Baseball is Back

Baseball is back and in full swing, and I’m LOVING it!

This season has been amazing so far, and its only 5 days into it!  Yesterday there was 4 walk=off wins, with the best being in Arizona.  Also last night, the Oakland A’s got into the win column, finally, and the bats are back.

Walk-off wins, ah the memories.  There are few things I love more than walk-off wins.  The emotions are indescribable.  Last season, the A’s were the Kings of the walk-offs, and it was incredible.  Yesterday, the Rays walked off against the Orioles, the Reds did it against the Angels (sweeeeeet), the Twins  did it to the Tigers (sweeeet), and the Diamondbacks had the best walk-off ever against the Cards.  What makes the DBacks the best of them all?  Where to start.  The game was the longest game time wise in Chase Field history lasting five hours and thirty-two minutes while going 16 innings.  That’s right, 16 innings.  The best part of the win for me was who had the walk-off hit that won the game- Cliff Pennington.  PENNY!  So happy for Pennington, just wish that Brandon McCarthy had gotten the win in his first start since the line drive to the head.  Speaking of McCarthy, it was a nice sight to see him on the mound pitching in a game again, even if it was in Sedona Red rather than Athletics Green.

While I’m on the topic of Athletics Green, the Oakland Athletics officially have a win in the win column (two now after a solid win this afternoon).  After watching the A’s struggle offensively against the Seattle Mariners the first two games, the A’s bats finally came to life last night, which was highlighted on back-to-back jacks by off-season pick ups Jed Lowrie and Chris Young.  The Mariners got on the board early with two solo shots in the first inning before Tommy Milone settled down to throw shut-out baseball through the seventh inning.

It was great to see, but I wish there were fans in the stand to see the game in person.  The A’s are known for having attendance issues, but you would think that the bandwagon fans that were out in full force in September and October would be out now to show support.  Plus, it’s spring break for most of the schools in the Bay Area right now, so the excuse of school is not valid.  The Tampa Bay Rays have issues with attendance too, but their tickets are more than double the cost of A’s tickets, so that might be their issue.  At today’s game, there was a grand total of 12,134 in attendance.  Sure, it was raining this morning with a chance of rain this afternoon, but still.  That’s not OK.  Support your team people!

I hope you are enjoying the season so far, and check back tomorrow for more updates.

Heritage vs True Love

Today I spent my afternoon at the ballpark, so it was a good day.  The Oakland A’s, with a split squad, played Italia (Italy) as part of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) exhibition games.  Being an Italian girl and an A’s fan, I was pretty excited for the game.

When looking at the schedule for the A’s last week while planning this quick trip to Phoenix, I knew I had to go to the this game.  It’s not too often you can see your favorite team and a WBC team play, so I would be stupid not to jump at the chance.  I brought my funny Italian shirt (Everybody loves an Italian Girl) with me, but opted to wear my funny A’s shirt (Chicks dig diamonds), which everybody always loves.

Like I said, the A’s were playing a split squad, which means half the team is playing one game at home and the other half is playing on the road.  Being cursed with bad luck, I figured that I would end up with all the players I wanted to see playing in Surprise against the Royals today, while I was in Phoenix.  Much to my surprise, the team in Phoenix had almost all the guys I wanted to see.  I brought my A’s playoffs 2012 hat and a sharpie with the hopes of getting some of the guys to sign it.  Tried to get Josh Reddick, but the sneaky little devil ducked into the dugout early, but I’m still happy.

2012 Playoff hat signed by: Coco Crisp, Bob Melvin, Brandon Moss and Yoenis Cespedes

Like most of the WBC teams, there is Major League players on the teams representing their home countries, or heritage, but Italy didn’t have too many names we’d know here in the states.  Some names you might recognize: Nick Punto (Dodgers), Chris Denorfia (Padres), Anthony Rizzo (Cubs), Alex Liddi (Mariners), Mike Costanzo (Nationals), and Drew Butera (Twins).  A lady sitting near by said it best, the last names for team Italia sounds like a romantic poem.  Italian names always sound better than what they actually are- my last name, Susini, translates to from the plum-tree, plum or prune.

The A’s got on the board early and played well all day.  The scored twice in the first inning and added two more in the third.  Italy got on the board in the fourth with a booming home run by the first baseman, Anthony Rizzo.  The 9th inning, oh man, was hard to watch as the A’s pitcher, Arnold Leon, struggled to find the strike zone.  After giving up two runs, the final out was recorded with a play at the plate, in which Leon tagged the runner out.  While I love a play at the plate, one involving the pitcher, not so much.

Either way, it was a great game, with the A’s smacking 12 hits and now I’m actually excited for the WBC.  Go USA!

A’s vs. Italia

Team Italy warming up

Josh Reddick and his beard

Eric Sogard batting. The Italia coach that is sitting just to the right is Mike Piazza

Jed Lowrie and Adam Rosales

Team Italy watching the exciting 9th inning

A’s celebrating the win

Brandon Moss after signing my hat

Coco Crisp after signing my hat

Bert Campaneris threw out the First Pitch

Anthony Rizzo coming into home after his home run

I have a minor picture problem in that I took close to 170 pictures at this one game.

AL West Swap

The Oakland A’s and the newest member of the AL West, the Houston Astros, have completed a five player trade.

First baseman/DH/Outfielder Chris Carter, RHP Brad Peacock and minor league catcher Max Stassi have been sent to the Astros in exchange for shortstop Jed Lowrie and RHP Fernando Rodriguez.  Now, the A’s have a brand new shortstop in Hiroyuki Nakajima, so they’re planning on using Lowrie as an all over player.  Back when Lowrie was with the Red Sox in 2008-2011, he made starts at second and third along with his usual position of shortstop, so the A’s are counting on him being able to fill in when needed around the infield.

The A’s infield is much like the outfield, in that it is overloaded with talent, which is never a bad thing.  I can’t help but wonder if this marks the end of Jemile Weeks in Oakland, and by wonder, I really mean praying to God.  I can not stand Jemile Weeks, and after his comments last year after being sent back to Triple-A made me never want him to come back.  I’m hoping that Lowrie can stay health this year, and can finally knock Weeks out of Oakland for good.

I really loved what Lowrie had to say about Oakland after the trade was announce, and I’m pretty excited to see what he can do.

“I’m excited to come to a team that won one of the better divisions in baseball last year, and have the opportunity to come back and play baseball in the Bay Area,” said Lowrie, who played his college baseball at Stanford. “I obviously followed the story last year, considering everyone had pegged either the Angels or Rangers to win it. It was a great story to watch from a distance. It’s a group of young guys that obviously know how to win, and hopefully just continue to get better.”

The only thing I don’t really like about this trade is that it is in our own division.  While I was never big on Chris Carter, he did finally start playing well this season.  I have a feeling he’s going to do extremely well down in Houston this season.  Hopefully he’ll kill all the other teams in the division, but not the A’s.

I can’t wait for the season to start.  April needs to hurry up and get here already.