#24: The Loud Out On Yawkey

It’s rare to find a game that makes you feel several different emotions all in a matter of 10 seconds. We continue our "25 Greatest Oakland A's Wins" countdown with that kind of game, #24: The Loud Out On Yawkey. 

The date was August 7th, 2002. The A’s were in 3rd place in the AL West standings behind the first place Seattle Mariners and the second place Anaheim Angels. The A’s were 4 games back of the Mariners and had just come off 3 wins, including a resounding 9-1 win over the Red Sox the night before at the hallowed ground known as, Fenway Park. At 65-48, the A’s looked to be in a good position record-wise, but they could not afford to let up with the AL West being so competitive.

On the mound for the A’s on August 7, 2002, was the big rookie right-hander, Aaron Harang. At 6’7”, 260, Harang needed to prove that in addition to his imposing stature, his pitching repertoire was also something to be feared. This would be his first time pitching at Fenway Park in front of the Red Sox’s rowdy fans.

Opposing Harang would be the Red Sox’s 37-year-old, John Burkett. With the Red Sox struggling to keep pace with the first place Yankees, the Red Sox needed a win against a rival wildcard opponent in the A’s.

The game began smoothly for both pitchers. Burkett and Harang both faced little to no resistance through the first three innings. The top of the fourth was one that looked promising for the A’s, as they finally were able to get something going against the Red Sox starter. Jermaine Dye forced a two out walk and then took advantage of Fenway’s big outfield, as he advanced from first to third on a single by John Mabry. With runners on first and third and two outs, Terrence Long struck out looking to end the inning with two runners stranded - no damage accomplished.

The bottom of the fourth brought the game’s first run. The Red Sox's big money slugger, Manny Ramirez took Aaron Harang deep around Pesky Pole in RF leading off the inning to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Harang would go on to strand Cliff Floyd at second to end the inning to stop the bleeding heading into the 5th.

Burkett would force three groundouts against Scott Hatteberg, Mark Ellis, and Ramon Hernandez to give the Red Sox a shutdown inning in the top of the 5th as the A’s still could not string enough hits together against John Burkett.

Harang would pitch out of trouble in the bottom of the 5th as he forced Manny Ramirez to groundout with Trot Nixon at second and Nomar Garciaparra at first. This at bat would prove to be quite important as the match ups with Manny Ramirez would play a large factor in the outcome of the game.

The top of the 6th started out just like the last several innings had for the A’s as Miguel Tejada and David Justice were weakly put out, bringing up Eric Chavez. He would hit a ball deep at third to Shea Hillenbrand, who could not make the play and the ball bounced into left field. Hillenbrand was charged an error with Chavez standing at first and two out. Next up was Jermaine Dye, it has barely been 10 months since he broke his leg during game 4 of the ALDS and Dye continued to look like a shell of his former self. Burkett started the at bat with a 1-1 count, then Burkett grooved an 85 mph fastball a little bit out over the inside part of the plate and Dye crushed it. It was a no doubter off the bat!  The ball soared over the Green Monster and nearly hit the two Coke bottles on the scaffold. The score was now 2-1 A’s, with Hillenbrand’s error looking to be the major game changer. Burkett then retired John Mabry to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

The bottom of the 6th proved to be a big one for Aaron Harang, his pitch count dictated that the end of his start was near and the ever important “shutdown inning” was beckoning as well. Due up first was the recently traded Cliff Floyd. In Floyd’s at bat versus Aaron Harang, Harang induced more weak contact against him as Floyd grounded out to Miguel Tejada. Then came Red Sox catcher and captain, Jason Varitek.  Varitek and Harang had an impressive battle with neither yielding as the count went full at 3-2, then Harang put Varitek away looking after an 8 pitch at bat. That would be it for Aaron Harang, as Art Howe wanted to bring in the aging middle reliever, Jim Mecir. Harang’s line read: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 4 SOs, in an appealing performance by the rookie in a hostile environment.

Whenever Jim Mecir was brought in, A’s fans always seemed to have to grit their teeth, he was far from automatic. With two out and nobody on, maybe the A’s fans could rest easier with this one. Mecir would get into a battle with Shea Hillenbrand as the count went 3-2 and lasted 6 pitches, before Hillenbrand weakly grounded out to second to end the inning, giving Mecir the hold, and the A’s the shutdown inning.

Red Sox Manager Grady Little, decided to keep his starter, John Burkett in the game to start the 7th. Burkett made quick work of Terrence Long for the first out, he then walked the 9-hole hitter, Ramon Hernandez on 5 pitches. Burkett then struck out Mark Ellis in a 7 pitch at-bat for the second out. Then came the star of Moneyball, Scott Hatteberg who got a bloop single that landed in front of the Red Sox centerfielder Johnny Damon.  With Hernandez running on contact with two outs, he advanced to third leaving runners at the corners for A’s slugger, Miguel Tejada. Grady Little continued to let his starting pitcher pitch out of trouble but this time, the decision would end up costing Boston as Tejada lined a base hit to right field, Hernandez walked home from third, and Hatteberg sprinted from first to third, it was now 3-1 A’s. That was the last straw for Little, Burkett was finally taken out of the game for the longtime reliever and future A’s reliever, Alan Embree. He forced David Justice to rollover to second to end the inning.

