Morning A’s,
Yet again, your battle-hardened A’s team fell by the slimmest of margins, losing by just one single, little run to the COBRAs last night on the mall. The beautiful weather could not help the solid core of our squad overcome the big bats of Slevin & Hart, and we dropped another way-too-close game.
Much like our game on Tuesday, the A’s traded shots with the snakes early and often. A revamped early lineup featuring Will Abbott (who batted 1.000 on the day), Wild Wild Wes, and K to the Dizzle started by gashing the COBRAs’ D for 4 runs in the first. That early lead was a bit too tenuous for us, so we got back into familiar territory by giving up 5 quick runs in the next frame (because the COBRAs apparently drafted A-Rod’s younger brother). Led by the proficient pitching of Will “the Hammah!” Horowitz, a couple of defensive substitutions (most notably putting E-Dub the ball hawk in short outfield) helped us tighten things up and we held nearly steady with the COBRAs through the next few innings. For every few runs they put across, we came right back with some of our own, and we headed into the later stages of the game down 17-11.
In the 6th inning, we really started to cut into that lead; The Hammah! got himself on base with a clutch single, and was driven in by your good ole skip (who brought home his first-ever MVP beer (thanks, guys!)); then the top of the order came back up and K-Diz punched in Will Abbott. All of a sudden we were down 17-14, and decided it might be a nice time to actually clamp down on D. So we held them scoreless, and faced a mere 3-run deficit going into the final frame. Wild Wild Wes led off and became our first baserunner. Matt the Magnificent followed him with a blast that took another chunk out of the Washington Monument, and the A’s were down by just 1 with no outs. But alas, lady luck was not on our side, and we could only muster one more base hit before the COBRAs finally sunk their fangs in - those two runs were all we’d get as we fell in yet another really tight battle.
So our record right now isn’t the prettiest, but it’s also far from an accurate portrayal of this squad. Every week I continue to marvel at the effort and talent of this team, and to be honest, it’s a crying shame that we’ve lost so many close games that could have easily been turned on just one or two unlucky (for us) breaks. We’re the most competitive losing team I’ve ever been a part of. But I don’t want that to be our identity – I want to start putting together a winning streak that will carry us to plus-.500 glory. So please join me and your beloved A’s next Tuesday, as we take on the ARP Crushers, at 6:30 on the mall. If you haven’t come out this year, why not next week? I think if we get some fresh cheerleading blood down on the field it’ll really help improve our fortunes. Even if you don’t want to play, come drink and yell at a supposedly non-competitive sporting event with us!
Effing A, Mike
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