#5 Just Plain Crazy

There are great baseball moments, and then there is win number 20.

We now return to September 4, 2002 for #5 in our countdown of the 25 Greatest Wins in Oakland A’s History. Chances are, you know the story. The movie Moneyball popularized this particular game in great detail. Many people associate win number 20 with Jonah Hill sitting next to the walkway into the clubhouse or Brad Pitt making a u-turn on the highway as much as they picture Scott Hatteberg’s arm raised in celebration.

When I think of number 20, I try to associate the real moments rather than the Hollywoodized Moneyball moments. It is a bit difficult, it was a little while ago now but there are things I remember vividly as a kid watching the game after coming home from school. I remember how large the crowd was, I had never seen Mt. Davis filled like that for an A’s game so that was very special. And anytime ESPN comes in to broadcast at the Coliseum, that’s always something to remember. The rest of the game seems a bit fuzzy, but we’ll do our best.

The pitching matchup was Tim Hudson vs Paul Byrd. The established bulldog ace versus the veteran right-hander who was having a decent year. With Hudson facing the hapless Kansas City Royals, no one really expected the A’s to have much trouble in this game, but this is baseball and you can’t win them all, even though the 2002 A’s were in some ways changing this conventional thinking (only slightly). The A’s came into the game at 87-51 while the Royals came into the game at 55-83.

Art Howe put out his usual left-handed heavy lineup to combat Paul Byrd. Guys like John Mabry, and David Justice were in the lineup while guys like Scott Hatteberg and Eric Byrnes were left out of the lineup. Tony Pena didn’t make many changes from the previous game’s lineup. Neifi Perez was once again in the lineup, and after his amazing day of going 4-5 with two home runs, I’m sure he had a spring in his step.

The attendance read 55,528 as if it was a sold out Raiders game. And all the energy needed was just a little bit of an ignitor. And after Tim Hudson threw a perfect first inning, Ray Durham led off the game with a line drive down the line in right. It was certainly going to be an extra base hit, it was just a question if it would be a double or triple. And once the right fielder, Michael Tucker fell down, that question was answered, Durham glided into third standing up and the crowd erupted. John Mabry came up next and on a 1-2 count, he chased a fastball outside of the strike zone but miraculously, Mabry got the barrel on it and it landed into centerfield. Durham walked home and just like that, it was 1-0 A’s. 

To make matters worse for the Royals, Paul Byrd beaned Miguel Tejada on a breaking ball that got away from him and now it was runners on first and second with nobody out. It was clear that the A’s scouting report on Paul Byrd was to swing early on in the count and good things will happen. Eric Chavez took this scouting report and officially made the game a chaotic one. On the first pitch of the at bat, Chavez lined a fastball past the shortstop into left field, but that wasn’t all, Raul Ibanez misplayed the ball and it went under his glove and almost rolled all the way to the warning track. Tejada and Mabry scored easily, and Chavez ended up at third to make it a 3-0 A’s lead. The play was scored a single, RBI and an error on Ibanez.

With nobody out, the rally was definitely on and it continued when Jermaine Dye lined a ball deep to right, Michael Tucker might’ve had a play on the ball but either he took a bad route to the ball or it was just smoked past him. And Jermaine Dye decided to take the extra base and head to third, and he was able to slide in safely. Now 4-0 A’s and it didn’t look like it was gonna let up. David Justice was the next man up and he became the first out by striking out on three pitches, ah father time.

Matters would’ve gotten even worse for the Royals, if it wasn’t for a tremendous catch from their All-Star centerfielder, Carlos Beltran. The catch robbed Mark Ellis of extra bases but it couldn’t rob the A’s of their 5th run of the game from a sacrifice fly. The next man up was Terrence Long and T-Long showed tremendous hitting skills by going with an outside pitch and slicing down the left field line for a double. Then Ramon Hernandez would come up and hit a ball into the gap for a double and now it was a 6-0 A’s lead and they had officially batted around. It seemed like kid stuff for the A’s as Darrell May started warming up in the bullpen for the Royals. Finally, Ray Durham would fly out to deep left to end the inning. The tally for the inning read: 6 hits, 6 runs, and one error.

Tim Hudson would give up one hit in the second inning but once again he seemed in control. In the bottom of the second, the hot hitting John Mabry was up first in the inning. And Tony Pena had given Paul Byrd the hook and brought in the long reliever, Darrell May. And the magic would continue, Mabry hit a ball on the outside part of the plate high into the air, judging by the swing, you wouldn’t think the ball would go that far but then Michael Tucker stopped and watched it fall into the right field bleachers for a solo home run to make it 7-0 A’s. Shockingly, the A’s middle of the order didn’t do anything in the rest of the inning. 

