Oakland A's Opening Day/Night Fever Dream Blog

Diablo's Justin Goldman pulls an all-nighter to watch the A's "home" opener in Tokyo

3:00: Good morning, all. Coming to you live from the Goldman Dome in Walnut Creek, here’s my running diary of the 2008 Major League Baseball season opener, pitting our hometown Oakland A’s against the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox. I figured that, with this game airing live at 3:00 a.m. Pacific time, most of you A’s fans are too smart to actually stay up and watch this game. Well, not me. I’ll be recording my thoughts tonight (this morning?) in this running dairy. Is this a good idea? Well, my dog looked at me like I was crazy when I got out of bed a few minutes ago, but anyway, I’ve got the game fired up on the tube, an Irish Coffee in hand (is it still an Irish Coffee if you use American bourbon?) and I’m ready to go. As an A’s fan, I know I’m supposed to analyze things statistically, using “sabermetrics” (dumbest term ever, by the way.) I read Moneyball and everything, but I hate math, so instead I’ll just be using my patented, foolproof “snark-o-metrics.”

3:07: ESPN2 announcer Gary Thorne just said that the two games played in Japan are A’s home games “because the series will continue in Oakland” next week. I’d say it’s more because “Major League Baseball doesn’t give a rat’s *** about A’s fans, and wouldn’t even think of taking a precious Fenway home game away from the Red Sox.” Seriously, Japanese national hero Daisuke Matsuzaka is starting for the Red Sox in Tokyo, and it’s an A’s home game? 

Here’s the A’s starting lineup:

RF Travis Buck
2B Mark Ellis
1B Daric Barton
DH Jack Cust
LF Emil Brown
SS Bobby Crosby
3B Jack Hannahan
C Kurt Suzuki
CF Ryan Sweeney

No Eric Chavez who is, surprise, hurt. Crosby isn’t hurt yet, but the games are only just starting. Rich Harden doesn’t start until tomorrow, so he’ll spend at least one day off the DL this season

3:10: First pitch is a strike to Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia. Attaboy, Blanton. Second pitch is a base hit up the middle past a diving Crosby. Crosby looks like he’s got carpet burn from the turf—no word on how many games he’ll miss. Kevin Youkilis, famously dubbed the Greek God of Walks in Moneyball, chops out to Hannahan, who bobbles but makes the play to first. Chavez, for all his woes at the plate, would have turned two.

3:13: David Ortiz steps up to the plate. Red Sox fans call him “Big Papi.” He pops up on the first pitch. Manny Ramirez fouls out to right field. Good first inning from Blanton. As always, Blanton’s a strike-throwing machine.

3:18: Travis Buck grounds out to second on the first pitch. I was just about to say that I feel really good about him this year. He’s got a sweet swing. Up steps Ellis, probably the rebuilding A’s best chance at an All Star this season.

3:19: Right on cue, Ellis goes deep to leftfield. 1-0 A’s. This probably means Ellis will be traded before the A’s get back to the States.

3:20: Here’s Daric Barton. He hit .347 in a September call-up, and is an early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year. He’s just one of the young guys that A’s fans should be excited to watch this year.

3:22: Barton draws a walk. Billy Beane would be smiling, except he’s probably jet lagged and asleep. Here comes Cust, the main source of power for the A’s. I love Jack Cust. If he plays a full season, he’ll set the MLB record for strikeouts, but that’s ok. He looks like a lumberjack swinging an axe, and when he hits the ball, it goes REAL far.

3:24: 2-0 to Cust. Matsuzaka is a little wild. He’s rattled! Cust fouls off a fastball, swings and misses on an offspeed pitch. 2-2. Dice-K hits him. Runners on first and second.

3:26: With a 1-1 count to Emil Brown, Dice-K throws a wild pitch. Runners advance. Now we’ve got a full count on Brown: breaking ball outside, ball four. Brown walks.

3:28: Here comes Crosby. Ball one otuside. Swing and a miss on a breaking ball, 1-1. Swing and a miss on a fastball up, 1-2. Juuuuuust misses with a fastball, 2-2. Crosby taps a ball to the left of the pitcher. Matsuzaka makes a nice play to get Crosby at first, but a run scores. 2-0 A’s, runners still at second and third.

3:30: Here’s Hannahan. Runs the count full, then swings through a high fastball. All the same, great start for the A’s. We finally get a commercial break.

