Norah O’Donnell was wearing yellow while she was on CBS This Morning yesterday. I went to work and had a quiet shift. One of the girls called in sick, but I didn’t want to take over for her because I was going to leave early for the baseball game. I missed the ice cream party on Wednesday, but there was some leftover, so I put a scoop of chocolate ice cream in a cone and ate it on the way out. I stopped to have a late lunch, and then I left for the stadium. I nearly fell asleep on the train. Almost no one was using the season ticket holder line, so that was the path I used to get inside the stadium. I took my seat and was the only one in this section for a while, but there were obnoxious kids around trying to get baseballs. We heard songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “Spinning Wheel.” It was Filipino Heritage Night, and we saw a group of young men doing some break dancing. A.J. Griffin got through five innings, although three of the five were difficult, and he walked too many batters. Griffin gave up only a two-out walk in the first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Josh Reddick hit a single with two outs, and then Yoenis Cespedes followed with a home run. Griffin gave up a single and two walks in the top of the second inning, but no runs came in largely because of a double play. He annoying walked a .223 hitter. The Indians did score a run in the top of the third inning with two singles and a throwing error from Josh Reddick. Griffin had his one clean inning in the fourth. His fifth inning was difficult, although it started with two outs. Reddick made another good catch in right field for the second out. Griffin walked Nick Swisher. Ken Korach on the radio said that he couldn’t understand why the crowd was booing Swisher. I could have told him why. I was because he kept gushing about how great it was to be a Yankee when he was with that team. Griffin gave up a double, with Swisher going to third base on the play. A walk loaded the bases, but then a fly ball to center ended the inning. Griffin had thrown 104 pitches in five innings, and that was the end of his night. Dan Otero pitched the top of the sixth inning, and he got all three batters out. Korach said that Otero had turned out to be a valuable pitcher for the A’s, even if it didn’t look that way in spring training, when he was pitching for the Giants and gave up a lot of runs. Sean Doolittle had trouble with the seventh inning. A fly ball went out to left center field, but Cespedes missed it, and it bounced off the wall for a double. After a sacrifice bunt, that man Swisher swung at the first pitch and hit it for a single and a tie game. This always prompts Vince Cotroneo to say “And we start all over.” Doolittle continued to be shaky, allowing a walk. After an infield fly, he gave up another walk on another 3-2 count. He got out of the inning with a fly ball to left field. During the seventh inning stretch, we heard “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” again. The bottom of the inning began with ground ball outs from Josh Donaldson and Seth Smith. Stephen Vogt hit a single, and then Eric Sogard continued his hot hitting with a double. Vogt did some good base running in coming around from first base to score the run that put the A’s ahead, 3-2. However, Sogard got thrown out at third base, with the playing going 9-4.2-5. Ryan Cook came in to pitch the top of the eighth inning, which started with two 6-3 outs. Cook got into a bit of trouble, though, with a double and a walk. The last out was a 4-3 ground ball. The A’s had a chance to score another run when Reddick singled and stole second base with two outs, but Cespedes hit a fly ball for the third out. It was up to Grant Balfour to make a one-run lead hold up. When he leaves the bullpen mound, he pours a bit of water on his head and tosses the paper cup behind him as he trots onto the field. He started the inning well with a ball that Lowrie caught for the first out, but then he walked the next batter. The Indians had received five walks from Griffin, two from Doolittle, and one from Cook. Otero was the only A’s pitcher who didn’t allow a walk. Balfour got into more danger with another single, with the runner going to second base. The game ended rather suddenly when Donaldson caught a line drive that looked like it was going to left field for a hit to tie the game, and then Donaldson threw the ball to Sogard for the out that ended the game. The runner trying to get back to second base bumped into Sogard. The crowd was happy because the scoreboard had shown that the Rangers had already lost to Seattle. Doolittle was the winning pitcher, even though he had blown the save. I couldn’t say that Griffin was truly deserving of the win, though. The game began at 7:07 and ended at 9:45. Attendance was 17.491. Korach reminded us that it was the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, and Cotroneo said that Babe Ruth died on the same date. Ruby Lopez appeared to have some difficulty with her microphone for her first few moments. I wonder why bacon is so popular with these baseball fans. We saw a highlight of Pac-Man knockouts. The hair styling gel contest always turns out the same way. No one has any imagination. I hurried out of the stadium. I wanted to get home quickly to get some rest for Bobblehead Night. People were selling glow toys, along with hot dogs, churros, and T-shirts on the BART bridge. I boarded a Concord train, which was unusual at the Coliseum. I listened to The Who’s “Who’s Next” on the way home. I caught the Night Gallery episode “The Miracle at Camafeo.” Kim Coyle was back with the sports report on KPIX. I heard the news that the building on the Hayward campus was going to be imploded this morning. Two people who died on August 17 were Vivian Vance (1979) and Ira Gershwin (1983).
Source:
http://chrisdeeohi.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/eric-sogards-go-ahead-double/