Tim Hudson would end his third inning of work by striking out Carlos Beltran to throw another scoreless inning. And right when the telecast came back for the bottom of the third, David Justice lined a ball down the right field line and David Justice jogged into second for a double. Then Mark Ellis would bring him home by hitting into the 5.5 hole (with Tony Gwynn in the booth who mastered that play) to make it 8-0. And after Terrence Long drew a walk, Ramon Hernandez drilled another ball, this time to deep center, with Carlos Beltran chasing after it, I thought that he’d get to it but Beltran couldn’t get to it. Ellis would score and Terrence Long would head to third to make it a 9-0 A’s lead. Then Ray Durham would get an infield single that would load the bases, Mabry and Tejada weren’t able to get the job done. So it was Eric Chavez’s turn, and he’d lean over the plate and hit a ball that was in the dirt, and it went over the head of the second baseman and that allowed two runs to score to make it 11-0 A’s. With that hit, the A’s win probability ballooned to 100%. Incredibly, the game was far from over.

It started in the top of the fourth, with Tim Hudson on the mound with an 11-0 lead, it took real courage or even stupidity to bet against the A’s in this game. Then Hudson gave up a couple one out singles and then a Miguel Tejada error opened the door for the Royals. With the bases loaded, Dee Brown would hit a single that would score two. Only one was earned, then Neifi Perez hit a single to score another run and make it 11-3. And with two outs in the inning, Michael Tucker gave himself something to feel good about (after all those misplays in the outfield) by lining a double that would score two unearned runs and make it 11-5, just like that. With Carlos Beltran at the plate, there was a nervy moment in this at bat, but Tim Hudson buckled down and stopped the bleeding for now by striking Beltran out to end the inning.

For the next several innings, the score stayed the same as both Darrell May and Tim Hudson had handles on both lineups. It wasn’t until the 7th when Tim Hudson started to experience issues, with two outs Mike Sweeney and Raul Ibanez would hit back to back singles to chase Hudson out of the game. Art Howe decided to bring in the submarining, Chad Bradford to quell the small fire. And Bradford would do his job by forcing a ground ball that Miguel Tejada would field and flip to Mark Ellis to end the inning with 6 outs away from history.

The A’s wouldn’t do anything in the bottom of the 7th and Art Howe would leave Bradford in for the 8th. Bradford would start the inning with back to back walks to start the inning to signal that trouble was ahead. And the next at bat would see a bizarre play, Neifi Perez would hit a ball to the right side of the infield, and Mabry would field a ball that he should’ve let Ellis handle and Mabry would hesitate to rush to the bag and that allowed Perez to get an infield single to load the bases with no one out. Then an even more bizarre play occurred, the next batter Ordaz would hit a ball to the left side of the infield and with Chavez covering the bag, everyone in the stadium thought that Tejada would let the run score and get the out at third, but instead Tejada threw a wild throw home that took a one hop and Ramon Hernandez couldn’t field it. As a result, the Royals had scored a run without a single ball leaving the infield. It was now an 11-6 game. And with a lefty coming up, Ricardo Rincon was brought into the game to replace Bradford. And Rincon would do his job with the first batter, Tucker would work a 3-2 count and Rincon would get a high strike to strike him out and get the first out of the inning. Michael Tucker was furious and started raging at the umpire, and immediately Tony Pena had to come out and restrain him. Rincon would also get the second out of the inning but at the cost of giving up a run as Beltran would be credited with the sacrifice fly. With a right hander in Mike Sweeney coming up, Art Howe came out and brought in Jeff Tam to replace Rincon.

It was now an 11-7 game, and with the fuse of chaos out in the open, Jeff Tam would light it by giving up a 3-run home run to Mike Sweeney to make it an 11-10 ballgame. Ironically, at the beginning of the at bat, the ESPN play-by-play man, Dan Shulman stated that Jeff Tam hadn’t given up a single home run in the last 84 innings. And the commentator’s curse would strike again, Mike Sweeney hit a fly ball that didn’t appear to be going much of anywhere off the bat but then Eric Byrnes kept chasing after it and all of a sudden, it was into the BBQ terrace for a home run to shock the crowd.

