Third A's game

I attended yet another free Oakland Athletics game on Saturday. This time the tickets came courtesy of my no longer misplaced friend Chris. He interned with A's media relations last year and, as a result, managed to obtain four free tickets. My brother and I happily accompanied Chris and his girlfriend Emily to the coliseum.

There's a common saying in baseball that in any game you might see something you've never seen before. The average game, however, usually bears no previously unseen plays--just the typical smattering of runs, hits, and errors. This particular game was a notable exception.

In the first innning, Jay Payton unexpectedly stole second base when Dan Johnson started walking confidently down to first after a 2-1 pitch. In response, Payton jogged to second. By the time the Devil Rays had noticed that the count was only 3-1, Payton was standing safely on second. Johnson eventually drew a walk.

After that, most of the game was routine enough. Barry Zito pitched well, allowing only a solo home run in seven full innings of work. Zito allowed just five other baserunners, three of whom were wiped out by double plays. But Seth McClung kept the Devil Rays in the game, holding the A's to two runs through six innings. A's reliever Justin Duchsherer denied Zito a win when he gave up a solo homer to pinch hitter Greg Norton in the eighth. Duchsherer finished out the inning and the game headed to the ninth in a 2-2 tie.

After Joe Kennedy set the D'Rays down in the top of the inning, the A's put runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. The A's were poised to win the game. And then, strangeness like I have never seen before on a baseball field.

Marco Scutaro hit a soft line drive up the middle; but instead of catching the ball, shortstop Julio Lugo let it bounce. This set up a force play at second and caught Jay Payton in a rundown between second and third. Payton made it back to second safely, just in time to notice Marco Scutaro standing on the bag. Since only one man has a right to the bag, Scutaro was declared out. The infield fly rule was not called, although it easily could have been. Two outs on a what would have otherwise been a typical line out. If you're scoring at home, the play went 6-4-5-6-4. Craziness.

This left the deflated A's with two down and a runner on second. When Jason Kendall hit a weak ground ball right to third baseman Aubrey Huff, we let out an exasperated sigh. Huff even appeared to breathe a sigh of relief, as he recognized the D'Rays were out of trouble. But he relaxed too soon and the ball rolled unimpeded through his legs and out into shallow left field. Although Payton was still between second and third when it happened, the game was over the instant the ball passed through Huff's legs. A's win three to two. I've never seen a game end quite that way before.

Eric and I celebrated the walk-off error until Payton touched the plate and then promptly started making our way out of the park. This caught our companions by surprise, as they were unused to our expedient exits. Five minutes later we were on the freeway headed back to San Francisco.