#14 The Great Escape

Last week, we went back to an incredible A's win on July 22, 2012, and this week, we're staying in the 2012 season for the #14 greatest win in our "25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins" weekly countdown to opening day. 

The date was September 11, 2012, and the A’s were coming off an impressive 5 game win streak, including a 3-1 victory the night before against the division rival, Angels. The great pitching of the rookie, Jarrod Parker was the catalyst for that victory and the A’s were locked in pole position in the wildcard race. In the division race, the A’s were 3 games behind the Texas Rangers, the dreams of a possible division title were starting to be formed in the minds of A’s fans everywhere.

A lot had happened since that July 22nd game we featured in our last post.  Oddly, the A’s had stood pat during the trade deadline after a deal for Marlins star shortstop, Hanley Ramirez, had fallen through. The A’s had made the move for Brewers catcher, George Kottaras who was a left-handed hitter and filled Billy Beane's desire for a platoon at catcher. It was apparent that with three catchers, someone had to be on the move. It seemed obvious it was going to be Kurt Suzuki who appeared to be too much of a liability at the plate, and in light of rookie Derek Norris pushing for more at bats, the writing was on the wall.

The inevitable became a reality on August 3rd, in a waiver trade. The A’s sent Suzuki, who was at that time the longest tenured Oakland A, to the Washington Nationals who were in their own pennant race in the National League East. With a new system at the catching position, the A’s seemed to have a glaring hole at shortstop and the A’s fans were wondering when a move was going to be made. Cliff Pennington appeared to be too underwhelming at the plate to be an everyday player at shortstop. The A’s would make a move for the Diamondbacks shortstop, Stephen Drew later on in August.  The A’s finally felt they had all the pieces.

There were also a few drawbacks, on August 22nd, the A’s were informed that their veteran starting pitcher, Bartolo Colon had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. He would be suspended for 50 games and would be out for the rest of the season! It was a huge blow to the A’s, and there’s no way of disguising it. Bartolo had really pitched well in July and August and didn’t seem to be wearing down. The other big blow came on September 6, in a rough series where the A’s were swept at home by the Angels, their other veteran starting pitcher, Brandon McCarthy took a line drive, comebacker right in the head and suffered an epidural hemorrhage which could’ve possibly ended his life. Two veterans that the A’s really counted on to lead their rotation were now on the shelf for the remainder of the season.

On top of that, the A’s third baseman, Brandon Inge had messed up his shoulder and had to be shutdown. Inge had been one of the symbols of the season. He was seen doing the famed “bernie” dance after big hits and his first week in Oakland was one that not many A’s fans will forget. He punched his ticket into A’s folklore with a walk off grand slam against the Blue Jays in early May. See that HERE. Without Inge, the A’s fans were wondering what on earth they were gonna do at third base, since Josh Donaldson couldn’t possibly be the answer, could he?

Thinking back to the 2012 season, I can remember just having the feeling of no expectations. It can’t be stressed enough how the A’s were expected to tank the season and lose 100 games. With no expectations, any positive moments were cherished like never before, and every win felt like a huge win. Fans I knew from around the league were perplexed by how I was so happy about winning a single baseball game, but they just didn’t understand the dynamics of the 2012 Oakland A’s. And as the wins continued to pile on, I started to think to myself, “When will the magic run out? When will the ‘real’ A’s start to shine through?” and I thought that maybe Colon’s suspension, and McCarthy’s injury would have been the events that would tip the scales toward what the experts might have forecast.

Time and time again, new heroes emerged. Guys named Brandon Hicks, Brandon Inge, Chris Carter, Travis Blackley, and Jonny Gomes, to go along with the usual suspects, were those types of guys. At one point late in the year, the 2012 A’s seemed like a team of terriers - gritty and never letting anything stand in their way.

Now for the game on September 11, 2012. Dan Straily was almost traded a few weeks earlier for Hanley Ramirez, but here he was, still in green and gold and at that time the most highly touted A’s pitching prospect. He would make his fourth career start which ironically, did not scare any A’s fans because we were simply used to rookies rising to the occasion, time and time again.

Straily would be countered by the Angels spot starter, the former Giant, Jerome Williams. The Angels were only starting Williams because they wanted to push back their ace, Jered Weaver another day.

The game started with Williams getting a one-two-three inning in the first. On the other side, Straily showed his pitching prowess by getting out of a first and third, with nobody out, jam. Straily would get Kendrys Morales and Howie Kendrick to strikeout to end the inning with no damage done. Remember this early game situation because it’s gonna sound eerily familiar at the end of the post.

The second inning started with a bang for the A’s! Yoenis Cespedes hit one of his trademark line drive home runs into the rock pile for a solo home run to give the A’s the early lead. The lead wouldn’t even last more than a half inning as the Angels tagged Straily with a two run, home run from Vernon Wells to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. The home run would be a bugaboo throughout Straily’s tenure with the A’s, and quite frankly, his once very promising career will now be known more for the tape measure home runs he seemed to give up.

Jerome Williams would then get a clean inning in the top of the third to secure a shutdown inning. Straily would pitch around Erick Aybar stealing second to pitch a clean inning of his own. It was still 2-1 Angels. 

The top of the fourth would spell the end of Jerome Williams’ night as he would watch a mistake pitch to Brandon Moss sail over the high right field scoreboard at Angels Stadium to make it 3-2 A’s. 

Then came the final daggers. Donaldson and Kottaras would single to make it runners on first and second with nobody out. Angels manager, Mike Scioscia had seen enough of his starter and came out to put in a lefty, long reliever, Nick Maronde.

Newly acquired, Stephen Drew was at the plate and he took the first pitch that Maronde threw to deep left field and it turned into a sacrifice fly - Donaldson charged home to make it 4-2 in favor of the A’s.

At this point, the roller coaster would settle down a bit as the bullpen of the Angels would hold the A’s in place for the next several innings. And Straily, who reached 60 pitches rather quickly in the contest, somehow pitched into the 7th inning with the score still 4-2 A’s. On the Angels side, Nick Maronde would do his job for the most part and a young man named Garrett Richards would come in for the Angels and provide quality relief. Now there’s a name the 2014 A’s are more than familiar with, as Richards had an incredible year for the Angels in 2014.

The bottom of the 7th saw Straily quickly retiring Chris Iannetta and Mike Trout but then the end of Straily’s night came when Torii Hunter hit a solo home run to cut the deficit to 4-3 A’s. Straily’s night ended with a line of: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO and a game score of 55. Replacing him would be the specialist, Pat Neshek who would face one batter and thanks to an error from Stephen Drew, he was unable to get the job done. Sean Doolittle would be summoned from the bullpen and he’d get the final out of the inning.

