The story in Oakland is the team--not where it might play

OAKLAND—The baseball team is the story. Not the inability of politicians and franchise owners to keep hassling. Not the stubbornness and—yes—stupidity of people who cannot see the benefit of adding the beauty of a ballpark to a port area of wharfs and cranes.

The story of the Oakland A’s is the Oakland A’s, the ball club, the players, the manager, indeed the team that doesn’t care how big the deficit might be or how small the crowd might be.

Or that a half day earlier it was overpowered by the same team it seemed barely able to score against, much less defeat.

These A’s, to borrow from team slogan of the ‘70s, are amazing. And exciting. You could add unpredictable. Except when a team continues pulling rabbits out hats and pushing late-inning runs across the plate—when the A’s stunned the San Diego Padres, 5-4. Wednesday on Matt Olson’s two-run double in the 10th; their major-league-leading ninth walkoff—it is highly predictable.

So much so when a writer asked A’s manager Bob Melvin if this one was Oakland’s best victory of the season, Melvin said only, “It ranks right up there.”

Well, thanks, Bob. Way to seek perspective.

“But we needed this win after (Tuesday) night. (That) was not a particularly good game for us.”  

It was a mismatch, a rout, an 8-1 loss, and even if the second game of the two-game series was not, the Padres, with their big budget and big names, were very much in control  

Jed Lowrie had a second-inning home run that gave the A’s a 1-0, but after that nothing. Just one more hit until the eighth. A return home to the hailed and hated Coliseum and consecutive defeats?

Not with the A’s. The guys in uniform are pleasantly detached from the Howard Terminal nonsense— not quite nonsense; there is more than a germ of importance.

Their game is on the field, no matter where the field might be, Oakland, Portland, Las Vegas, or Timbuctoo. And their efforts are appreciated, in a very Oakland “never mind the attendance, concentrate on the acceptance,” sort of way.

The gate Wednesday,10,648 (a thousand fewer than Tuesday night) was—pick a word; disappointing; disgraceful, unsurprising. It also was, as all crowds in Oakland, loudly enthusiastic.

All Wednesday afternoon we heard the chant, “Let’s go Oakland, and it was a reward for the chanters as much as the players when the A’s came up with two runs in the ninth to tie, 3-3, and then after the Padres went back in front, two more in the 10th to win.  

  It was the A’s 92nd walk-off win since Melvin became manager in 2011, the most in the majors during that span.

“The expectation level is really high for us late in games,” Melvin said. “I think any time we get in a position where we feel like we have a chance to win the game here at home with the last at-bat, we always feel good about it.”

When Olson took a rip and the ball soared in the 10th, he didn’t know how to feel—until the ball hit the fence, Suddenly the entire A’s dugout had jumped out to surround Olson and celebrate.

“Honestly, I thought it was a sac fly,” Olson said. “It carried pretty well for Oakland standards; I think. It kept on going and (Sterling) Marte got off well and made a great read on it.” And scored.

The A’s traded for Marte a week ago to give them the speed and daring on the bases that Had been lacking

“We just couldn’t get the 27th out today,” San Diego manager Jayce Tingler said. “You’ve got to give Oakland credit as well. They put together some tough at-bats there late and were able to find some holes and get the ball in play.”

Now if they could find a way to get a new ballpark, Sorry. Let’s stick to the way the A’s play, not where they might play.