Aggies Win!
My school has won their first NCAA playoff
game! The pitcher Eddie Gamboa pitched a complete game only
giving up 4 hits and 2 runs! Amazing game. In the 7th inning
the aggies scored 3 runs one coming on a
suicide squeeze. The number 4 seed Aggies beat the
number 1 seed Stanford! Tomorrow they play Pepperdine at
5 p.m. again and I am so excited for what the
future holds for the Aggies! On a side note the Athletics
lost. But right now it all about the
Aggies!
Lets go Aggies!
My college baseball team is in the college
playoffs today! I could not believe it when on Monday
they received an at large bid and it was announced
they would play Stanford in their first game. The Davis
Aggies beat Stanford in their two meetings this season
so the match up could not be better. Our catcher
was named the Co Player of the Year which shows the talent we
have on our team. Today at 5 pm I will be at my radio
shouting “Lets Go Aggies!”
When Boston came to Town
Last weekend was extremely exciting not only because the
Athletics swept the Red Socks but also because I go to be at one of the
games. On Friday I took Amtrak to
the game and I must say that all the ads they play on the radio lie. You cannot go to the game at your own
convenience as the ads claim because there is only one train running that will
get you to the game on time. While
on the train I noticed a fair number of Boston jerseys but no other Athletics
clothing aside from what I was wearing.
The train let’s you off in beautiful Oakland right below the BART
station and coliseum near a restaurant aptly named Coliseum Burger that I would
never in my life eat at. As I
walked over the BART overpass with my father I checked the estuary for dead
bodies (now a ritual thanks to me neighbor), and as usual was surprised at the
number of Boston fans I saw. Once
inside the stadium it was very apparent that the game would not be a sellout. I
am amazed that the Athletics once again have the best team no one watches. The biggest drawing team can’t even
fill the stands, which is very sad.
The game as so much fun and the Athletics hit 2 homeruns in the game.
Now that I am of legal drinking age my father loves to send me to get his beers
so he doesn’t have to leave his seat.
When asked what kind he wants his reply will always be “No ****** beer
please.” I know far better than to come back to the seats with Miller Lite, or
Budweiser. In my house ****** beer
is blasphemy.
Harden was pitching and he looked so good. He is an amazing
player because he is either hurt or 100%.
I don’t see him having the interim struggling period. He seems to just
come off the DL throwing smoke.
All the years of waiting for him to get healthy now seem worth it
because of how amazing he is currently pitching. I always was an advocate for putting him in the bullpen but
I am glad he proved me wrong.
Huston Street is starting to look better which makes me happy. I don’t like it when he struggles
because he is one of my favorites on the team. The funniest moment of the night was when on the jumbotron
there appeared a hat trick game for the Red Socks. One hat appeared on the screen and a ball went inside
it. Instead of the usual 3 hats
one was all that appeared and after it moved around the screen said “Which
one?” The hat poped up and low and behold there was nothing there. The announcer
said something about still not being able to get it right. It was so funny. Very creative on the Athletics part I
must say. All in all it was
a truly amazing night. I simply
just love going to games more than anything!
Thomas is now on the DL, which doesn’t make me happy one
bit. Chavy was brought up from
Triple A to take his place, which will eschew his rehab plan to get him back
fielding. Chavy can hit just fine
but he is still tentative when it comes to his fielding. I hope he is able to get back to the
Gold Glove Chavy we all know and love.
When he is on he is the best 3rd baseman but after back
surgery I wonder if he will ever be 100% again. Lets hope so.
East Bay Express | Blogs | Slap Hitter: Oakland A’s Puzzlers (play along)
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/blogs/slap_hitter___oakland_a_s_puzzlers__play_along_/Content?oid=738432
The Official Site of The Oakland Athletics: News: A’s set for Thursday’s charity golf outing
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080521&content_id=2742557&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak
The Official Site of The Oakland Athletics: News: A’s place reliever Brown on 15-day DL
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080520&content_id=2737982&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak
Frustrating
Tonight’s game was so completely frustrating. The Athletics did NOT hit well. The pitching from Greg Smith was once again really solid only giving up 4 hits and 3 walks through 7 innings. He looked good through those first 7 innings but the 8th was messy with a walk, single, stolen base, throwing error, and another error. Only the walk and single were his and the rest is all the bullpen and the error is all Brown. The only good news is the Big Hurt has started hitting home runs and boy oh boy are we a team in need of home runs. I am beginning to really feel Casilla being on the dl and am worried about Huston Street. He only has one save in the month of May and last night while he recorded 5 strikeouts, threw 31 pitches. Things are looking messy right now but I think the Athletics by some bizarre miracle are only 2 game behind the Angels. Baseball is a crazy game and you really do have to stick with it for the whole season. I love it more than anything else in my life but it drives me insane some days.