Angels reliever, Jordan Walden would be brought into the game in the top of the 8th and he’d strikeout the side to keep the A’s at bay. Aside from an error from Josh Donaldson on the first batter of the bottom of the 8th, Sean Doolittle held strong and didn't allow the Angels to turn it into any runs.

It was now time for the 9th inning. It was still a one run game and the A’s needed some breathing room especially with the prospect of Mike Trout, Torii Hunter, and Albert Pujols coming up in the bottom half of the inning. The Angels would bring in Kevin Jepsen to pitch the top of the 9th, and he get two quick outs. Then came a 2-out single from Cliff Pennington to extend the inning. No one would be able to believe what they were seeing in the next at bat, in Coco Crisp up at the plate.  Coco would hit a Jepsen pitch down the right field line and it would land in the outfield for a fair ball. It was certain to be extra bases and it had the possibility of scoring Pennington. Then an unthinkable thing happened, the sure-hands of Torii Hunter would fail the Angels as the ball took a funny bounce off the wall next to the foul pole at Angels Stadium and it would get by Hunter which would allow Pennington to score and Crisp just kept on running. Coco was halfway to third, could he get all the way around to score? Once the throw was on its way from Hunter, it was clear that Crisp was definitely gonna score! 

Somehow, now it was 6-3 A’s. A triple and an E-9 would be the scoring. And that would send the Angels fans to the parking lot.

A 6-3 lead with Grant Balfour coming in seemed like almost a done deal even with the players due up for the Angels. Surely we were about to punch the Angels in the gut again with no other trouble coming our way, right? Well, that’s not really how it went. Collin Cowgill would come into play left as a defensive replacement. The first batter that Balfour would face was Chris Iannetta and Balfour would struggle with three close pitches that the umpire ruled in favor of the Angels.  As a result, Iannetta forced the leadoff walk. At this moment, A’s fans were thinking that everything was okay, Balfour was barely missing these pitches and you can afford one baserunner with a three run lead.

Next up came Mike Trout. With the year rookie Trout had been having, it was enough to send a chilling feeling down the spine of A’s fans. Balfour would miss on the exact same pitch he missed to Iannetta the batter before, and in an 8 pitch battle, Balfour would again walk the batter to make it runners on first and second, and no one out, with the tying run coming to the plate in the form of Torii Hunter. Balfour wasn’t missing horribly, but the worry that he’d start to lose his edge mentally was definitely real. Matters would only get worse, Hunter would take one pitch before lining a fastball up the middle into the outfield. Iannetta raced around third and scored easily against the arm of Coco Crisp, and Trout easily scooted onto third. It was now a 6-4 game, with nobody out and Albert Pujols coming to the plate. 

The alarm bells were sounding, and Bob Melvin called to the bullpen to get Evan Scribner and Jerry Blevins to warmup. The former MVP, Albert Pujols was up and he was 0-8 in the series, Balfour got Pujols to a 1-2 count, and then started to miss woefully. The Angels then put on the hit and run, and Pujols delivered with a liner into left field. Hunter roared all the way to third while Trout walked home. It was now a one run ballgame, and Melvin walked out of the dugout to take the ball out of Balfour’s hands. In typical Balfour fashion, Balfour berated the home plate umpire as he left the game, no doubt it was over the close pitches in the Trout and Iannetta at bats. Balfour then proceeded to slam his glove in disgust. How did this all go wrong? In one half inning, the A’s seemed a lot like the 2011 A’s. Not many A’s fans were thinking that the A’s could possibly get out of this inning with a victory, and suddenly the idea of just forcing extra innings would feel like a massive relief.

Jerry Blevins would be the man coming into the game, Blevins had been quite reliable over the past few months but to expect him to get out of this situation with no damage done was definitely unrealistic. The situation was simple, it was a 6-5 game, nobody out, the tying run on third and the winning run at first. To make matters worse, Scioscia had pinch run for Pujols with the speedy Peter Bourjos. The good news was that Kendrys Morales was coming to the plate and with Blevins in the game, he was forced to hit from the right side which is his weaker side. Morales was also prone to strikeouts which could possibly play into the hands of the crafty Blevins.

And as if the statistics were speaking to the A’s, Blevins only needed four pitches to strikeout Morales. Morales swung through the last two pitches, the first being a 93 mph fastball down the middle and the second being a trademark Blevins' changeup down and away to make Morales look foolish. The A’s fans were thinking that they were possibly being given a life line, all they needed now was a ground ball and the game could end just like that. Coming to the plate would be Howie Kendrick, a man who has killed the A’s so much over the years. If this situation sounds familiar, remember that in the 1st inning, Kendrick came to bat with runners on first and third and nobody out. The 1st inning ended with Morales and Kendrick failing in the clutch. Kendrick couldn’t possibly fail again, could he? The A’s were set up at double play depth, with Drew and Pennington playing close to second base and the corners pinched in. Before the first pitch of the at bat, Blevins threw over to first to check Bourjos and he nearly threw the ball over the head of Brandon Moss, an almost catastrophic event that did nothing to save the blood pressure of Oakland A’s fans. Three pitches in, Blevins threw a first pitch ball, and then Kendrick fouled two Jerry pitches back to the screen. It was now 1-2 and the tension was now at a height never seen before. The next pitch was on the inside corner of the plate. Kendrick took a swing to put the ball in play. It was lined to third - Donaldson took one sidestep to his right, once he fielded the ball, and it was as if the seas had parted, as everyone watching the game could see the play forming. Donaldson threw it to Pennington at second, there’s the first out, Pennington tossed a strike to Moss at first, and just like that, THE BALLGAME WAS OVER! The A’s had won the game and the classic known as “The Great Escape” was complete.

Blevins slapped Kottaras’s hands with authority, he couldn’t believe what he had hatched and neither could any of us fans! A first and third with nobody out situation with the game on the line and we got out of it scott-free, are you kidding me?!

Here’s A’s radio play-by play man, Ken Korach’s call of the last play of the game, “Well, you get out of this, if you’re the A’s this—(with Ray Fosse laughing in the background) this might really well be your story book season… And the 1-2 pitch here it is, and it’s bounced to third, Donaldson’s got it! Throws to second! Relay on, Pennington! DOUBLE PLAY AND THEY’VE WON IT! A 5-4-3 double play! What an amazing bottom of the 9th inning. The Angels had scored two runs, they had the tying run at third base. They had first and third, and nobody out. And Jerry Blevins strikes out Kendrys Morales and he gets Kendrick on a 5-4-3 double play, the A’s were hanging on by a thread and somehow they win it and they’re 21 games over .500.”

Tremendous call from the great, Ken Korach. The win was a huge momentum shifter in the A’s hopes of wrecking the Angels’ manifest destiny. With the win, the A's were now 4.5 games ahead of the Angels with 21 games to play. 

See the highlights of the game HERE. We’ll come back to the 2012 season again, shortly. 

Stay tuned! Win #13 is up next week!