3:35: Sox 3B Lowell takes the first pitch up the middle. The Sox are being aggressive early in the count, which could work to Blanton’s advantage if Big Joe can hit his spots. Brandon Moss, in the lineup for the perpetually injured J.D. Drew (the Red Sox, where we can overpay mediocre veterans with absolutely no repercussions because we’re exactly the same as the Yankees!), hits a chopper up the middle and Ellis makes a real nice play to get the force at second. It’s absolutely criminal that Ellis hasn’t won a Gold Glove. He’s without a doubt the best defensive second baseman in the AL. And one of the best players in the AL, period.

Thorne announced Kiko Calero is on the 60-day DL with a torn rotator cuff. We probably won’t see him this year, and maybe never again in an A’s uni. I’ll miss watching him throw that sick slider, but the A’s have a lot of young relievers who deserve a shot, so no big loss. That’s the nature of the game.

3:38: Thorne just referred to A’s backup infielder “Giorgio Petit.” His name is Gregorio. Like the monks, not the fashion icon. Sox C Jason Varitek grounds to Crosby, 6-4-3 DP. Inning over.

3:42: Kurt Suzuki lines the first pitch of the bottom of the second up the middle for a base hit. Suzuki hails from Hawaii, but his grandparents are from Nagano, so it’s something of a homecoming for him. I’m excited about Suzuki. His nickname at Cal State Fullerton, where he won a College World Series, was “Clutch Kurt.” Then again, anything would be better than the debacle that was the Jason Kendall era. My buddies and I used to place bets on which infielder Kendall would ground out to.

3:43: CF Ryan Sweeney, the only guy on the major league roster the A’s got in the Nick Swisher trade, hits a high fly ball to right. One out. (For the record, I’m a fan of the Swisher trade. Swish was a great guy, but he was a little overrated, and the two minor league pitchers the A’s got for him, Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos, are gonna be nails).

3:45: Buck goes down 0-2, but battles back to 3-2. He strikes out, but Suzuki steals second base easily. Expect to see the A’s run a little more this year, to make up for a lineup that has less power than in previous years.

3:48: Ellis goes down 0-2, and he battles back to 3-2 and then draws a walk. Dice-K is wasting a lot of pitches.

3:52: Camera shot of Red Sox fans. Thorne says “you’d swear you were in Boston walking around here.” I’m not saying I have a low opinion of Red Sox fans, but if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have 35,000 people with fetal alcohol syndrome all gathered in one place, I highly recommend a visit to Fenway Park.

3:54. Barton gets ahead 3-1. Pulls a grounder foul. 3-2. Another walk. That’s four walks and more than 50 pitches thrown by Matsuzaka already. How much did the Red Sox pay for him, again? Wasn’t he supposed to be awesome?

3:55: Bases loaded for Cust. Let’s get a knockout blow. Cust falls behind 0-2. Wow, no idea where that pitch missed. 1-2. Strike three, looking, on the inside corner. It looked a little inside to me, but the 0-2 pitch looked like a strike, so we’ll call it even.

Jack Cust sums up my problem with the A’s lineup the last couple of years. He’s a useful player, with light-tower power, but he’s too streaky and he strikes out too much to be a really good middle of the order hitter. On a good team, Cust bats sixth or seventh. On the A’s, he bats clean up.

4:00: My Irish Coffee is cold. Jacoby Ellsbury, who is overrated just like every other player on Boston, steps up to the plate. (I know, I’m so bitter. Actually, I’d love to have Ellsbury.) Blanton strikes him out with a fastball on the inside corner. Looks like the umpire’s giving a few inches off that inside corner.

4:03: Julio Lugo singles up the middle on the first pitch. The lineup turns over. Thorne just said this is the “earliest opening game in major league history.” No s***, Sherlock. Pedroia flies out to right center, a few feet shy of the warning track. The crowd gasps—apparently, Japanese fans are no better at judging fly balls than American fans.

4:07: 3-1 count to Youkilis. He hits a shot down the third base line. Hannahan makes a great diving stop, but Youkilis beats the throw. Blanton would have loved to get Youkilis. Now he’s got two runners on for Ortiz.

4:08: Offspeed pitch for strike one. Fastball up, 1-1. Again, 2-1. Man, Ortiz hit .332 last year. Ortiz hits a hard shot, but the A’s are shifted over, and Ellis makes the play on one hop in short right field. Inning over.

4:12: Bottom 3. Brown pops up on the first pitch. Crosby goes falls behind 1-2, hits another dribbler back to the mound. Two down. ESPN just showed the clip of Matsuzaka throwing a no-hitter in the Japanese high school championship game when he was 17 years old. He did that only 2 days after he threw 250 pitches in a 17-inning playoff game. Nobody thinks Dice-K is more overrated than me, but man, that’s some impressive s*** right there.

