And then there are those games that you wish you could send back and have them cook a little longer...
The A's just couldn't get anything going tonight against Ian Snell, going hitless until Daric Barton's single with two outs in the fifth. Meanwhile, Vin Mazzaro flirted incessantly with danger during his five frames on the hill. The Mariners played along for awhile, stranding eight through the first four innings, a José López homerun leading off the third their only score, and for a brief moment Mazzaro (5IP, 5H, 3R, 4BB, 4K) was duped into thinking he might have a chance.
But the young right-hander got a little too cute for his own good, hitting López with a pitch to start the fifth, before Ken Griffey Jr. put an end to the charade with a no-doubt-about-it blast into the right-field bleachers, the 625th of a career that will ultimately land him in Cooperstown.
Griffey may have benefited from home plate umpire Marty Foster's decision to warn both benches following the López at-bat, taking the inside part of the plate from Mazzaro. So the rook grooved one, and the 21-year veteran deposited it into the cheap seats.
The A's got one back in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Kurt Suzuki, but that was all for the A's, who left their bats back in the Bay Area.
There wasn't even the usual teA'se tonight, unless you count Jack Cust's ground-rule double to lead off the ninth, which brought up the tying run. But Suzuki flied out to right, Ryan Sweeney did the same to left, and Landon Powell struck out to end it, earning Snell (6IP, 4H, 1R, 2BB, 2K) the win, and David Aardsma his 29th save of the season.
0 recs | 27 comments
You almost make it sound like hitting Lopez was intentional.
If Mazzaro had had enough control to deliberately plunk Jose in the butt, he probably would have had enough control not to put one in the middle of the plate for Junior.
iglew - August 24, 2009
Ken and Vince seemed to lean towards it being intentional
Watching the replay, I couldn’t tell but I would hope it wasn’t because…why? Your pitcher has a high pitch count, needs outs. Backing Branyan off the plate earlier was good, but no reason to throw at or hit Lopez.
Nico - August 24, 2009
Yeah, not in a 1-0 game with no outs.
NateHST - August 24, 2009
More a play on the flirting theme than anything else.
67MARQUEZ - August 24, 2009
Nice title, 67M
I needed the laugh.Kallus - August 24, 2009
Im rooting for Snell with all of his issues
and am totally Ok with losing because of a Junior jack, as he one of the greatest baseball players I have ever had the privilege to watch.
designatedforassignment - August 24, 2009
Guess this was an okay game to miss.
pam5981 - August 24, 2009
Full on implosion by Detroit and it's bullpen
Detroit was up 10-0 now 10-7 with runners at 2nd and 3rd.
This team has no chance if it makes playoffs.
Trainman - August 24, 2009
Don't underestimate the suck that is the rest of the AL Central
designatedforassignment - August 24, 2009
The Twins are 1 game under .500 and they're not out of the race.
Nico - August 24, 2009
I am talking about them playing
Angels or Yankees or whoever.
Their pitching and the slegnA is suspect
LOL, the Giants imploded Colorado Grand slam to win game 6-4
Trainman - August 24, 2009
Giants just coughed up a 3 run lead in the 14th!!
Just glad it didn’t happen to me…
Oaktownflav - August 24, 2009
It's really too bad -- the Giants escaped a "runner at 3B nobody out"
crisis in the 9th, another “3rd with one out” in extra innings, and two other “1st and 3rd, two out” jams in extras, then put up 3 in the top of the 14th.
Turns out walking the opposing pitcher with the bases loaded and then serving up a grand slam is poor strategy.
Nico - August 24, 2009
The anguished cries of McCoveyChroniclers seem to have broken the site.
lenscrafters - August 24, 2009
Poor strategy?
Hell, that’s an awesome strategy. I hope they fully commit to and repeat it often.
DMOAS - August 24, 2009
me too
flipgatey3 - August 25, 2009
As huge a game as it was for the Giants
(down 4 in the WC or down 2), and as crushing a defeat as this was, you wonder if the best strategy would have been to pitch Matt Cain in the bottom of the 14th and call up a pitcher from AAA to make tomorrow’s start.
Nico - August 24, 2009
Wow!
I turned it off when it was Giants 4-1 in the 13th or 14th….
streetfan - August 24, 2009
SuSlu: Rajai Davis has a small fracture near the top of his right thumb.
He might play Tuesday anyway. He can swing a bat. If he can throw, he’ll play.
pam5981 - August 24, 2009
Almost sounds like he borrowed Carlos Gonzalez' steak knife.
Nico - August 24, 2009
Do you Snell what The Rock is cooking?
Rocky Mountain Oysters
Hit4TheCycle - August 24, 2009
As someone who smells bad, I'm offended by this heading.
travdog6 - August 25, 2009
Oh go to Hell...
…itosis.
Nico - August 25, 2009
for anyone who used to or still does read the dugout (wordupthome.com)
you would appreciate this headline…that was ian snell’s username. those guys are nuts…in a good way.
flipgatey3 - August 25, 2009
Did we really go through the whole game
with just one game thread? What a lame game.
iglew - August 25, 2009
I fell asleep on the couch listening to the game
although it wasn’t entirely the fault of the game — work was very hectic and stressful and I was exhausted…
OaklandSi - August 25, 2009
Pathletic
Believe it or not, it was one of the worst offensive performances I have ever witnessed,
even by our standards. Our plate appearances last night were a seemingly endless
string of futility. I didn’t even bother to finish up by falling asleep on the couch. but
went on to bed after the eighth inning. My bad
Lets go A’s
skeeter1 - August 25, 2009
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