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com

#15 The Turning Point

After several weeks reviewing Oakland A's wins from the 1970's and 1980's, we now return to the 21st Century, and July 22, 2012, for Win #15 in our "25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins" weekly countdown.  

July 22nd was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Oakland, and the A’s had won the first three games of a four game series against the New York Yankees. Before this series, the Yankees had dominated the A’s for the last 5 years. But on this warm July afternoon, the A’s were looking to ride the ageless wonder that is Bartolo Colon to a four game sweep of the New York Yankees.  Fans packed their brooms to experience a possible feat that had not been accomplished by the A’s since 1972 in the Bronx.

Going into July 22nd, the A’s were 50-44 and were 6.5 games out from the first place, Texas Rangers. Sitting behind the Angels and Rangers in third place, the A’s had already surpassed the low expectations many had of them going into the year. Pundits had predicted that the A’s were going to lose 100 games.  A’s fans were enjoying a season that already had many memorable moments, but began to wonder whether the team had what it takes to climb the ladder and shock the baseball world.  A's fans simply asked, "Could this 55-44 team make the playoffs?" 

For a little background on the roster, Manny Ramirez had been signed by the A’s in the offseason for his 20th major league season as a possible DH. The only problem was that Ramirez had to serve a 50 game suspension for a previously failed drug test. Ramirez rehabbed with the River Cats and it was clear that his power was gone and his days as a major league player were over. Ramirez was released on June 15. And it was on June 6th that A’s called up a journeyman, quad-A player who was thinking about playing in Japan.  That player was Brandon Moss. Moss’s promotion forced the A’s to DFA Kila Ka’aihue on the day his baby was born. That was quickly forgotten, as Moss slugged 5 home runs in 4 games when he had only hit 5 home runs in the past 4 years. And for those wondering, Brandon Inge was the every day third baseman, and after a terrible start to the year, Josh Donaldson was back in AAA-Sacramento. A Cuban defect by the name of Yoenis Cespedes started to find his mark in his first season playing in the states. Cespedes was hitting over .300 heading into this game and had electrified the Yankees with two bombs during this series.

Pitching-wise, Ryan Cook was the only A’s All-Star after a brilliant start to the year as the A’s set-up man and closer. Grant Balfour had been demoted from his closer role at the beginning of the year, but since then, he had started to find his groove and was on the verge of re-taking his role after Ryan Cook started to struggle as closer. A first baseman who was recently turned relief pitcher named Sean Doolittle had also been called up and earned his first save the night before on July 21st. The starting pitching was being anchored by Jarrod Parker, Brandon McCarthy, AJ Griffin, Tommy Milone, and Bartolo Colon. Three out of those five were rookies. Bob Melvin seemed to be building a winner in Oakland, and no one could figure out how.

Now back to the game. The New York Yankees were in the final year of their window of bringing another World Series title to the Bronx. They had the best record in baseball at this point in the year, and they had their stopper, CC Sabathia on the mound for them this day. Their top of the lineup read: Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, and Alex Rodriguez. Formidable, but getting older. Derek Jeter was given the day off so Jayson Nix was starting at shortstop. With A-Rod at DH, former Oakland A, Eric Chavez was at third for the Yankees.

Bartolo Colon was on the mound for the A’s. He was the 5th starter and gave the A’s a veteran, strike-thrower to round out their rotation. After the three A’s rookies, Parker, Milone, and Griffin had dominated the Yankees in the 3 previous games, only allowing a combined 6 runs and only surrendering one walk, Bartolo had quite an act to follow. Colon started off well. He got the first three Yankee batters to hit the ball hard but right at the A’s fielders for a one-two-three inning and as part of the Bartolo-isms, Bartolo pulled up his belt while walking to the dugout.

CC Sabathia would only surrender a two-out, Josh Reddick double before retiring the side for a quick inning in the first. Colon would then only allow a Raul Ibanez single in the top of the second, which was then followed up by a quick one-two-three inning from Sabathia in the bottom half.

The scoring would open in the top of the third, as A’s fans saw the unlucky side of Bartolo Colon and the Yankees hit four straight BABIP (lucky) singles to make it 1-0. Then Alex Rodriguez would hit a double into the gap. At that point, Rodriguez was hitting .458 vs Colon in his career. That made it 3-0, as the Yankees third base coach would hold the trailing runner, Teixeira at third. Colon didn't allow any more in the inning but the damage was already done.

In the bottom of the third, Sabathia would retire the A’s in order to complete the shutdown inning, with the last out coming from Jemile Weeks who continued his letdown season. He was batting .219 at that point, and once again he produced a familiar fly ball out. Disappointing is an understatement, especially after Weeks' 2011 rookie season where he hit over .300.

To make matters worse, after retiring the first two batters rather quickly, Bartolo Colon gave up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson on an 0-2 count to make it 4-0. The wind in the stadium felt a little taken out and it was clear the A’s were gonna have to start figuring out Sabathia to have any chance of coming back.  All the local bay-area Yankee fans started to say, “Who can? The Grandyman can” in an annoying fashion. Though I’m sure the Yankees radio play-by-play man who coined that catchphrase, John Sterling, would’ve been proud.

The A’s would do nothing in the bottom of the fourth, even with a leadoff single from Jonny Gomes. As Chris Carter would fly out to end the inning, the A’s win probability was down to 9%. Colon would get a one-two-three inning in the 5th, against the middle of the Yankees order.

Then came the bottom of the fifth, and leading off the inning was Brandon Inge. Sabathia would try to get a “get me over strike” on 2-0, and Inge crushed the pitch into the left field staircase at the Coliseum to make the game 4-1 and inject some life into the A’s. Inge would do the “bernie” on the top step of the dugout. The next two batters would do nothing against Sabathia, but then came Kurt Suzuki. Kurt Suzuki had not hit a home run since September 15, 2011 and with the rookie Derek Norris getting more at bats (especially after his walk-off homer against the Giants) it didn’t look good for Kurt Suzuki longterm in Oakland. Many were saying that Norris should get a look against Sabathia, but Suzuki had 3 career home runs against Sabathia so he got the nod. And just like the statistics had indicated, it was the right decision.  Kurt Suzuki pummeled a Sabathia change up into the second row of the left field bleachers for another solo home run. 

Suzuki then got the usual silent treatment from his teammates as he got the home run monkey off his back.  It was now 4-2 and the A’s were right back in it. Jayson Nix then let a weak Jemile Weeks chopper get under his glove for an E6. The A's weren't' able to bring Weeks' around, and Sabathia got out of the inning but had to throw more pitches which was equally important.

Colon had found his groove and would retire the Yankees in order in the top of the sixth. The A’s would a scratch a run off Sabathia thanks to a hit from Chris Carter that moved Yoenis Cespedes to third after he reached on a fielder’s choice, and then a slowly hit ground ball to the shortstop which looked like a tailor made double play was slightly botched after Jayson Nix hesitated for a split second which allowed Brandon Inge to beat out the relay. Cespedes scored on the fielder’s choice and all of the sudden, it was now 4-3.