4:16: Hannahan draws a walk. 5 bases on balls for Matsuzaka. Suzuki gets ahead 2-0. He hits a rope at the shortstop and Lugo makes a great leaping catch to rob him of a base hit.

4:21: “Kaiser” Bud Selig is in the booth with Throne and Steve Phillips. I think he’s trying to sell me ’95 Grand Am. Selig says visiting Beijing was an “amazing experience.” I wonder if he spoke with any imprisoned journalists or exiled Tibetans. Probably not. Manny Ramirez flies out to right.

The Warriors score just ran across the ticker: Lakers 123, Warriors 119 in overtime. S***. It’s probably for the best I missed that game—it probably would have given me an aneurysm.

4:23: Selig’s talking about growing the popularity of the game internationally. I’m guessing Thorne won’t be asking him about the Mitchell Report. Mike Lowell flies out to center. Moss grounds to first. Nice, quick 1-2-3 inning for Blanton.

4:27: Man, it’s only the middle of the fourth inning and I’m already bleary-eyed. The A’s could do me a huge favor by scoring eight runs in this inning and letting me go back to bed. Sweeney flies out

4:28: Thorne does ask about steroids. Selig gives a vague answer, including some b.s. about having “the toughest testing program in American sports.” Just to be clear, I don’t really care about the steroid thing, but hypocrisy pisses me off. Buck strikes out on three pitches. Selig is talking about the Mitchell Report, which was nothing more than a witch hunt. Ellis grounds out to second, as Matsuzaka has his first 1-2-3 inning.

4:34: Selig is still in the booth. Maybe we should send Thorne and Phillips some garlic necklaces or silver bullets or something. Blanton strikes out Varitek. He gets ahead of Ellsbury, but the Sox centerfielder is battling. 3-2 count. Ground out to first, Blanton chugs over to first to cover. Two down. Lugo hits a worm burner to Crosby. Inning over. Blanton’s set down seven in a row.

4:40: Selig finally leaves the booth. I wonder if he ate Thorne and Phillips’s brains first. Well, Thorne’s anyway. He’d really have to dig around to find Phillips’s brain. How that guy has a job in television amazes me. It’s not enough that he’s a terrible analyst, just as he was a terrible general manager for the Mets, but he also once drunkenly accosted Dodgers assistant G.M. Kim Ng for having the temerity to be a Korean woman working in upper management for a baseball team.

4:42: We get a camera shot of Tokyo cherry blossoms. I want to go to Japan. Barton strikes out. Cust strike out. Brown grounds out to third. Dice-K finally found a groove. I’m guessing this is his last inning, though. He leaves having retired the final seven A’s hitters. End of the fifth, A’s 2, Sox 0.

4:47: Coffee? Or whiskey? Irish Coffee! Susan, I’m not coming in to the office tomorrow.

4:49: Pedroia up. Third time through the order for Blanton. Looks like he’s mixing in the curveball a little more. Pedroia hits a liner to right. That ball looked catchable, but it fooled Buck, and went to the wall for a leadoff double. Here’s Youkilis, who by the way has one of the most irritating batting stances in the big leagues. He looks like he’s trying to properly position himself over a Chinese squat toilet. The Greek God of walks and squat toilets draws a four pitch walk from Blanton. Two on, none out for Ortiz and Ramirez. Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

Blanton falls behind 2-0. Ortiz pops one out of play. 2-1. Rips a liner foul on a pitch down and in, 2-2. Curveball in the dirt, full count. Thorne says Blanton only gave up homers to two left handed batters last year. Ortiz was one of them. Ortiz fouls another pitch off, then hits another foul pop-up. There’s a lot of foul ground at the Tokyo Dome, much like at the Coliseum, and Hannahan is able to reel it in. One down.

4:57: Manny Ramirez tattoos a ball down the line. Two-run double, tie game. I hate that Predator-looking m***********.

Blanton’s in a battle with Lowell. Count goes full. Swing and a miss! Blanton’s third strikeout, and we’ve got two out. Moss with a base hit to right. Ramirez scores. 3-2 Red Sox. Have I mentioned that I hate Boston.

5:01: Here comes A’s manager Bob Geren. Blanton’s done, he looked like he ran out of gas in the sixth, which is sort of to be expected, especially given that these teams are starting their season a week earlier than normal. A solid start overall, but Blanton is now in a position to potentially take a loss in the game. Not to be negative, but that last sentence is probably something you should get used to reading this year.

5:04: Alan Embree in for the A’s, turning the switch-hitting Varitek around to bat right handed. Embree got ahead 0-2, and then had two straight fastballs that should have ended the inning get called balls. Breaking ball in the dirt, now the count is full. Fouled back. Varitek finally strikes out on a nasty back-foot slider.

