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A's invent new way to win, D-Rays invent new way to lose
by David Dullum May 6, 2006 |
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Just as the Oakland Athletics introduced a new way to win a baseball game on Saturday, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays fashioned yet another innovative way to lose one. In the wake of an unusual afternoon in general at McAfee Stadium in Oakland, Athletics first baseman Dan Johnson reiterated an oft-noted observation: “You come to a baseball game, and you’re going to see something new every day, Johnson said. “There were all kinds of little quirks that decided how the game would go” There certainly were. For example: Jay Payton, the Oakland Athletics right fielder, didn’t plan on giving a clinic on creative baserunning during the A’s 3-2 win, but gave 25,080 fans something to talk about afterwards from a game that defied logic from start to finish. “It was a crazy game,” Payton said. “Fortunately, we came out on top”. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Payton capped a peculiar inning by scoring the winning run from second on an infield error. Earlier, in the second inning, he came up with one of the easiest stolen bases of his career on an unintentional trick play the sort of thing more likely to be seen on a Little League diamond. “We were going to do it again later in the game, but we figured they probably caught on to it,” Payton said, tongue-in-cheek, of his first American League stolen base. After Payton reached first on a single off Tampa Bay starter Seth McClung, the next batter, Dan Johnson worked the count to three balls and one strike. Thinking it was ball four, Payton jogged down to second. Johnson, figuring he’d better follow suit, began jogging to first. The throw went back to McClung, who didn’t realize what was going on until he saw Manager Joe Madden hold up three fingers. Amazingly, the Devil Rays defense stood by and watched as Payton coasted uncontested into second with one of the slowest stolen bases ever, at least in elapsed time. One pitch later, Johnson officially had his walk, and the tone was set for the rest of the afternoon. “I didn’t think it was ball four,” Payton explained. “I started going back to the bag and I saw D.J. pretty confidently running down to first, so I took off. When I was about halfway to second, I sped up and there was nobody even close to the bag. I got in there pretty easy.” Payton acknowledged that this new wrinkle in executing the delayed steal isn’t worked on as a part of spring training drills, noting, “But we might want to start! You can pick up an extra bag here and there when you can catch everybody sleeping.” Pressed for an explanation, A’s manager Ken Macha deadpanned sarcastically, “Yeah, we’re running more this year!” Tampa Bay flexed its newfound muscles to score its two runs solo homers by Russell Branyan in the fifth inning and a pinch homer by Greg Norton in the eighth that tied the game at 2-2. On this day, Oakland chose the abstract route to scratch out its three runs. Bobby Crosby scored the first A’s run in the fourth inning when he singled, moved to third on Adam Meluse’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Payton. Crosby’s run became a bit adventurous when the A’s shortstop double-clutched after tagging up on Payton’s liner. There was nothing unusual about Oakland’s second run, an RBI single by Mark Kotsay (driving in Jason Kendall, who doubled) in the fifth. But the A’s saved their most entertaining moments of the day for the bottom of the ninth. Payton led off the Athletics ninth with a base hit, followed by a walk to Johnson. With a 1-and-2 count on Marco Scutaro, Devil Rays manager Joe Madden pulls reliever Chad Orvella and brings in new closer Tyler Walker, the ex-Giant. “I was just asking him how the weather was,” Macha said of his mid-at bat conversation with Scutaro. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pitcher taken out in the middle of an at-bat. If I did, it happened so long ago. Now, the fun begins in earnest. Scutaro grounds into a double play, but technically reaches on a fielder’s choice when his low liner short-hopped second baseman Ty Wigginton. When Wigginton dropped the ball, Payton, thinking it’s caught, high tails it back to second to wiggle out of a rundown. Unfortunately, Johnson and Scutaro joined him there, and were both called out. For those of you scoring at home, that’s a 6-4-5-6-4 double play, the sort of thing that usually kills a rally. “I saw Payton beat the throw back and I thought, I’ll just keep walking out of the way and I saw Scutaro coming too,” Johnson said, laughing. “There was nothing I could do,” Payton said. “If you get too far off the bag, he catches it and doubles you off second. We’re lucky they didn’t pull off a triple play more than anything because that was kind of crazy.” “At least one of the two guys would be in scoring position,” Scutaro said. So, with two out, Jason Kendall’s routine grounder to Huff at third went through the wickets into left, allowing Payton to score from second with the game-winner. “I’ve been in ninth-inning rallies, but that was a little different,” Payton said. “A ground ball through the third baseman’s legs to win a ballgame: you don’t see that very often.” “You never know what’s going to happen. It was a routine ground ball and [Huff] let it go through his legs,” Scutaro concluded. “That’s baseball.” In particular, Baseball: The Devil Rays’ Way. DIAMOND DUST: Oakland reliever Joe Kennedy picked up the win, his second without a loss. ¦ LHP Barry Zito threw seven strong innings in his 195th career start for the A’s, giving up one earned run and getting a no-decision. | Norton’s home run was the 10th pinch-homer of his career. ¦ Athletics C Jason Kendall received a four-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for charging the mound in last Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Angels. Kendall filed an appeal and was eligible to play on Saturday. ... Since his disastrous 1-for-37 start, A's 1B Dan Johnson is hitting at a .310 clip over the last 12 games. Johnson is 0-for-2 as a pinch hitter this season, 0-for-7 in the pinch in his brief career. ... A's 2B Mark Ellis's .189 average is the fifth lowest in the American League. Things are considerably better in the field for Ellis -- he's one of two AL second basemen yet to commit an error this season (the other is Mark Grudzielanek of Kansas City), and is working on a 34-game errorless streak dating back to September of '05. Ellis is also tied for fifth in the AL in hit-by-pitches with four. ... Oakland OF Milton Bradley has missed the last nine games with a sprained right knee and a strained right oblique muscle. ... April and May are the only months the Devil Rays have never had a winning record in their nine-year history. ... Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes and Ty Wigginton are tied with Oakland's Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez as the major leagues' top home run tandem. Each duo has combined for 20 dingers through May 6. |
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