Bartolo Colon would then get the first two batters in the seventh, before giving up a single to Mark Teixeira which was enough to chase Colon out of the game. He had only thrown 84 pitches but Melvin wanted the lefty, Jordan Norberto to pitch to the power-hitting lefty, Robinson Cano. The strategy would end up being unsuccessful due to a weak single from Cano. He’d then have to face Alex Rodriguez who feasts on left-handed pitching but luckily for Norberto, the luck evened out as Rodriguez lined a Norberto pitch but it happened to be right at the A’s left fielder, Seth Smith to end the inning with no damage.

Sabathia would pitch a clean seventh inning to negate a Seth Smith leadoff single. Throwing 98 pitches, this would definitely be the end of Sabathia’s outing. Sabathia’s line read: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 6 SOs. Norberto would stay in for the A’s and he’d do his job by forcing a one-two-three inning.

The former University of Alabama man, David Robertson would come in for the Yankees. Now the de facto set-up man, Robertson had moved up in the bullpen because of Mariano Rivera’s injury shagging balls in batting practice earlier in the year. Yankees manager Joe Girardi would bring Derek Jeter in the game at shortstop, which is interesting considering Jeter’s lack of defensive ability. Bob Melvin would pinch hit with Coco Crisp to leadoff the inning, and Crisp laced a Robertson pitch into the outfield for a single. Crisp would then steal second base right away and with Reddick up, it was now a man on second and no one out with a one run deficit for the A’s. Robertson would then make Reddick and Cespedes look silly by striking them both out. He’d then get Chris Carter to groundout to get the Yankees out of the inning. It was now Norberto’s job to keep the Yankees from scoring in the top of the ninth. With Rafael Soriano due to come in during the bottom of the ninth, having only blown one save all season, it was imperative that Norberto held steady. And that he did, getting Mark Teixeira to strikeout swinging.

It was now the bottom of the ninth, Rafael Soriano looked to salvage one game of the series for the Yankees and avoid the sweep. Brandon Inge would leadoff and pop out to Derek Jeter for the first out. Then came Seth Smith with his Christian music walk-up. On a 3-1 count, Soriano threw Smith a hanging breaking ball that he crushed to straight away center. It was a no doubter right off the bat even with it going to center, and it went right over the 400 foot mark!  The A’s had come all the way back to tie the game 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Soriano would respond by striking out the pinch hitting Brandon Moss and Jemile Weeks to end the inning and send the game to free baseball.

Grant Balfour would pitch the tenth for the A’s, and he’d strand Robinson Cano at second by striking out Derek Jeter.  Afterwards Jeter turned to the umpire as if to say, “How dare you strike me out?” Balfour was painting his fastball wherever he wanted and he was throwing his breaking ball consistently, which were signs that he was at the height of his self-confidence. David Phelps would pitch the tenth for the Yankees, and he’d get Crisp, Reddick, and Cespedes to go down one-two-three. Jerry Blevins would pitch the eleventh, and he’d get Andruw Jones and Curtis Granderson to strikeout to end the inning with a one-two-three of his own. Phelps would stay in the game and he’d get strikeouts of Carter and Inge right away before Joe Girardi came in to replace him with the lefty, Clay Rapada. It was clear that Girardi was more than afraid of Seth Smith, and Rapada would get Smith to groundout.

In the twelfth inning, Blevins would stay in the game to face the dangerous part of the Yankees order.  After a terrible drop by Josh Reddick, Blevins would show tremendous poise and end the inning with no damage done. Leading off the bottom of the 12th, Eric Sogard would strikeout. Girardi would come out to replace Rapada with Cody Eppley, a righty to face Derek Norris. Going into this at bat, Norris had gone 0 for 30, and the sidearm throwing Eppley would surrender a line drive to Norris that ate up Derek Jeter and ricocheted into left field with Norris taking first. The play was ruled a hit and not an error. With one out in the inning, Jemile Weeks laid down a sacrifice bunt on the first pitch and he nearly beat it out as Cano got over to cover first just in time. With two outs, and the winning run on second, Coco Crisp came up. Coco didn’t waste any time, first pitch, he hit a liner over the head of Robinson Cano into right field. Norris rounded third, Andruw Jones had trouble fielding the ball and that was the ballgame!

The A’s had swept the Yankees in a four game series, and with that walk-off single, it was already the 11th walk-off hit of the 2012 season for the A’s.  The tremendous effort from the A’s bullpen is the unsung hero of this game, and this game makes this list because of what the 2012 year meant to the A’s organization. This was one of those moments that defined the season. The A’s would finish the month of July with an incredible 19-5, and spring boarded the A’s to a magical season that we’ll talk about more in a little later.

If you’d like to see Coco’s walk-off single, click HERE. If you’d like to see full game highlights, click HERE. 

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, next up is win #14. Stay tuned.

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com

#16 Who Needs Strikeouts?

You may have been wondering, how did we craft the rankings for the top 25 Oakland A's wins of all time?

Good question!  We’ve done so using a 6 point system.  The 6 point system includes three categories: (1) stakes of the game, (2) memorable moments, and (3) quality of the game.  For each game, we have awarded 0-2 points to each of these three categories. For example, one game that didn’t make the top 25 list was Dallas Braden’s perfect game from 2010. On our scoring system, it received all 2 points for memorable moments, but it didn’t receive any points for stakes because it was an early game in April, and it didn’t receive any points for the quality of the game because it was a 4-0 win with really no dramatic moments. So, it only received 2 points out of 6.

Up to this point, all the games that have made this list received  a 4 out of 6 rating, and this week's #16 win is the last game that received a 4 of 6 mark. It’s okay to disagree with our categories and rankings, in fact, we know that our list of the top 25 wins will only ignite more debates, rather than end them. If you disagree with these rankings, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are! Don't be shy, we don't pretend to be perfect! 

We now return to the weekly countdown with Win #16 of our 25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins, and go back to October 11, 1973 for the deciding Game 5 of the 1973 American League Championship Series. The A’s were one win away from reaching the World Series and taking the American League Pennant for the second consecutive season. It was another hard fought series, after the first two games featured convincing wins from both teams, the next two games were a split of one run games. It all came down to this one game.

Catfish Hunter was on the mound for the A’s in this deciding game. If you've been keeping up, you recall that the #25 win was Catfish Hunter’s Perfect Game from 1968. Now five years later, Catfish had many big game performances under his belt and no A’s  fan in attendance at the Coliseum that day would've wanted anyone else on that mound!  In 1973 however, Catfish had given up a league worst 39 home runs and had a career low (judging seasons where he played the whole year) in strikeouts. He was still an All-Star and finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting that year after posting a 21-5 record with a 3.34 ERA.

