japanese catchers in the majors along with Johjima, inexplicably turned his back on the base runner just before he reached home. What resulted was an anticlimax: no contact and a lazy pop-up slide across the plate. A's fans cursed and booed but the umpire had it right- though the ball was there long before the base runner, no tag was applied. Later in the game, Ichiro would beat a relay throw to the plate, scoring standing up, though it was relatively close because he slowed rounding third. Incidentally, he had an impressive game, reaching base 4 times in 4 at bats.
Though a large portion of the A's fan base had long exited the stadium, the bottom of the ninth was a sight. Brandon Morrow closed for the Mariners, and retired 3 of 4 batters, walking Barton before inducing a pop up to end it. After Hannahan grounded out 4-3 on the first pitch, Morrow struck out Donnie Murphy on 4 pitches, the last two clocking in at 100 mph. It's rare to see a young pitcher with that kind of velocity who isn't wild; he has 38 K to only 8 BB this season.
I like going to games at McAfee stadium. They have a lot of deals and discounts because they only draw about 20,000 fans a game. The cheapest seats at AT&T park, where the Giants call home, are 20 dollars. Tonight was 1 dollar hot dog night at McAfee, and they even have special discounted tickets if you ride the BART train, which I do. I'm still pissed I wasn't one of the first 10,000 fans on Vida Blue day a couple weeks ago. The first 10k received free retro Vida Blue jerseys, thanks to Aquafina, and people were waiting in line 6 hours before the game. The jersey is up at the top.
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