I sat in the cold San Francisco night and watched the Giants lose to the A's, all 10 innings of it. I'm just tired of this stuff.
Of sitting in the stands listening to loud and obnoxious A's fans and having nothing to fire back with. (Yeah, he's old. Yeah, he sucks. Et cetera.) Of watching runners die at third base. Of watching a pitcher -- Noah Lowry -- put on an at-bat better than most of the hitters managed. Of players, old and young, get dinged up. (Lewis hurt his side, Molina took a ball in the arm, Alfonzo got crushed at home, Klesko was ouchie after diving for a ball. I'm sure there are more.)
It was a game the Giants should have won. Bases loaded in the 9th, one out, No. 5 hitter up, 3-0 count, a runner on third who could actually score on a fly ball. Popped up. Nice.
The A's didn't exactly play a sparkling game, either. Their bonehead highlight was Dan Johnson not scoring from third on a wild pitch in the 8th. But they won, so that will be forgotten, sort of.
The 10th went eerily similar to the 8th. The A's 8th went Johnson double, Crosby grounds out, Johnson to third, Kotsay grounds to first with Klesko holding Johnson, Kendall flies out. The 10th went the same except that Murphy pinch ran after Johnson's double, and he broke for home when Kotsay grounded to first. Klesko threw Murphy out at home, but it wasn't without incident. Alfonzo, who was subbing for the banged-up Molina, got his leg mangled and had to come out of the game.
And here is where this painful game became interesting. The Giants were out of position players, so some shuffling had to be done. Feliz moved behind the plate, Winn came in to play third, Ortmeier moved to center, and Lowry took over right field. Eventually the A's scored two to take the lead, but the game was essentially over after Durham's AB in the 9th.
Feliz was impressive behind the plate, even making a nifty snag of a ball in the dirt. Winn caught a foul pop to end the inning, and Lowry never had to make a play.
Lincecum started this bizarre game. Unfortunately, he could never really find the plate. The worst was walking the pitcher, Gaudin, when he was attempting to lay down a sac bunt. Gaudin returned the favor later, doing the exact same thing when Lincecum was called on to bunt. Lincecum is green green green, so I expect to see a few outings like this. I don't like seeing it, but it's no surprise or a shock.
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