The Orioles would toss out their 22 year old from the bullpen - Doyle Alexander, a tall and skinny right-hander, who was drafted and groomed by the Dodgers. Alexander would be starting his first postseason game and the stakes were through the roof.

The game would start with Catfish Hunter walking the first batter and then allowing that base runner (Al Bumbry) to steal second base. Bumbry would go no further, as Catfish recorded three contact outs to end the inning. The A’s would do much of the same in the bottom of the first, and both pitchers were humming along in the second.

In the bottom of the third, Ray Fosse would start the inning by reaching on a rare error by the Hall of Fame third baseman, Brooks Robinson. Dick Green would then lay down a bunt successfully that would move Ray Fosse to second. Campaneris would hit a pop fly for the second out, but then Joe Rudi would provide the big hit with a single to left. Fosse would score easily but Rudi would get too greedy and would be thrown out at second after the throw home was cutoff. It was now 1-0 A’s and the fans in Oakland were anticipating another celebration from Dick Williams’ men.

Catfish Hunter would take advantage of the vast Coliseum foul territory by getting two Orioles batters to foul out and negating a 2-out walk. Catfish was getting relatively quick outs, he wasn’t blowing away hitters but the low stress innings made it so Catfish was in a groove which is definitely an underrated part of pitching.

The bottom of the fourth presented more problems for Alexander, and it would come from unlikely heroes. After his contract was purchased from the Pirates in July, the 36 year old, Venezuelan, Vic Davalillo received 67 plate appearances for the A’s in 1973. He was thrust into more extended action due to the ankle injury of the regular A’s centerfielder, Billy North. A two-out Gene Tenace single set up the scene, and Davalillo would shock the world by lacing a ball to right field, Davalillo showed that he still could run a bit and he ended up all the way at third for an RBI triple. It was now 2-0 A’s, and Doyle Alexander appeared to have lost his way. Next up came Jesus Alou. Alou only had 111 plate appearances for the A’s during the season and here he was in a big situation for the A’s. Alou would also deliver with a single that allowed Davalillo to walk home and make it 3-0. This was the knockout blow to Alexander's afternoon.  Earl Weaver came out and brought in the Orioles ace, Jim Palmer. Palmer had been knocked out in the first inning the day before but perhaps he had come into the game a batter or two too late as he was just trying to stop the bleeding and give the Orioles a chance to come back.

Amazingly, Jim Palmer would only give up two hits in his relief outing and he wouldn’t allow the A’s to add onto their lead. This game must have been frustrating for the Orioles! It wasn’t the usual suspects of Reggie Jackson, Bert Campaneris, or Sal Bando hurting the Orioles, it was the supporting cast role players like Davalillo and Alou. And the most frustrating part of it all, Catfish Hunter wasn’t blowing away hitters, he was pitching to contact and really frustrating Oriole hitters. In the top of the 5th inning with a 3-0 lead, Catfish Hunter struck out Bobby Grich to provide the second out of the inning. Why is this brought up? Because this would be the one and only strikeout of Catfish Hunter’s day, and that’s incredible!

In fact, Orioles pitchers would only provide two strikeouts in the game. As Doyle K’d Bert Campaneris in the first and Jim Palmer K’d Gene Tenace in the bottom of the 8th for his one and only strikeout. In total, there were only three strikeouts in the game, an incredible fact and one that would be just about unheard of in this current era of baseball.

From that point in the game, Catfish would not allow more than one baserunner per inning, he did give up three doubles but none of them played any factor in deciding the game. Catfish would even give up a hit in the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th innings but Catfish continued his masterfully crafted performance.

The 9th inning came, and Catfish was going the distance like an ace of the staff should, and all kept Catfish from executing a one-two-three inning was a Brooks Robinson double. Unfortunetly for the Oriles, the Robinson double only delayed the Oakland celebrations by 1 batter. Catfish Hunter got Bobby Grich to groundout to Bert Campaneris who fired it across to Gene Tenace and the A’s were going to the World Series again! The stakes were as high as they come, and the A’s once again had delivered in scrappy, Dick Williams fashion.

In total, Catfish Hunter tossed 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO for a game score of 76. Not his best game, but still the mark of a true ace is one that can still control the game even without his best stuff.

The unsung hero of this game and of the series has to be Vic Davalillo, in total, he went 5 for 8 in the ALCS batting .625. Not bad for an old, role player.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find any pictures or videos recapping this game, so if you have any, please share them with us. We will be detailing more from this series in the next few posts, stay tuned for Win #15 next week!

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com

'Tis the Season to Win an Autographed BOOG Baseball!

This holiday season, make ANY purchase from the fans at Section148, and you'll be automatically entered in our contest for a chance to win an autographed Boog Powell baseball!  The contest runs until midnight on December 31, 2014. We'll announce the winner and arrange for delivery on January 1, 2015. 

You may be asking yourself, who is Boog Powell? 

Herschel Mack "Boog" Powell @Boogpowell15 is a 21-year-old outfielder who was drafted by your Oakland Athletics in 2012. Listed at only 5'10" and 185 pounds, this 20th round draft pick has already been proving any doubters wrong in the minor leagues! He's just the kind of driven and talented 'underdog' that A's fans can really rally behind! 

Analysts say that Boog plays bigger than he is and has been drawing praise for his solid speed and center field skills.  In 2014, Boog was a Midwest League All-Star MVP and led the minors in on-base percentage!  Boog is a well regarded prospect for his plate discipline and contact skills.  

He recently showcased these skills at this year's Arizona Fall League.  He and other A's prospects shinned.  According to fan graphs, and using a metric called "SCOUT+", Boog Powell ranked 6th in all of AFL, next to other highly touted names like Matt Olsen and Greg Bird.  Boog's stock is clearly on the rise, and we look forward to seeing him take the field this year for the Stockton Ports!   

Where does one get such an awesome name? 

Boog's grandfather developed a real fondness for a baseball player named John Wesley "Boog" Powell. His namesake, the original Boog Powell was the 1970 American League MVP and played for the Baltimore Orioles.  Here's a bit of random A's trivia for you -- in 1968, John Welsey "Boog" Powell scored the first RBI in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.  And unfortunately for the A's, in 1971, Boog Powell helped Baltimore to a third straight World Series by hitting two home runs in the 1971 American League Championship Series against the green and gold! Ironically, now we've got Boog on our side! 

Make sure to check out Boog Powell, and other prospects, in 2015! And who knows, if you win this contest, maybe someday you'll get to proudly let everyone know that you've owned a prized piece of memorabilia long before your friends are cheering 'Boooooog' at the Oakland Coliseum!!! 

Good luck and happy holidays! 

