Wow! What a Game!

Mornin’ A’s!

Fantastic game last night. Really, you all played like the AL all star team in MLB 99. It’s a
shame we had to end that one in a tie, but that was certainly an amazing effing effort displayed
by all.

For those who missed it, this might have been the game of the season, thrill-wise. After jumping
out to an early 5-3 lead, the fightin GPOers had a few big innings to take a daunting lead at
11-6. Going into the 6th, it looked as though this one had gotten away from the A’s. But with
blazing guns from the bullpen John “I disappear when it’s my turn to bat” Hardenbergh and Ian
Thompson, the defense held solid. It was up to the offense to pull this one out.

The A’s were still in a hole, and a deep one at that with a 4-run deficit heading into the last
inning. We were just hitting the meat of the lineup, with Jeremy “gloves” Caverly leading off.
After brutally mauling the ball on a rope up the middle, the A’s were flabbergasted when the
catch of the game, nay the catch of the season, was made by GPO’s jerk shortstop. Now with
one out and no one on, the prospects weren’t looking good for a rally.

But no one told that to Will Smith, who perfectly placed his 3rd home run of the game into 14th
street traffic. He was followed by Matt Allee, who got on base and was driven home by yours
truly. Sandy Fulton knocked skip in with a huge single, and a wayward throw by the GPO on the
next play got her across. The A’s had tied the game, and all was right in the world.

Except, the GPO had to bat. So the A’s took the field under the lights to try to hold them off.
Closer Jeremy Goldberg was brought in for the save. Matt “I make every out in the infield”
Allee had two beautiful plays at SS to quickly put GPO down 2 outs. But a blistering groundball
that took a bad hop made it past skip at third, and the GPO all of a sudden had a runner in
scoring position with the chance for a walkoff. But lights-out pitching from Jeremy iced the
GPO’s skip as he grounded out to (where else) shortstop to end the inning. Because it was
nearly pitch black outside at that point, we had to make the tough call to end the game in a tie.

So. Here we are, with a tie in our second-to-last game, still sitting on that .500 record. We’ve
got a chance to make history next week when we take on the Third Rail in a rematch of the
game we were supposed to play yesterday. Let’s go out with a bang and end this season a game
above .500

The game next week will be on Wednesday night, usual starting time. I don’t know about a field
yet but we will shoot for the vicinity of our home field on 15th and Constitution. I hope to see
everyone out there. Even if you don’t want to play, and if you’ve been telling yourself or me all
season you’ll make it out, just come on out, share a beer, and cheer on the A’s. Let me know if
you can make it

Speaking of, I could use a beer volunteer for next week. If I don’t get one, we can just do the
same thing we did this week, and I’ll ask you each to bring a few ones to help defray the costs.
But if someone who hasn’t bought before would like to step up, please let me know

And we would like to do a happy hour next week as well to celebrate our wonderful season,
probably on Friday. Other options would be Thursday or Monday. Please let me know which of
those days would be best for you, and we’ll try to get out on a night when most folks can make
it. Also – we don’t have a set place in mind, so if you’ve got a suggestion for a fun/cheap/both
happy hour spot, I’d like to hear it.

That’s it for now. Great game, and I hope you can all make it out next week. Have a good one

Effing A,

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