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		A's experience soggy, fruitless day at Fenway By Morris Phillips August 27, 2011

	The first game time got moved up, but the weather slowed everything down anyway. Play started early, then dragged on through numerous rain delays, and ended late at Fenway Park on Saturday. Along the way, the weather man—and everyone else—got a chance to predict how the impromptu doubleheader would play out, and just about everyone was wrong. The Red Sox were the big winners--both on the field and at the bank—and the A’s were losers… twice. “A long, tough day for us,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s a lot easier to move on from these days if you won a game or two than to lose two, so it was a disappointing day for us.” Through a pair of three hour ballgames and five rain delays that chewed up almost as much time as the games, the A’s and the Red Sox saw a lot of a rain and a lot of soggy turf, conditions so poor that players on both teams were surprised play was allowed to continue. Umpiring crew chief Tim McClelland had the final call on whether the teams should continue, and they did, even as the players said it was impossible to get a grip on the balls to throw. As for the Fenway turf, it was soggy to start and deteriorated from there. “Personally, I’ve never seen that much rain come down and still be able to play two nine-inning games,” A’s pitcher Josh Outman said. Outman, recalled from AAA Sacramento and activated for the second game, pitched well in the slop. Others struggled, mostly guys in green-and-gold trimmed uniforms. The Red Sox needed to take advantage of the opportunity to play and win while the Yankees were holed up in a Baltimore hotel on Saturday. Thanks to McClelland and of course, the tremendous pressure put forth by the Boston organization and their desire to play, and keep the gates of another two Fenway sellouts, the games went on. With two more wins, the Red Sox increased their lead in the AL East while the Yankees now face a challenging gauntlet of make-up games along with play on both coasts in the final month of the season. And as weathermen, everyone—including the weather man—failed. It was felt that the affects of Hurricane Irene would sweep in after the first game ended, and likely cause the postponement of the nightcap. Instead, the rain arrived less than two hours into the first game and instead of raining heavily for the rest of the day, it eased at points, enough—according to McClelland—that play could continue. In the end, the only thing that was recognizable was the excellence of the Red Sox. Boston won for the 82nd time in 127 games following a 0-6 start to the season that everyone in New England nervous. In games where the Red Sox score at least five runs, they improved to 55-10 with the 9-4 win in the opener. And starting pitcher Jon Lester picked up the win in the first game, improving his career record to 75-31, among the best winning percentages for a pitcher in his first 100 plus decisions in major league history. Of course, A’s fans may remember that on August 11, 2003, Tim Hudson shut down Boston, 4-0, at the Coliseum to improve his career record to 75-30, which is the best record for a pitcher through the first 105 decisions of his career. On that day, Hudson was near perfect, allowing two infield hits and only three fly balls in the outfield in a complete game gem. Hudson threw just 93 pitches and faced 28 batters, one over the minimum. The A’s ace then went on to win his next three decisions to run his record to 78-30.