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com

Small print that isn't so small: No purchase is necessary.  If you do not want to buy anything at this time, but wish to enter our contest, you may enter by U.S. Mail.  To enter, print your name, address, city, state, zip and daytime telephone on some paper and mail it to  us, in an envelope, to 90 Wild Oak Ct., Danville, CA 94506.  

#17: Flexing The Muscle

This week, we go back to October 27, 1989, and Game 3 of the 1989 World Series for win #17 in our "25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins" weekly countdown to opening day. After the tragic events of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the World Series took a 10-day break in the action. Tony La Russa actually took his team to Arizona to keep steady and according to La Russa’s book, a large crowd greeted them there. La Russa credited this fan reaction to helping keep the A’s focused.

The A’s dominated the Giants in the first two games in Oakland, the Giants had led 1-0 after the top of the first in Game 2 but that would be only time the Giants would lead in the series. Mike Moore and Dave Stewart dominated the Giants lineup, and because of the earthquake, they would get to return to the mound and pitch in Game 3 and 4. Dave Parker and Walt Weiss homered in Game 1, and Terry Steinbach would hit a jack of his own in Game 2.

For Game 3, the Giants starter Scott Garrelts was hoping to fare better than he had in Game 1 where he departed after the 4th inning. Dave Stewart, on the other hand, had thrown a complete game against the Giants in Game 1, so he was looking for more of the same and hoped to put the Giants in an insurmountable 3-0 series deficit.

Like the first two games, the A’s got off to a fast start. Garrelts would get Rickey Henderson to groundout but the guys behind Rickey would get the game rolling. The pesky contact hitting of Carney Lansford would start it with a single. Jose Canseco would follow with a single of his own, McGwire would groundout, but Lansford and Canseco would be able to move up a base because Tony La Russa had called a hit and run to keep out of the double play. Dave Henderson would strike first blood for Oakland in what would be a huge game for him. Henderson hit a ball off the top of the wall in right field over the head of Giants right fielder, Pat Sheridan and incredibly the ball stayed in play. Lansford and Canseco would walk home, and Henderson would end up on second waving his finger around thinking it was a home run, but he’d stay on second.

After a Terry Steinbach groundout, the top half of the inning was over, and the score was 2-0 A’s. The feeling in Candlestick was that the earthquake could turn things around for the Giants, but that feeling quickly evaporated in the top half of that inning. It was clear that the earthquake had not cooled down the A’s and it wasn’t the usual suspects of Canseco, Rickey Henderson, and McGwire, it was the whole lineup! The first inning wasn't just a statement, it was a killer to the Giants.

To add to the Giants sinking feeling, Stewart quickly defused the top of lineup threat of Brett Butler and Robby Thompson. He then made the Giants star Will Clark look silly to end the inning and put an exclamation point on the first inning. 

In the second, Garrelts would make quick work of the A’s bottom of the order to bring some order to the game. Then the Giants would show signs of life. After Dave Stewart struck out the NL MVP Kevin Mitchell and forced Oberkfell to fly out, the young rising star Matt Williams took Dave Stewart deep to cut the lead to 2-1 A’s. Beyond that one mistake, through two innings, Dave Stewart already had 4 strikeouts, and it was clear he had his usual swing and miss quality stuff. Scott Garrelts would benefit from one fortunate call and another fortunate bounce which negated a Rickey Henderson leadoff double. Henderson would even steal third in trademark fashion but Garrelts would force a rare strikeout of Carney Lansford. He’d then hold Henderson at third after a ball that appeared to hit Canseco’s foot but was considered in play by the umpires. La Russa went out to argue but it was to no avail. McGwire would then hit a screamer but luckily for Garrelts it hit him in right in the body and Garrelts threw it to Clark to end the threat.  The bottom of the third proved to be more of the same for Dave Stewart, as he completed a one-two-three inning and appeared to be cruising.

Then came the fourth inning. Leading off was the A’s bad boy centerfielder Dave Henderson. And on a 2-0 pitch, Henderson crushed a ball into the gap, everyone in the stadium waited for the swirling Candlestick wind to knock the ball down and keep it in the park, but it wouldn’t happen as the ball died over the fence for a solo home run. Hendu had gone hitless in the World Series going into this game but with his first two at bats, it’s clear he had found his form again. It was now 3-1 A’s, and Garrelts was really getting hit hard by the A’s lineup. He got a cheap groundout from Steinbach but then the nail in the coffin happened. The light hitting, utility man Tony Phillips came to the plate. Phillips wasted no time, on the first pitch he cracked one high into the night sky, and it was a no doubter off the bat, 4-1. The ball clanked off the stairs leading up to the outfield seats in Candlestick and Tony Phillips who had only hit 4 homers during the year had hit one of the biggest ones of his career.

That would be all for Scott Garrelts, his night would end after barely 3 innings and that was it as Giants manager Roger “Humm Baby” Craig came out to replace him with the long man, Kelly Downs. Downs would stop the bleeding but it was clear the Giants were gonna have to figure out Dave Stewart real soon.

And they started to do just that in the bottom half of the fourth, singles from Clark and Mitchell would get the inning going. Then Dave Stewart would walk Oberkfell on four pitches to load the bases with one out. Stewart caught Matt Williams looking to strike him out but the catcher Terry Kennedy would line a single to center, allowing Clark and Mitchell to score and now it was 4-3 A’s. Stewart escaped with no further damages thanks to a tremendous diving play by Mark McGwire. It was clear the Giants weren’t lying down. The Giants however, would not score another run until the ninth inning.

To start the top of the fifth, Kelly Downs struggled with Rickey Henderson’s low to the ground frame and walked him on six pitches. And as was the case every single time Rickey was on base, the man on the mound pressed and started to lose his command and on a 2-0 pitch to Carney Lansford, Henderson stole second base easily. And with that steal, Henderson broke Davey Lopes’ postseason record of 10 steals in the postseason. Downs continued to press as he walked Lansford on 5 pitches to put the Giants in a hole. The next batter was Jose Canseco and he hit a 3-run home run to left-center. Canseco received a trademark bash from Mark McGwire and then gave bashes to Lansford and Rickey Henderson. After which, Canseco took off his helmet and raised it to the crowd to complete the curtain call which received boos from the home crowd but received cheers from the Oakland contingent who now found some breathing room. 

McGwire would then be retired next up, but Dave Henderson would continue his big night by launching another ball into the night sky. This one was absolutely crushed and nearly reached the stands far behind the centerfield fence at Candlestick. It was now 8-3 A’s, and only 5 minutes earlier it was 4-3 A’s. Dave Henderson was now 3-3 with 2 HRs, one 2B, and 4 RBIs. As a result, Kelly Downs was pulled by Roger Craig in favor of Jeff Brantley. Brantley would walk Steinbach and then would awkwardly balk to send Steinbach to second, but he’d find a way to get the Giants out of it with no more trouble.