It was time to stretch in Boston and Jim Mecir was told to come out for the bottom of the 7th, A’s fans were left to bite their finger nails for a bit longer in this tight contest. Luckily, Mecir made quick worth of the first two batters he faced and with two outs in the inning and a 3-1 lead, this game started to feel comfortable. The next batter dashed that comfort level real fast as former A's player, Johnny Damon hit a ball into the gap and with his great speed, he hustled all the way to third for a two out triple. Art Howe would make the move for the newly acquired Ricardo Rincon, one of the Moneyball stars, to face the lefty, Trot Nixon. In 2002, lefties were hitting .198 against Rincon and this at bat would validate those stats the fullest, as Trot Nixon struck out with a check swing that is a tell tale sign that Rincon fooled him with his slider and that ended the inning with Damon stranded at third.

The top of the 8th would be mostly uneventful for the A’s, Red Sox reliever Alan Embree struck out the side but gave up a Jermaine Dye single in between but no damage done. It was now time for the bottom of the 8th, another Moneyball star, the submarine throwing, Chad Bradford came in for the A’s facing the tough middle of the order of the Red Sox. First up was Nomar Garciaparra, Bradford made quick work of Nomar as he struck him out on four pitches. Next up came Manny Ramirez, and in typical Manny fashion, he singled while being down 0-2. With Art Howe sensing that this game was starting to unravel, he immediately brought in his closer, Billy Koch. He’d face Cliff Floyd with one out and one on base, everyone knew what you were gonna get from Koch, and that was hard throwing high 90s fastballs that occasionally hit 100 mph. Cliff Floyd had no answer, as Koch made him strikeout swinging on 4 pitches. Now there were two out, and the A’s win probability rose to 87%. Next up to bat, Jason Varitek, and Billy Koch showcased one of his common issues and that was his control. He walked Varitek on four pitches making it runners on first and second with two out. Rickey Henderson came into pinch run for the slow running, Varitek. Rickey was nearing the end of his career but was still playing as a role player. Next up came Shea Hillenbrand, and he was aggressive against Koch as he lined a base hit to left field and normally with Manny running, that wouldn’t score the run but then Eric Byrnes let the ball eat him up and Ramirez came into score, and Rickey Henderson rolled on over to third. It was now 3-2 A’s, with the tying run on third.  Now it was gut check time. Brian Daubach came up next, and swinging at the first pitch, he sharply grounded to the first baseman, Scott Hatteberg who stepped on the bag to end the inning. The bleeding had been stopped.

The A’s ended up loading the bases in the top of the 9th, but Eric Chavez flied out to end the inning, so no insurance runs were brought in. Koch was gonna have to get 3 more outs and complete the 5 out save. The first batter was Carlos Baerga who struck out swinging as he couldn’t catch up to Koch’s fastball. Just when you thought you could relax, Johnny Damon came up and worked the count and forced the walk. With the speedy Damon on first, the threat was definitely real. And with Trot Nixon coming up who owns right handed pitching, it was again time to start biting nails, Nixon got a pitch to hit with count at 1-1 and he lined it into centerfield for a single. It was now first and second with one out, tying run was on second, winning run for the Red Sox was on first. Nomar Garciaparra was up next, and his free swinging tendencies let him down, once again. Koch blew a fastball right by him for the strikeout, and now there were two outs.

Next up, Manny Ramirez. In an epic matchup of the power pitcher vs the power hitter with the game on the line, this is what baseball was all about. 

Manny had already hit one out of the park earlier in the game, would he do it again? With the count at 1-2, the whole stadium knew what was coming from Koch, it was just a matter of what Manny could do with it. Koch fired a 97mph fastball that was up and out over the plate, Ramirez got a hold of it, the crowd rose as one, it was heading into the Red Sox bullpen in right-centerfield, then came Terrence Long...

Out of nowhere, he came flying in, he reached over the short fence, and all in one motion he caught the ball, spun and kept his balance started celebrating… The A’s had won the game! I found two videos, the first is from the Red Sox broadcast HERE of that play and the second comes from ESPN’s Sportscenter highlights that includes Chris Berman’s call from Wednesday Night Baseball.

Billy Koch gave Terrence Long the biggest hug he could ever give anyone, he knew what he had done. Aaron Harang was the winning pitcher, John Burkett was saddled with the loss, and Billy Koch picked up his 28th save of the season. A tremendous victory in what was a tremendous game, and here’s where the victory becomes extra important. The A’s would go onto lose the series finale in Boston, but they took 2 out of 3 from Boston. Then they’d head to the Bronx to face the Yankees, and the A’s proved their mettle by taking two out of three from the first place Yankees on the road. The following Tuesday, the A’s beat the Toronto Blue Jays by as score of 5-4. What seemed like a harmless victory was the beginning of the famous 20 game win streak. And it’s my belief that the magic all started with Terrence Long’s incredible catch, which created, “The loud out on Yawkey.”

Next week, WIN #23. Stay tuned!

-- Wes

Get your Champion Gear at www.Section148.com