17 May 2005Sports
Let's Go Red Sox

Let's Go Red SoxI went to the A's game last night but it was really more like going to the Sox game. I took the BART to game and more than half of the riders were wearing Sox hats sweaters or t-shirts. I walked around the stadium before the game and some of the fans milling around were attired in green and yellow, but most were in navy blue and red. Inside the stadium, it was a sea of red. Any Sox rally was greeted with a loud cheer of "Let's Go Red Sox." I've seen opposing fans in large numbers like this, but never for a meaningless middle of the season game. It was crazy.

The A's are having a rough season. Before last night they had lost 8 in a row and 9 of 10. They average less than 20,000 fans a night on average and have a tiny season ticket base of on only 11,000 or so, but last night there were over 30,000 screaming, crazy fans on hand. I was sitting in the 2nd row right behind the Sox dugout courtesy of my good buddy Kristen who's dad is the pitching coach for the Sox.

Because of these crazy fans, this was one of the to in a long time. The Sox scored first, putting up two runs in the second inning, but the A's came back strong putting up a 4 spot in the fifth with the aid of a Mark Kotsay bases loaded triple. David Ortiz tied the game up with a monster two-run double in the 7th. Matt Watson who just called up for the minors broke the tie and provided the game winning RBIs with a tiebreaking two-run single in the 8th. The Sox threatened in the 9th with a single by Manny Ramirez (pictured) and an error by closer Octavio Dotel that brought the winning run to the plate. But with all the fans in the coliseum on their feet, Dotel induced Bill Mueller to fly and the minority home fans went home happy.

Posted by andrew at May 17, 2005 04:07 PM


Comments

Phil Says:

Did you go to the A's with me Andrew _ I seem to remember it was a low scoring game against the Detroit Lions and someone had some free tickets???

Not the best introduction for my first baseball game - much prefered Dodger Stadium later that year.

Just out of interest you say that the A's generally get about 20,000 crowds, but the photo shows loads of empty seats. What's the capacity?

Phil

May 19, 2005 12:53 PM
Andrew Writes:

Hey Phil-

I don't remember going to an A's game with you, but, then again, I have a notoriously bad memory. That said the A's most likely played the Detroit Tigers (the Lions are an American football team).

The stadium which was then called the Alameda County Coliseum, now called the McAfee Coliseum, holds more than 50,000 for baseball and many more (63,146) for football. You can read more about it here if you're so inclined.

Most of the fans were seated behind the plate and around the 1st base where I was sitting. Most of the 3rd base side and the entire outfield was empty on the day I was there.

May 19, 2005 01:09 PM

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