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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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
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