Love and a 4 Game Win Streak

Baseball is never the same twice. It is so different from the monotony of everyday life, and I guess that is what I love about it.  Every day could be the best game of a player's career, the day a no hitter is thrown, or there are back to back homeruns.  Teams and players can have streaks good or bad and one day, one at bat can make the difference.  My roommate and I were having a heated discussion yesterday and he wanted to know why I loved such a masculine fixation.  He couldn't understand why I (a woman!) would love watching men being aggressive and trying to win.  There are many reasons most of which he will never understand but I love the clean slate factor.  If a player has a bad game tomorrow is a new day.  Any player can be the hero in any game and I love the stories of Triple A call ups or bench players winning the game.  It is the little moments that most fans will never remember like Scutaro hitting a double in the playoffs that I love and cherish. (Well ok people might remember that because it was the playoffs but you get the gist.) This week has been full of crazy and wonderful little moments, like Hernandez making his major league debut and getting his first win after pitching one inning.  Or Buck after going 0 for 22and then hitting 6 doubles.  It was in short an amazing week full of many moments I will remember for a ong time. 

Thursday's game saw Buck go 3 for 6 and win the game in the 12^th inning.  (Extra inning games bother me but more on that later.)  He hit a 2 run double to finish the game for a 3-2 victory for the Athletics.  This meant the Athletics swept the Blue Jays for all 3 games and could take their half hour flight to Cleveland feeling elated.  Buck not only hit a double to win the game he hit 3 doubles to account for his three hits the entire night. (Has a player ever hit 6 doubles in a series before? I will need to look this up)  The winning pitcher Divine was called up from Triple A the day of the game and arrived 20 minutes before the first pitch.  He pitched a scoreless 1o^th and 11^th   to get the win.  He was added on the roster to replace the injured Harden and looks like a nice addition. Scutaro came up in the 11^th and with runners at the corners looked like he posed a threat.  I know he is not an Athletic anymore but I wanted him to get a game-winning hit so bad.  I know this sounds weird but I loved him as an Athletic and wanted him to rub the trade in Beane's face by winning the game.  Hannahan made a stellar play to record an out at first and keep the man at third from scoring.  Eevland made another great start pitching 6 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing the Jays just 3 hits. It was nice to sweep the series because the Jays are made up of so many former Athletics.  They have Thomas, Scutaro, Stewart, and Stairs so it was good to beat many former Athletics.

Friday saw the Athletics beat Sabathia for the second time in a week which is amazing being that he won the C.Y Young award last year.  This game was by far the craziest of the season and the fact that it is a young season means thing can only get crazier.  When the bottom of the 4^th inning started the Athletics had a 9-1 lead and I mistakenly thought they had the game in the bag.   Rain was threatening on the doppler radar so it looked as if the game would be cancelled after the fifth.   All signs pointed to an easy win.  But this is baseball and there are no easy wins.  Blanton looked good early and lasted 7 and 2/3 innings only allowing 5 runs and 8 hits.  He finally got some run support and his spell of bad luck seemed to be coming to a close. The runs came 1 in the 1st, 5 in the 2^nd, 1 in the 3^rd and 2 in the 4^th.  Doubles seem to be a theme with the Athletics this week and Friday's game saw Ellis, Barton, and Cust all go for 2.  The game experienced a 59 minute rain delay and Street came in to get the last out of the 8^th and 3 outs in the 9^th. Lets hope this 4 game win streak can continue.  I would love nothing more than the team that everyone said could not win many games to win a lot.