5:11: Kyle Snyder in for the Red Sox. The A’s need to strike now, against the weaker middle relievers, before the Red Sox get to bullpen aces Okajima and Papelbon. And Crosby leads off with a base hit up the middle! Miracles never cease.

5:13: Sayonara! Hannahan takes Snyder yard to right field with a picture perfect swing. Take your time coming back, Chavy. We don’t want you to put yourself at any risk. The A’s retake the lead, 4-3.

5:15: A strikeout from Suzuki and a broken bat groundout from Sweeney. Buck up with two out. Funny story: I was working for Athletics magazine a couple of years ago, and I wrote a prospect spotlight on Buck I interviewed him over the phone (I think he was at AA Midland, Texas at the time). At the end of the interview he very politely said, “Thank you, Mr. Goldman.” I felt so old. For the record, I’m two years older than Travis Buck. He pops up. Or did he ground out? I’m starting to feel delirious.

5:20: Embree stays in to face the 8-9-1 hitters. Ellsbury base hit over Corsby’s head. Lugo hits a tailor-made double play ball to Ellis, and Crosby turns it 4-6-3. Two down. Just thought I’d mention that Julio Lugo makes $10 million a year, roughly 1/6th of the A’s payroll. He hit TK last year.

5:23: Pedroia bounces out to the pitcher. Nice outing from Embree. We go to the seventh-inning stretch. Do they sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in Japan? ESPN goes to commercial, so I guess we’ll never know.

5:26: Leading off the bottom of the seventh, Ellis hits another drive to left-center, but this one dies on the warning track. One out, and we have a pitching change.

Commercial break, so here’s a quick movie thought. In the last week, I saw No Country for Old Men, American Gangster, and Atonement. It was my second viewing of No Country; the film still totally holds up artistically, though it suffers a little bit on second viewing, as it obviously lacks suspense. I still think it was clearly the best film of 2007, and I was glad the Academy actually got the award right for once. American Gangster was a waste of two-and-half hours. The highlight was seeing Idris Elba (aka Stringer Bell of the dearly departed HBO series The Wire—if you’ve never seen it, just put all four seasons on your Netflix queue right now.), although his character met the same fate that Stringer did.

5:30: Some guy named Javier Lopez pitching for the Red Sox. He’s a lefty, and I like him (I’m predisposed to like anyone who throws sidearm). Barton lines out to first. Cust strikes out again. Inning over.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Atonement. I’m not usually a fan of costume dramas, but I thought this film was pretty brilliant. The ending really makes it. Are we meant to give Briony credit for ending her novel as she does and giving Robbie and Cecelia “their happiness” back? I think that’s what Briony hopes, but ultimately you get the sense that she doesn’t believe that she has atoned for destroying Robbie and Cecelia’s lives. It’s a wonderful meditation on the power of storytelling. If anything, I think it was underrated by the critics. Back to baseball now.

5:36: Keith Foulke returns to the A’s, and he’s pitching to the middle of the Red Sox order in the eighth inning. God, I’m gonna have a stroke. I really don’t like Keith Foulke. First of all, he blew the 2003 ALCS by throwing David Ortiz fastball after fastball after fastball after fastball in the 8th inning of Game 4, NEVER throwing his best pitch, his changeup, even though he had two strikes, before Ortiz eventually hit a game-winning two-run double. Then, he left the A’s and SIGNED WITH THE RED SOX in the offseason and was absolutely nails in the postseason for them in 2004, when the Red Sox won the World Series. Go to hell, Keith Foulke. But please get three outs first.

Youkilis hits a drive to dead center, but Sweeney makes a catch on the warning track. Whatever hair I have left is gonna fall out this inning.

5:40: Ortiz runs the count full, fouls off a bunch of pitches, and then lines out to left. Two down, Ramirez coming up. 2-0 count, and Manny takes a giant cut at a changeup. Foul-tip, 2-1. Swing-and-a-miss at another changeup, 2-2. Fastball on the outside corner, Manny is frozen, strike three looking. All is forgiven, Keith Foulke! I know, I’m easy.

5:45: There’s an Aquafina commercial where Lou Piniella runs out to argue with an umpire. They look like they’re yelling at each other, but they’re actually just exchanging pleasantries. This is exactly the same as this [link] commercial, which was popular a few years ago. Working in advertising must be nice. If I ripped off an idea that blatantly, I’d get fired (watch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons will be posting his running diary of this game at the exact same time that I do).