Art Howe would have to put in Micah Bowie to end the inning and he would, and now it was time for the 9th inning. The A’s would not be able to get anything going in the 8th but with Billy Koch warming up, even with all the chaos of the game, there was still a good shot it would be all for nothing.

The top of the 9th would not go well for the A’s, Billy Koch would get behind in the count to Joe Randa and Randa would punish him lacing a single to center. Tony Pena would call for Brent Mayne to bunt and he’d get it down and that would allow the pinch runner, Pellow to get to second. One out in the inning. Billy Koch would show tremendous ruthless aggression in going right at Dee Brown and Koch would get the strikeout and ignite the crowd. One out away from history. As a result, Tony Pena would pinch hit with Luis Alicea for Neifi Perez. Right away, Koch would bring the count to 0-2 to bring the Coliseum crowd to their feet. Then Koch would make it 1-2 proceeding Alicea fouling one off. Then… Chaos began again. Alicea would slice a ball to left field and right away, it was clear that it was going to get down for a hit. With Pellow running on contact, Byrnes’ throw was not in time and now it was a tie ballgame. An 11-11 scoreline. The first time the A’s had given up an 11 run lead in 66 years, since the days of Connie Mack to be exact.

Another blown save for Koch, and now the air just emptied out of the building and the inning was still not over. And that was made evident when Koch airmailed an 0-2 pitch to the backstop in the next at bat. That allowed Alicea to get to second, and he represented the go ahead run. To add to the chaotic feeling of this game, Billy Koch then caught Alicea leaning at second and picked him off to end the inning. Dan Shulman’s reaction was classic, “What on earth is going on?”

How did we get to this point? To be so far ahead to a team like the Royals yet find yourself tied with them, this couldn’t be happening. Thoughts of victory were starting to fade away for the first time in a long time. It was time for the bottom of the 9th, and Jason Grimsley was staying in the game for the Royals. Could we walk off of Grimsley again? 

Jermaine Dye was leading off the inning, and after the first pitch, Dan Shulman announced that Scott Hatteberg had walked into the on deck circle in place of Eric Byrnes. Dye would work the count to 3-2 and he would hit a deep drive to right that would get a little reaction from the crowd but it would fall into the glove of Tucker for the first out.

Then came Scott Hatteberg. In this at bat, no one expected anything. It was the big boys like Chavez, Tejada, and even Justice who were being the heroes during the streak. Not guys like Hatteberg.

After a first pitch ball by Grimsley, the crowd fell faintly silent. Perhaps it was them feeling the pressure of possibly losing this game? Or just a random lull moment, but it was rather spooky. Then a fastball up over the plate from Grimsley came, and then… You know what happened. The crowd started to roar as the ball rose into the air, then it fell into section 147 and the Coliseum turned into absolute BEDLAM. Hatteberg rose his arm up in the air in celebration, and as he rounded first he let his arm swing wildly into the air. The A’s had won their 20th game in a row and set the American League record!!!!! And all the A’s players waiting at home plate for Hatteberg couldn’t stay on the ground longer than a split second, even Eric Byrnes jumped on the back of Billy Koch to pat Hatteberg on his helmet. All while this moment was occurring, A’s fans sitting in Mt. Davis  pulled the string on a banner that unveiled a giant “20” and this all represented a special moment for all of us.

Now for the calls from Dan Shulman and A’s radio play-by-play, Bill King.

Shulman: (Crack) “SWUNG ON! Fly ball! Deep right field, THEY’VE DONE IT AGAIIIINNNN!” (Then Shulman let’s the moment take over)

King: “Now the pitch, (crack) swung on, there’s a high drive, hit way back, right-centerfield, THAT ONE IS GONE! And it’s 20 consecutive victories for the Oakland Athletics on an unbelievable night, when they lost an 11-0 lead, AND NOW THEY WIN IT! Hatteberg is mobbed at home plate, the crowd comes back to… INSANE LIFE! (Pauses for a couple seconds) CRAZY! JUST PLAIN CRAZY! How do you explain it? In a 103 years of American League baseball, the Athletics have accomplished what no one has before, they have won 20 consecutive games.”

I don’t think I can say much more. There’s a lot of great links to celebrate this game with. There’s the full game replay. Part one is HERE. Part two is HERE. There’s also the game highlights HERE. There’s Bill King’s call HERE. Then there’s this video showing the dugout reaction from field level and footage from the A’s clubhouse after the game HERE. Then there’s this video taken by a fan from upper deck HERE.

Stay tuned, we're down to the top 4!

-- Wes

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