Thursday, April 03, 2008

vacation

So I attended the last two games of the transcontinental series against Oakland, and I feel like I should have more to say, but I've pretty much got two words and they are "hell" and "yes." Daisuke and Jon the baby crab Lester each pitched 6 and 2/3rds innings, with the former giving up one run and no (!!) walks and the latter giving up three walks and no (!!!) runs. Yeah, the offense is looking a little rusty, and I'm nervous to see how they perform when playing against a team that wasn't in Japan last week, but if the full-count twins can start putting together like they did over the last couple days, well, hot damn.

But let us briefly discuss the psyche of Oakland fans, because I am worried about them. On Opening Night, they were as feisty as I have seen them in three years of going to Sox games at the Coliseum, lots of booing and taunting (some of which inevitably turned to Spygate, which made me want to LIGHT MYSELF ON FIRE, but I digress). The guys sitting behind me were particularly enthused when Tek got robbed of that homer, but then their conversation turned the Coliseum's confusing dimensions, and the rape the stadium has suffered at the hands of Al Davis, and how the As are going to pack up soon and head to Fremont and that's the thing about being a Bay Area sports fan these days, it seems: in the end, you are your own worst fate.

I was originally only planning on going to the first game, but I found out a friend from college was in town and we decided to try and get tickets for the afternoon game as well. If you've got $40 to spare and you're trying to get tickets to an As game three days in advance, you'll have to be content with watching the game from here:


There were a couple guys sitting behind me who were animated early and flying fast and furious with the Manny-hate. But then their bullpen of re-animated Red Sox cast-offs started to crumble around them, when Jon Lester left the game with two outs in the seventh, one of the guys groused that 70% of the stadium was giving him a standing ovation. After Pedroia hit the fourth single to shallow left in a row, the same guy started loudly clapping. His friend said, "What are you doing, why are you cheering?" and he said, "Why not? Everybody else is."

3 Comments:

At 8:41 AM, Blogger Kristen said...

I'm thinking when the taunting turns to Spygate, we should pull a Scott Proctor and light someone else on fire.

 
At 1:22 PM, Blogger always thinking about papelbon said...

I get the feeling I'm going to have to carry a lot of matches for the next little while.

 
At 1:01 PM, Blogger Beth said...

i, too, have firsthand experience with the fragile psyche of the oakland a's fan, and felt similar bewilderment.

 

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