Even efore the game, things didn't look real good for the Oakland A's. They'd already lost ten straight games, and were so desperate for a starting pitcher that they'd plucked Graham Godfrey from the world-famous Foster Jeeves School of Butlering just to avoid having to forfeit their Friday night contest against the White Sox.
A’s 9th-Inning Rally Ends Long Losing Skid
Things didn't look so good during the game, either. The A's did grab a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but lost that lead in the bottom of the inning when Paul Konerko took Godrey deep for a two-run homer. The A's tied the game in the third when rookie Jemile Weeks hit a leadoff triple and later scored on Cliff Pennington's infield single.
Meanwhile, Godfrey was pitching something like a guy who went 7-1 in the Pacific Coast League this spring (which is, of course, exactly what he did).
Until the fifth, anyway. In the fifth, Godfrey gave up three hits and a run, and was charged with two more when his bullpen pals couldn’t hold the fort.
The A's did cobble together a run against Edwin Jackson in the seventh, making the score 5-3.
But it was still 5-3 heading into the ninth and things still didn't look real good for the Oakland A's. They can't really hit, and White Sox closer Sergio Santos entered the game with a 2.10 ERA and 11 saves in 12 chances. And he was well on his way to 12 in 13 after quickly retiring Pennington and Conor Jackson.
The Athletics still weren't dead. In baseball you're not dead until that last out. But if the A's were on life support and you really loved them, you would have pulled the plug.
Fortunately there’s no plug in baseball. No matter how hopeless the situation, you get your ups.
And a few ups later, Scott Sizemore, in just his third game as an Athletic, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a bases-clearing double over Alex Rios's head in center field. Just scant moments after most of us would have pulled the plug on these moribund A's, they were ahead 7-5.
And in the bottom of the ninth, Andrew Bailey retired the White Sox in order to earn his first save of the season.
It’s just one unlikely victory. The A’s have still lost ten of their last 11, and they’re still eight games behind the first-place Rangers. But there’s a new manager-sheriff in town, and that first win is always the toughest.
Until tomorrow, anyway.
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