Tiger Geist

I was lucky to attend the first victory against Oakland (3-2 Friday night);  I went with my friend Scott, the same Scott who held me against my will from attending Jonathon Sanchez’s no hitter earlier this year.  I’ve come around to Scott, and we attended the game, which started with a random tribute to Jason Giambi.

It absolutely should be mentioned that as a fan, you probably get a better view of a game while watching TV over attending the game live.  We had great seats (14 rows behind Detroit’s dugout) but of course, any close plays are not re-shown on the jumbotron.  Here are some of my basic thoughts on the Tigers victory:

• In the first few innings, both Cabrera and Thomas looked foolish in their at-bats.  Downright awful.
• It didn’t feel like Jackson was dominant, but he was extremely effective
• Similar to Gio Gonzales, who apparently had a career high nine strikeouts
• Ryan Raburn is assuming a Marcus Thames role — you give up a few runs defensively which you  get back offensively.  He looked bad in left field, and the A’s fans sitting near me were quite descriptive of his play
• Fans will be fans.  Some Oakland fans are fun to ‘jaw’ with, some are poop.

Watching the game live, we were in a fantastic section that was maybe 70% full (total attendance was in the 15k range).  We were able to talk shop with a couple in front of us, which we usually enjoy.  We discussed the plays as they were happening — I felt the Oakland runner was out at home, and explained that it ‘looked’ like the runner was there first but had a bad slide and while he beat the throw, he didn’t beat the tag.  I also felt that Cabrera was safe at second — the throw was there but the tag was not.  My counterpart in the row in front disagreed at first but then started to see the argument of, say, beating a throw but not getting on base, etc.  In the end, we might have been talking out of our asses since they never show a close play re-play at a stadium.  (Update:  Watched some replays this morning, i was 1 for 2 – Barton was out at home, Cabrera was out by a mile at second, though the tag itself was closer then it needed to be)

Of course, Oakland is Oakland.  This is the place where I had a beer smacked out of my hand during the 2006 playoffs that was so blatant the concession stand poured me a new one for free.  So what happened tonight, when only 15k fans showed up?  Well, it was Jason Giambi bobblehead night.  Of course, Jason Giambi is no longer on the team, having been released a few weeks ago.  At the end of the game, our Oakland fan pseudo-friend said “hey, i think that guy just took your bobblehead…”.  Scott ran over to the exit row where people were filing out to confront the person who took  his Jason Giambi.  The person just said “nope… not  yours” and walked on.  Of course, we had some choice words for him as he continued to walk — it was obvious he stole our bobble head doll.  And his friends that were with him were so embarrassed, they tried to talk him out of it — three times his own friends stopped him to turn around or just drop the bobblehead, and each time he shoved his friends away and continued on.  Well, that’s Oakland for you.

Best non-baseball part of the night:  the between-inning entertainment.  They have some female running the interviews for the fans in the stands.  One inning, they interview a… 12 year old?  10 year old?  Some kid… to ask a question.  As part of it, the female asks, on the TV in the stadium, who signed the ball he has in his hands.  He looks at the ball and answers… “uh, Gio Gonzales?”  But pronounces it “Gio Gon-zoe-less” – who at the moment is warming up on the mound.

Second best:  Whenever I go to a game in Oakland, random fans will ask me how they arrange the seats / general setup for Raider games.  Didn’t get those questions last night… probably because you can actually see the 50 yard line in the outfield grass.

Random:  Twice, after an inning-ending strikeout, Laird tossed the ball into the seats in front of us.  Twice, the same guy caught it — he was in the 11th row.  Laird needs to add a little more randomness into his game.  To be fair, the guy (sporting a Univ of Michigan sweatshirt) gave the second ball to an 8 year old A’s fan that ran over to ask for it.

UPDATE:

For some reason I felt compelled to rush this out last night.  Anyway, game was fun, seats were good, a bobblehead was stolen.  Gonzales and Jackson were probably a lot better then I gave them credit for while watching the game live.