Dave Stewart would retire the bench player Candy Maldonado, then Brett Butler, and Robby Thompson on all of 5 pitches. The inning before had seemed like a turn for chaos, and yet that quickly Stewart had the game in the palm of his hand. 

Jeff Brantley retired Dave Stewart and Rickey Henderson to start the inning, but then Carney Lansford flashed some power as the ball soared over Kevin Mitchell’s head as well as the 365 foot sign in left field and now it was 9-3 A’s. It was starting to turn into a rout.

Stewart would make quick work of the Giants in the 6th and 7th giving up a single hit. Brantley held his own in the 7th, and made way for Atlee Hammaker in the 8th. And this is where it got really lopsided. Walt Weiss would get it started with an infield single, then Lance Blankenship would pinch hit for Dave Stewart and single to make it two on and nobody out. Rickey Henderson would then hit a deep fly ball that allowed Walt Weiss to tag up and advance to third. Carney Lansford would continue his big night by chopping the ball over the head of the third baseman, Ken Oberkfell which allowed Weiss to score, then the left fielder, Kevin Mitchell made a careless error as the ball went right under his glove which allowed Lance Blankenship to come all the way around to score and put Lansford at second. It was now 11-3 and the A’s had done it in a very loud way.  Canseco followed with an infield single that allowed Lansford to advance 90 more feet.  McGwire would hit a deflected ball up the middle that allowed Lansford to score as it was ruled a groundout. It was now 12-3 A’s. Dave Henderson would then take a pitch on the hand, and Tim McCarver the color commentator alleged that the pitch seemed to be intentional. The blow out would continue as Terry Steinbach deposited a pitch into left field for a single which would bring Canseco home and make the score a whopping 13-3 A’s.

The rout was on, and the muscle of the A’s was on display for the entire nation! I don’t think any Giants fan would’ve told you that this wasn’t the knockout punch. The usual set-up man, Rick Honeycutt would pitch the bottom of the 8th and as usual, Honeycutt was solid. Craig Lefferts would keep the A’s from adding on in the top of the 9th, and from there, Tony La Russa would bring in the “Houdini” known as Gene Nelson. This was more of just an exercise to get Nelson some work in, and unfortunately, Nelson would not pitch well. He’d walk Oberkfell, retire Williams, then Kirt Manwaring would double and then Bill Bathe would hit one out of the yard for a 3-run home run to give the Giants fans something to cheer about. Nelson would get Candy Maldonado to strikeout, now they were one out away from a 3-0 series lead. Donnell Nixon would keep the game alive with a single and as a result, Tony La Russa brought in Todd Burns to get the last out of the game. Greg Litton would double to left, bringing Nixon into score to make it 13-7 A’s. Burns would then walk Will Clark and then get Kevin Mitchell to fly out to end the game.

This game was a tremendous display from one of the greatest teams of all time! Up and down the lineup, the A’s dominated Giants pitching. The A’s had tied a World Series record for most home runs by a single team in one game (5). The two teams had even set a World Series record for most home runs in a single World Series game (7). Dave Stewart had quietly pitched a very good game, going 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO and reaching a game score of 62.

There are many links to this game - click for the FULL GAME. Click for a montage of the A's HOME RUNS of this World Series. And don’t worry, we’ll come back to other games in this series in the next few weeks... Stay Tuned!

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com

#18: Vida’s Instant Classic

We continue our "25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins" series with Win #18 and a return to October 8th, 1974. For those of you who are just joining us for the countdown to opening day, last week we featured Game 4 of the 1974 World Series. This week, we’ll be highlighting one of the other incredible wins of the great run in 1974. Let's go back to Game 3 of the 1974 American League Championship Series.

The A’s were 1-1 with the Baltimore Orioles in the best of 5 games series. Catfish Hunter had been knocked around in a 6-3 loss at home in Oakland to start out the series. Ken Holtzman would answer back for the A’s by throwing a complete game shutout against the O’s in a 5-0 win that saw Sal Bando and Ray Fosse go deep. The series would be heading to Baltimore for an ever important Game 3. On the mound for the Orioles would be their Hall of Fame ace, Jim Palmer and on the mound for the A’s would be Vida Blue.

Blue already had built a reputation as a solid left-handed pitcher. Baseball Historian Bill James has remarked that Vida Blue was the hardest throwing lefty and only Nolan Ryan threw harder in that era.  Blue had won the Cy Young and MVP (a la Clayton Kershaw) in 1971 after throwing 312 innings, striking out 301, and finishing with a 1.82 ERA. He was only 21 years old when he had that magical season but in 1972 he struggled mightily, even getting pulled from the rotation. He still ended up playing a major role out of the bullpen for the A’s in their 1972 World Series title run. Blue would bounce back in 1973 by carrying the load all year long and performing well despite the drop in strikeouts. The year 1974 was very similar to his 1973 season when you compare ERA (3.25 vs 3.28, respectively) but his record was 17-15 which suggests that his run support and bullpen didn’t exactly help him out. The ability was always there for the small lefty from Mansfield, Louisiana, but later on in his career, Vida Blue would struggle with the drug culture which would derail his surefire Hall of Fame ability.

Certainly, the numbers indicated that the 1974 A’s team was a lot better than their record. The 1974 A's ended the year with a run differential of +138 and their Pythagorean Record was 97-65 which was much more dominant than their actual record of 90-72. The heart and soul of the team was their leadoff hitter Bert Campaneris who, at the age of 32, was still producing at a tremendous rate. Campy's slashline was .290/.347/.366. He was one of the elite leadoff hitters of the 1970s and in a similar class as Joe Morgan and Davey Lopes. The A’s regular number 2 hitter was Bill North and he had a tremendous season on the base paths stealing 54 bases. With Campaneris and North at the top of the lineup, manager Alvin Dark had plenty of opportunities for steals, bunts, hit and runs. In the middle of the order, Reggie Jackson had another complete season finishing with an OPS of .905 to go along with 29 homers and 25 stolen bases. Adding to the offensive force of 1974, Gene Tenace, Sal Bando, and Joe Rudi hit a combined 70 home runs between the 3 of them.

The A’s and Orioles already had a long postseason history with one another, as the Orioles swept the A’s in the 1971 ALCS. The A’s would fireback in 1973, by beating them in the deciding 5th game to win the pennant. The two clubs seemed evenly matched in some areas, but with the Orioles relying more on solid starting pitching.

With Baltimore sharing a certain kinship of sorts in terms of a gritty city in the shadow of another more “glorious” city (for Oakland: San Francisco, Baltimore: Washington DC), it was fitting that these two teams had to square off so many times in the postseason. 