A win after 4 losses
Yesterday’s game looked extremely promising with Harden
looking like the Harden he had always promised he could be. It made the past few seasons of
disabled list stints all worth the wait.
Harden not only pitched exceptionally well but he recorded his first
major league hit, and off of Hudson no less. Cust hit a solo home run, walked and struck out using every
one of his skills. (He hardly does
anything other than those 3 things.)
Sweeney hit a 3 run home run and this game got the bad taste of loosing
4 in a row out of my mouth. The reliever Casilla is on the Disabled List, Ellis
is injured and not playing, while Chavy and Buck are playing in Triple A. All
of these things did not matter tonight as the Athletics beat the Braves. Street
looked dicey tonight. It feels
like you never know which Huston Street is going to come out and pitch. He
could be lights out or the other team could hit everything he throws. He almost blew the game tonight but
luckily the Braves only scored 3 runs against him. Still those 3 should not
have happened.
Of Baseball and Birthdays
Yesterday was my father’s Birthday, which we celebrated in
true baseball style. The day
started with a college baseball game of UC Irvine versus UC Davis. My brother attends the first school and
I the second. The weather was a
force to be reckoned with reaching
102 during the middle of the game but being tried and true baseball fans
we stayed. I gave my father the
films Bleacher Bums, and Bang the Drum Slowly as presents and he loved them!
After the college game we drove to Sacramento for dinner and a River Cats
game. I have always wanted to go
to a River Cats game and this was
the perfect day to do so with several big league guys rehabbing there. Our car tells the temperature outside
and at one point on our way to Sacramento it read 108! Yikes!
We ended up at the world’s strangest and possibly most
awesome restaurant, Joe’s Crab Shack.
There is the most bizarre amalgamation on the ceiling of sharks, fish,
crabs, lights, TVs, records, beer signs, and other oddities. Halfway through out meal strobe lights
came on and the waiters proceeded to perform a country line dance in the middle
of the restaurant. It was very funny but hard to concentrate on your food or
conversation. Since it was my
fathers birthday they told the restaurant he was turning 21 (yeah I believe
that) and that he had always wanted to be a cow boy. They put a cowboy hat on him and as we sang Happy Birthday
wanted him to ride around on a horse*.
(It was really a kid’s toy of a horse head on a stick) My dad gave me
the most evil look and slowly got up swinging the horse around like it was a
bat and he was a ball player.
After the song he came back to the table and proceeded to playfully hit
me with the horse. This lead to
many promises of getting me back on my birthday. Next year.
We walked back to Raley field and they were playing out song
Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen! It was meant to be. The outside of the stadium is landscaped and is so beautiful
as is the inside. It turned out to
be Daric Barton bobble head night so it was exciting to get something so
awesome for free! Once inside it
truly felt like a minor league park and I loved it. The stadium was just the right size and they had good food!
The field was so pristine and the announcer had an extremely funny way of
announcing players. In between
innings there were the most campy, silly and absurd events going on. They had an American Idol type contest,
a hit the water balloon contest, a catch the fly ball contest, and a stroller
race. It most certainly felt like
a minor league park. Eric Chavez,
Travis Buck and Lenny Dinardo were al playing in the game and it was fun to see
some of the big leaguers. Chavy
hit 2 doubles which was exciting! It was also military appreciation night and
the River Cats had camo print jerseys.
My father and I kept score as usual the entire game and just enjoyed
each other’s company a lot. All in
all it was an amazing magical night and as alays it reminded me why I love
baseball so much.
Half a game behind
The Athletics are only half a game behind the Angels. This is such an exciting time and miracle upon miracle the Athletics are scrounging around for wins. It does concern me though that the Athletics can have 21 hits one night and then 2 the next. They need more consistent hitting but when have they ever not been in need of that? The pitching has been their saving grace thus far in the season. Usually they have a shaky first half of the season and are lucky when they reach the .500 mark at the All Star break. Then they kick it in to hyper drive and do things no one thought possible. This year things are different. They have a great opening to the season and I predict that after the All Star break things will slow down. That is my theory. A year in reverse.
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