No, No, on the No-No

I finally attended my first A’s game of the season this afternoon and, boy, was it fun. I met up with Sarah at the BART station and then with Tree, Ron and Tree’s dad, Mat, inside in section 119—primo seats in the shade. The match-up was uninspiring on paper: Loaiza for the A’s vs. Batista for the D-backs. I kinda expected both of them to get hit around. I couldn't have been more wrong (at first).

Arizona went down 1-2-3 in the first—as did the A’s. Then Loaiza walked Gonzo and hit Shawn Green in the second but a fielder's choice and a pop-up left them both on base—the A’s were out 1-2-3. For the third inning we had matching 1-2-3s. Gonzo got on again in the fourth, this time with a double, but was left stranded again—the A’s were out 1-2-3. The fifth saw an amazing running catch by Kotsay then a long fly ball he couldn't catch by DaVanon but he too was left on—the A’s were out 1-2-3. Are you getting the picture?

The D-backs got two guys on again in the sixth only to strand them—the A’s were out 1-2-3. Have you been counting along? That's a perfect game by Batista through six innings. Pretty cool. However, we were rooting for the A’s (except Mat who's from Tempe). Arizona had threatened with guys in scoring position in four innings but had left six guys on without scoring. It was a pretty exciting 0-0 tie. That was all to end in the seventh.

Can you say "batted around"? Loaiza gave up a double and four singles and his replacement Saurbeck gave up one of each allowing the D-backs to score six runs in the top of the seventh. But the question remained: Could Batista hold on to his perfect game? The answer was happily no. With two out, Bobby Crosby drew a walk and the perfect game was gone. Then up came The Big Hurt and out went the baseball. The no-hitter and shutout were history. Sorry, Batista, you'll have to make do with a 7–2 win on the road and a series win vs. the A's. Not bad for you guys.

Oakland will try to salvage a win tomorrow with Zito on the mound. Let's hope the A’s bats can squeak out more than three hits against 8-3 Brandon Webb who’s lost his last three straight decisions. Go A’s!