5:48: The Red Sox use another reliever I’ve never heard of. Emil Brown leads off the eighth. He hits a shot to deep center, and Jacoby Ellsbury crashes into the outfield wall to make a spectacular catch. Crosby chops a ball right in front of the plate. Hannahan hits one back to the pitcher, and we go to the ninth. Huston Street coming on to try to close it out for the A’s.

5:53: Lowell pops it up to Sweeney in center. One down.

5:56 Street hung a slider, and Moss punched it over the rightfield wall for a game-tying homer (Moss’s first career big league homer). Street’s biggest weakness is that his best pitch, his slider, dives down and in to lefthanded hitters, right in to the wheelhouse of many lefties. I’m never gonna get to sleep tonight. Varitek strikes out.

5:59: Ellsbury hits a bomb to right, but it curves foul. Then he lines out to Brown. We go to the bottom of the ninth for the A’s.

6:02: The Red Sox other Japanese pitcher, Hideki Okajima, comes into the game. Let’s see if “Clutch” Kurt Suzuki can live up to his nickname.

6:05: Nope. Suzuki strikes out. You know that headache you get when you’re up late and you use coffee to stay awake? I’ve got a bad one right now. I’ve also got a sour stomach. Not sure if it’s from the coffee or the booze.

6:06: Mike Sweeney pinch-hits for Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney draws a walk. I’m confused. A pinch runner comes in. Is his name Sweeney, too? I don’t think so, but his number is 67 and he looks about 12 years old, so he could be one of the other Sweeney’s sons. Either way, I’m guessing he’s not gonna see a lot of PT this year.

6:09: Buck up, one on, one out. Buck hit a dramatic ninth inning home run off of Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon last year—can he wave the magic stick again? Noooooot quite. He gives the ball a ride, but it dies on the track. Buck is 0-for-5 tonight. Mark Ellis is our last hope to avoid extra innings.

6:12 Ellis is ahead 2-0. Fouled off, 2-1. Called strike, 2-2. Off-speed pitch high, full count. Runner will be moving. Ellis taps out to the pitcher. Great.

6:17: Street comes back out for the top of the tenth.

6:19: The Red Sox have a runner on first now. I don’t know who he is or how he got there. Pedroia lays down a sacrifice, runner on second, one out. Middle of the Sox lineup coming up.

6:22: Street strikes out Youkilis. Here comes Ortiz. First base is open—does Geren pitch to the lefty Ortiz? He’s struggled tonight, but Street’s stuff is more effective against righties. As I expected, here come four wide ones, and Manny comes up. Two on, two out.

6:25: Off-speed pitch in the dirt, strike one. Manny fouls off what looked like another off-speed pitch, strike two. For some reason, there’s no radar guy for this game. This game is being played in Japan, the electronics capital of the universe, and ESPN couldn’t get a radar gun? WTF? Fastball outside, 1-2.

6:27: Street hangs another slider, and Manny blasts it off of the top of the wall in right center. Manny has his second two-run double of the game, and it’s 6-4 Red Sox. This isn’t gonna help Street’s trade value.

6:30: Coco Crisp pinch runs for Manny. Lenny DiNardo replaces Street for the A’s, and he intentionally walks Lowell to set up some hot lefty-on-lefty action with Moss. Moss pops up to left.

6:35: Papelbon, one of the most dominant relief pitchers in baseball, is in to close it out for the Red Sox. The A’s 3-4-5 hitters are coming up.

6:39: Barton’s battling with Papelbon. This kid’s a stud. He works the count full, fouls a fastball back, and then draws a walk. Cust comes up, representing the tying run.

6:43: Cust strikes out, his fourth K of the game. That was predictable

6:44: Emil Brown hits a shot into the right-field gap. Barton comes around to score, but Brown, who would have been standing on second as the tying run, gets caught in a rundown between second and third. It’s just an unfathomably stupid baserunning error. Now the bases are empty with two outs.

6:46: Of course, Crosby gets a base hit up the middle. Brown would have scored easily from second. I’m speechless.

6:47: Now Hannahan lines a single to left. We’ve got two on and two out. The pitching coach is coming out to talk to Papelbon.

6:48: Here’s Suzuki with another chance. Fastball inside, 1-0. Fastball up and in, Suzuki eats some dirt, but he’s ahead in the count 2-0. He grounds out to first, Papelbon covering. Ball game.

6:50: Well, that sucked. We’re one game into the season, and I’m already reminded that I hate baseball. Okajima gets the win and Papelbon gets the save for the Red Sox, Street gets a blown save and a loss for the A’s.

It’s starting to get light out, so it must be time for me to go to bed. I’d like to say this was fun, but well, you know.
 

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