What a Game!

Last night, Dad and I were watching the A's on TV. We noticed that they were playing the Diamondbacks. Since the D'Backs are also a favorite team of mine, this got us thinking about going to the ballpark. A quick check on the internet revealed that the A's were playing a night game with them tonight and, best of all, Danny Haren was on the mound. That settled it, we were going to the game.

It looked like a mismatch. Haren was pitching against rookie Edgar Gonzalez (5 + ERA in the minors). Seemed like the DBacks and Haren should win. First inning, Gonzalez gets in a jam and gives up a run. But Haren gave up a 2 run homer in the first to Jack Cust. After that, it was all A's for a time. Three homers later, the A's lead 5-1 in the 8th and Haren is lifted for a reliever. But in the top of the 8th, the DBacks storm back with 4 runs of their own to knot the score at 5-5.

Both teams threaten but neither breaks through in the 9th, so we're going to extra innings. Now I've been to two A's games so far this year, and they both went to extra innings. In the 11th, the DBacks score three runs in consecutive singles and doubles. Things look bad for the A's, but they manage to score 2 runs and have runners at 1st and 3rd with one out in the last of the 11th. Jack Hannahan comes to the plate. All he has to do is hit a fly ball to tie the game. But Hannahan instead hits a sharp grounder to short, flip over to second and then on to first for the double play. Game over. A's lose. Since I was sort of rooting for the DBacks, this was fine with me.

After that, it turned out it was a fireworks night, so we caught some cool fireworks too. Another great (and late) night at the ballpark!