Josh Donaldson’s Walk-Off Bomb in the Tenth Inning

I woke up a bit later than usual for a Sunday. I watched CBS Sunday Morning and liked the segment on Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. I went out to the coffee shop and had a smoothie while checking some messages. I wanted to get out to the BART station quickly. I got to the season ticket holder line at 9:21. The giveaway for season ticket holders was a Sean Doolittle shirt. I thought I saw Dan Otero at the table handing out shirts, but by the time I got there, none of the players was in sight. Vince Cotroneo did greet some of us, however. Clouds covered the sky all afternoon, so I didn’t feel that I had to use sunscreen. Doolittle signed some autographs for the fans standing around in the section where my seat was. I listened to the Raiders game on the radio. They did make the score respectable against the Patriots. Scott Kazmir would not have a good time against the Phillies, not quite lasting six innings. The Royals were winning against the Tigers. Kazmir allowed one run on two hits and a walk in the first inning, but the A’s came back in the bottom of the inning. Coco Crisp walked, and after Stephen Vogt lined out to center, Josh Donaldson singled, advancing Crisp to third base. Adam Dunn drove in the game’s first run with a single. Brandon Moss doubled for one more run. Jed Lowrie was hit by a pitch, which would later bother him enough to make him leave the game. Josh Reddick hit a fly ball to left field. With Dunn on third base and the ball not going very deep, it didn’t look like it would be a run, but the throw towards home plate was very poor. Dunn’s run did make the score 3-1. Kazmir got through the second inning by giving up just a single, but he gave up more runs in the third inning. After one out, the Phillies got a single and a double. Another double tied the score at 3-3. In the bottom of the inning, Donaldson walked and Dunn was hit by a pitch. Moss lined out, but Lowrie drew a walk to load the bases. After Reddick struck out, Geovany Soto walked to bring in a run, giving the A’s the lead again at 4-3. Sogard struck out to end the inning. He would have a rough afternoon with strikeouts. Kazmir was unable to have the shutdown inning in the fourth. With two outs, a single and a double made the score 4-4. Kazmir did have an impressive fifth inning with three strikeouts. His work helped the A’s set a new team record for strikeouts in a season. We heard “The Heat is On.” In the bottom of the inning, Moss and Nick Punto both walked with one out. Jonny Gomes pinch-hit for Reddick and lined out, but Geovany Soto doubled for two runs. Kara Tsuboi had her Farmer John contest, and we heard Weird Al Yankovic’s “Eat It.” After getting a strikeout to start the top of the sixth inning, Kazmir gave up a single and then a triple for one run. After another single tied the score at 6-6, Bob Melvin summoned Dan Otero to get the last two outs. In the bottom of the inning, Donaldson singled and went to third on a wild pitch on a strikeout. The catcher didn’t have to throw to first base, but he did, which allowed Donaldson to take the extra base. It didn’t matter in the end, as Dunn and Moss made the last outs of the inning. The Big Head race had Dennis Eckersley winning for the 15^th time, although it looked like Rickey Henderson was blocking out Rollie Fingers. Both teams had one man reach base in the seventh inning, but neither team scored. During the seventh inning stretch, we heard “Love Machine.” Luke Gregerson pitched the top of the eighth inning. He gave up a double to the first batter. A sacrifice bunt pushed the runner to third base. At this critical point in the game, Gregerson got a foul ball to Donaldson for the second out and a ground ball to first base for the third out. In the bottom of the inning, Nate Freiman got a pinch-hit single with one out, but nothing else happened for the A’s. Sean Doolittle came in for the top of the ninth inning and pitched a clean inning with two strikeouts. The bottom of the ninth began with Moss striking out, but then Nick Punto hit a triple that got by Tony Gwynn’s son in left field. Sam Fuld was intentionally walked. Soto struck out, and Sogard also struck out to send the game to a tenth inning. We heard “Shake, Shake, Shake (Your Booty).” Doolittle had another clean inning with another two strikeouts. He was responsible for a lot of the positive feeling running through the crowd. Coco Crisp began the bottom of the tenth inning by hitting a ball that the Phillies’ second baseman caught. Freiman had the count at 2-1 when he came up with another single. Billy Burns was called upon to pinch-run. Josh Donaldson took a pitch for a ball, and then took a big swing at the next pitch, sending the ball nearly to the suite windows above the centerfield fence. It was an 8-6 win for the A’s. The game was a nerve-wracking experience. It went on at a slow pace. The game began at 1:07 and ended at 4:54. The game time temperature was 65 degrees, and the attendance was 25,126. I didn’t hang around to bask in the victory. The late afternoon was getting cold, and I was tired and hungry. I hurried out of there. I listened to the Robert Kilburn Rock ‘n’ Roll Times program on KCSN. The key songs were by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Back at home, I watched a bit of the Steelers game, and the Columbo episode with Dick Van Dyke. I heard Harry Edwards on the radio, talking about the NFL. Some of the people who died on September 22 include Marion Davies (1961), Dan Rowan (1987), Irving Berlin (1989), Dorothy Lamour (1996), George C. Scott (1999), Isaac Stern (2001), Marcel Marceau (2007), and Eddie Fisher (2010). Today is a birthday for Andrea Bocelli (56), Joan Jett (56), Nick Cave (57), Johnette Napolitano (57), Debby Boone (58), Toni Basil (71), and Tommy Lasorda (87). According to the Brandon Brooks Rewind radio segment for September 22, “Maverick” premiered on ABC in 1957. In 1964, “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway. In 1989, Irving Berlin died at age 101. In 1999, Diana Ross was subjected to a full body search and arrested for assault at Heathrow Airport.