Double Gut punch
In the luxury boxes at the Oakland Coliseum, my friends & I were able to watch both the Tiger and Red Wings game. Or, another way of saying it, we were able to watch both teams squander away from winnable games.
Overall, it was a great time: Good tailgate to start, good group to hang out with, and the luxury box was fun. We were getting jeered at by the eight year olds in the box next to us (either Oakland fans themselves or just bored). The best part about luxury suites? The booze. Sure, they cut you off from ordering in the seventh inning.. but you can stock up the fridge a lot easier.
Thoughts on the game:
- Kenny Rogers looked in control when he had to. Solid performance.
- Daric Barton DESTROYED the ball on his home run, tying the game at 2.
- Jeff Larish and Clete Thomas made favorable impressions on me for different reasons:
- Larish’s late inning single (and 2 out RBI) was an opposite field hit against a dominant pitcher who had struck him out twice before. I liked his adjustments after being beat by off-speed pitches from Harden.
- Thomas struck out on three straight 96 mph fastballs in his first at bat; he wasn’t even close. In his other at-bats he was able to work the count into much more favorable situations… though he still didnt’ have a hit
- Rich Harden is awesome. I know Oakland wants to dump him due to his injury history.. if he is cheap, i’d get him.
Thoughts in general:
- Oakland is a great place to tail-gate. But there was barely 5000 people at the game.
- Jack Hannahan is batting 20 points above Brandon Inge, has nearly an identical OPS, though not quite as accomplished as a fielder. He also makes about $400k / year. Gives you an idea why Inge has no trade value — we gave Hannahan away to Oakland last year.