Game 28 vs. Oakland

The highlight of the evening wasn’t on the field, but it was ever so close. We got the Dream Seats. It’s tremendous fun to be that near the game. On the other hand, it’s also somewhat disorienting. The angles are all wrong. Ball trajectories are particularly hard to judge, making outfield plays look weird and some foul balls downright scary.

In short, I love sitting there but wouldn’t want to be there every game.

Speaking of the game, it wasn’t exactly the best. What shut out ever is? On the other hand, we’ve suffered a lot more humiliating defeats than this one. We even managed to put some offense together in the second, loading the bases on a single and a couple of walks. We threatened again in the seventh, once again stranding three runners.

For their part, the A’s didn’t fare dramatically better. Luke Hochevar threw five innings of no-hit ball (or would have been if not for a bunt base hit in the fourth). Even when the runs started happening, it wasn’t The Luke Inning. Coco Crisp homered in the sixth, a hit that was initially called a double but then reversed on video replay. In the next inning Yoenis Cespedes hit a less ambiguous solo shot. And a lead-off walk in the eighth predictably cost us.

So it was a real hard luck loss for Hochevar. Aside from those two home run pitches, he threw a solid game. Even the bullpen did okay. In the ninth, Jeremy Jeffress walked the lead-off batter but then struck out the next three in a row. What a pain to lose yet another one that we should have won.

The box score

ATHLETICS (3) AT ROYALS (0)

ATHLETICS            AB  R  H BI  ROYALS               AB  R  H BI
Coco Crisp            4  1  1  1  Jarrod Dyson          4  0  0  0  
Jemile Weeks          3  0  1  1  Alcides Escobar       4  0  1  0  
Josh Reddick          4  0  1  0  Alex Gordon           4  0  0  0  
Yoenis Cespedes       3  1  1  1  Billy Butler          4  0  1  0  
Chris Carter          3  0  0  0  Salvador Perez        4  0  1  0  
Brandon Moss          4  0  1  0  Mike Moustakas        3  0  1  0  
Josh Donaldson        4  0  0  0  Jeff Francoeur        4  0  0  0  
Derek Norris          2  1  0  0  Eric Hosmer           2  0  2  0  
Cliff Pennington      3  0  0  0  Chris Getz            3  0  0  0  
TOTALS               30  3  5  3  TOTALS               32  0  6  0

ATHLETICS                     000 001 110 -- 3  
ROYALS                        000 000 000 -- 0  

LOB--ATHLETICS 4, ROYALS 7. 2B--Brandon Moss, Jemile Weeks.
HR--Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes. SB--Derek Norris, Yoenis
Cespedes.

 ATHLETICS                       IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR
Dan Straily                   6 1-3    3    0    0    2    2    0
Sean Doolittle                0 1-3    2    0    0    0    1    0
Jerry Blevins                 0 2-3    0    0    0    0    1    0
Ryan Cook                     0 2-3    1    0    0    0    0    0
Grant Balfour                     1    0    0    0    0    0    0
 ROYALS                     
Luke Hochevar                     7    4    3    3    3    5    2
Tim Collins                       1    1    0    0    0    3    0
Jeremy Jeffress                   1    0    0    0    1    3    0

SO--Brandon Moss, Coco Crisp, Cliff Pennington, Josh Reddick
(2), Chris Carter (2), Josh Donaldson (2), Jemile Weeks (2),
Jeff Francoeur (2), Alex Gordon, Jarrod Dyson. BB--Chris
Carter, Jemile Weeks, Derek Norris, Yoenis Cespedes, Eric
Hosmer, Mike Moustakas.

NOTES: Dream Seats

LOCATION: The K

CONDITION: Dry

WEATHER: Cloudy, cool

Buck seat: W-, Washburn Law professor, wore an O’Neil shirt
Guard: McConnell AFB
Anthem: UMKC Law School “Brief Notes”

Umpires
H: Eddings
1: Burnett
2: Nauer
3: DiMuth

Time: 7:10
Temp: 73