Game 3 of the ALCS would start at 2:07 pm on a Tuesday in Baltimore in front of an attendance of 32,000. Jim Palmer had faced Vida Blue twice before in the postseason. The first time was in 1973 and in that game Palmer pitched a complete game shutout and the Orioles knocked Vida Blue out of the game in the first inning before going on to win 6-0. Palmer and Blue would face each other again in another game the 1973 series, but the second time it would be Palmer who'd exit early as the A’s rocked him in the second inning and he was given the quick hook. Blue wasn't able to go too deep into the game and his bullpen let him down as the Orioles managed to come back and win. In some ways, this game was the rubber match of this series of heavyweight fights.

The game started as many would expect, both starters would retire the first 6 batters they faced, striking many out and producing weak contact in other cases. The top of the 3rd inning finally showed a small bit of offensive as Palmer hit the 19 year old Claudell Washington.  This was erased as the next batter, Ray Fosse jumped at a Palmer pitch and lined it at Orioles star third basemen Brooks Robinson who snagged it out of the air and threw it back to first to double off Washington and that quickly, it was two outs. Dick Green would get a rare hit but nothing would come of it as Campaneris weakly grounded out to end the inning.

In the 3rd, Vida Blue would face the bottom of the order, and once again, he’d face no trouble.  Vida would strikeout two of the three batters and get the other to fly out. If it wasn’t clear to the Orioles it sure was now, Vida Blue was bringing his A-game and the O's were going to have to really grind to get anything off him. Vida Blue would often run into trouble when his 100 mph fastball wasn’t finding the strike zone and would correspondingly be prone to walking batters. However, this was not one of those days.

The top of the 4th would be the most important inning of the game. After Bill North flew out to start the inning, Captain Sal Bando would do something more impactful then he could possibly imagine. With Palmer appearing on his A-game as well, any runs were definitely going to be decisive. In soccer, when a game is deadlocked at 0-0 and the captain of the team scores what appears to be a decisive goal it’s often called a “captain’s goal”. Well, if there’s ever such thing as a “Captain’s Jack,” I think Bando provided it as he took Palmer deep to stun the Baltimore crowd and put Oakland in front 1-0. Sal Bando was the only real captain in Oakland A’s history, though some indicate that Carney Lansford captained the team in the late 80s, and in many ways Lansford and Bando are quite similar.

Reggie Jackson would reach on an error, but Rudi and Tenace would weakly groundout and the A’s wouldn’t be able to add on. In the bottom of the fourth, Vida Blue continued to stroll along.  He’d start the inning with a strikeout followed by forcing a weak groundout.  With two outs, the Orioles number 3 hitter, Bobby Grich, would take the zero off the hit column as he singled up the middle. Blue obviously wasn’t fazed as he struck out Tommy Davis in the next at bat to end the inning and send another message to the Orioles.

19 year old Claudell Washington would not show any fear against Jim Palmer as he started out the top of the 5th with a single and reached base for the second time in the game. Dark would put the bunt sign on and Ray Fosse successfully executed the sacrifice as Washington advanced to second. Palmer would flash his poise by getting Dick Green to strikeout and forcing the pesky Campaneris to fly out and strand Washington at second.

Vida Blue would face a little trouble in the bottom of the 5th, though it wasn’t as a result of his doing. A rare Dick Green error would put Brooks Robinson on with one out but as usual, Blue would make the feat meaningless as he forced the next two Orioles batters to fly out and end the inning.

Jim Palmer had clearly settled down if he hadn’t done so already as he produced a one-two-three inning in the top of the 6th to keep the score at a 1-0 deficit for the Orioles. Vida Blue would match.  The Orioles even tried to bunt for a hit to start the inning but not even the bunt attempt could produce results.

Palmer would face the A’s 5-6-7 hitters in the top of the 7th.  He’d strikeout Joe Rudi to start the inning but then Palmer showed a moment of wildness and walked Gene Tenace. A’s Manager Alvin Dark then called over the infamous “designated runner” Herb Washington. Herb Washington was an NCAA Champion sprinter who was noticed by Charlie Finley. He hadn’t played baseball since high school and throughout his career, Washington played in 105 games without ever playing in the field or batting. He was there to do one thing, and one thing only: wreck havoc on the base paths as a pinch runner. Washington had stolen 29 bases while being caught 16 times during the season. In this game, Herb Washington would pinch run for Gene Tenace as Dark understood that the A’s wouldn’t have many, if any, other chances to add on to the slender 1-0 lead. The former Michigan State Spartan was clearly going to try to steal second, and Orioles catcher Andy Etchebarren would win the battle by throwing Herb Washington out while Claudell Washington (no relation to Herb) was at the plate. The caught steal would fizzle out any chance of a rally and Claudell Washington flew out to center to end the inning.

Jim Holt would come into play first and replace Herb Washington in the bottom of the 7th. Vida Blue would face the middle of the order of the Orioles. Bobby Grich would show once again that he was the only Orioles player able to square up Blue’s pitches and he hit a ball right on the screws but unfortunately for him, it was hit right at Dick Green who dealt with it for the first out. In the next at bat, Blue would force a pop out.  Then came young Don Baylor who singled for the Orioles' second hit of the day. The Orioles would then get aggressive by making Don Baylor steal, and like Herb Washington, Baylor would get gunned down by Ray Fosse to end the inning.

The 8th inning would see no base runners as Palmer and Blue showed no signs of tiring. In the 9th inning, Reggie Jackson would get a two out single off of Palmer but it would be followed by a Joe Rudi strikeout to end the top half.  

Vida Blue was three outs away from going the distance and putting the exclamation point on his marvelous performance and most importantly give the A’s their second win of the five games series. Blue would retire the first batter with a weak groundout to Dick Green. Then Blue would strikeout the pinch hitter, Enos Cabell for the second out. With one out away, Paul Blair would ground to Dick Green at second and unbelievably, Green made another error which kept the Orioles alive! Next up was Bobby Grich, but he would not be able to do anything with the base runner on as he grounded to Bert Campaneris at shortstop who stepped on second base to end the game. The A’s had won 1-0 and taken a 2-1 series lead which they’d never look back from.

The game itself is right up there with one of best pitched games in postseason history. Vida Blue’s line read as followed: 9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO and a Game Score of 90. 

Using the Game Score metric, this was Blue’s best game he ever pitched in the postseason, the next best was a score of 57. This was his 4th game where he received a Game Score over 90. To compare, Clayton Kershaw’s no-hitter from last season received a score of 102. On the other side, Jim Palmer’s line read: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO and a Game Score of 78. Just about any other game, Palmer would’ve done enough to have won the game, but not on this day. Last major factoid: the game lasted 1 hour and 57 minutes and since 1946 only 3 postseason games were shorter. Going forward, no postseason game after this would finish shorter than two hours. 

You don’t hear much about this game but honestly, we all should hear about it a lot more. It was a rare game with a lot of interesting angles and above all else it was an incredible battle with two titans on the mound! 

Stay tuned for #17!

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com