What a wacky weekend of baseball!

Posted on June 25, 2012

Seth Smith #15, Josh Reddick #16, Jemile Weeks #19, and their Oakland Athletics teammates jump out of the dugout celebrating after Derek Norris #36 hit a game-winning home in the bottom of the 9th inning against the San Francisco Giants during the game at O.co Coliseum on Sunday, June 24, 2012 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

An amazing thing happened to me at the Oakland Coliseum yesterday afternoon. The Oakland A’s beat the San Francisco Giants in super-duper deluxe dramatic fashion. Rookie A’s catcher Derek Norris hit his first big league homer with two on and two out with two strikes to beat the Giants 4-2. The packed house went bonkers as the bearded 23-year old rounded the bases. I shot a few frames of the celebration. I was not pissed!  I smiled as I thought back on the fun baseball I had experienced over the entire three game Bay Bridge series. Sure I wish my team had held on to win, but the A’s fought back so hard all weekend. They deserved to win one of the three games.

I rarely go to shoot night games, but I was bored Friday afternoon and thought it would be fun to drive to Oakland for some batting practice and a few innings before it got real dark and cold. I got to the park around 4:30pm while the A’s were hitting. Luckily I decided to go sit in the Giants dugout on the first base side because that is where I was thoroughly entertained by former A’s catcher, and current television color guy, Ray Fosse. Fosse wandered over to the dugout to say hello to Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti and started telling stories about his years with the A’s in the 1970’s. For the next 20 minutes I tried not to make a fool of myself by laughing out loud at the funny tales involving Billy North, Reggie Jackson, Charlie Finley, and others. I was sad when the stories stopped, and all I could think was how great the A’s telecasts would be if they were on HBO. That way Fosse could tell the same stories to a mature audience without getting into trouble!

Saturday’s game was a 4:15 start thanks to the FOX national telecast so I was fired up to shoot the pretty light. I decided to go upstairs to one of my favorite spots in section 313 of the upper deck amongst the tarps. Armed with an 800mm lens I was ready to cover the game and squeeze every minute of light out of the fast-fading sun. The Giants jumped out to a 9-4 lead and things were looking pretty grim for the A’s and for me as the game began to drag along very slowly. Pretty soon we were subjected to some of the worst garbage-time baseball I have seen in a long time.

As the game plodded along with a million walks and pitching changes I needed to amuse myself as it started to get darker and colder. In the fading light I shot some self-portraits of myself (see above) and resorted to shooting multiple pictures of the seagulls circling overhead as they waited for the game to end so they could start their dinner. Pretty soon the field was without sun and the bad Coliseum lights were taking effect as the game neared the four hour mark. Down 9-4 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning the A’s started a spirited rally that saw them narrow the score to 9-8 with the bases loaded and two outs. Jemile Weeks stepped to the plate to face the Giants fourth relief pitcher of the inning and almost capped off a dramatic comeback. If not for a fine play by Giants second baseman (and my new favorite Giant) Ryan Theriot, the little looper hit into shallow right-center field would have dropped for a two-run single giving the A’s a 10-9 win. After Theriot clutched the ball out of the air with a high backhand stab the Giants were victorious 9-8. When I got to the park Sunday morning I told Theriot I was glad he caught the ball to save the game the night before. “So was I,” he said. “I had the triple thread going. I was hungry, I was cold, and I had to pee!,” Theriot said.

Sunday’s game looked like a classic Giants game of great pitching (Matt Cain) and not much hitting as they clung to a 2-1 lead late into the game. When the before-mentioned bearded A’s catcher came to the plate with two outs in the 9th inning with his club down by a run I was hoping that Giants closer Santiago Casilla, who was leaking oil, could hold on and nail down the save. Norris’s mighty swing of the bat ended the day for all of us, and made for some fun pictures.

The crowds in Oakland for all three games were electric. The atmosphere was fun, with fans from both sides cheering hard for their club. As a Giants fan I am glad we don’t have to play the A’s anymore. They will not quit and they will not die. I hope they can carry their spirited play for the rest of the season. It would make for a really fun summer of shooting the guys in the green and gold.